Done well, EIAs are more than a means to show compliance. They support the growth of a mind-set and culture that put issues of equality at the heart of decision-making and policy development. 

However, what we have seen and heard tells us that public bodies in Wales tend to use their EIAs defensively. Too often, they seem like a tick box exercise to show that the body has thought about equality issues in case of challenge. While legal challenge is of course an important risk to manage, this approach means public bodies are not using EIAs to their full potential, especially in terms of promoting equality and cohesion. 

This shared learning event aims to assist public bodies to improve use and application of EIAs beyond an exercise in compliance by bringing people together from across public services to share ideas, learning and knowledge. 

A discussion on staff wellbeing during the pandemic with Speakers from Hywel Dda University Health Board.

The speakers are Lisa Gostling, (Director of Workforce and Organisational Development), Suzanne Tarrant (Consultant Clinical Psychologist), Christine Davies (Assistant Director of Organisation Development), and the conversation is hosted and facilitated by Phil Jones of Audit Wales.

Poverty is multidimensional, complex, growing and impacting more people in Wales.

Even before the current cost of living crisis, almost one in four people in Wales live in poverty meaning they get less than 60% of the average wage. That is about 700,000 of our fellow citizens. That level of relative poverty has remained unchanged for decades.

Poverty can mean having no money in your pocket, your children going to school hungry, or to bed without enough food. It can mean not being able to afford a winter coat or heat your home, and often living for years without work or hope, cut off from opportunities and change.

The causes of poverty can also be structural, derived and enhanced by the way society and the economy is framed and works which helps create a cycle that make it more difficult for some people to provide for their families and keeps them trapped in hardship. These structures drive disparities in access to transportation, education, childcare, health care, high-quality jobs, and affordable housing.

Some of these consequences – for instance social isolation, exclusion, powerlessness, physical and emotional wellbeing – can extend and perpetuate poverty, making it difficult, if not impossible, for people to escape its impact. And often the way policies and services both within the public and private sector are set and delivered can make the situation far more challenging.