Recommendation 63

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