City of York Council

Equalities Impact Assessment

Who is submitting the proposal?

Directorate:		Customer and Communities
Service Area:		York Learning
Name of the proposal :		FE accountability Statement
Lead officer:		Paul Cliff
Date assessment completed:		14^th June 2023
Names of those who contributed to the assessment :
Name	Job title		Organisation	Area of expertise
Paul Cliff	Shared Head of Adult Learning and Skills (York and North Yorkshire)		York Learning	Adult learning and skills

Step 1 – Aims and intended outcomes 

1.1	What is the purpose of the proposal? Please explain your proposal in Plain English avoiding acronyms and jargon.
	To present the final version of the accountability statement as part of our statutory obligations to the Education Skills Funding Agency. This requires us to detail how we will spend our funding in line with national and local skills priorities

1.2	Are there any external considerations? (Legislation/government directive/codes of practice etc.)
	This is a statutory action and condition of funding

1.3	Who are the stakeholders and what are their interests?
	Stakeholders are all that will benefit from adult learning including learners, potential learners, communities, employers and the city council

1.4	What results/outcomes do we want to achieve and for whom?  This section should explain what outcomes you want to achieve for service users, staff and/or the wider community. Demonstrate how the proposal links to the Council Plan (2019- 2023) and other corporate strategies and plans.
	The aim of the proposal is to gain approval for submission of the final version of the statement , failure to do so may result in funding delays that will impact our ability to deliver adult learning programmes. This will prevent us from delivering our core preventative work impacting council operations and preventing activity in line with the 10-year skills plan

Step 2 – Gathering the information and feedback 

2.1	What sources of data, evidence and consultation feedback do we have to help us understand the impact of the proposal on equality rights and human rights? Please consider a range of sources, including: consultation exercises, surveys, feedback from staff, stakeholders, participants, research reports, the views of equality groups, as well your own experience of working in this area etc.
Source of data/supporting evidence		Reason for using
Consultation on York and North Yorkshire Adult Learning and Skills Engagement Strategy		This document is reflected in the approaches taken and was widely publicly consulted on with a range of stakeholders with no impact on equality or huma rights identified. Its main impact being to increase access to learning

Step 3 – Gaps in data and knowledge

3.1	What are the main gaps in information and understanding of the impact of your proposal?  Please indicate how any gaps will be dealt with.
Gaps in data or knowledge		Action to deal with this
No identified gaps

Step 4 – Analysing the impacts or effects.

4.1	Please consider what the evidence tells you about the likely impact (positive or negative) on people sharing a protected characteristic, i.e. how significant could the impacts be if we did not make any adjustments? Remember the duty is also positive – so please identify where the proposal offers opportunities to promote equality and/or foster good relations.
Equality Groups and Human Rights.		Key Findings/Impacts	Positive (+) Negative (-) Neutral (0)	High (H) Medium (M) Low (L)
Age		Improved access to all age careers advice and guidance and an ability to reach out to a wider age demographic	+	M
Disability		Improved engagement with community groups to identify programmes that will provide further employment and skills benefits	+	M
Gender		Targeted work will be undertaken to widen demographic engagement, this will increase the potential rate of access from a broader gender demographic with females being currently much more likely to engage	+	M
Gender Reassignment		No specific actions around gender re-assignment but potential for work to be extended with this community , but approach does not have a negative impact in this area	-	L
Marriage and civil partnership		No specific impacts	-	L
Pregnancy and maternity		Improved arrangements for provision that may be more suitable for individuals with caring responsibilities, opening opportunities for on-demand learning	+	M
Race		Targeted work will be undertaken to widen demographic engagement, this will increase the potential rate of access from a broader race demographic with white females being currently much more likely to engage	+	M
Religion and belief		No specific impacts although changes to delivery modes may support greater access to those whose religious practices prevent current access	+	M
Sexual orientation		No specific actions around gender re-assignment but potential for work to be extended with this community, but approach does not have a negative impact in this area	+	M
Other Socio-economic groups including :		Could other socio-economic groups be affected e.g. carers, ex-offenders, low incomes?
Carer		Improved arrangements for provision that may be more suitable for individuals with caring responsibilities, opening opportunities for on-demand learning	+	M
Low income groups		Improved arrangements for provision that may be more suitable for individuals with caring responsibilities, opening opportunities for on-demand learning	+	M
Veterans, Armed Forces Community		Targeted Information Advice and guidance around transferable skills is a core part of the approach with this group being identified as key area for work with shared opportunities through the North Yorkshire specific actions in the Armed Forces Covenant	+	M
Other
Impact on human rights:
List any human rights impacted.		No determined detrimental impact on human rights

Use the following guidance to inform your responses:

Indicate:

- Where you think that the proposal could have a POSITIVE impact on any of the equality groups like promoting equality and equal opportunities or improving relations within equality groups

- Where you think that the proposal could have a NEGATIVE impact on any of the equality groups, i.e. it could disadvantage them

- Where you think that this proposal has a NEUTRAL effect on any of the equality groups listed below i.e. it has no effect currently on equality groups.

It is important to remember that a proposal may be highly relevant to one aspect of equality and not relevant to another.

High impact (The proposal or process is very equality relevant)	There is significant potential for or evidence of adverse impact The proposal is institution wide or public facing The proposal has consequences for or affects significant numbers of people The proposal has the potential to make a significant contribution to promoting equality and the exercise of human rights.
Medium impact (The proposal or process is somewhat equality relevant)	There is some evidence to suggest potential for or evidence of adverse impact The proposal is institution wide or across services, but mainly internal The proposal has consequences for or affects some people The proposal has the potential to make a contribution to promoting equality and the exercise of human rights
Low impact (The proposal or process might be equality relevant)	There is little evidence to suggest that the proposal could result in adverse impact The proposal operates in a limited way The proposal has consequences for or affects few people The proposal may have the potential to contribute to promoting equality and the exercise of human rights

Step 5 - Mitigating adverse impacts and maximising positive impacts

5.1

Based on your findings, explain ways you plan to mitigate any unlawful prohibited conduct or unwanted adverse impact. Where positive impacts have been identified, what is been done to optimise opportunities to advance equality or foster good relations?

Provision as detailed in the skills engagement strategy is aimed to be universal, but with a greater focus of going directly to communities to engage with those people who are not accessing training and to celebrate the benefits of engagement in learning. We will then use those communities of interest to develop programmes on community terms that remove the fear of education. This community up preventative model is seen as engaging wide and diverse communities and supporting them to progress to better jobs, better health and better work life practices

Step 6 – Recommendations and conclusions of the assessment

6.1	Having considered the potential or actual impacts you should be in a position to make an informed judgement on what should be done. In all cases, document your reasoning that justifies your decision. There are four main options you can take:
- No major change to the proposal – the EIA demonstrates the proposal is robust.  There is no                         potential  for unlawful discrimination or adverse impact and you have taken all opportunities to    advance equality and foster good relations, subject to continuing monitor and review.
- Adjust the proposal – the EIA identifies potential problems or missed opportunities. This involves taking steps to remove any barriers, to better advance quality or to foster good relations. - Continue with the proposal (despite the potential for adverse impact) – you should clearly set out the justifications for doing this and how you believe the decision is compatible with our obligations under the duty - Stop and remove the proposal – if there are adverse effects that are not justified and cannot be mitigated, you should consider stopping the proposal altogether. If a proposal leads to unlawful discrimination, it should be removed or changed. Important: If there are any adverse impacts you cannot mitigate, please provide a compelling reason in the justification column.
Option selected		Conclusions/justification
No major change to the proposal		the EIA identifies potential problems or missed opportunities. This involves taking steps to remove any barriers, to better advance quality or to foster good relations.

Step 7 – Summary of agreed actions resulting from the assessment

7.1	What action, by whom, will be undertaken as a result of the impact assessment.
Impact/issue		Action to be taken	Person responsible	Timescale
Wider engaged demographic		Monitor changing engagement demographic against city demographic	Angela Padfield	Academic year 2023 onwards

Step 8 - Monitor, review and improve

8. 1	How will the impact of your proposal be monitored and improved upon going forward?   Consider how will you identify the impact of activities on protected characteristics and other marginalised groups going forward? How will any learning and enhancements be capitalised on and embedded?
	Should tracking identify no positive impacts, the strategic approaches taken will be reviewed in consultation to determine further potential positive action that can be taken.