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Initial equality impact assessment screening form
This form records an equality screening process to determine the relevance of equality to a proposal, and a decision whether or not a full EIA would be appropriate or proportionate.
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Directorate |
Business and Environmental Services |
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Service area |
Growth, Planning and Trading Standards |
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Proposal being screened |
Community Renewal Fund Submission |
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Officer(s) carrying out screening |
Louisa Carolan |
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What are you proposing to do? |
North Yorkshire County Council are proposing to administer the Government’s (MHCLG) Community Renewal Fund in North Yorkshire as the lead authority. This new fund was announced in the March 2021 budget and NYCC have been asked to administer this in accordance with MHCLG guidelines.
A call for North Yorkshire based projects was made between 1st April – 13th May 2021 and the Council proposes to submit a short list of the top scored projects to Government for consideration for funding and then NYCC propose to administer the funding for any successful projects. These projects were under four key themes: · Investment in skills · Investment for local business · Investment in communities and place · Supporting people into employment
An open and informative process was put in place to invite bids for the fund from all legally constituted organisations across the region. Seven workstreams were established to invite bids from a range of local priority areas and four open webinars were conducted to present the fund in detail and to answer questions. A specific e-mail account was also established with dedicated resource to deal with specific application queries.
The window for submissions is now closed and the applications have been reviewed by a panel of three individuals from across the council and one external consultant. The gender-balanced panel has produced a list of twenty-eight applications from the original sixty-six submitted.
This paper seeks agreement to submit the shortlisted applications to MHCLG for their review.
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Why are you proposing this? What are the desired outcomes? |
NYCC has a statutory role in the administration of this fund. The work has been undertaken to deliver an open and inclusive application process and to produce a shortlist of applications for MHCLG to review and approve.
The desired outcome is approval to submit the twenty-eight applications and to then gain agreement from government to proceed with some or all of our shortlisted applications. This will then lead to the delivery of the successful projects by the applicants across the county before 31st March 2022.
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Does the proposal involve a significant commitment or removal of resources? Please give details. |
Resource requirements have been met and will continue to be met from across the council. Some external expert assistance for assessment of the applications has been commissioned funded by a £40,000 Government payment for administering the Community Renewal Fund in two fund priority areas (Richmondshire District and Scarborough Borough). Any additional need for external resource will be paid for from this Government payment. Resource from within Growth, Planning and Trading Standards within BES will continue administer the fund by completing the submission to MHCLG, monitoring progress of the successful bids and providing all necessary project management and reporting for the fund. Colleagues from legal will support the creation of contractual agreements for successful bids. In addition, there will be continuing internal support from finance, procurement, communications and project management from T&C. Any successful bids submitted by NYCC themselves will be resourced as proposed within their submissions. |
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Impact on people with any of the following protected characteristics as defined by the Equality Act 2010, or NYCC’s additional agreed characteristics As part of this assessment, please consider the following questions: · To what extent is this service used by particular groups of people with protected characteristics? · Does the proposal relate to functions that previous consultation has identified as important? · Do different groups have different needs or experiences in the area the proposal relates to?
If for any characteristic it is considered that there is likely to be an adverse impact or you have ticked ‘Don’t know/no info available’, then a full EIA should be carried out where this is proportionate. You are advised to speak to your Equality rep for advice if you are in any doubt. |
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Protected characteristic |
Potential for adverse impact |
Don’t know/No info available |
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Yes |
No |
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Age |
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X |
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Disability |
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X |
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Sex |
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X |
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Race |
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X |
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Sexual orientation |
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X |
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Gender reassignment |
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X |
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Religion or belief |
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X |
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Pregnancy or maternity |
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X |
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Marriage or civil partnership |
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X |
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NYCC additional characteristics |
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People in rural areas |
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X |
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People on a low income |
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X |
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Carer (unpaid family or friend) |
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X |
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Does the proposal relate to an area where there are known inequalities/probable impacts (e.g. disabled people’s access to public transport)? Please give details. |
Yes. The government designated Richmondshire District and Scarborough Borough as priority areas for this fund. This was determined by indexing places based on the following factors · Productivity · Skills · Unemployment Rate · Population density · Household Income Therefore a higher proportion of the submitted and shortlisted applications came from these areas (Proposed proportion of spend from the shortlisted bids is 58% for Richmondshire and Scarborough with 42% spread across the other 5 districts )
Applications are included which focus on supporting communities and place and these cover a range of activities to support specific community areas and groups
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Will the proposal have a significant effect on how other organisations operate? (e.g. partners, funding criteria, etc.). Do any of these organisations support people with protected characteristics? Please explain why you have reached this conclusion. |
Yes. This fund will directly impact the successful applicants by funding their activities as outlined in their proposals. This will include activities that will support protected characteristics |
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Decision (Please tick one option) |
EIA not relevant or proportionate:
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x |
Continue to full EIA: |
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Reason for decision |
Each applicant was required to consider the equalities impact of their bid and any affected groups based on protested characteristics as part of their submission. Therefore no additional assessment is required for the bids submitted. |
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Signed (Assistant Director or equivalent) |
Matt O’Neill |
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Date |
25/05/2021
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