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Why Equality and Diversity Impact Assess your Anti-Bullying Policy?
There is a legal requirement for all public bodies and those who are contracted to deliver public services to ensure they impact assess their policies and work with regards to equality and diversity issues.
Impact assessments allow you to improve the way in which your organisation develops their anti-bullying policy to ensure that you are reflecting the equality and diversity and children's rights framework.
Conducting an impact assessment provides organisations with the opportunity to ensure that their anti-bullying policies, procedures and practices are developed in a way which assesses their likely impacts, both positive and negative, on children and young people from equality and diversity communities and on children's rights. It can also help them to identify how they can minimise potentially negative impacts.
Equality and diversity impact assessment aims to ensure that there is no discrimination, either directly or indirectly, in the way that policies, procedures and practices are designed, developed, or delivered and that diversity is promoted and integrated into everything your organisation does.
Completing an equality and diversity impact assessment is similar to completing a risk assessment. It is about assessing and pre-empting potential issues with policies and procedures which may impact upon some groups unfavourably. The following will give you an overview of the process, allowing you to complete an initial assessment checklist using the respectme Equality and Diversity Impact Assessment.
The process
Equality and diversity impact assessment is a process not a form and it should be integral to any policy development process. It should not be seen as something ‘tagged on' when work is completed.
Our initial Equality and Diversity checklist is a part of this process but only that, it allows you to complete step three below and enables you to consider whether a full Equality and Diversity Impact Assessment is required.
- Determine and understand the aims of the policy and/or procedures. How does this relate to the wider practice of the organisation? Who are the key stakeholders?
- Who is the policy/procedure likely to impact upon? Do you have to gather further information to determine this?
- You should begin by using the following checklist as an initial impact assessment. This is a basic document, which will allow you to determine if any potential negative impacts exist. This should be done as objectively as possible, based on facts from the organisation and, similar to the risk assessment, pre-empt potential impacts. Ideally, the process should involve a team of individuals to ensure different opinions and views.
The checklist guides you through the procedure, allowing you to identify potential impacts beforehand and consider any necessary changes from actual or potential inequalities.
Whilst completing the checklist, you are asked to think about the positive and negative impact that your policies, procedures or practice may have on any of the following groups of children and young people:
- Boys
- Girls
- Asian or Asian British people
- Black or Black British people
- Refugees/Asylum Seekers
- Gypsy/Travellers
- Other racial/ethnic groups
- People with a Disability
- Includes those who have a physical or sensory disability, people with a mental health problem and people living with HIV/AIDS
- Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual people
- Transgender people
- Faith (and no faith) groups
- Children and young people
For an example of a completed initial impact assessment and potential positive and negative impacts, please see the respectme example of an initial Equality & Diversity Impact Assessment checklist for devising an anti-bullying policy'
- Should potential negative impacts exist, then your organisational will be required to do a full impact assessment.
- Consider alternatives to maximise the positive impacts. Should it remain discriminatory or unlawful, you may need to consider making changes to your policy or procedure.
- This may involve further research with the group who is being negatively impacted upon. Consultation should take place with your key stakeholders - everyone the policy or procedure will impact upon.
- Decide whether to adopt the policy - Ensure you leave enough time for this process and use the findings as a basis for you decision-making.
- Consider how the policy/procedure will be monitored and evaluated when it is implemented into practice. Be prepared to review the policy/procedures should you identify any negative issues or impacts during this process.
- Publish the results.
The information provided is basic guidelines to completing an equality and diversity impact assessment, also taking children's rights into consideration. Should you require further information or training, please refer to:
For further information on the Equality and Diversity Impact Assessment process please visit the Scottish Government website: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/ or the Equality and Human Rights Commission website: http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/
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