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  • Equality and diversity monitoring

Equality and diversity monitoring

Section 1 - Scoping

Equality and diversity monitoring

26/07/2024

Kirsten Laird

Jennifer Russell

Yes, DPIA carried out.

Section 2 - Screening

To collect, store and analyse equality and diversity information for our employees and recruitment candidates.  The equality data will be presented in the form of anonymised reports in order to fulfil statutory reporting obligations and enable effective decision-making within the organisation. This information will be used for these purposes only and individuals providing their data will be assured that it will be used solely for these reporting purposes.
SEPA needs robust evidence on the nine protected characteristics to meet the legal duties set out in the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) and the Scottish Specific Duties (SSDs) to deliver good, fair outcomes. This data will enable SEPA to understand whether their services, policies and strategies are having the desired differential impacts in our equality outcomes.
The collection of robust equality data will ensure that equality evidence is used to inform the design and delivery of our policies and services, key to developing effective solutions to tackle structural inequality within our organisation. 

SEPA’s Equality Outcomes 2022-2026

•    Outcome 1 – We have increased the number of people from currently underrepresented groups in our applicants, our staff and those who progress within the organisation.
•    Outcome 2 – People with lived experience of inequality, related to a protected characteristic or socioeconomic status, access and use SEPA’s services without barriers.
•    Outcome 3 – Staff with lived experience of inequality and barriers, and with a wide variety of needs, feel listened to and respected as SEPA meets those needs.
•    Outcome 4 – We have decreased our gender pay gap and occupational segregation related to gender, disability, and ethnicity.
The equality and diversity information collected will be used for reporting and decision making related closely to Outcomes 1, 3 and 4. We need to collect and analyse the data to understand if we’ve made progress towards achieving those outcomes. The data is also relevant in helping us to identify gaps or areas that we would wish to focus on when developing our next Equality Outcomes.

Yes, the collection and analysis of equality data is an important action for the organisation.  
The data will be used to inform other Equality and Human Right Impact Assessment’s and help decision making. It could therefore affect how many of SEPA’s functions are delivered.   

The main people impacted will be existing employees and prospective candidates.  
SEPA was subjected to a cyber-attack on 24 December 2020, which resulted in the loss of our system we used to collect our equality data. This EqHRIA is for the new release of the Equality monitoring system. 
Employees that have been with SEPA since before the cyber-attack will be familiar with being asked to provide their equality information via Agresso self-service and update it as appropriate.  
We are preparing communications for all employees to explain that as part of the build back of Agresso we are taking the opportunity to update the equality fields (categories and options) held within Agresso to reflect those used by the most recent Census.  
Staff communications will cover the importance of collating and analysing equalities data and will reassure that this sensitive data will be held securely.  
We will be working closely with Unison to ensure that our communications are aligned, and that Unison will also encourage members to provide their data. 
We will also make it clear to employees that they have the option not to provide data and each category will have a “prefer not to say” option.  

2.6 The Equality Act 2010 places a duty on public bodies to prevent discrimination in all aspects of service provision. It provides a clear and positive legal duty to eliminate discrimination and to ensure equality of opportunity and good relations between different groups.

Amongst your group of stakeholders are there any people who belong to the protected characteristic groups listed below who may be impacted, either positively or negatively, or do you believe there is a neutral impact?

Consider the three needs of the general duty for each Protected Characteristic in turn. 

Table 1 - Public Sector Equality Duty - Screening tool

  Eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited under the Equality Act. Advance equal opportunities between people who have a protected characteristic and those who do not. Foster good relations between people who have a protected characteristic and those who do not.
Age Neutral Positive Positive
Disability Neutral Positive Positive
Gender Neutral Positive Positive
Marriage / civil partnership Neutral Positive Positive
Pregnancy / Maternity Neutral Positive Positive
Race Neutral Positive Positive
Religion / belief Neutral Positive Positive
Sex Neutral Positive Positive
Sexual orientation Neutral Positive Positive

2.7 SEPA as a public authority is obliged to ensure that our decisions and actions align with the fundamental rights and freedoms enshrined in the European Convention of Human Rights.  

Will the policy or practice engage or restrict a right or freedom under the Convention? 

This guidance outlines where your work may impact on human rights - Human Rights human lives a guide for public authorities.

Table 2 - Human Rights consideration

Human Rights Act Article Yes No
Article 2: Right to life   X
Article 3: Prohibition of torture   X
Article 4: Prohibition of slavery and forced labour   X
Article 5: Right to liberty and security   X
Article 6: Right to a fair trial   X
Article 7: No punishment without law   X
Article 8: Right to respect for private and family life X  
Article 9: Freedom of thought, conscience, and religion   X
Article 10: Freedom of expression    X
Article 11: Freedom of assembly and association   X
Article 12: Right to Marry   X
Article 13: Right to an effective remedy   X
Article 14: Prohibition of discrimination   X
Protocol 1, Article 1: Protection of property   X
Protocol 1, Article 2: Right to Education   X
Protocol 1, Article 3: Right to free elections   X

Asking for equality data, such as information about your age, gender, ethnicity, or other protected characteristics, is not inherently an infringement of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. However, it must be done in a way that respects your right to privacy and is compliant with data protection laws.


Balancing Rights


Public authorities and organisations must balance the need to collect equality data with the individual’s right to privacy. If done correctly, collecting this data can help identify and address inequalities, ultimately supporting the protection and promotion of human rights.

Section 3 - Full Assessment

•    Eliminate unlawful conduct
•    Advance equality of opportunity
•    Foster good relations
Understanding the number of employees and candidates with shared protected characteristics will help us to comply with the three elements of the Public Sector Equality Duty.
SEPA is committed to building a workforce of people with a wide range of backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences. 
We want an organisation where our people feel valued for their unique contributions in a work environment that is respectful, supportive and free from discrimination, harassment or bullying.
SEPA needs to collect equality data to meet the Scottish Specific Duties (SSDs) placed on us by Scottish Ministers to help us meet the requirements of the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED). 
The SSDs provide a supporting framework and guidance to help us to mainstream equality. We show how we meet these criteria through data collection and data evaluation. This provides greater transparency and accountability to our staff, our board and our customers. 
In this way, the specific duties help SEPA to better perform our duty to have ‘due regard’ to all 3 needs of the PSED and allow us to show how we mainstream equality in our everyday work. 

All staff will be affected by this policy and the purpose is to particularly improve experiences of people from protected groups where there is evidenced differential experience.

This data should drive the approach to monitoring impact so that we can understand if the changes we want to see are happening for people with lived experience of differential treatment.

The EqHRIA relates primarily to the collection of data about protected characteristics, all people are likely to be impacted. Unison equality officers have been consulted as part of this review. 

All staff will be affected by this policy and the purpose is to particularly improve experiences of people from protected groups where there is evidenced differential experience. 
The data will help us to understand where there may be gaps in our policies or where specific initiatives may be required to help certain groups. For example, identifying that our workforce had over 50% of women and that a large proportion of these women are in the 40+ age group has already helped us to identify the need for a Menopause and Periods policy which is now in place.

There may be barriers to inclusion, which may be perceived or real such as accessibility of the system used or lack of trust in how the data will be used, all the protected characteristics may be impacted in this way.
Trust is often a barrier to participation, especially among the most marginalised groups. 

We have drafted communications around the importance of SEPA collecting equality data, how we keep that data secure and what it is used for. We will review the uptake of the new system and look to build trust in the organisation. The DPIA will be used to show how the data has been handled and used. 
All employees will have the right to ‘prefer not to say’ in all the Equality monitoring questions if they so wish. There is a ‘prefer not to say’ option for each question, so the personal choice is available to help people disclose information where they feel comfortable. 
There may be lack of buy in from staff, especially after the cyber-attack where a lot of personal data was released.

Accessibility and usability of data collection tools 
The existing systems used to collect data from people may have accessibility issues. The team responsible continue to look to improve the accessibility of the system and there are plans in place to investigate voice activated software on Agresso.
We have mirrored the questions in the latest Scottish census so our questions should be simple to understand and used consistently across other data collection tools for us to better benchmark our agency against the Scottish working population and other organisations.

Section 4 - Continuous monitoring and improvement

Option 1: No major change

Your assessment demonstrates that the policy or practice is robust. The evidence shows no potential for:

•    less favourable treatment of particular groups, indirect discrimination, victimisation, harassment, and that you have taken all opportunities to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations; nor 
•    restriction of Convention rights or freedoms.

The policy or practice builds in reasonable adjustments where these may be needed. In reaching this conclusion, you should document the reasons why and the evidence used to support your decision.

The EqHRIA is a living document and should be reviewed and updated to ensure you have captured the changes that have been made because of the implementation of your policy or practice. Set a realistic goal for you to check back in with your assessment, to see if things are going the way you expected.


Date for the Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessment review.

16/07/2025

Section 5 - Sign off

16/01/2025 

Yes