54
Recommendation
First Report - Levelling Up and equalit…
Accepted in Part
Since 2019, the Government has referred to an Equality Hub within the Cabinet Office but to date the Hub has not published any corporate documents. Its structure remains unclear, and it lacks transparency and accountability. This is unacceptable. The Cabinet Office must publish annual information on staffing and funding of …
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Since 2019, the Government has referred to an Equality Hub within the Cabinet Office but to date the Hub has not published any corporate documents. Its structure remains unclear, and it lacks transparency and accountability. This is unacceptable. The Cabinet Office must publish annual information on staffing and funding of the Equality Hub, its constituent units (the Government Equalities Office, the Disability Unit, the Race Disparity Unit and the Social Mobility Commission), broken down by administration, projects and programmes. This could be either in its annual Outcome Delivery Plans or in a separate Equality Hub document, but the information must be proactively published in the interests of transparency and accountability. Our scrutiny role and the Government’s engagement with our work
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Government response AI summary
The government accepts in part, stating that annual staffing and funding information is already published in the Cabinet Office report, and commits to providing further bi-annual information directly to the Committee to support scrutiny.
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Government Equalities Office
63
Recommendation
First Report - Levelling Up and equalit…
Accepted in Part
Our Reports on Covid-19 have demonstrated that the pandemic has had unequal effects on some groups, including women, disabled people and some Black and minority ethnic groups, and exacerbated existing inequalities. The equalities machinery within government has not been sufficient to anticipate and act to mitigate unequal effects across the …
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Our Reports on Covid-19 have demonstrated that the pandemic has had unequal effects on some groups, including women, disabled people and some Black and minority ethnic groups, and exacerbated existing inequalities. The equalities machinery within government has not been sufficient to anticipate and act to mitigate unequal effects across the Government’s policy responses to the pandemic. Three steps are required to ensure that lessons are learned from this: • The pandemic has clearly demonstrated the need for robustly conducted and published Equality Impact Assessments of general policies which could have significant unequal effects on groups who already face disadvantage in society. The Equality Hub must be a strong advocate across government for this and, with the support of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, proactively provide expert advice to departments on effective use and publication of Equality Impact Assessments; • The Government must ensure that its effectiveness in anticipating, recognising and mitigating inequalities exacerbated by the pandemic is included in the terms of reference for the statutory public inquiry due to begin its work in 2022; and • The Equality Hub must be given a central role in the development and ongoing review of the National Risk Register, with the aim of ensuring equality issues are fully considered, at the earliest possible stage and based on robust data, in future emergency responses. Oversight and implementation of the UK’s international equality commitments
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Government response AI summary
The government accepts in part, agreeing the Equality Hub should lead on PSED, noting the public inquiry's terms are pending, and confirming the Equality Hub's ongoing involvement in reviewing disproportionate impacts in the National Risk Register.
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Government Equalities Office