§ Sandra GidleyTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he has established a baseline for policy appraisal against which to measure progress on equal treatment; and what progress has been achieved. [42918]
§ Ruth Kelly[holding answer 14 March 2002]: A basis assessment of gender effects is one aspect of the equality impact assessment that goes into the formulation of tax policy advice. Like other aspects of Budget policy, this is coordinated by HM Treasury.
The Treasury Guidance for the 2002 Spending Review emphasises that Departments must consider key cross-Government agenda, including equality and sustainable development, and how to implement them in their submissions to the review. The guidance explicitly states that Departments' analysis should also highlight any significant distributional effects—e.g. between regions, types of environment, generations or gender—in their proposals.
Moreover, several of the cross-cutting reviews in the 2002 Spending Review have remits, which include promotion of equality, such as reviews of the public sector labour market and tackling health inequalities.
The Treasury has worked closely with organisations such as the Women and Equality Unit and the Women's Budget Group (WBG)—and an independent UK organisation of gender experts—in order to improve its understanding of gender impact and its analytical capacity.
Analysis is included in internal advice put to Ministers during the development of policy. Policy makers are required to look at the impact legislative proposals may have across the range of equality issues—e.g. race, disability, age and gender. Policy makers have access to guidance on equality impact assessments on an intranet site, which includes information on policy appraisal for equal treatment—and also includes the draft gender mainstreaming guidance produced by the Women's Unit.