The Environment Strategy for Scotland: Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA)

The Scope of the EQIA

This EQIA has considered the impact of the Environment Strategy and its vision and outcomes on everyone in Scotland with protected characteristics (age; disability; sex (including pregnancy and maternity); gender reassignment; sexual orientation; race; and religion or belief) in relation to the requirements of the public sector equality duty to eliminate discrimination; advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations.

As part of our consideration and development of the strategy, a formal public consultation was carried out on the draft Environment Strategy. The consultation was launched on Thursday 3 July and closed on Monday 29 September and was held on the Scottish Government’s Citizen Space website. There were 126 responses submitted to the consultation from individuals and a wide range of organisations, including those representing groups with protected characteristics. A number of public engagement sessions were also held with stakeholders, including an engagement session with those who represent groups with protected characteristics.

The draft EQIA also formed part of the public consultation, alongside the draft Environment Strategy, and questions were included to help assess the impact on protected groups. The analysis to the below questions can be found in the annex, and the full consultation analysis can be found here.

• Question 14: Is there anything in the draft Environment Strategy which should be added or changed to strengthen positive impacts or lessen any negative impacts on people with protected characteristics? Yes or No?
• Question 15: Are there any positive or negative impacts on protected groups (age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation) that have not been identified in the draft Equalities Impact Assessment?
• Question 16: Are there any other protected groups, which have not been identified in the draft Equalities Impact Assessment, that will potentially be positively or negatively impacted by the Environment Strategy?

The feedback from the consultation and engagement sessions suggested that the Environment Strategy would have a positive impact on people with protected characteristics through greater environmental quality and improved air quality. Responses agreed that there would be positive impacts on age, disability, race, gender, pregnancy and maternity, gender reassignment, sexual orientation and religion and belief.

A number of the responses on the draft EQIA highlighted the importance of considering the needs of people with protected characteristics, especially on older people, those with disabilities and women, to ensure there are no unintended consequences of the Environment Strategy on these groups. Responses also mentioned the impact of climate change and the associated weather events, such as flooding and wildfires, on older people and those with disabilities.

Desk research was also conducted to assess the impact of the Environment Strategy on people with protected characteristics. This research included findings from academic reports, reports from clinicians and research that had been previously commissioned by the Scottish Government. It was discovered from the research that some of the groups with protected characteristics would benefit more substantially from the Environment Strategy, these included age, disability, pregnancy and maternity, race and gender.