Equality, Inclusion and Human Rights Directorate risk register information: FOI release

Information requested

Following your previous response (Our Reference: 202500489890), you confirmed that the Equality, Inclusion and Human Rights Directorate maintains a single risk register consisting of five sections:

1. Directorate-level risks
2. Equality Division
3. Mainstreaming and Inclusion Division
4. Human Rights Division
5. Refugees, Resettlement and Asylum Division

I would now like to request a copy of each of these five sections in full, including all recorded:

• risk titles
• risk descriptions
• inherent and residual risk ratings (RAG or numerical)
• mitigating actions
• risk owners
• review dates or status updates

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because exemptions under sections 30(c) of FOISA (prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs) and section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information.

The release of the Risk Register into the public domain would be likely to prejudice substantially the effective conduct of the Government, and in particular the working of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) in the Equality, Inclusion and Human Rights Directorate. The SLT provides leadership and strategic direction to the Directorate on a range of policy issues, many of which need to be carefully handled due to the nature of the ensuing public debate. To discharge its functions effectively the SLT must be able to frankly discuss and deal with matters that could potentially impact on the delivery of its objectives. The Risk Register sets out the key risks to the Directorate's delivery of Government objectives, quantifying them by setting out: the risk rating; the root causes and likely impact; and what is being done to manage the risk. The issues set out in the Risk Register are sensitive and relate directly to the risks the Directorate needs to consider and take action to address.

This exemption is a qualified exemption so the public interest test has been applied, namely: whether in all circumstances of the case the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in maintaining the exemption. Whilst there is public interest in disclosure of information about the deliberative process of parts of central government, there is a powerful public interest in ensuring that there is an appropriate environment in which the organisation is able to discuss risks, assess their potential likelihood and impact, and identify mitigating actions, freely and frankly. In this case the public interest would be best served by upholding the exemption and withholding the information requested.

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, i.e. the names of junior members of staff, and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

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FOI 202500493655 - Information released - Annex

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