Closed petition Enact the socio-economic duty in the Equality Act and make EIAs mandatory

Closed on 22 September 2021

The socio-economic duty in the Equality Act should be enacted and Equality Impact Assessments made mandatory to help ensure that future generations, regardless of background, are fully and equally accounted for in government decision making relating to health, environment and wellbeing.

This is particularly important where decisions have the potential to widen intergenerational inequality. Children are vulnerable to severe impacts from government decision making. They have no legal representation in process, and their future needs as citizens who deserve sustainable lives is poorly factored in. The coronavirus response, resulting educational disruption for those who can tolerate it least without adequate mitigation, and the failure to respond adequately to the climate crisis, demonstrate that something is wrong in how government accounts for and acts on equality issues.