Ensuring discrimination is not built in
West Dunbartonshire Council has a legal obligation to assess the impact of new or significantly changing legislation on the well-being of "equalities" groups. The Council has developed an Integrated Impact Assessment process which mainly covers race, gender, disability, religion or belief, sexual orientation and age should also be taken account of, and a health impact assessment is also included.
Download the WDC Integrated Impact Assessment - Guidelines & Proforma
The purpose of Integrated Impact Assessment (IIA) is to work out how a policy or function will affect the wellbeing of different groups of people, with particular needs, or who are disadvantaged in some way.
Equality legislation requires that any new policy or function, or significant changes to a policy or function, be subject to a formal assessment of their impact on the wellbeing of 'equality' groups. This is known as impact assessment.
West Dunbartonshire Council is developing an approach in which a single process - integrated impact assessment - is designed to cover all of the equality 'strands'. In the development phase, the focus is on race, disability and gender, but we still consider impacts on the wellbeing of people in regard to their sexual orientation, religion and belief and age. Further guidance will be produced once legislation and codes of practice have been developed.
Integrated Impact Assessment is used for any new and developing policies, while a system of review for existing policies is used to ensure that relevant services are not discriminating in how they deliver services.
The Council have carried out a number of Integrated Impact Assessments. These are:
Housing Allocations Policy
No Smoking Policy
Adult Learning Action Plan
There have also been a number of summary reports carried out. These are:
Education
Alteration of Hours Summary Report
Composite Classes Summary Report
Physcological Services Summary Report
Pupils Per Room Summary Report
School Registration Summary Report
Social Work
Social Work Complaints Procedure Summary Report
Chief Executive
Gypsy Traveller Strategy Summary Report
