National flood resilience strategy: equality impact assessment and fairer Scotland duty assessment

Section 3: Assessing the impacts and identifying opportunities to promote equality

EQIA: Having considered the data and evidence we have gathered to date, this section requires us to consider the potential impacts – negative and positive – that our policy might have on each of the protected characteristics. It is important to remember the duty is also a positive one – that we must explore whether the policy offers the opportunity to promote equality and/or foster good relations.

The following protected characteristics have been scoped out of this EQIA as after considering the data gathered in Section 2, they are not considered to be exclusively affected by the FRS and are taken into consideration in the context of the other protected characteristic categories:

• Gender reassignment
• Sexual orientation
• Religion or belief
• Marriage and Civil Partnership

The following protected characteristics remain for assessment:

• Age
• Disability
• Pregnancy and Maternity
• Race
• Sex
• Socio-economic status
• Cross-cutting impacts

Do you think that the policy impacts on people on the grounds of their age? Either directly or indirectly?

Eliminating unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation

None: there is no evidence to suggest that, overall, the FRS would have an adverse impact because of a person’s age in this respect.

Advancing equality of opportunity

Positive: The FRS will propose actions to improve community engagement and strengthen community flood resilience groups, including how to implement best practice for inclusive community engagement. For example, through better promotion and more systematic use of the National Standards for Community Engagement. If followed effectively, this work will enable the specific perspectives, interests, vulnerability and capacities of people of different ages to be taken into account when considering community resilience.

Negative or neutral:

The FRS will promote the increased uptake of property flood resilience measures and provide information on available support, to increase the accessibility of PFR. However, careful consideration will need to be given to barriers to accessing support that older people may face when looking to install PFR, such as less digital literacy, which may prevent some older people from accessing support online.

Promoting good relations among and between different age groups

Positive: The FRS will promote work to inclusively strengthen community resilience by sharing information and support that allows people to meaningfully contribute to decisions about their places. This could help to promote good relations among different age groups.

Do you think that the policy impacts disabled people? Either directly or indirectly?

Eliminating unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation

None: There is no evidence to suggest that the FRS would have an adverse impact on persons with disability with regard to eliminating unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation.

Advancing equality of opportunity

Positive: The FRS aims to increase community preparedness and awareness of flooding. By ensuring that everyone, regardless of their circumstances, is better positioned to prepare for and respond to flood events the FRS will help to reduce disadvantage and enable people with disabilities to prepare for and respond to flooding effectively.

Promoting good relations among and between disabled and non-disabled people

Positive: It is anticipated that the delivery of the FRS could have a positive impact on promoting good relations among and between disabled and non-disabled people, due to increased visibility and engagement of communities and individuals in ensuring the protection of those with social vulnerabilities to multiple risks, including flooding.

Do you think that the policy impacts on men and women in different ways? Either directly or indirectly?

Eliminating unlawful discrimination

None: We do not anticipate any reason why the FRS would have any impacts on unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation in relation to sex.

Advancing equality of opportunity

Positive: The FRS will promote a range of actions to encourage more inclusive community engagement and support. These include ensuring that delivery partners work in a more joined up way, providing more support to communities to set up flood resilience groups, and taking steps to promote flood resilience amongst potentially vulnerable groups. Increasing the inclusivity of community groups should increase the engagement of men and women, especially those who suffer from social disadvantage.

Promoting good relations between men and women

Positive: It is anticipated that the delivery of the FRS could have a positive impact on promoting good relations with regards to gender, due to increased visibility and engagement with both genders when considering ways to make communities more resilient to flooding.

Do you think that the policy impacts on women on the grounds of pregnancy and maternity? Either directly or indirectly?

Eliminating unlawful discrimination

None: We do not anticipate any reason why the FRS would have any impacts on unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation in relation to pregnancy and maternity. It should be noted that there is limited evidence on pregnant people in regard to flooding and official data on pregnancy and maternity is not recorded in the Census.

Advancing equality of opportunity

Positive: The FRS will promote the increased use of blue-green infrastructure, nature-based solutions, and other forms of natural flood management. The increased use of multi-functional greenspace and natural interventions may have a positive impact on people who are pregnant or postpartum in accessing the health benefits of nature and encouraging greater social interaction.

Promoting good relations

Positive: It is anticipated that the delivery of the FRS could have a positive impact on promoting good relations with regards to pregnancy or maternity. This is due to increased visibility and engagement of pregnancy and postpartum groups when bringing together communities and different groups to integrate flood resilience into wider community priorities. The positive impact of this will require strategic management to ensure the voices of the entire community are heard.

Do you think the policy impacts on people on the grounds of their race? Either directly or indirectly?

Eliminating unlawful discrimination

None: We do not know of or anticipate any reason why the FRS would have any impacts on unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation in relation to race. It should be noted that there is limited evidence on Black and Other Minority Ethnic Groups in regard to flood resilience measures.

Advancing equality of opportunity

Positive: The FRS will promote a range of actions to encourage more inclusive community engagement and support. These include ensuring that delivery partners work in a more joined up way, providing more support to communities to set up flood resilience groups, and taking steps to promote flood resilience amongst potentially vulnerable groups. Increasing the inclusivity of community groups should increase the engagement of those who are more vulnerable to flooding and those who suffer from social disadvantage.

Promoting good race relations

Positive: It is anticipated that the delivery of the FRS could have a positive impact on promoting good relations with regards to race. This is due to increased visibility and engagement of ethnic minorities when bringing together communities and different groups of individuals together through place-based collaboration to ensure communities and individuals are supported to take locally-led flood resilience action that meets their needs. The positive impact of this will require strategic management to ensure the voices of the entire community are heard.