Organ and tissue donation and transplantation: consultation

Equalities Impact Assessment

If there are proposed changes to legislation as a result of the findings of this consultation, the Scottish Government will be carrying out a number of Impact Assessments, including an Equalities Impact Assessment. We are required to carry out an Equalities Impact Assessment in order to ensure compliance with our duties under the Equality Act 2010 and associated regulations. The Equalities Impact Assessment aims to ensure that any new Scottish Government policies or legislation help promote opportunities where possible for a range of equalities groups and at the very least avoid any discrimination or other unfair treatment of any particular groups of individuals, based on, for example, their gender, race, religion or disability.

We do not feel that the proposals in this consultation would be likely in most cases to impact on individuals in any equalities group differently from others, although there are some specific provisions for children and adults who do not have the capacity to understand or make their own decisions about organ or tissue donation - likely to be those with serious disabilities - to help protect their interests. There may also be some implications for some people from minority ethnic groups if they do not have a good understanding of English, as well as those with visual or hearing impairments, in ensuring that they are sufficiently aware of any changes that may be adopted in relation to a deemed authorisation system.

We would be grateful for your views on any equalities impacts to ensure that they can be fully considered as part of the Impact Assessment.

Question 18 - do you think there are particular impacts or implications for any equalities groups from any of the proposals in this consultation, either positive or negative? If yes, please provide details.

In the question above, equalities groups should be taken to mean any different impacts the proposals might have on any particular groups of people based on their:

age
being pregnant or on maternity leave
disability
gender reassignment
race
religion or belief
sex, or
sexual orientation

Please note, we will also be carrying out a Children's Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment, which will take account of responses to a number of the earlier questions in this consultation, where those relate to children (either directly or indirectly).