To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 17
December 2018 (HL11981), what conclusions were reached by HM Treasury, along with
other relevant departments, about the equality and cumulative impact of their decisions
on those people sharing protected characteristics; and what assessment they have made
of how such conclusions compare with those of the Equality and Human Rights Commission
in its report The cumulative impact in living standards of public spending changes,
published on 28 November, in respect of the effect of public spending changes on lone
parents, young adults, severely disabled people and certain ethnic groups since 2010.
<p>Equality and fairness continue to be at the heart of this Government’s agenda,
and HM Treasury and other departments take their compliance with the Equality Act’s
Public Sector Equality Duty seriously when deciding policy. Impact assessments of
government policies, including the impact on equalities, are often published by relevant
departments. In the interests of transparency, the Treasury and HMRC publish tax information
and impact notes (TIINs) for individual tax measures that include, in summary form,
assessments of their expected equalities impacts.</p><p>The government does not accept
that the EHRC’s report presents an accurate view of the impacts of its policy choices.
In its analysis of public spending, the EHRC does not cover the increase in spending
in the new multi-year funding plan for NHS England, equating to £20.5bn more per year
in real terms by 2023-24 or changes to the UC work allowance announced at Budget 2018.</p>
