Equalities Impact Assessment
Business Advice
Date: December 2010
Equality Impact Assessment: Services
Title of service being assessed: Business Advice
Department and Section: Chief Executive's. Trading Standards
Team Leader
Names and roles of officers completing
Administration Officer
this assessment.
Research Manager
Contact Telephone Numbers: 0116 305 6547
Date assessment completed: 7th December 2010
Defining the service
1. What are the aims, objectives or purpose of the service? Are these reflected in the relevant
service plan?
The Trading Standards Service is a consumer protection and fair trading enforcement service. It
deals with a wide range of criminal and civil laws.
The overall aim of the Service is to ensure a fair and safe trading environment, which
protects the well-being of citizens and allows businesses to prosper. (Service plan 2010-11)
All detected breaches are considered having regard to our published enforcement policy. Our
priority is to bring businesses into compliance through education and support, promoted in
person when visiting business, but also through local media and mail shots.
With the exception of farms and animal feed businesses, selection of premises for inspection is
through a formal risk assessment system developed by LGR (Local Government Regulation, part
of the Local Government Group which is an organisation set up to support, promote and improve
local government). Risk assessment of farms is according to systems developed by DEFRA
(Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs). For feeding stuffs, the Food Standards
Agency has issued a Code of Practice on Feed Law Enforcement under the Official Feed and
Food Control Regulations 2006. Each system considers the size, nature and history of the
business resulting in a score that determines the frequency of any routine inspection.
In addition to risk assessed routine inspection programmes, the Service visits businesses in
response to complaints from a variety of sources including consumers, partner organisations,
businesses and anonymous tip off services. We also visit businesses at their request to provide
advice, guidance or support as required.
Whilst these objectives are specific to Trading Standards and help us to meet our statutory
duties, the Service also contributes to the following corporate and community objectives as set
out in the Leicestershire Community Strategy and the Local Area Agreement (LAA):
• Improving the quality of life for people - children and young people and older people;
• Improving the quality of life in communities - environment and waste management and safer
communities;
• A strong, diverse economy;
• Healthy communities where people look after themselves and others.
In particular, the Service works in partnership to deliver LAA targets of reduced smoking
prevalence (NI123) and premature deaths from circulatory and vascular diseases in the under
75s (NI121).
2. What outcomes does the service want to achieve and for whom? How have these been
determined? Please also list any relevant performance indicators.
The desired outcomes are identified under 1 above, driven by statutory duties, externally
published performance targets and through consultation with stakeholders.
Table 1 Key Performance Indicators
2009/10 Target
2010/11
Business satisfaction with the Trading National – N182 80 82
Standards Service
Achievement for meeting standards National - N190 1.7 18
for the control system for animal
health.
The percentage compliance with the Service –
law in premises surveyed dealing with S1 Total 90 92
age-restricted sales of alcoholic S1 Random 94 95
products S1 Intelligence- 82 83
led
Consumer satisfaction with the Service – S2 87.6% 88%
Trading Standards Service
Trading Standards visits to high risk Service – S3 100% 100%
premises
Trading Standards levels of business Service –
compliance, high, medium and low S4H High 94.6% 100%
risk premises S4M Medium 89.3% 95%
S4L Low 93.3% 95%
Impact on the Fair Trading Service- S6 1.08% 1.07%
Environment
Contribution to:
NI 123 16+ current smoking rate prevalence PSA (Public Service Agreement) 18
NI 121 premature deaths from all circulatory and vascular diseases under 75s
Identified strategic objective:
7. To improve the quality and accessibility of service delivery by investing in our human resources
to improve flexibility and meet changing customer needs.
Enforcement Principles:
12. We will treat all consumers and businesses fairly. No decision, response or action by the
Service will be affected by the race, politics, gender, sexual orientation, or religious beliefs of any
suspected offender, complainant, witness or officer of this Service.
3. Who is responsible for delivering the service? Are any other organisations involved? If other
organisations are involved are they fully compliant with the Council’s Equality Policy?
Trading Standards business advice is exclusively delivered by the County Council but some
education and information materials that we use are published externally.
Some materials, such as guidance notes on compliance with particular legislative provisions
are produced by Central Government Departments and the Trading Standards Institute (our
professional body). We believe them to be fully compliant.
4. Consider the answers given in questions 1, 2 and 3 and assess whether your service
results, or could result in adverse impact on or discrimination against different groups of
people. If you consider that there is adverse impact or discrimination, or the potential for
either, please outline below and state whether is it justifiable or legitimate and give your
reasons for this. (See examples in Section 6)
It is important to recognise that this service is provided to businesses in all their forms,
including sole traders, partnerships, charities, incorporated bodies. More than one person will
be involved in the operation of all but the smallest business organisation and even sole
traders will of necessity have a close working relationship with other business professionals.
BME (black/minority/ethnic) business ownership and control in Leicestershire is about 7%,
similar to the national figure reported in 2006 by the Small Business Service of 6.8%.
Equality of access to the business advice service is not necessarily restricted by the age,
disability, ethnic background, gender, religion, belief or sexual orientation of an individual,
especially in the case of larger organisations.
When surveyed in 2007, only 6% of Leicestershire BME businesses said that business
practices were influenced by culture/religious values.
The Service conducts regular business satisfaction surveys, sending a questionnaire to
randomly selected businesses with which we have had recent contact. Comparison of data
collected over the last 18 months shows no statistically significant difference between the
perception of the Service among businesses with a BME ownership/management structure
and those with a white British ownership/management structure. (See appendix 2)
Provision of business advice may result from a number of triggers. A business may approach
the Service having heard about new legislation through the media or trade contacts. The
Service may make contact through a mail shot or advice leaflet; because of a change in the
law, as a consequence of a complaint, or following detection of non compliance during an
inspection visit.
In each case, effective communication and comprehension plays a key role in demand and
delivery. It is possible that there could be inequality of access due to literacy or language
problems.
Awareness of the existence of the Service is high; an independent survey of BME businesses
conducted by Marketing Innovation Ltd in 2007 found that 85% of businesses knew of us.
However, only 33% had sought or received help from us. Since then, we have actively
promoted our business advice function, and must continue to do so.
5. (a) If you have identified adverse impact or discrimination that is illegal you are required to
take action to remedy this immediately.
(b) If you have identified adverse impact or discrimination that is justifiable or legitimate,
you will need to consider what actions can be taken to mitigate its effect on those groups
of people. This arises out of the duty to promote good relations between people of
different groups and is in keeping with the Council’s approach to social cohesion. (An
example of this could be Positive Action measures which target specific members of
staff).
No illegal adverse impact or discrimination identified.
It is possible that some businesses may lack the level of language and comprehension skills
necessary to understand UK legislation to the same degree as others. In particular, those
with English as a second language, those with poor literacy skills or those with learning
difficulties may be less able to follow advice provided by the Service than others. This could
impact disproportionately on people due to race or disability. The Service uses the corporate
language line service as necessary to facilitate the effective provision of telephone advice.
The Service has already taken steps to ensure that advice leaflets and letters that we produce
are in the simplest English that we can use, having regard to the complexity of the Legislation
that we deal with.
For cost reasons however, many standard leaflets are bought in rather than produced in
house. The provider of these leaflets works to comply with equalities legislation and we have
made them aware of the need to avoid complex language wherever possible. In appropriate
circumstances we use the corporate translation service to translate guidance into the
language of the intended recipient.
Ensure that these actions are listed in the attached equality improvement plan. If you do
not have the authority to take the action required, you will need to alert the relevant service
manager of your findings.
Identifying and Removing Barriers to Equal Access
6. (a) Identify the ways people can find out about and use the services you provide.
Consider any processes they need to go through or criteria that we apply to determine
eligibility for receiving the service. List your answers in box (a) below.
(b) Review those processes and criteria and consider whether any of them are essential
(i.e. are they a legal requirement?) and mark accordingly in box (b). You are aiming
to maintain only those processes or criteria that are critical to delivering the service.
(c) Review those processes and criterion that you have decided are critical against the
access needs that various equality groups of people have. Are there any groups of
people who would not be able to find out about or use the service? What are the
barriers that are preventing them? List your answers in box (c)
Consider issues such as:
How can people who are deaf/disabled or visually impaired find out about your
service?
What about people whose first language is not English. Is information readily
available in a variety of formats e.g. other languages, large print, audio tape, easy
read for people with learning difficulties?
If people need to come to council offices, are these fully accessible?
How easy is it for a person to make their communication needs understood?
Is there good and accessible transport links to the offices?
Is there parking for disabled people?
How do you ensure that an individual’s preferred method of communication is
known about and adhered to?
Is there a quiet area for interviewing people who are deaf/disabled? Is sufficient
time allocated?
Are the needs of young children accompanying a service user accommodated?
Can an officer attend a user’s home if, for example, a person finds it difficult or
impossible to come to the offices?
Have staff received sufficient and appropriate customer care and equalities
awareness training to be able to deal confidently with a variety of potential access
needs?
(a) (b) (c)
List Process and Criteria Essential? Barriers identified and groups
Yes/No affected
Awareness of the provision of a No
business advice service.
Through local media and advertising BME individuals may not engage
with mainstream media, relying on
radio, TV and print intended for
minority groups.
Individuals with hearing or sight
disabilities may have restricted
access to some media forms.
Through partner agencies such as
Business Link
Through trade bodies and publications
Through direct contact initiated by the Possible comprehension issues
Service by post, phone, or officer visit among those with poor literacy or
for whom English is a second
language.
Access to the service Yes
By telephone Effective use of telephone difficult
for those with hearing disability.
Although we have a Minicom, this
has not been used in many years,
suggesting that it is no longer fit for
purpose.
On the internet There is potential for access
difficulty for those with sight
impairment or comprehension
difficulties, including those with poor
literacy skills and for whom English
is a second language. The County
Council web site meets Web
Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
guidelines, including Browsealoud
and work is ongoing to achieve AA
standard. In addition, details
regarding translation services are
provided in 6 of the most common
languages, linked from the bottom
of each page.
By letter or email Again potentially of limited utility for
those with literacy, sight or
language issues. Ariel 12 type face
is used for clarity and officers are
expected to tailor the content and
language of their letters to the
needs of the recipient.
By visiting the Service's offices The Service is located at County
Hall and there are no physical
barriers to access.
By receiving a visit from an officer
Understanding of the information Yes The majority of our business advice
provided. is to encourage and guide business
to comply with legislation that we
are required to enforce. This
specific legislation and the legal
framework within which it applies is
often of a technical, complex and
subtle nature, comprised of various
interrelated elements. Whilst every
effort is made to present guidance
in a way that makes it accessible to
all, there are times where any over
simplification or lack of detail could
result in the recipient incurrent both
criminal and civil liability.
Practical guidance is given in simple
language. Where there is a
particular trade sector, standard
guidance is tailored to their needs,
including the use of illustrations etc
6. (d)Based on your answers for (a),(b) and (c) consider what barriers you can remove, what
reasonable adjustment may be necessary to ensure the service is accessible (this
could include providing the service elsewhere). Consider what actions you will need to
take to address any unmet needs that you have identified. For disabled people, as
defined under the Disability Discrimination Act, this could mean treating them more
favourably to ensure that there is equality of outcome.
When you are deciding priorities for action you will need to consider whether the barriers
result in an adverse impact or discrimination that is illegal. These will constitute your top
priority. The other priorities will be dependent on such issues as whether a group is
particularly excluded or connected to the core business of the service, whether there are
adjustments that would mean several groups benefit.
The availability of the Minicom to provide real time access to advice for individuals who have
hearing difficulties and cannot discuss issues over the telephone does not appear to meet
the needs of the service users it is intended to assist. Alternative means of providing
responsive real time advice need to be explored in consultation with affected service users
and the corporate ICT (Information & communications technology) team.
We need to consider initiatives to raise awareness of the service among business owners
and managers from certain ethnic groups and those with sight or hearing impairment as
these individuals may not be reached by our main stream publicity.
A consistent theme affecting BME businesses and those operated by individuals with a range
of disabilities is the need to ensure that the advice we give is clearly presented and uses
simple language wherever possible.
Ensure that the actions you identify are put into the attached equality improvement
plan. If you do not have the authority to take the action required, you will need to alert the
relevant service manager of your findings.
Ensuring Continuous Equality Improvement
7. The council is committed to mainstreaming equality, ensuring that it is integrated into our
performance management frameworks and subject to continuous improvement through
performance monitoring. Essentially, if you are not monitoring, you do not know what
impact your service is having or whether you are meeting people’s needs. The table
below shows examples of several types and sources of performance information that we
collect as a council, some is collected corporately and some will be collected within
individual services. Review what data you have and consider the following questions:
(a) What does analysis of the data tell you about how well your service is meeting the
needs of the various equality groups? Are there any unmet needs or concerns that
need to be addressed? How up to date is the information?
(b) Which groups of people are you hearing from? Are there groups of people that you
are not hearing from? What can you do to ensure that people are able to provide
feedback on the service? Is there information on service user needs held by other
services that would be appropriate for your services? Note your answers to these
questions in the 3rd and 4th column below.
Analysis of the data
Data Type Source(s) and/or gaps in When last gathered
information
Compliments, Complaints System
complaints and Correspondence No trends or patterns. Ongoing.
comments Members’ Enquiries
Demographic Data Census, population,
Ownership and
deprivation and other
control of businesses
social statistics
in Leicestershire is
including Annual Ongoing
comparable with the
Small Business
rest of England and
Survey (ASBS).
the UK
Research Team.
Report on BME The survey found high
Business Survey for awareness of and
Leicester and satisfaction with the
Leicestershire Trading Service, but concern
Results of any local Standards over ease of contact March 2007
Consultation and need to be more
aware of the activities,
ethics and way of life
of some businesses.
Workforce Profile Organisational Only two officers of
Development/ BME background,
Ongoing
Personnel both with language
ability in Gujurati.
A number of officers
have disabilities
including hearing.
Team discussions Locally held Regular feature of
around service team meetings,
provision reinforced by
management Monthly
commitment to use of
plain English where
appropriate.
Results of any local Surveys sent to Results show high
satisfaction surveys randomly selected levels of satisfaction
businesses with which with no discernable
the Service has had difference between
contact. the perception of
businesses of white
October 2010
British or BME
background. No
information is
available regarding
disability, gender etc
of respondents.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR SOCIAL COHESION OR PROMOTING GOOD RELATIONS
BETWEEN DIFFERENT GROUPS OF PEOPLE
8. Social cohesion is a priority for Councils. Progress made towards building more cohesive,
empowered and active communities is now being measured through national
Performance Indicators. Essentially social cohesion is about promoting a sense of
connection, trust and belonging both within and across communities and groups. Review
all the actions and targets that you have identified as a result of this equality impact
assessment to what social cohesion issues could arise, for example: these should
include:
(a) Are there ways in which your service could bring different groups of people together,
for example to develop future provision?
(b) Are there ways in which existing groups could interact with the service, for example,
as part of ongoing monitoring of service provision?
(c) Could the way you provide the service bring different groups of people together to
use the service?
(d) Does the way in which your service is provided have the potential to lead to
resentment between different groups of people? How can you compensate for
perceptions of preferential or differential treatment?
(e) If the improvement plan identifies addressing a gap in the service for a particular
group of people, has this also addressed the potential for perceptions of preferential
treatment for the group? (For example, if you give priority treatment to disabled
people, how will you manage the negative attitudes that non-disabled people may
develop as a result.)
(f) How can your service explicitly demonstrate the council’s commitment to promote
equality across race, gender, disability, age, religion/belief and the LGBT
communities?
List your answers below. Ensure that the actions you identify are put into the attached
equality improvement plan.
d) There is potential for individuals who are found to be in breach of the same Legislation to be
treated in different ways. For example, one business may be prosecuted whilst another
receives a warning. If the individuals are from different groups, there is potential for an
incorrect perception of favourable treatment. The Service publishes its enforcement policy and
all decisions as to what action to take are made in accordance with it, but for reasons of privacy
and confidentiality, it is not possible to make public the details of incidents that are not put
before the Courts. An Equality Impact Assessment of the Enforcement, Prosecution and Other
Sanctions policy was carried out in March 2009.
9. EQUALITY IMPROVEMENT PLAN
Please list all the equality objectives, actions and targets that result from the Equality Impact Assessment (continue on separate sheets
as necessary). These now need to be included in the relevant service plan for mainstreaming and performance management purposes.
Officer
Equality Objective Action Target By when
responsible
Improve the way the Service monitors Incorporate new monitoring question in Revise satisfaction survey Admin April 2011
satisfaction levels among BME future satisfaction surveys - see annexe documentation. Officer
businesses and those operated by 1.
persons affected by disability or other
relevant equality issues.
Ensure accessibility to information by Encourage use of simplified language All Immediate
those with poor literacy skills or for wherever possible.
whom English is a second language. Make availability of translation service Include multi language note August
known to relevant recipients of leaflets about service when 2011
and letters. communicating with
businesses that may be
affected.
Promote business advice service to Engage with groups representing, Identify relevant groups in Team March
those less likely to receive promoting or assisting businesses Leicestershire and make Leader 2012
information through mainstream operated by the disabled or BME. contact to promote our
channels. services.
Make real time advice easily available Introduction of an instant messaging Raise as a corporate issue Service March
to those unable to use a telephone system compatible with widely used with Information, Manager 2012
due to hearing or speaking difficulty. applications such as Skype, MSN, Communication & Technology
Yahoo, GTalk and Facebook. Delivery service.
Seek to establish a workforce that Comply fully with all corporate initiatives Take under representation Service Immediate
reflects the population and business to promote equality in recruitment and into account when recruiting Manager and
environment that we serve. promote the Service as an employer to any post, including ongoing
when meeting with relevant groups. promoting posts to 'at risk'
employees of other services.
1st Authorised signature (EIA Lead) ……………..……………………… Date: ………………………………………………………..
2nd Authorised signature (Member of DMT) …………………………… Date: ………………….……………………………………
Annexe 1:
What ethnic group would you say that either over half of owners or partners of this business or the head of business belongs
belong to? By asking these questions, we are able to judge the extent to which people from certain groups are represented in
senior positions in comparison to the population as the whole.
Black ………………….….. 1
Asian …………….………… 2
White UK/Irish …………… 3
White other ………………. 4
Mixed race ………………… 5
Other …………………..…. 6
More than one ethnic group .. 7
Refused/NA ………………... 8
Is the way that your business interacts with Trading Standards affected by any of the following, and is there anything that we
could do to address this?
Age ………………….…............ 1
Disability…………….………….. 2
Ethnicity......... …………..........… 3
Gender or gender identity........…. 4
Religion or belief………………...5
Sexual orientation …………....….6
07/12/2010
APPENDIX B
Num ber of returned questionnaires
(2010/11 returns are from April to August- contacts)
171
55
19
6
2009/10 Non BME 2009/10 BME 2010/11 Non BME 2010/11 BME
I felt m y business w as treated fairly I felt the contact w as helpful
Strongly agree Agree Neither agree or disagree Disagree Strongly disagree Not Applicable Strongly agree Agree Neither agree or disagree Disagree Strongly disagree Not Applicable
1%
3% 5% 6% 1%
2% 3% 6%
4%
12%
46% 47%
46% 67% 53%
58% 67%
40%
50% 53%
46% 43%
37% 33% 39% 33%
2009/10 Non BME 2009/10 BME 2010/11 Non BME 2010/11 BME 2009/10 Non BME 2009/10 BME 2010/11 Non BME 2010/11 BME
Were our officers courteous and polite at all tim es? If you sought advice from us how easy w as it to m ake initial contact?
Yes No Don't know Very easy Fairly easy Fairly difficult Very Difficult
4%
2%
3% 2%
46% 42% 50%
56%
100% 100% 94% 100%
52% 56% 50%
44%
2009/10 Non BME 2009/10 BME 2010/11 Non BME 2010/11 BME 2009/10 Non BME 2009/10 BME 2010/11 Non BME 2010/11 BME
APPENDIX B
If w e said your business w as not m eeting the legal requirem ents: If w e said your b
Did w e m ake it clear to you w hat you needed to do to m eet the legal requirm ents? Was our re
Yes No Don't know Yes
8% 7%
6%
1%
100% 100%
92% 94% 93%
2009/10 Non BME 2009/10 BME 2010/11 Non BME 2010/11 BME 2009/10 Non BME 200
What is your perception of the role of the Trading Standards Service?
Criminal law enforcement agency - prosecuting traders w ho break the law Civil law enforcement agency w ith p
An advisory agency to help traders understand and comply w ith the law An advisory agency to help consum
26% 30% 29%
38%
35% 41%
12% 5%
6%
30%
24% 24%
2009/10 Non BME 2009/10 BME 2010/11 Non BME