Source · Select Committees · Women and Equalities Committee
Recommendation 25
25
Rejected
Publish updated equality impact assessment and mitigation plan for Nationality and Borders Act provisions.
Recommendation
The Home Office must publish an updated equality impact assessment of the Nationality and Borders Act’s asylum provisions within three months. Alongside this assessment it should publish a mitigation plan to prevent discriminatory effects of the Act’s asylum provisions on people with vulnerabilities arising from protected characteristics, including women with disclosed histories of sexual and gender-based violence and other forms of abuse, people with physical and mental disabilities, children and families, and LGBT people. It should seek the advice of the Equality and Human Rights Commission to ensure the equality impact assessment and mitigation plan follow best practice and fully comply with the Equality Act’s Public Sector Equality Duty. (Paragraph 154) Detention
Government response summary AI-generated
The government believes any differential impact is because of an individual’s conduct and is proportionate to control illegal migration and reduce crime.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government · verbatim extract
Rejected
Government Response In relation to the recommendation at paragraph 154, the Government has already published an Equality Impact Assessment for the Nationality and Borders Act 2022. This has been kept under review as reforms have been implemented. We are committed to monitoring and evaluating the implementation and impact of our policies, keeping these under review. This includes through our published migration statistics, which forms the basis of our analysis. In addition, we have ongoing dialogue with a range of stakeholders, including NGOs, where any issues can be brought to our attention. In addition, as part of our implementation work, we: Worked with stakeholders on creating and updating policy guidance Delivered training to relevant front-line and other teams, including on matters concerning safeguarding, vulnerabilities and equalities; Considered any safeguarding and assurance requirements, so that we can protect the vulnerable, identify any issues—including unintended consequences—and seek to address these where appropriate; Maintain ongoing routine engagement with our stakeholders, including NGOs, so we can identify any issues. In addition, we are working with the EHRC to improve our approach to comply with the Equality Act. We entered into a legally binding agreement (under section 23 of the Equality Act 2006) with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). The original section 23 agreement concluded on 31 May 2023. However, we have entered in an extension period with the EHRC which commits the department to: demonstrate that it has actively sought and properly considered evidence, including feedback from relevant stakeholders to understand and respond to the equality impacts of its policies and practices; demonstrate that the PSED and wider equality data and evidence, including a clear understanding of the potential and actual impact of departmental policy and practice on different protected characteristic groups, informs decision-making and policymaking at all levels; and demonstrate meaningful action to improve internal capability to fully understand and comply with the PSED. Through these initiatives we will keep the operation of our policies and reforms under close review.
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