Ein cyf/Our ref SF/JH/3540/12

      3 January 2013

Ann Jones AM

Communities, Equality & Local Government Committee

Committee Service

Communities.Equality&LocalGov@wales.gov.uk

Communities, Equality and Local Government Committee – Inquiry into Equality Considerations in the Welsh Government’s Budget

Thank you for your letter of 28 November regarding the Communities, Equality and Local Government Committee’s Inquiry into Equality Considerations in the Welsh Government’s Budget and the Committee’s recommendations.

I am committed to ensuring that equality is considered in our decision-making within the Welsh Government, including our decisions surrounding the budget and funding.  As you outline in your letter, our progress and performance in this area is improving each year and I believe our successes to date and the progress we have made so far, demonstrate the Welsh Government’s considerable commitment to equality in Wales. 

This commitment is combined with a pledge to continue to strengthen and develop our equality expertise and improve our approach to assessing the equality impacts of our budgetary decisions.  As such, I welcome your Inquiry and the recommendations that you have made.  As you will be aware, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) Wales has also undertaken an Appreciative Inquiry into our assessment of equality considerations when determining the budget, which was published on 27^th November.  I have asked my officials to work through these recommendations with me, along with the Committee’s recommendations. 

It may help if I outline our position so far and recent developments we have made.  One of your recommendations suggested a need for us to publish the Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) of the Draft Budget alongside the Draft Budget.  For the 2013-14 Draft Budget, we published the EIA on 8^th October;   the assessment was published as a separate stand alone document to illustrate our commitment to be transparent in our equality considerations.  This has been followed with an update of the changes made within the final Budget to those initial considerations and spending decisions; this illustrates that our assessments are a continual process, evolving over the lifetime of the spending decision.

As you mentioned, the Welsh Government Budget Advisory Group for Equality (BAGE) has been established and will meet in the New Year.  This advisory forum will have a key role in supporting the continuous improvement of the Equality Impact Assessment of the Welsh Government’s Budget.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Committee for their review. 

Yours sincerely,

Jane Hutt AC / AM

Y Gweinidog Cyllid ac Arweinydd y Ty

Minister for Finance and Leader of the House