Welsh Assembly and the lost equality impact assessment

FOIrequester

You are an absolute star.

It is obvious the IA was not carried out or gave a result that was not liked, so it was conveniently destroyed, or destroyed when you asked for it.

I've now referred this to the Information Commissioner, but I don't know when to expect a response. I've also written to Mark Drakeford and Jane Hutt about the loss of the EIA and Welsh Government's failure to comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty. They have said they will respond by the first week in September. I will post on here when I get a reply.

If they deleted it after receiving your FoI request, they would be in breach of the FOIA, so of course the date in which it was deleted is very relevant. From experience working in the civil service, it is almost impossible that a document disappears like that. Civil servants hold on to invoices for catering for 5 years FFS. It is obvious the IA was not carried out or gave a result that was not liked, so it was conveniently destroyed, or destroyed when you asked for it.

New FOI request.
www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/equality_impact_assessment_for_t_4

This is to Denbighshire Council in respect of their “Gender identity policy and implementation guidance”

This document consists of 52 pages about how to be inclusive to trans people. It mentions the Public Sector Equality Duty several times, but it doesn't mention Equality Impact Assessments at all.

My request:
I have been unable to find on your website the Equality Impact Assessment for your “Gender identity policy and implementation guidance” which you have produced for the use of schools in Denbighshire.
I am making a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to be supplied with:

1. A copy of this Equality Impact Assessment.
2. A list of all schools in Denbighshire in which this policy has been implemented.

I think you've done it! Very happy to have given you ideas to take this further, cheering you on all the way. There must be accountability in this, as there always must for people working with public trust, public funds and for the public interest.

And well done MoleSmokes for alerting the GC Taffistas! I do hope that someone in Welsh Government is starting to feel a little uncomfortable at being called to account.

Michelle It was your posts at the beginning of this thread that made me realise that more could be done to find out whether there ever was an EIA, and if so, what it contained. I hope I've phrased it in a way that will make it difficult for them to avoid giving me the information I'm asking for.

FOIrequester You are Ace!!!

FOIrequester very well phrased new request, and I'm waiting with great interest to see what is produced. They won't be able to claim having 'lost' all of that.

Thank you for doing this, I and millions of women in the UK owe you a lot of drinks.

Cardiff ReSisters have just tweeted that the Welsh Gov's missing EIA is reported in @Glinner's weekly roundup.
glinner.co.uk/another-week-in-the-war-on-women-27th-july-2nd-aug/amp/?__twitter_impression=true&fbclid=IwAR3ViPYrXXYUCRuQq88u0a0I3njZovAnY8ZTUelQyOtfzyzb1v36lkQ-eq0
Thanks Graham!

This is such a contentious area though Birdsfoot - even in 2016 it was fraught. And this is a major policy plan, covering health, education, sport, transport, work... I'd have expected Welsh Government to have done more than give a minor official a red biro and told them to tick some boxes. But then I'd also have expected Welsh Government to actually complete an EIA as a 'living document' according to their own advice. Simple naive soul that I am.

Amazing work FOI.

Thanks, Oldstyle.

Great to read the new FOI FOIrequester - keep at 'em. I'll alert the Twitterati to spread the joyous news.
#TheDogAteMyEIA
#WelshGovIgnoringWomen

Nevertheless you persisted

FOIrequester and MoleSmokes - a dream team!

This would also be worth a letter to the Internal Audit section of the Welsh Government, reporting the apparent loss of the document to the IT?Computer Audit Team. Including a copy of the correspondence to date would also be helpful.
Their Corporate Complaints section would also be interested in the issue too.

It's thanks to everyone on here who suggested that as a way forward that I've made the new request, Cuntysnark. I'd come to a halt after the internal review that went nowhere, and it was looking as though the only thing I could do was write to the ministers again, which has been pretty fruitless up to now.

Thanks also to MoleSmokes for pulling my FOI request out of obscurity and into the wider world.

I’m in awe. Tenacious is your middle name!

Text of my new FOI request.

I am making a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to be supplied with the following information:

1. Minutes of all meetings between 19/11/2014 and 14/03/2016 at which the Equality Impact Assessment for the ‘Welsh Government Action Plan to advance equality for transgender people’ was discussed or mentioned.

1. All correspondence dated between 19/11/2014 and 14/03/2016 sent by or received by the Welsh Government in which the Equality Impact Assessment for the ‘Welsh Government Action Plan to advance equality for transgender people’ was discussed or mentioned. This should include all relevant internal communications within Welsh Government, as well as all relevant correspondence (email and paper) between Welsh Government and external organisations or individuals.

New FOI request.

www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/documents_relating_to_the_equali

They all seem to be rewriting the Equality Act 2010 which I believe is still current and hasn't been amended to include 'gender' and/or 'gender identity' in the list of protected characteristics. According to UK legislation, sex and gender reassignment are the relevant protected characteristics, along with religion and belief and possibly race. You can't just rewrite Acts of Parliament to suit yourself!

This is the consultation which was carried out before the Transgender Action Plan was published. It was a bit difficult to find because it seems to have been shunted off into an archive.
<a class="break-all" href="https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160419022823/gov.wales/docs/dsjlg/consultation/150622-transgender-consultation-en.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160419022823/gov.wales/docs/dsjlg/consultation/150622-transgender-consultation-en.pdf

"The Transgender Action Plan will include the actions we must take to assess the impact of our decisions on transgender people using Equality Impact Assessments." (p.15)

It looks as though they had no intention of doing a proper Equality Impact Assessment from the start.

This is the summary of responses to the consultation. Also found in an archive.
<a class="break-all" href="https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160426123035/gov.wales/docs/dsjlg/consultation/151211-transgender-consultation-summary-of-responses-en.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160426123035/gov.wales/docs/dsjlg/consultation/151211-transgender-consultation-summary-of-responses-en.pdf

Welsh Government should have realised that the EIA was missing a year ago, when I first asked whether one had been carried out. Due to concentrating on other questions in my correspondence with them, it was several months before I asked again for them to send it to me. This was after they sent me a reply which could be summarised as 'go away, we've already answered all your questions' (they hadn't), so I went back to see which ones they'd failed to answer.

One question that they seem unable to answer is whether children in school should be taught that they can change sex. This was in the context of using the 'Gender Unicorn' to teach children about 'gender identity', as suggested by the TransForm Cymru Toolkit. Their reply to this was: "I am not able to comment on whether or not the Gender Unicorn is an appropriate resource for teaching children about gender identity. These issues are being explored through the UK Government’s consultation and the Welsh Government would not seek to provide a definitive answer at this stage."

Apart from the 'sex change' question and the related question of teaching children the belief system of 'gender identity' as though it were fact, the other questions they couldn't answer were about whether girls should have access to single-sex toilets and changing rooms in school, and their views on the TransForm Cymru toolkit position that breast binding in teenage girls shouldn't be discouraged.

When I asked again for an answer to these questions, the response was "I am sorry that you found the reply to your previous email unsatisfactory. I appreciate you taking the time to rephrase and clarify your questions. I am, however, unable to add substantively to the answers already provided. As I explained in my previous letter, these issues are being explored through the UK Government’s consultation and the Welsh Government would not seek to provide definitive answers before that process is complete."

What reform of the GRA has to do with teaching children about innate 'gender identity' and girls self-harming with breast binders is a mystery to me.

Yes it is a great letter. I didn't write it however (wish I had that clarity of thought!). Just happened to find it down the back of the sofa when I was looking for the EIA.

Other women are working out how to get this - and the campaign in general - circulated more widely. All suggestions appreciated.