UK Cetacean Conservation Strategy: equality impact assessment

Key Findings

The Strategy vision is to ensure the conservation and protection of cetaceans in UK waters and includes several objectives such as identifying pressures acting on cetaceans, providing a framework to deliver actions, support research, and collaborate with international partners to share knowledge and manage threats. No actions are being implemented with the Strategy document and no impacts on the specified protected characteristics have been identified in the development of it. These characteristics were age, disability, sex, pregnancy and maternity, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, race and religion or belief.

A public consultation was held from 22 March to 14 June 2021, which allowed the public, communities, organisations and wider stakeholders to reflect and provide feedback on the Strategy, the underlying technical report and a series of actions. 35 responses were received, with 16 from organisations and 19 from individuals. Going forward, the Strategy vision will be brought about by partnership working between government bodies, environmental and community groups, research organisations, academia, industry, and the public.

With no concerns raised during its development, it is considered that the Strategy is neither directly or indirectly discriminatory under the Equality Act 2010.