Wales Impact Report 2022 to 2023

As Wales’s equality regulator and as a National Human Rights Institution (NHRI), we challenge discrimination and protect people’s rights and freedoms. We are a small team with limited resources. Our priorities for 2022–2025 are highlighted in this report.

We would like to thank Wales Committee members and the staff team for their dedication and performance. We would particularly like to thank Eryl Besse for her leadership as Wales Commissioner during this year.

2022–2023 was marked by high inflation rates and cost-of-living pressures. Rising poverty made inequalities worse for some groups, with Wales having the highest rates of child poverty in the UK.

This year also saw us publish a new strategic plan. Our work has built on the impact we had while working under the full effects of COVID-19. We advised the Welsh Government on how to tackle inequalities throughout.

Engaging with the impacts of the pandemic on ethnic minority groups and our inquiry into the experiences from health and social care: the treatment of lower-paid ethnic minority workers informed our advice to the Welsh Government on the development and first stages of implementation of the Anti-racist Wales Action Plan.

Our work with the Older People’s Commissioner for Wales and our inquiry into challenging adult social care decisions in England and Wales has informed our work on upholding rights and equality in health and social care.

The first year of implementing a new strategy is always both a challenge and a joy. The team has worked hard to get initiatives, including in artificial intelligence and digital, off the ground.

We are immensely proud of both the breadth and depth of the impact our Wales team has made. We could not do much as we do without the support of the Wales Committee, or collaborations with key external stakeholders.

Diolch yn fawr iawn pawb.

Martyn Jones, Interim Chair, Wales Committee                               

Ruth Coombs, Head of Wales

We are Britain’s equality regulator. We were established under the Equality Act 2006 to protect and enforce the laws that ensure fairness, dignity and respect. We are independent of the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments. As Great Britain’s globally accredited ‘A’ status National Human Rights Institution, we have a full human rights mandate in England and Wales and in Scotland in relation to matters reserved to the UK Parliament.

Our job is to challenge discrimination and protect people’s rights across England, Scotland and Wales. We do this by:

• upholding and explaining the laws that protect people’s rights and freedoms
• enforcing the Equality Act 2010 in England, Scotland and Wales
• preventing and challenging discrimination, so that everyone gets a fair chance in life, and
• protecting people’s rights, so that everyone is treated fairly, with dignity and respect.

We adhere to the Hampton Code of Practice for Regulators, which outlines five principles of good regulation. These are:

• proportionality
• accountability
• consistency
• transparency, and
• targeting.

Further information on our approach to regulation and our regulatory objectives is on our website.

We work through a regulatory model that describes how we use our statutory powers and functions, including as a National Human Rights Institution, to improve equality and human rights and enforce compliance with the law. This model helps us to plan our work and identify and measure the impact we achieve.

Evidencing the issues

We inform the decisions and actions of governments, parliaments and others by providing data and evidence on equality and human rights.

Influencing standard setting

We advise governments, regulators and others on how to improve systems and processes to promote equality and human rights through regulatory frameworks and standards.

Ensuring compliance with standards

We provide information, guidance and advice to support organisations to meet their duties under equality and human rights law. We help individuals to understand their rights.

Enforcing the law

We take action against organisations that break equality and human rights law. We hold them to account, secure justice for people whose rights have been breached, and aim to bring about wider compliance with the law.

This report details our impact in making Wales fairer in 2022–23. 

We have summarised our impact under each of our strategic priorities. Our Strategic Plan 2022–2025 sets out the six priority areas that we will focus on to make sure everyone gets a fair chance in life. These are:

• equality in a changing workplace
• equality for children and young people
• upholding rights and equality in health and social care
• addressing the equality and human rights impact of digital services and artificial intelligence
• fostering good relations and promoting respect between groups, and
• ensuring an effective legal framework to protect equality and human rights.

Key highlights of our work in Wales:

• The Social Care Fair Work Forum’s annual progress report reflected the findings and recommendations of our inquiry report, ‘Experiences from Health and Social Care: the treatment of lower-paid ethnic minority workers’.
• Following our interventions, an amendment to the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Bill was passed which expanded the strategic duty of promoting equality of opportunity to include specific reference to research.
• The Ministerial response to the report of the Senedd Health and Social Services Committee on The Health Service Procurement (Wales) Bill accepted all our recommendations.
• The Welsh Government relied on our advice to ensure that changes to social care reforms were informed by equality and human rights.
• Through our Race Legal Support Scheme in 2021, we continued to support people who experienced race discrimination. In Wales, we successfully supported cases for members of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities.

Equality in a changing workplace

Social Partnerships and Public Procurement (Wales) Act

The Deputy Minister for Social Partnership confirmed that our guidance will inform how the Act and the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) work together. Demonstrating the importance of using the strategic leverage of procurement to comply with the PSED.

Mainstreaming equality considerations in procurement

Our updated PSED and procurement guidance supports public bodies in Wales to make decisions that both comply and promote equality. Public bodies in Wales have enormous purchasing power: approximately £6 billion per annum, accounting for almost a third of the Welsh devolved budget.

Social care workforce

The Social Care Fair Work Forum’s annual progress report reflected the findings and recommendations of our inquiry report, ‘Experiences from Health and Social Care: the treatment of lower-paid ethnic minority workers’. 

A new Welsh Government established Task and Finish Group focused on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion will be created under the Anti-racist Wales Action Plan. It will work to support the implementation of our recommendations related to the social care workforce.

Remote working

Reflecting our advice, the scope of the Welsh Government Remote Working team has been widened to include flexible working.

Equality for children and young people

School uniform and hair discrimination guidance

The Welsh Government included a link to our resources on hair discrimination in their new guidance on School Uniform and Appearance.

Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act 2022; Equality Impact Assessment

An amendment to the Bill for this Act was passed. This aligned with our recommendations on the need to explicitly embed equality of opportunity into the research and innovation committee. This will ensure equality is at the centre of all activities of the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research, including in research and teaching.

Following our intervention, the required Equality Impact Assessment on the Bill was revised and improved by the Welsh Government. The Minister gave an assurance that officials would engage with us in the development of subordinate legislation.

Strategic Equality Plans in Education

We monitored schools’ compliance with the PSED and the need to publish Strategic Equality Plans (SEPs). 

We found that a low percentage of schools published an up-to-date SEP. We clarified the requirements for schools with the publication of our Public Sector Equality Duty: Guidance for schools in Wales.

Peer on peer sexual harassment in schools

The report of the Senedd Children, Young People and Education Committee consultation on peer-on-peer sexual harassment in schools reflected our evidence and recommendations. This included the need to update statutory guidance to local authorities on data collection and analysis.

Upholding rights and equality in health and social care

Social Care Reform

The Welsh Government followed our advice by embedding the PSED, Socio-economic Duty, UN Treaty Conventions and our Building Better Outcomes procurement guidance into the draft Code of Practice for the National Framework for Commissioning Care and Support.

Social Care Regulators

We engaged and provided advice on our challenging adult social care decisions inquiry to Llais, the Citizen’s Voice Body for Health and Social Care in Wales.

The Chief Executive invited us to deliver a session on the inquiry findings to their Board, to support their strategic planning. 

Discharging patients from hospitals

We held the Welsh Government to account on the human rights and equality implications of its guidance to NHS Boards. This guidance would have allowed patients to be discharged from hospitals without social care packages in place.

Addressing the equality and human rights impact of digital services and artificial intelligence (AI)

Artificial intelligence (AI), equality and human rights

We worked with the Welsh Government and other public sector digital leaders to ensure that equality and human rights are at the centre of any decisions about AI use in Wales.

Artificial intelligence (AI) in public services

Our guidance on AI and equality in public services was widely disseminated.  The guidance seeks to help public bodies and service providers to review their use of AI and ensure they do not breach the PSED.

Fostering good relations and promoting respect between groups

Sport in Wales

As part of our work with sporting bodies in Wales, a sporting body addressed our concerns that its action could amount to harassment and discrimination of Gypsy Roma Traveller Communities. The body apologised to, and took steps to repair their relationship with, these communities.

Anti-racist Wales Action Plan (ArWAP)

Having influenced the drafting of the Anti-racist Wales Action Plan (ArWAP), we subsequently advised the Welsh Government on how its actions can best align with recommendations from our inquiry report on the health and social care workforce.  

The ArWAP now commits to incorporate the recommendations from our report.

Welsh Government LGBTQ+ Action Plan

Our evidence and several recommendations from the 2018 ‘Is Wales Fairer?’ report are referenced and implemented in the Welsh Government’s LGBTQ+ Action Plan.

Gender Identity Clinics

The Minister for Health and Social Services responded to our concerns about the lengthy delays experienced by trans people in Wales seeking to access the Gender Identity Clinic. The Minister confirmed that the Welsh Government is committed to improving services and that waiting times have reduced since we raised our concerns.

Welsh Government Disability Taskforce

The Welsh Government established a Disability Rights Taskforce (DTR) to address the issues in their Locked-out report. It highlighted the inequalities experienced by disabled people particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Through our membership of the DTR and its working groups we are providing advice, along with disabled people’s organisations, to co-produce a Disability Equality Action Plan for Wales.

Ensuring an effective legal framework to protect equality and human rights

Where we have undertaken specific legal work which corresponds most closely with one of our six strategic priorities, we have provided further detail under the relevant priority area, such as fostering good relations and promoting respect between groups. 

Race Support Fund

We supported two cases under the race support fund for members of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in Wales, using our powers under s28 of the Equality Act 2006.

One case resulted in a father and daughter receiving compensation in settlement of their claim for race discrimination and harassment. This followed a Conservative Club in Cardiff refusing to host their christening party after learning they were Irish Travellers.

Inappropriate comments made by MS regarding Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities

We wrote to an MS, the Llywydd, and the Senedd Commissioner for Standards & Senedd Standards of Conduct Committee following inappropriate comments made about Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities during a Senedd plenary session.

We reminded the MS that the comments only served to further stigmatise Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities and contribute to the discrimination and inequalities they continue to experience. Additionally, the comments did not meet the standards required by the code of conduct for members the Senedd.

The MS confirmed they will choose more appropriate remarks to best represent their constituents in the Senedd in the future.

Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill (REUL Bill)

The Minister for Social Justice highlighted and agreed with concerns we raised in our briefing on the REUL Bill to the members of the Senedd and of its Equality and Social Justice Committee.

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

As part of our role as a National Human Rights Institution (NHRI), we submitted our children’s rights in Great Britain report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Our report included recommendations for the Welsh Government. It highlighted concerns about the number of children living in poverty, barriers to education and inequalities in educational attainment, which were worsened by the pandemic.

We funded Children in Wales to send a group of young people to Geneva to talk with the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, which gave these young people a stronger voice at the centre of children’s rights in Wales, and on the international stage.

International Covenant on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights

Our report to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights made recommendations to the Welsh Government, including to renew their Child Poverty Strategy.

Our report highlighted the rising cost of living and increasing poverty levels which have exacerbated inequalities for some groups including ethnic minorities, disabled people and children.

We enabled civil society to amplify the voice of different stakeholders in Wales to hold the Welsh Government to account.

We did this by funding Just Fair’s report to the Committee on behalf of civil society in England and Wales.

Human Rights Tracker

We provided training to civil society organisations on our online tool, the human rights tracker, to help them track how well the Welsh Government is meeting its human rights obligations. 

Budget Improvement and Impact Advisory Group (BIIAG)

Equality and compliance with equality law were considered in the development of the Welsh Government budget following our advice to the Welsh Government BIIAG.

Social care inquiry

In February 2023, we published our inquiry report, ‘Challenging decisions about adult social care in England and Wales’.

The Welsh Government’s Deputy Minister responsible for social care, Julie Morgan MS, accepted all the inquiry recommendations made to the Welsh Government. This included recommendations to update and strengthen the Part 2 Code of Practice for the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014.

Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) have committed to embedding all recommendations addressed to them into their inspection work with Local Authorities. 

Treatment of lower-paid ethnic minority workers in health and social care inquiry

In June 2022, we published our inquiry into the treatment of lower-paid ethnic minority workers in health and social care organisations, along with a Wales Policy Briefing.  

The Welsh Government and health and social care organisations engaged positively with our recommendations.

The Welsh Government has committed to:

• undertake a review of the effectiveness of regulations to ensure that residential and domiciliary care workers are given the option of more secure contracts after three months with an employer, and
• ask regulators, health boards and local government to evidence how they have responded to our recommendations. This includes any alignment with the actions they have committed to in the Anti-racist Wales Action Plan.

Social Care Wales’s first all-workforce survey included specific questions on the treatment and experience of the workforce in line with our recommendations.

This will improve understanding of the workforce and their experiences.

The Welsh Government is also currently developing a Workforce Race Equality Standard for the health and social care sectors, reflecting one of our recommendations.   

Action from our recommendations has been designated a priority in the 2023–24 work plan of the Social Care Fair Work Forum. 

Our future work will include:

The Equality and Human Rights Monitor: Is Wales Fairer? 2023

We gathered evidence and data for our state-of-the-nation report on equality and human rights. It was published in November 2023.

‘Is Wales Fairer?’ tracks progress on equality and human rights since our last report in 2018. It also highlights areas for improvement.

We expect the report to inform the Welsh Government’s and other public bodies’ strategic planning for 2024 and beyond, ensuring a focus on the most pressing inequalities.

Equality in a changing workplace

We will continue to monitor the implementation of the recommendations we made in our inquiry into the treatment of lower-paid ethnic minority workers in health and social care organisations.

Equality for Children and Young People

We will continue to ensure equality and human rights are embedded into the implementation of the new curriculum in Wales. This will include the promotion of PSED guidance for schools and a video presentation.

In the autumn, we will be delivering an event for all head teachers in Carmarthenshire which will provide an excellent pilot opportunity for further engagement with schools across Wales.

We will monitor improvement in compliance with the publication of Strategic Equality Plans by secondary schools, special schools and Pupil Referral Units.

We will provide advice to support the establishment of the new Commission on Tertiary Education and Research.

Addressing the equality and human rights impact of digital services and artificial intelligence

We will maximise opportunities to collaborate with digital leaders in Wales and to put equality and human rights at the centre of any decisions about AI use in Wales.

We will consider the equality and human rights implications in practice for Wales of any amendments to the UK Government’s Online Safety Bill.

Upholding rights and equality in health and social care

We will monitor the implementation of the recommendations from our inquiry into challenging adult social care decisions.

We will advise the Welsh Government as it develops its social care reforms, including the development of a National Care Service.

We will provide advice on the development of a toolkit for social commissioners to better understand how to meet their obligations under equality and human rights legislation.

We will address inequalities in access to health care for LGBT people.

We will seek to reduce data gaps and hold the Welsh Government to account on the delivery of its commitments in the LGBTQ+ Action Plan.

Fostering good relations

We will provide expert advice to the Welsh Government as they develop their transgender guidance for schools.

Effective legal framework

We will provide advice to Welsh Government on their commitment to incorporate UN treaties in Welsh law.

We will engage with the Disability Rights Taskforce and provide advice on the development of a Disability Equality Action Plan.

With powers given to it under the 2006 Equality Act, the Wales Committee is a decision-making body. Among other things, it:

• sets the direction of our work in Wales
• oversees our advice to the Welsh Government and Senedd
• advises on research about equality and human rights in Wales, and
• undertakes stakeholder engagement in Wales.

You can find out more about the Wales Committee’s work by reading the minutes of its meetings.

Wales Committee members 2023-2024

Martyn Jones, Interim Chair from November 2023

Martyn is the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager at South Wales Police and has previously been the CEO of the charities Learning Disability Wales and Diverse Cymru. He represented the Wales Committee on the Disability Advisory Committee.

Mark Sykes

Mark retired in 2017 after a 35-year career in Human Resources and Organisational Development in public and private sectors. He was formerly the Assistant Director for Organisational Development at Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board. Mark volunteers with the homelessness charity Crisis.

Bethan Thomas

Bethan Thomas works as the Head of Partnerships and Programmes for The Big Issue. Outside of her role, Beth is a trustee for Street Football Wales, a charity working to tackle social inclusion through football. Beth is also a proud member of the Women’s Equality Network in Wales and was part of the 2019 cohort of their mentoring programme.

Chris Dunn

Chris is Chief Executive of Equality and Inclusion at the charity Diverse Cymru. Chris’s background is in the Welsh third sector, where he fights for equality and ensures communities have a platform to lead change. Chris is guided by his values of inclusive co-production, upholding equality and delivering excellence.

Helen Mary Jones

Helen Mary has 40 years’ experience of work in public service, including as a member of the Senedd. She was Deputy Director of the Morgan Academy at Swansea University and has been chief executive of a leading national youth work organisation. Helen Mary has held a wide range of roles in the public and third sectors. Currently she is a public affairs consultant, leading campaigns for private and public sector organisations. Helen Mary is a board member of Social Care Wales and a Chair of the Board of Trustees of Children in Wales. She has presented on children’s rights at Harvard, Houston and Austin universities, in the US. In 2017, Helen Mary was awarded an honorary doctorate by Swansea University. This was in recognition of her contribution to public life, particularly the promotion of social justice.

Mary van den Heuvel

Mary is the senior policy officer for the National Education Union Cymru, and leads on policy, press and public affairs for the union in Wales. Mary has worked in various policy and public affairs roles in Wales for more than 15 years, including for Leonard Cheshire Disability, Royal National Institute of Blind People and Royal National Institute for Deaf People.

As a disabled person, Mary is passionate about social justice, representation, equality and equitable access to education. Mary is on the Access to Elected Office Fund Wales panel, which helps disabled people with the extra costs of standing for election. 

Eryl Besse, Wales Commissioner (Chair) until 31 October 2023

Since retiring from legal practice at the end of December 2012, Eryl has been in public service. She served on the Board of the Charity Commission from 2013–2018 and was the Member for Wales. She was Deputy Chairwoman from 2016 -2018. She was subsequently the Senior Adviser to the Foreign Secretary’s Special Representative for UK victims of Qadhafi-sponsored IRA terrorism.

Eryl was Joint Deputy Chairwoman of the Commission from 1 January 2023–29 September 2023 and Chairwoman of the Commission’s People & Workspace Committee for the same period. Eryl resigned from her role as Commissioner in October 2023.

Committee appointments and retirements

Eryl Besse was Wales Commissioner from April 2022 to October 2023. She stepped down in October 2023. We thank her for her contribution.

Helen Mary Jones and Chris Dunn joined the Committee in October 2022.

Mary van den Heuvel joined the Committee in April 2023.

During 2022–23 Rocio Cifuentes, Grace Quantock, Geraint Hopkins, Alison Parken, and Faith Walker stepped down from the Wales Committee. We thank them for their contributions.

We would also like to thank Martyn Jones for his time as interim chair of the Wales Committee.

This publication and related equality and human rights resources are available from our website.

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