Equality and Human Rights annual report and Welsh Ministers’ Report 2025

I am pleased to present the Welsh Government’s Annual Report on Equality and Human Rights and Welsh Ministers’ Report 2025, covering the period between 1 January 2024 and 31 March 2025.  This report provides an overview of Welsh Government action to promote and strengthen equality and human rights, and progress in the delivery of the requirements of the Wales Specific Equality Duties. 

As a government, social justice is at the heart of what we do. Central to social justice is promoting human rights and equality, and we are committed to tackling inequality and discrimination in all their forms. 

Of course, there remains much work to be done in our journey to strengthen and advance equality and human rights in Wales. Our legislation, our Strategic Equality and Human Rights Plan and all of our equality plans lay a solid foundation for this. 

I maintain my commitment to a Wales which cares deeply about the needs of all of its citizens and its communities in all their diversity, a Wales rooted in equity and human rights. 

Jane Hutt MS 
Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip

This report, which covers the period from 1 January 2024 to 31 March 2025, sets out how the Welsh Government worked to fulfill its equality objectives during this period. 

Our policies and decisions must be informed by those most directly affected by them. Engagement with experts, equality groups, individuals and communities with lived experience helps us to understand how best to support all Welsh people and communities including those with protected characteristics. This is a fundamental requirement of our Welsh Specific Equality Duties. 

Throughout the period covered by this report, Welsh Ministers engaged at many events and meetings with groups working to promote equality and human rights, to understand their priorities and the challenges they face daily.

The Welsh Government has several well-established forums through which we regularly engage with advocates and representative groups to discuss equality and human rights matters. These include:

• British Sign Language (BSL) Stakeholder Group
• Disability Equality Forum and Disability Rights Taskforce
• Faith Communities Forum
• Wales Race Forum
• Budget Impact and Advisory group (BIIAG)
• Strengthening Equality and Human Rights Steering Group (This Group has now been evolved in the Human Rights Advisory Group; more will be covered on this further on in this report)
• Gender Equality Forum
• Period Dignity Roundtable
• Human Rights Advisory Group
• Nation of Sanctuary Oversight Board
• VAWDASV National Partnership Board

These forums are either chaired by Welsh Ministers or a senior Welsh Government official and/or co-chaired with representatives from the relevant community of interest. Some of them are unique within the UK in the way they enable equality stakeholders to engage directly and regularly with the most senior levels of government on the issues that concern them. 

This report also provides an update on how the Welsh Government and other Public Sector organisations have delivered against the requirements of the Public Sector Equality Duties. A section on this is included in Chapter 2 of this report.

It outlines how we have applied our responsibilities under equality legislation to integrate equality into our policy development and decision-making. We welcome the challenge to consider carefully how our work affects different groups of people and enables us to provide services to meet the diverse needs of all citizens living in Wales. As well as reducing the risk of negative impacts of our decisions, the legislation also drives us to consider how we can positively contribute to the advancement of equality for all.

The Welsh Government is also working to enhance equality data and statistics to inform future policy development.

The Equality and Human Commission (EHRC) is the regulator for equality and human rights and adherence to the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 and human rights legislation in England and Wales.

The Welsh Government Annual Report on Equality and Human Rights 2025 takes account of the Long-Terms Aims and Objectives of the Welsh Government Strategic Equality Plan 2020 to 2024. In 2024 and 2025 we have developed a more streamlined approach to our Long-term Aim and Equality Objectives which has been published through our Strategic Equality and Human Rights Plan 2025 to 2029, with a single Long-term Aim and 7 National Equality Objectives. Next year’s Annual Report on Equality and Human Rights (2026) will reflect this more streamlined approach. This is further reflected in Chapter 5 of this Report: A Look Ahead.

This report fulfils our duties under the Government of Wales Act 2006 and sets out what we have done to incorporate the statutory reporting requirements of equality legislation into our policies and practices, in particular the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) and the Welsh Specific Equality Duties (WSED). 

Legal background

Section 77 of the Government of Wales Act 2006 requires the Welsh Government to promote equality of opportunity for all. Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 mandates public bodies, in the exercise of their functions, to have due regard to the need to:  

• eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, and victimisation
• advance equality of opportunity between those with a protected characteristic and those without
• foster good relations between individuals with and without protected characteristics

This is known as the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) or 'general duty'. The Welsh Government introduced additional equality duties specific to Wales under the Equality Act 2010 (Statutory Duties) (Wales) Regulations 2011. These duties apply to listed Welsh public sector organisations and include responsibilities on engagement, equality impact assessments, pay differences, procurement, equality and employment information, and reporting arrangements. This report is published according to regulation 16 of the 2011 Regulations to demonstrate compliance with the general duty.

Programme for Government 2021 to 2026

The Programme for Government sets out this government’s commitments. Responsibility for the commitments that directly contribute to our well-being objectives rests with the First Minister and the full Cabinet as these require the highest level of co-ordination and integration across the whole of government.

Welsh Ministers have direct responsibility for the remaining commitments. 

In those areas covered by the Co-operation Agreement Welsh Ministers worked with Plaid Cymru under the terms of the Agreement. This report covers the period prior to the dissolution of the Co-operation Agreement.

Additionally, we have published well-being objectives which set out how we will use the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 to help deliver our Programme for Government and maximize our contribution to the seven shared national well-being goals.

Our Programme for Government and our well-being objectives complement and support our equality objectives. They strengthen the implementation of the Public Sector Equality Duty and the Welsh Specific Equality Duties by improving the social, economic, environmental and cultural well-being of Wales in a sustainable way.

While the programme is designed to improve the prosperity and lives of all citizens of Wales, we have made a number of specific commitments centred around celebrating diversity and taking strides to eliminate inequality across Wales. These are outlined below.

We will:

• implement and fund the commitments made in our Race Equality Action Plan (now referred to as “An Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan”)
• explore legislation to address pay gaps based on gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, disability, and other forms of discrimination
• ensure public bodies and those receiving public funding address pay disparities
• pilot an approach to Basic Income
• ensure the history and culture of our Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic communities are properly represented by investing further in our cultural sector and museum network
• make our Welsh public transport system more accessible to disabled people
• continue our strong partnership with voluntary organisations across the range of our responsibilities
• implement targets around Gender budgeting
• strengthen the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Strategy to include a focus on violence against women in the street and workplace as well as the home
• set up improved evidence units to gather data on equality, race and disability
• incorporate both the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and the Convention on the Elimination of all Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) into Welsh law

A report on progress against each of the commitments set out in our Programme for Government has been published in the overarching Welsh Government Annual Report 2022 (this report focuses specifically on equality and human rights actions) 

The wider picture

A number of Welsh and UK laws, along with international treaties, support equality and human rights in Wales. These laws cover aspects such as employment, education, health, justice, and specific groups like those experiencing socio-economic disadvantage, disabled people, and children. Notable legislation includes the Equality Act 2010 and Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

The Human Rights Act 1998 incorporates the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) into domestic British law. The ECHR, from the Council of Europe, is based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The UK remains a signatory to both.

The Welsh Government must align with international obligations under Section 82 of the Government of Wales Act 2006, including 7 UN Conventions ratified by the UK. They work with the UK Government to ensure Wales meets United Nations and European obligations. 

This chapter provides an overview of the Welsh Government’s Equality Objectives in the 15 Months covered by this report.   

The strategic objectives for the 2020 to 2024 plan are set out in full in Annex 2. This chapter includes some examples of activity which has been undertaken to achieve these objectives. More examples are provided in Annex 3.

The examples included in this report and the annexes are not a complete list of everything the Welsh Government has done during the period of this report to achieve our Equality Objectives, but provide some examples of our interventions and policy delivery.

Overview of the Welsh Government’s Strategic Equality Plans

Our Strategic Equality Plans set out:

• the legal basis which underpins them
• the main evidence relating to equality and human rights in Wales which influenced their development, drawing heavily on research and the Equality and Human Rights Commission reports Is Wales Fairer?
• a series of actions which we aimed to deliver, to support the aims and objectives in each plan

Each plan covers a 4 year period. The Strategic Equality Action Plan for 2020 to 2024 was published in April 2020. There is substantial continuity between this plan and its predecessor, and their aims are largely similar, but there are also important changes as well as fresh activity from year to year.

The main changes include an increased focus on safeguarding equality and human rights (Long-term Aim 2) and a renewed emphasis on gender equality (Long-term Aim 4), which is reflected in our Advancing Gender Equality: Action Plan.

At the heart of the Strategic Equality Plan 2020 to 2024 there are 3 main elements: aims, objectives and actions. 

• Long-term aims: these aims set out our long-term ambition in Wales and which we expect to remain relevant beyond the period covered by this plan; delivering this Aim will not be solely dependent on the specific actions of the Welsh Government.
• For each of these long-term aims, we set a single, Welsh Government Equality Objective for 2020 to 2024. These objectives relate more closely than the long-term aims to the role and powers of the Welsh Government. They reflect statutory requirements and support the Welsh Government to meet their Public Sector Equality Duties.
• Underpinning each of these objectives are a number of measurable actions which demonstrate how the Welsh Government will achieve its objectives. 

This report sets out a number of examples of action taken to support the delivery of our objectives.

The strategic objectives are set out in full in Annex 2, with additional examples at Annex 3. 

Strengthening and advancing human rights in Wales

The Welsh Government has a clear commitment to promoting and protecting human rights, embedded them into the founding legislation of the Welsh Government.

The Programme for Government has a commitment to incorporate both the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and the Convention on the Elimination of all Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).  

The Strengthening and advancing equality and human rights in Wales research report, published on 26 August 2021, has explored a range of related issues.  The report points the way in relation to safeguarding and promoting equality and human rights of individuals and communities in Wales and will inform our future work.

Our response was published in May 2022, Strengthening and Advancing Equality and Human Rights in Wales research report: Welsh Government response.

The response sets out the main areas of work we are taking forward, including:

• undertaking preparatory work on options for incorporation of UN conventions into Welsh law
  • developing a suite of guidance on human rights
  • reviewing the Public Sector Equality Duty regulations
  • adding human rights to our integrated impact assessments
  • stepping up the way in which we promote these issues in Wales

Human Rights Advisory Group

The Human Rights Advisory Group (HRAG) is a direct successor to the Steering Group for the SAEHR research report, with wide membership to ensure strong stakeholder engagement as the work progresses. The Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip chairs this Advisory Group.

The HRAG monitors the 5 main streams of work arising from the research (legislative options; guidance; review of Welsh Specific Equality Duties; impact assessment and promotion), including relevant equality issues. It will also maintain strong links with our other equality forums and with work arising from the Commission on Justice in Wales.

The Legislative Options Working Group LOWG, a sub-committee of the HRAG, was established to take forward exploration of legislative options to fulfil our Programme for Government commitment to incorporate UN Conventions into Welsh law. 

Examples of actions undertaken across Welsh Government

Community cohesion

Our Community Cohesion Programme funds 8 teams across Wales to foster good relations between different communities and with public bodies. The programme acts as a conduit to support participation and inclusion in local decision-making and policies. The work of the Cohesion Programme has been essential to mainstreaming community cohesion throughout the work of local authorities, through the provision of training and ensuring that a wide range of voices are heard during the decision-making processes.

The Cohesion teams are an important part of the Welsh Government’s response to emerging and unforeseen issues impacting communities in Wales, working with key partners on the monitoring and mitigation of community tensions. The Programme played a key role in the Welsh Government’s response to the unrest during summer 2024, including working with police and other partners to ensure communities felt supported and informed. 

Disabled people’s employment

Support for individuals

Support for individuals to enter and progress in work, is set out in Stronger, fairer, greener Wales: a plan for employability and skills. This outlines our range of employability programmes that target under-represented groups in the labour market and support disabled people to find, remain and progress in work or self-employment. These programmes include Jobs Growth Wales Plus, Communities for Work Plus, and our Apprenticeship Programme. Careers guidance is delivered through our Working Wales service, which offers specialist advice for disabled people. 

• Jobs Growth Wales Plus supports some of the most disadvantaged young people in our society, with a specific focus on provision for young people with protected characteristics. Between April 2023 and March 2024, the proportion of starts on the programme by learners who self-identified as disabled or having a learning difficulty was 23.8%.
• Communities for Work Plus is a community-based employability programme, run in partnership with local authorities and delivered through employability mentors based in community venues across Wales. The programme focusses on people aged 20 and over who are not employed and face disadvantages in the job market, including disabled people. Since April 2024, 29% of participants declared themselves as having a work limiting health condition and 12% of declared themselves to be disabled.
• Looking forward, we are developing a new Employability Support Programme in Wales that will bring these programmes together to create a seamless and integrated employability support system with a mix of national and local support. In addition to providing support for disabled people, the new programme will include supported employment and specialist job coach support to meet the needs of people with learning disabilities and autism. 

Our apprenticeships programme enables learners to gain recognised qualifications whilst they work. Additional intensive employment and learning support for disabled people is available through the Supported Shared Apprenticeship scheme. In 2023 to 2024, 11% of all apprenticeship learning programmes were started by learners who identified as being disabled and / or having a learning difficulty, (compared with 5.8% in the academic year 2016 to 2017), and support was provided for up to 50 supported shared apprenticeships. 

The Welsh Government Apprenticeships: Policy Statement (February 2024) acknowledged the existence of barriers which act to exclude some groups from accessing and completing apprenticeships. Whilst we have increased the diversity of apprenticeships, some specific barriers remain. There can also be real or perceived discrimination with fewer apprenticeship role models from the Black Asian Minority Ethnic communities or from disabled groups. 

We are committed to increasing diversity in apprenticeships. The Inclusive Apprenticeships Disability Action Plan has already supported the growth of disabled apprenticeships. In addition, we intend to modify the Specification of Apprenticeship Standards for Wales to provide a more inclusive offer and widen participation for disabled people. We are seeking opportunities to improve the uptake of apprenticeships from people with protected characteristics. We have also extended the Employer Incentive Scheme, which provides financial support of £2,000 to employers to help provide opportunities for disabled apprentices to June 2025.  

Support for employers

In addition to providing direct support for individuals, we have, in line with our Fair Work agenda, worked in social partnership with employers and trade unions across the public and private sectors to promote the benefits of a diverse workforce, raise awareness of the Social Model of Disability and improve understanding of workplace rights amongst workers and employers. 

• We have employed a team of Disabled People’s Employment Champions, on a permanent basis, each with lived experience of being disabled or caring for a disabled person. Their role is to advise large and public sector employers on the recruitment and retention of disabled workers. The Champions work alongside the Business Wales Disabled People’s Employment Advisors who undertake a similar role with SMEs.
• We have developed new resources targeted at employers, providing practical advice and guidance on employing and supporting disabled workers. These will be published in the summer of 2025 and will complement a wide range of resources provided through Business Wales.
• We are engaging with the UK Government to explore options to improve the Disability Confident scheme. We are also working closely with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to increase the number of employers reaching Disability Confident Leader status (Level 3).
• The Disability Rights Taskforce, established in 2021, set up a range of working groups, each focussed on specific issues impacting disabled people in Wales. The Employment and Income Working Group provided opportunity for Taskforce members to put forward recommendations to the Welsh Government to improve employment outcomes for disabled people. These recommendations will inform the Disabled People’s Rights Plan which is in its final stages and will be published this year. 

Socio-economic Duty 

The Socio-economic Duty came into force on 31 March 2021. It requires relevant public bodies, including Welsh Ministers, when making decisions of a strategic nature to have “due regard” to ensuring any actions or policies reduce inequalities of outcome which result from socio-economic disadvantage. 

Over the past 4 years, the Welsh Government has taken significant steps towards embedding the Duty within its decision-making processes. A wealth of information to support bodies captured by the duty is provided via dedicated webpages Socio-economic Duty: an overview / A More Equal Wales: The Socio-economic Duty. Work is currently underway to refresh these pages and the resources that are hosted on them.

Internally, we have a dedicated Socio-economic Duty Intranet page to ensure that Welsh Government staff have easy access to accurate information and resources on the Duty. 

The Welsh Government continues to demonstrate commitment to tackling socio-economic inequalities through its ongoing application of the Socio-economic Duty. 

Anti-racist Wales Action Plan (ArWAP)

The  Anti-racist Wales Action Plan (ArWAP) fulfils a priority within the Programme for Government, driving our commitment to a fairer, more inclusive Wales. ArWAP, which launched in June 2022, calls for zero tolerance of all racial inequality. The refreshed ArWAP, launched in November 2024, reaffirms Welsh Government commitment to achieving a truly anti-racist Wales. The refresh builds on the foundations in the original plan and focuses on cross governmental delivery that will lead to tangible improvement in the outcomes for ethnic minority people in Wales.  Inequality and racism continue to be felt very deeply by ethnic minority people and communities. The Welsh Government remains committed to striving towards an anti-racist Wales by 2030. 

The refreshed ArWAP contains goals and actions running across nearly all areas of government, and 6 cross-cutting themes. These themes are: 

• leadership and representation
• improving outcomes for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people
• data and research
• intersectionality
• strengthening complaints systems
• positive action 

The refreshed ArWAP brings together the Nation of Sanctuary commitments from our 2019 Plan, the relevant chapter in the original Anti-racist Wales Action Plan (2022) and our Global Refugee Forum pledge (2023) into a refreshed ‘Wales a nation of sanctuary’ chapter.

Governance 

Diversity representatives and experts on the ArWAP’s External Accountability Group (EAG) help hold Government and public services to account. 

This group meets bi-monthly and is co-chaired by Professor Emmanuel Ogbonna and Dr Andrew Goodall, Permanent Secretary, Welsh Government. The EAG work closely with the Internal Support and Challenge Group to deliver on the cross-governmental goals and actions within the Plan. 

Data and research 

The Race Disparity Evidence Unit (RDEU) was established in January 2022, and work in partnership with the ArWAP team and the EAG. The RDEU have developed a Measuring Framework to measure and evaluate the impact of the ArWAP across Welsh Government, the wider public sector and its impact on the lives of ethnic minority people in Wales. The framework will be key to thorough monitoring and showcasing of actions and impact, this is essential to maintaining the trust of stakeholders and our ethnic minority people.

Collective commitment

The Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip has emphasised collective commitment across Welsh Government to anti-racist action. The EAG and the Internal Support and Challenge Group of officials ensure there is integration across government. Professor Ogbonna and EAG members have emphasised the importance of visible anti-racist leadership from Cabinet Secretaries and Ministers. 

Some key updates

• In January 2025, the then Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Culture, Trefnydd and Chief Whip issued a letter to Welsh local authority and public sector leaders, reminding for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip them of their role and responsibility in implementing the ArWAP.
• Between October and December 2024, the Cabinet Secretary met with Cabinet colleagues to discuss commitment to the delivery of ArWAP goals and actions under their portfolios.
• The Equality and Social Justice Committee launched a consultation and inquiry into the implementation of the Anti-racist Wales Action Plan: Anti-racist Wales (Senedd. Wales). The then Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip attended the Equality and Social Justice Committee on 4 December 2023. The report, ‘Actions, Words’, was published in March 2024 making 10 recommendations. The then Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Culture, Trefnydd and Chief Whip submitted an official response in May 2024 and appeared for the Committee Plenary on 12 June 2024.
• In August 2024, Welsh Government officials attended as delegates to the UN CERD in Geneva, making key contributions on the ArWAP in relation to cross governmental goals and actions, community cohesion and tackling hate crime, particularly in the aftermath of civil unrest following events in Southport. 

ArWAP and the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015

The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 has been instrumental in shaping the Anti-racist Wales Action Plan (ArWAP), and embedding long-term, preventative and collaborative ways of working at its core. 

ArWAP is central to our Programme for Government. The Well-being of Future Generations Act 2015 reinforces this by setting clear responsibilities towards achieving its vision. Three of the seven well-being goals set out in the Act most directly underpin our work towards an anti-racist Wales: creating a More Equal Wales, a Wales of Cohesive Communities, and a Wales of Vibrant Culture and Thriving Welsh Language. 

The Act’s focus on integration has encouraged stronger partnerships between government, communities, and stakeholders, ensuring anti-racism is treated considered across policy areas. ArWAP reflects the Act’s emphasis on a fairer, more equal Wales by setting out bold, measurable goals and actions requiring leadership accountability for sustained, long-term impact. The Act in turn provides a clear framework for tackling systemic inequalities and driving cultural change across public services in a sustainable, lasting way. 

Wider public, third sector and Government funded private sector

We expect public, third and those private sector organisations we fund, to deliver on 5 core actions relating to delivery of our Anti-racist Wales Action Plan:

1. A strong commitment to lead from the front and demonstrate this by having anti-racist values, behaviours, representation at all levels of organisations and accountability measures.
2. Participation in all decision-making and senior leadership groups in a way that enables lived experiences of ethnic minority people to be heard and acted upon.
3. Achieve the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 and publish the results in an open and accessible forum/platform.
4. Ensure minimum standards and provision of culturally sensitive and appropriate services, including provision of translation and interpretation.
5. Ensure robust complaints policies and processes for racial harassment that are validated to the satisfaction of ethnic minority groups.

LGBTQ+ Action Plan

The Welsh Government remains committed to making Wales the most LGBTQ+ friendly nation in Europe which is why we have developed a robust and cross-cutting LGBTQ+ Action Plan for Wales. The Plan has since been viewed as a good example of a human rights approach by the UN Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, one that strengthens protections for LGBTQ+ people, promotes equality for all and helps coordinate ambitious actions across government and beyond. 

The Welsh Government has ensured measurable actions that will make a substantial and positive impact to the lives of LGBTQ+ people in Wales. We aim to research the effectiveness and impact of the plan over the next 2 years.

Progress on the delivery of action can be found at LGBTQ+ Action Plan for Wales: progress update.

Conversion practices or therapy

There is a commitment in the Programme for Government commitment to use all available powers to end conversion practices in Wales and to work with UK Government to implement a UK-wide conversion practice ban. 

Welsh Government remains committed to supporting victims and survivors of conversion practices through funding Galop to provide advocacy and therapeutic services. 

Curriculum for Wales: Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE)

The roll out of the Curriculum for Wales commenced in September 2022, and developmentally appropriate Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) becoming mandatory for all learners. RSE has a positive and protective role in learners’ education. Schools and settings have an important role to play in creating safe and empowering environments in supporting learners’ rights to enjoy fulfilling, healthy and safe relationships throughout their lives.

RSE will be delivered in a way that is inclusive in accordance with the principles of equality. The RSE Code will ensure that ‘all learners can see themselves, their families, their communities and each other reflected across the curriculum and can learn to value difference and diversity as a source of strength’.

Homophobic and transphobic bullying within education

Bullying is completely unacceptable. We want to see an end to all forms of bullying.  We continue to work with the Anti-Bullying Alliance to ensure that bullying and harassment, in any form, is stamped out in schools.

We are working with a range of stakeholders, including the police, to develop a multi-agency action plan to tackle peer-on-peer sexual harassment in education settings. It will include specific actions to tackle the unwanted behaviours all too frequently experienced by LGBTQ+ children and young people.

Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence

Strengthen the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Strategy to include a focus on violence against women in the street and workplace as well as the home.

The VAWDASV National Strategy 2022 to 2026 is the vehicle for delivering the Programme for Government commitment to include a focus on violence against women in the street and workplace as well as the home. 

The strategy is being delivered through a Blueprint approach, which brings together devolved and non-devolved organisations, as well as strengthening the partnership between public private and specialist sectors. 

Overseeing the delivery of the Strategy is a National Partnership Board, a Ministerial-led board co-chaired by Police and Crime Commissioner, Emma Wools, on behalf of Policing in Wales, and the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip for Welsh Government. 

The Partnership Board provides leadership for the multi-agency approach to implementing the workstreams and is the delivery mechanism for taking forward key actions, to implement the Strategy and its objectives.

An update on progress against the 6 VAWDASV National Objectives is provided in the VAWDASV Annual Report April 2024 to March 2025.

The VAWDASV Blueprint incorporates a specific workstream on gender-based harassment in all public spaces and on workplace sexual harassment, bringing together external public and third sector partners to tackle these critical issues. 

Over the last year, the Gender Based Harassment in Public Space communications campaign has drawn on the success on our 'Sound Campaign' to shine a light on the experiences of women and girls in several public settings, including spaces where women exercise; the streets, the gym and included themes such as inappropriate staring, personal space and unwanted touching. 

This year saw a ‘Sound run’ with 10 local running clubs in Cardiff coming together to raise awareness and discuss public sexual harassment with media coverage on ITV Wales, BBC Radio Wales, BBC Online and S4C.

The VAWDASV Blueprint's workstream on workplace sexual harassment has prioritised over the last year delivering a series of conferences across Wales which aimed to bring together public sector leaders and professionals to focus on the pervasive and unacceptable issue of workplace sexual harassment. 

The conferences promoted the critical need and requirement for all employers to take practical action to prevent workplace sexual harassment and respond appropriately to victims and survivors.

The conference series was delivered through successful co-production from workstream partnerships and was driven by the powerful lived experiences boldly shared by victims and survivors. In addition, the Welsh Government’s Race Disparity Unit commissioned research on behalf of the Workplace harassment workstream to explore Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Women lived experiences of workplace sexual harassment in Wales. 

This chapter sets out how the Welsh Government gathers and uses evidence to inform and support its work to promote and safeguard equality.  This includes an outline of how a COVID-19 Equalities Impacts Repository was developed and an update on the impact assessment of the Welsh Government budget.

The chapter also includes a section on our procurement policy.

Equality, Race and Disability Evidence Units

Established in 2022, the Evidence Units continue to work closely with colleagues in our wider Equality, Poverty and Children’s Evidence and Support Division and Knowledge and Analytical Services to improve the availability, quality, granularity and accessibility of evidence about individuals with protected and associated characteristics, so that we better understand the level and types of inequalities across Wales. 

The Evidence Units consist of 4 teams: 

• Equality Evidence Unit
• Race Disparity Evidence Unit
• Disability Disparity Evidence Unit
• Equality Statistics Development Unit

Most of the work of the Evidence Units is deliberately cross-cutting and intersectional. The Evidence Units are made up of a mixture of analysts, which includes statisticians and social researchers who support policymaking across the Welsh Government. 

The new Equality Statistics Development Unit was established in September 2024 to carry out the statistical and data reporting functions of the Evidence Units, working alongside the other units to provide statistical support for their projects. 

Updates on some of our specific projects are outlined below: 

Review of Welsh Government Equality data sources and outputs  

The Review of Welsh Government equality data sources and outputs was completed in 2025. The purpose of this review was to improve awareness of existing equality sources and outputs held by or produced by the Welsh Government and to systematically identify where there are gaps across the equality evidence base. The review is being used to help identify potential further improvements in the collection, reporting and use of protected characteristic data. 

Well-being of Wales Report: More Equal Wales Chapter 

The Well-being of Wales report: More Equal Wales Chapter 2024 was published in September 2024. This report collates published equality statistics for the More Equal Wales chapter in the annual Well-Being of Wales report, helping assess progress across National Indicators. It serves as a key source used by Welsh Government stakeholders, citizens, and media to understand trends and challenges facing Wales, while providing Senedd Cymru with data for scrutiny against Wales’s performance goals. 

Review of Equality Data in the National Survey for Wales

The Evidence Units are reviewing the National Survey for Wales to assess the extent to which the National Survey is representative of, and could be used to measure, survey results for equality groups in Wales; and make recommendations on how to improve the quality and granularity of equality data collected in future surveys. The findings from this work will be published in due course. 

Review of Diversity in the Public Sector Workforce and Boards in Wales 

The objectives of this review are to provide an indication of the diversity of public boards in Wales; to explore whether public sector board members’ diversity data is being collected effectively; to understand the value of diversity in public sector bodies and identify barriers and appropriate strategies to increase diversity in unrepresented groups in workforces and senior management. It includes two complementary pieces of research; surveys on public sector bodies and board members in Wales and a review of relevant literature on diversity in the public sector. The finding reports will be published in due course. 

Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan (ArWAP) Impact Measurement Framework 

The Race Disparity Evidence Unit has continued to provide analytical support for ArWAP by supporting the development of the refreshed plan and establishing an approach for its evaluation. The Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan Impact Measurement Framework was published in December 2024.  It sets out the high-level areas to measure (the key sets of numbers and statistics) that will be assessed regularly to help us understand whether the plan is making a difference. The impact measurement framework will be used as one part of the many evidence sources we will use to assess whether change has taken place when evaluating the overall impact of ArWAP.

Research to explore recommendations from the Disability Rights Taskforce

The Evidence Units have been working with the Disability Rights Taskforce to consider two of the recommendations from the Taskforce. The first project is exploring the current UK-wide Disability Confident Employer scheme and the idea of having an enhanced or distinct scheme for Wales. The second project is looking at the idea of establishing a National Centre for Independent Living for Wales and how it could operate. These reports are due to be published in 2025. These projects piloted a coproduction approach to Government Social Research. A lessons’ learned report on the approach will also be published in due course.

Research on how information can be collected to reflect the social model of disability

This work aims to develop a suite of questions, response options, and guidance which reflect the Social Model of Disability, to incorporate into future social research and enable a standardised, consistent approach. NatCen have been commissioned to carry out this work. This will support Welsh Government to understand the impact of policies on disabled people and how policies can reduce or remove barriers for people with health conditions. An interim findings report will be published 2025.

LGBTQ+ Action Plan for Wales evaluability assessment 

The Welsh Government commissioned Alma Economics to provide recommendations on how the LGBTQ+ Action Plan should be evaluated. The LGBTQ+ Action Plan for Wales evaluability assessment was published in November 2024. The report has been used to inform the design of a process evaluation and baselining work for a future impact evaluation. The evaluation will help determine whether the LGBTQ+ Action Plan is successful and is achieving its intended aims of improving the lives and experiences of LGBTQ+ people in Wales.

Census sexual orientation and gender identity analysis 

This analysis further examined Census 2021 data on sexual orientation and gender identity. The update was published in March 2024.

Equality impact assessment of the budget

The Strategic Integrated Impact Assessment (SIIA) of the Draft Budget continues to consider spending decisions through several lenses to understand their impact on different groups of people and areas, including consideration of equalities. We recognise that people and places are multi-dimensional, and the integrated approach seeks to capture multiple and cumulative impacts which reflect people’s lived experience and the reality of our economy, culture and environment. 

We also remain committed to reviewing our approach to assessing impacts. On 10 December 2024, we published an updated Budget Improvement Plan as part of the 2025 to 2026 Draft Budget package. The plan also reflects on the work undertaken over the last 12 months and outlines our vision, including short-term and medium-term ambitions over the next 5 years, to improve our annual budget and tax processes, including proposed improvements to assessing the impact of Budget decisions. 

Procurement

Public service bodies in Wales spend around £10.7 billion each year on buying goods, services and works from suppliers. Every pound should achieve the best value for the people of Wales. 

Fulfilling the procurement duty in our Welsh specific equality duties 

As part of our Welsh specific equality duties, we must: 

• consciously consider whether it would be appropriate for the award criteria of a contract to include considerations to help meet the three aims of the PSED (see Annex 1)
• consciously consider whether it would be appropriate to stipulate conditions relating to the performance of a contract to help meet the 3 aims of the PSED

Our procurement policy

The Wales procurement policy statement (WPPS) sets the strategic vision for public sector procurement in Wales. It helps define our progress against the wellbeing goals we are pursuing for future generations, putting the Well-being and Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 at the heart of all procurement decisions, supporting us to achieve the ‘Wales we want’. We all have a responsibility to ensure we are preventing problems and thinking about the long-term, while maximising opportunities to deliver economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being. 

The Wales procurement policy statement (WPPS) consists of ten key principles to which all Welsh public sector organisations should adhere when delivering their procurement activity.

The Procurement Act 2023, which came into force on 24 February 2025, includes a requirement for Welsh public sector organisations to design their procurements in a way which helps to ensure Welsh procurement policy priorities are inextricably woven into an organisation’s procurement functions and activity.

The Procurement Act 2023 also allows for more flexible procedures and encourages consideration of factors beyond just the lowest price, such as social value, innovation, and sustainability. Tenders are no longer assessed based on the Most Economically Advantageous Tender but on the Most Advantageous Tender, thereby removing the ‘economic’ criteria and allowing greater prioritisation of social value.

In addition, Section 24 of the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act 2023 places contracting authorities under a duty to deliver socially responsible outcomes through procurement which places fair work and social value at the centre rather than being solely focused on achieving financial savings.

Embedded within these crucial pieces of legislation are several significant factors that influence the implementation of equality considerations, such as: 

• ensuring key policies, such as social value, are built into contracts
• simplifying the procurement process and removing or reducing barriers for suppliers
• ensuring equality is addressed appropriately at supplier selection stage
• improving transparency by advertising contract opportunities through the Sell2Wales website
• producing a procurement pipeline to give advanced notice for suppliers to prepare for upcoming tender opportunities

Furthermore, Wales is working collaboratively to address risks of slavery and promote ethical employment in public sector supply chains.  At the time of this report, over 980 organisations had signed up to the Code of Practice on Ethical Employment in Supply Chains. Signatories include 79 public sector bodies and 564 private and 24 third sector organisations from a wide range of different markets.  

Mainstreaming and embedding equality within procurement: results

Each year the Welsh Government spends around £700 million on externally procured goods, services and works. The Commercial team at the Welsh Government worked with the business sector to embed our Welsh Equality duties in our contracts by:

• Applying the Sustainability Risk Assessment to all Welsh Government contracts over £25,000, ensuring equality duties are considered, action taken in contracts where appropriate and an Equality Impact Assessment completed.
• Applying Community Benefits clauses in appropriate contracts to deliver employment and training opportunities for disadvantaged people and target educational support across communities in Wales from our suppliers.
• Signing up to the Code of Practice for Ethical Employment in Supply Chains and adopting best practice in our procurements.
• Reviewing our standard documentation to ensure specifications and contract documents meet best practice.

In this chapter we will consider some of the more recent developments and interventions we have been working on. We have provided examples, but this is not a comprehensive list of our plans going forward. 

The Welsh Government published the Strategic Equality and Human Rights Plan 2025 to 2029 (SEHRP 2025 to 2029) on 16 June 2025, outlining our priorities for equality and human rights in a new combined approach to delivery.

The SEHRP 2025 to 2029 delivers on calls from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (and other stakeholders) in the Strengthening and advancing equality and human rights in Wales Report 2021, to integrate equality and human rights policy. The call for a more integrated approach was also a feature of the consultation on the draft Strategic Equality Plan.

Strategic Equality and Human Rights Plan 2025 to 2029 (SEHRP 2025 to 2029)

We recognise the important relationship between equality and human rights when developing policy and making decisions. We believe that equality is both a principle and an outcome of the effective respect, protection and fulfilment of human rights. Embedding human rights into our work will strengthen and advance equity for all. 

Embedding equality and human rights approaches into Welsh Government work also requires systemic and cultural change, which will take time. Through our National Equality Objectives set out later in this report, and our Human Rights Statement, we will introduce a coherent framework for planning and delivery. 

This framework will underpin our individual intervention plans (protected characteristic specific and beyond) and ensure they contribute to our overarching objectives, targeting action where it can have the greatest impact. 

This will provide a basis for wider mainstreaming activity and enable more coherent communication with external stakeholders on the Welsh Government’s equalities and human rights agendas.

The vision: Our long-term aim for Wales

Wales is a nation based on equity, anti-discrimination, and inclusion, through strengthening and advancing equality and human rights.

 Our National Equality Objectives (NEOs) 2024 to 2028

• NEO 1: we will create a Wales where everyone has opportunities to prosper in line with our organisational goal to reduce poverty.
• NEO 2: we will create a Wales where everyone can be aware of their human rights, and where those rights are protected, promoted, and underpin all public policy.
• NEO 3: we will create a Wales where everyone can be aware of and has equitable access to high quality public services.
• NEO 4: we will create a Wales free from discrimination, victimisation, harassment, abuse, hate crime and/or bullying against all people.
• NEO 5: we will create a Wales where everyone from the full diversity of backgrounds can participate in public life, have their voices heard and see themselves reflected in leadership positions.
• NEO 6: we will create a Wales with fair and equal opportunities to gain employment and for fair and equal treatment in the workplace, including fair pay and conditions.
• NEO 7: we will create an environmentally sustainable Wales with the capacity to both ensure our journey to net zero is fair and to respond to the inequitable impacts of climate change.

Our NEOs and human rights approach are cross-cutting and will require action across all Welsh Government policy areas. In most cases existing action plans set out the actions targeting particular areas of work or groups of stakeholders where these are most likely to drive change. Delivering these specific plans will contribute towards meeting the long-term aim for Wales, supporting a human rights approach. 

Human rights 

Human rights are fundamental to ensuring dignity, freedom, and equality for all individuals, forming the bedrock of just, fair and democratic societies. Recognising the interconnectedness of equality and human rights, alongside delivering on our Wales specific equalities duties, SEHRP 2025 to 2029 includes the following Human Rights Statement:

Human rights are rights which belong to everyone. We will respect, protect and fulfil our human rights and equality duties so everyone in Wales may live their lives with dignity, freedom, security and without discrimination. We commit to a human rights approach which puts people at the centre of everything we do, improving the well-being of current and future generations.

Our goal is that a ‘human rights approach’ is embedded across all areas of Welsh Government. We will do this by implementing the actions we have agreed to take in response to the Strengthening and advancing equality and human rights in Wales Report 2021, and through taking actions to support human rights within specific equality plans. 

We will continue to uphold our obligations in respect of international human rights law, including United Nations Convention on the Rights of Disabled People, the Conventions to Eliminate Race Discrimination and Discrimination against Women, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as all other binding international human rights obligations in Wales. 

Developing the Disabled People’s Rights Plan

The Welsh Government is committed to promoting the rights of disabled people, and to ensure disabled people are included and able to participate in all communities in Wales. We want to make Wales an inclusive and accessible place for disabled people; a society where disabled people can participate without limits or restrictions and are empowered to lead fulfilling lives, where their individual and collective rights are recognised and upheld and where their contribution is recognised. 

On 15 May 2025, Welsh Government launched a consultation to inform the development of approaches to improve the lives of disabled people in Wales, which has now closed. The Draft Disabled People’s Rights Plan is a cross-government 10-year framework which seeks to ensure disabled people can flourish as equal members of Welsh society, and to challenge discrimination and prejudice. 

The plan has been structured against 4 overarching areas for action, which are aligned to one of the 7 National Well-being Goals of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act: Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015: the essentials.

• Neighbourhoods and places.
• Employment, income and education.
• Independent living.
• Justice and supporting environments.

For each of these areas for action, the proposed plan sets out our overarching ambitions and outcomes we want to see over the next 10 years. It will be for future governments to consider the outcomes and how best they are achieved over this period. However, the Welsh Government is already making significant progress to deliver some of the overarching ambitions. 

Our equality objectives strengthen our efforts to fulfil the 3 requirements of the general duty and help us to work towards a more equal Wales. They outline our commitment to removing the barriers which limit opportunities and aspiration. They seek to address long standing, deeply entrenched and often inter-generational inequalities for those with protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. 

Equality plan and objectives: 2020 to 2024

The Welsh Government Equality Objectives 2020 to 2024 were as follows (the summary of progress on each Objective is in Annex 2).

Long-term aim 1: elimination of inequality caused by poverty

WG equality objective 1: by 2024, we will improve outcomes for those most at risk of living in low income households, particularly those with protected characteristics, by mitigating the impact of poverty, improving opportunities and reducing the inequalities experienced by those living in poverty. 

Measured through: a range of data, including that relating to HBAI (Households with below average income.

Long-term aim 2: strong and progressive equality and human rights protections for everyone in Wales

WG equality objective 2: by 2024, we will complete investigations into ways the Welsh Government can ensure an integrated equality and human rights framework which promotes equality of outcome and opportunity and can help eliminate discrimination for all groups of people with 1 or more protected characteristic.

Measured through: the work of the Advancing and Strengthening Equality and Human Rights Steering Group. 

Long-term aim 3: the needs and rights of people who share protected characteristics are at the forefront of the design and delivery of all public services in Wales 

WG equality objective 3: in order to work towards fostering equality of opportunity and outcomes for all in Wales, we will continue to ensure the Welsh Government has implemented the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) and Welsh specific equality duties in all we do and work to encourage other Public Sector organisations to follow our example. By adopting an approach based on removing barriers which prevent people fulfilling their potential (including, for example, equality of pay, or following the example of the Social Model of Disability), we will create better policy and better services for everyone.

Measured through: improved PSED reporting arrangements and changes to Welsh specific regulations.

Long-term aim 4: Wales is a world leader for gender equality. A gender equal Wales means an equal sharing of power, resources and influence for all women, men and non-binary people

WG equality objective 4: we will begin to deliver the vision and principles of the Gender Equality Review. 

Measured through: the development of the report and roadmap for embedding feminist principles across Welsh Government.

Long-term aim 5: elimination of identity-based abuse, harassment, hate crime and bullying 

WG equality objective 5: by 2024, we will ensure victims who experience abuse, harassment, hate crime or bullying as a result of having one or more protected characteristics have access to advice and support to live without fear or abuse. 

Measured through: monitoring of hate crime reporting, services delivered by Victim Support, school-based counsellors, monitoring of bullying reports, National Survey responses about fear of crime / victimisation.

Long-term aim 6: a Wales of cohesive communities that are resilient, fair and equal

WG equality objective 6: by 2024, we will develop a monitoring framework to measure progress towards community cohesion and foster good relations between all groups, building on our existing policies and interventions. 

Measured through: increased metrics in the Well-being of Future Generations National Indicators and the Home Office Indicators of Integration.

Long-term aim 7: everyone in Wales is able to participate in political, public and everyday life

WG equality objective 7: by 2024, we will increase the diversity of decision-makers in public life and public appointments, exploring areas where further action is needed to ensure greater balance of diversity among decision-makers and identify and investigate mechanisms to redress inequality. 

Measured through: the percentage of individuals from protected groups securing decision making roles within public and political roles.

Long-term aim 8: the Welsh public sector leads the way as exemplar inclusive and diverse organisations and employers

WG equality objective 8: by 2024 the Welsh Government will be an exemplar employer, increasing diversity, removing barriers and supporting staff from all backgrounds to reach their potential, creating equality of opportunity for all.

Measured through: employment and recruitment diversity data and the Annual Equality Report.

In this Annex you can find more information on a selection of activities helping to achieve each of the aims and objectives set out in our Strategic Equality Plan 2020 to 2024, in addition to those highlighted in Chapter 3 of the main report. The examples below only provide a snapshot of activity and do not reflect the full range of actions carried out in this period. The Welsh Government remains committed to continuing to deliver against the objectives as set out. Many are ongoing commitments and will continue beyond the span of the Strategic Equality Plan 2020 to 2024.  

Strategic Equality Plan 2020 to 2024 

Long-term aim 1: elimination of inequality caused by poverty

Objective 1: by 2024, we will improve outcomes for those most at risk of living in low-income households, particularly those with protected characteristics, by mitigating the impact of poverty, improving opportunities and reducing the inequalities experienced by those living in poverty.

Examples of progress

Employment initiatives

We continue to develop interventions which support those furthest from the labour market. We also work to support those who face complex barriers to employment increased as a result of having a protected characteristic, in our most deprived communities through our community employability programmes. 

We have continued to offer intensive mentoring and support, training and work experience opportunities which have enabled people to secure sustainable employment as a route out of poverty.

Communities for Work and Parents, Childcare and Employment which were supported by the European Social Fund (ESF), ended delivery on 31 March 2023. 

Communities for Work+ saw an increase in funding in 2023to 2024 which has enabled Welsh Government to continue to target the most disadvantaged individuals in the labour market. The number of individuals assisted and supported into employment is captured through monthly output reporting.

Case studies of a selection of ESF-funded projects, including project-level detail of support for groups with protected characteristics are available at  Case studies of a selection of ESF-funded projects, including support for groups with protected characteristics.

Low Income access to NHS Services

The Welsh Government has continued to work to ensure patients on low incomes are not unfairly disadvantaged by the costs of accessing dental treatment, NHS eye care services, or travel to hospital under the care of a consultant. 

We expect uptake of the Low-Income Scheme and NHS Tax Credits to remain constant. As we continue to take forward other work across Welsh Government to raise income levels across Wales, we anticipate that fewer people will need to make use of it as average incomes rise. We will keep its funding under review and make future adjustments as needed.

Quarterly uptake statistics are provided by the NHS Business Services Authority, who operate the scheme on Welsh Government’s behalf and are reported through official statistics annual (Patient charge for Courses of Treatment by local health board, patient type and treatment band). 

The proportion of adults who are exempt from paying the dental patient charge decreased gradually in the ten years before the pandemic (from 44.6% to 38.5%). This was followed by a sharp decrease during the pandemic, from 38.5% to 30.9%. While the proportion has increased in recent years as access levels have improved, reaching 35.5% in 2024, it has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Environmental improvements

The Welsh Government believes that significant reductions in air pollution across Wales benefit public health, biodiversity, the economy and the environment. 

Progress will be measured against the different commitments set out in the Clean Air Plan for Wales and the Air Quality and Soundscapes Act 2024, with the aim of improving air quality for all. These include development of:

• a promoting awareness of air pollution delivery plan (to be published in 2025), to include equalities as an underpinning theme
• targets and monitoring for air pollution levels

Implementation of actions are tracked and progress against the Clean Air Plan for Wales: Healthy Air, Healthy Wales were published in July 2024. National air quality monitoring and modelling demonstrates the changes and long-term trends in air quality in Wales.

Long-term aim 2: strong and progressive equality and human rights protections for everyone in Wales

Objective 2: by 2024, we will complete investigations into ways the Welsh Government can ensure an integrated equality and human rights framework which promotes equality of outcome and opportunity and can help eliminate discrimination for all groups of people with one or more protected characteristic.

Examples of progress

Improving outcomes for people with learning disabilities

We have committed to advancing equality for people with learning disabilities by establishing an annual primary care health check for people with learning disabilities.

NHS Wales aim for at least 75% of the identified population of people with learning disabilities to receive the check. 

The long-term aim is to see a reduction in premature preventable deaths in this population.

As a result of the General Medical Services 2024 to 2025 contract agreement, all practices are now required to maintain a GP Register of people with learning disabilities, and to offer an annual health check to everyone on that register. Previously, these health checks were only offered by certain practices, so this development supports improved equity of access. 

We will monitor health boards as they work with and support their GP practices to improve the uptake rate of these health checks across Wales.

In addition, we are working with stakeholder partners to scope the possibility of widening the eligibility for learning disability health checks to children and young people aged 14 to 17, to improve detection, prevention and early intervention of potential health issues for this vulnerable population.

School counselling for young people

The Welsh Government committed to reviewing statutory school counselling provision during 2020 to 2021, and to further explore new models of delivery, including for those younger children not yet covered by the counselling scheme, to ensure all those who require emotional and mental health support have their wellbeing needs met.

The Welsh Government remains committed to enabling equity and consistency of access for young people covered by the existing statutory scheme and to ensuring that the emotional wellbeing needs of all learners (irrespective of age) are met in an appropriate and timely fashion. 

All local authorities have provision in place for children younger than current Year 6 threshold. Work continues to develop and encourage the provision of a standard service specification to ensure consistency and parity of provision across Wales.

The Welsh Government set a series of delivery milestones to be reported against with evidence showing how the delivery milestones have been met provided through reporting by local authorities against existing statutory responsibilities.

The annual Counselling for children and young people StatsWales bulletin on provision is published in March each year. 

Long-term aim 3: the needs and rights of people who share protected characteristics are at the forefront of the design and delivery of all public services in Wales

Objective 3: in order to work towards fostering equality of opportunity and outcomes for all in Wales we will continue to ensure the Welsh Government has implemented the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) and Welsh Specific Equality Duties in all we do and work to encourage other Public Sector organisations to follow our example. By adopting an approach based on removing barriers which prevent people fulfilling their potential (including, for example, equality of pay, or adopting the Social Model of Disability), we will create better policy and better services for everyone.  

Examples of progress

Participation in public life and access to services

Launched in 2021, Age friendly Wales: our strategy for an ageing society, sets out the action we will take to prepare for the future. It considers the many things that influence how we age, like health and social care, transport and even the way we socialise, work and care for others. 

To support implementation of the strategy, the Welsh Government has funded a post in each local authority to engage with older people and to work towards membership of the World Health Organisation’s Network of Age Friendly Cities and Communities.

Funding continues to seed the development of a broad range of local initiatives designed and led in partnership with older people. Four years on from its launch, the Strategy has firmly positioned Wales as part of the global response to ageing populations. 

Since 2022, targeted funding of £1.1million per year has been allocated to local authorities (£50,000 each) to work towards membership of the WHO Global Network of Age Friendly Cities and Communities. 

Eight local authorities in Wales have gained membership with more due to follow in 2025.

Local authorities in Wales have shared their figures showing how many older people have participated in age friendly activities. 

At the time of the publication of this report, nineteen local authorities had responded, estimating that: 

• approximately 66,500 older people have benefitted in some way from the age friendly programme across Wales
  • over 33,000 have taken part in, or attended, a face-to-face engagement event with 2000 taking time to respond to a survey or consultation
  • direct information from the age friendly post holders has reached 23,000 older individuals

These estimates are based on the last twelve months up to November 2024 and highlight how a relatively small annual investment of £1.1million is helping to encourage the development of a broad range of preventative, locally-led projects which are benefitting older people across Wales.

Long-term aim 4: Wales is a world leader for gender equality

Objective 4: we will begin to deliver the vision and principles of the Gender Equality Review.

Examples of progress

Participation in public life and access to services

The Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Act 2024 places a duty on Welsh Ministers to issue guidance for political parties on:

• developing, publishing, implementing and reviewing diversity and inclusion strategies in relation to all Welsh elections
  • collecting, collating, and publishing diversity information about candidates for Senedd elections

The Welsh Government’s Diversity and inclusion guidance for registered political parties was published on 31 March 2025.

The main aim of the guidance is to improve diversity in Welsh politics by supporting political parties to publish diversity information and diversity and inclusion strategies ahead of the next Senedd election, setting out how they intend to improve representation amongst certain groups. 

The guidance for political parties is in three parts. Parts 1 and 2 of the guidance are focused on supporting political parties to plan for and achieve diversity in the widest sense, across a broad spectrum of characteristics and circumstances. Part 3 provides ideas about what parties may want to think about should they decide to introduce voluntary gender quotas.

Gender budgeting

Gender budgeting is an analysis of how policies and associated budgets impact different genders. The approach does not mean different budgets for women and men. Instead, it involves actively identifying the impacts of spending on gender equality, leading to better focused policy funding decisions and in turn better outcomes. 

Our budget continues to be shaped by the learning we are drawing from gender budgeting pilots and how this work can be further embedded and expanded going forwards. We will continue to provide updates within our Budget Improvement Plan alongside the annual Draft Budget.

The Draft Budget 2025 to 2026: strategic integrated impact assessment remains rooted in assessing the strategic and cumulative impacts of the choices we need to make. Undertaking this integrated approach and considering the intersectional impacts ensures we continue to focus funding where it can have the most positive impacts and enables us to take action to ensure we mitigate direct impacts to people and places, as far as possible. 

State of the Nation Report 2024 

The sixth iteration of the State of the Nation report was published on 25 September 2024. The report is focussed on 3 strategic areas: 

• women in the economy
• women represented
• women at risk

Women’s Equality Network, WEN Wales is responsible for producing the report which brings together key indicators for gender equality.

Long-term aim 5: elimination of identity-based abuse, harassment, hate crime and bullying

Objective 5: by 2024, we will ensure victims who experience abuse, harassment, hate crime or bullying as a result of having 1 or more protected characteristics have access to advice and support to live without fear or abuse.

Examples of progress

Tackling Hate Crime

The Welsh Government has continued to fund the Wales Hate Support Centre, run by Victim Support Cymru, to offer free, confidential support and advocacy to all victims of hate crime, 24 hours a day 7 days a week. 

Support is provided over the telephone, face-to-face, or virtually. The Wales Hate Support Centre also provides a national children and young person-friendly hate crime service.

Our anti-hate crime communications campaign, Hate hurts Wales, highlights to perpetrators, or potential perpetrators, the hugely negative impact of their actions on both the victim and their own lives, as well as highlighting the importance of bystanders for securing a positive outcome.

We delivered another targeted burst of Hate Hurts Wales in February 2025, which included radio, digital and out of home advertising. We worked with police forces in Wales to identify where to target our activity, and all resources were developed with input from people with lived experience of hate crime.

In November 2024, we delivered the ‘Tackling Hate Crime, The Power of Victims Voices’ conference for public service practitioners. The conference provided an insight into identity-based hate crime informed by recent in-depth research by the Wales Hate Support Centre alongside input from members of its Lived Experience Advocacy Forum.

The Hate crime, England and Wales, year ending March 2024 survey results showed a 2% decrease in police recorded hate crime in Wales. We continue to focus on encouraging both victims and bystanders to report incidents of hate.

Long-term aim 6: a Wales of cohesive communities that are resilient, fair and equal

Objective 6: by 2024, we will develop a monitoring framework to measure progress towards community cohesion and foster good relations between all groups, building on our existing policies and interventions. 

Examples of progress

Community cohesion

The Welsh Government Community Cohesion Programme funds eight teams across Wales to foster good relations between different communities and with public bodies. The Programme acts as a conduit to support participation and inclusion in local decision-making and policies. 

The work of the Cohesion Programme has been essential to mainstreaming community cohesion throughout the work of local authorities, through training and ensuring that a wide range of voices are heard during the decision-making processes. 

The Cohesion Programme also delivered a small grants scheme in 2024 to 2025, which provided funding for a range of community events and schemes bringing people together across Wales.

The Cohesion teams continue to be an important part of the Welsh Government’s response to emerging and unforeseen issues impacting communities in Wales, working with key partners on the monitoring and mitigation of community tensions. 

The Programme played a key role in the Welsh Government’s response to the unrest during summer 2024, including working with police and other partners to ensure communities felt supported and informed.

Welsh Government is collecting community cohesion indicators as part of the National Survey for Wales. The 2024 to 2025 results will be available later in 2025.

Wales as a Nation of Sanctuary

Responsibility for asylum and immigration rests with the UK Government rather than the Welsh Government. This means that some of the key levers to prevent harmful outcomes, such as timely and good asylum case decision-making, the quality of asylum accommodation and provision of legal aid, are non-devolved.

The successful integration of refugees and asylum seekers requires concerted effort on the part of the Welsh Government, Welsh public services and Welsh communities. This is why we developed the Nation of Sanctuary Refugee and Asylum Seeker Plan in 2019.

The Welsh Government remains committed to this vision, and committed to harnessing the opportunities which migration brings, to help our economy and communities to thrive. 

The Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan, refreshed in November 2024, includes a full chapter on our Nation of Sanctuary vision, replacing our previous Nation of Sanctuary Plan (2019). 

The 33 actions included in the new chapter will enable us to focus on delivering against the most pressing issues for the remainder of this Senedd term. We will prioritise support for those most vulnerable to harmful outcomes and work closely with the new UK Government to improve the operation of asylum and resettlement schemes in Wales.

Our Wales Sanctuary Service continues to provide vital advocacy and advice services to sanctuary seekers in Wales, including specialist legal services and services for young people. For 2025 to 2026, we are providing £840,000 to fund the Wales Sanctuary Service, which has also been extended to 31 March 2027. 

Our Move On Service, also known as Refugee Well Housing, continues to provide support to newly recognised refugees to find alternative Move On accommodation and register with banking and other services within 56 days after the Home Office has granted refugee status. For 2025 to 2026, we are providing £300,000 to the Move On Service. 

We continue to fund Housing Justice Cymru’s Seeking Sanctuary project. For 2025 to 2026, £211,500 has been allocated to Housing Justice Cymru, who lead a partnership including EYST (Swansea), Home4U (Cardiff) and the Gap Centre (Newport) to support hosted placements for those refused asylum in Welsh communities to access shelter, stability, and legal advice. This support is offered to those who maintain they have fled war or persecution. Impartial legal advice enables individuals to consider if they can submit an asylum appeal, fresh asylum claim, or engage with Home Office voluntary returns processes.

We have produced information about all aspects of life in Wales on the Welsh Government’s Sanctuary website. This is available in a variety of languages.

Long-term aim 7: everyone in Wales is able to participate in political, public and everyday life

Objective 7: by 2024, we will increase the diversity of decision-makers in public life and public appointments, exploring areas where further action is needed to ensure greater balance of diversity among decision-makers, and identify and investigate mechanisms to redress inequality.

Examples of progress

Progress between January 2024 to March 2025

• Strategic focus sustained and strengthened: delivery continued in line with the aims of the Reflecting Wales in Running Wales strategy. Although the strategy concluded in 2023, its goals remained central to public appointments activity throughout the reporting period. Work to refresh and reinstate the strategy was underway by March 2025, with Ministerial agreement confirmed shortly afterwards. Planning also began for an independent evaluation to inform future diversity and inclusion action in public appointments.
• Stakeholder engagement expanded: a stakeholder mapping exercise identified organisations supporting individuals from underrepresented backgrounds to become board-ready. Engagement with senior independent panel members helped shape thinking around inclusive and supportive assessment approaches.
• Improved collaboration and engagement: the Public Bodies Reference Group and Board Chairs Network enhanced internal collaboration. A quarterly Partnership Team newsletter was launched, underpinned by regular engagement. New guidance on inclusive board practice was shared with Board Chairs, offering practical steps to reduce unconscious bias, value diverse talent, and develop inclusive board cultures.
• Improved data and evidence base: a new case management system (CAIS) was implemented to improve consistency in recording public appointments activity. While diversity data is currently captured only at the point of application, options for improving lifecycle tracking are being explored. Three recent sources now provide a clearer baseline for board diversity:
  • CAIS data for 2023 to 2024
  • Public Appointments Commissioner’s Annual Report
  • Review of Diversity in the Public Sector Workforce and Boards in Wales (published 2025)
    These show improvements in ethnic diversity, gender balance and sexual orientation representation. However, disabled people and individuals from lower socio-economic backgrounds remain underrepresented. A Welsh language capability survey of current board members was also conducted to inform future appointment planning
• Ongoing commitment: we remain committed to improving transparency, access and fairness in public appointments. Our work is focused on strengthening diversity, modernising processes, and developing targeted support to help individuals from underrepresented backgrounds gain the skills and confidence to apply.

Historic delivery highlights (pre–January 2024)

• The Diversity and Inclusion Strategy for Public Appointments (2020 to 2023) set a clear vision to improve the diversity of leadership in public life.
• In 2021, Welsh Government appointed a pool of 13 senior independent panel members from diverse backgrounds to sit on recruitment panels for major public appointments. This approach, a UK first, helped introduce broader perspectives and lived experience into the assessment process.
• Welsh Government funded pilot training and mentoring programmes between 2021 and 2023, focused on supporting ethnic minority and disabled individuals to access board roles. These included board induction training, leadership development and inclusive governance sessions. An interim evaluation is underway to assess the impact of these programmes.
• We supported external initiatives such as the Equal Power Equal Voice mentoring scheme, run by WEN Wales, EYST, Disability Wales and Stonewall Cymru, to build a sustainable and inclusive pipeline of future decision-makers.
• The Anti-racist Wales Action Plan (2022) committed Welsh Government to engaging with Board Chairs to strengthen anti-racist leadership and data practices. This work underpinned more recent guidance on inclusive board culture and equality objective setting.
• Welsh Government has taken steps over recent years to raise awareness of public appointments and promote greater understanding of the process among underrepresented groups, although further improvements are now being prioritised.
• Earlier activity included internal updates to public appointments guidance and early-stage engagement on improving diversity data collection, which laid some groundwork for current reforms.

Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales)Act 2024

The Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Act 2024 (‘the Act’) reforms and modernises the way Senedd elections and local elections are held in Wales, by implementing many of the proposals set out in the White Paper on Electoral Administration and Reform published in October 2022, in order to strengthen democratic accountability and control. 

The Act has been almost wholly commenced, with the final provisions, relating to Automatic Voter Registration discussed below) to be commenced in the coming month.

The arrangements made under the Act include:

• The establishment of the Electoral Management Board (EMB) within the Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru to coordinate Senedd, local government elections, and devolved referendums. It also operates the Welsh Elections Information Platform, with development underway for the 2026 elections.
• Development and publication of Diversity and Inclusion Guidance for political parties, encouraging strategies and data collection to improve representation, particularly of women.
• A Candidate Diversity Grant pilot launched in September 2025 aimed at supporting third sector organisations aiding underrepresented candidates.
• The requirement for Welsh Ministers to have in place a financial assistance scheme to support disabled candidates. This scheme is administered by Disability Wales and provides tailored support for individual candidates.
• Automatic Voter Registration pilots have concluded, with evaluation due by January 2026.
• The Electoral Commission is preparing Codes of Practice on campaign finance and reporting on accessibility measures taken by Returning Officers.

Financial Assistance Scheme  

The regulations introducing the Welsh Elections Financial Assistance Scheme Regulations came into force in July 2025. The scheme aims to remove barriers and promote equal opportunity for disabled people.  Key features of the scheme include: 

• Independent Administration: the scheme will be operated by Disability Wales, ensuring impartiality and confidentiality.
• Social Model of Disability: this approach will guide the type of support offered, focusing on removing barriers rather than defining limitations.
• Comprehensive Support: from identifying needs to funding approved adjustments, the scheme will assist candidates throughout the election period, from nomination to the announcement of results. 

The scheme, known as the Access to Elected Office Fund, opened for applications in September 2025 and includes:  

• help identifying necessary support
• assistance with completing applications
• fair assessment of requests to ensure equity
• provision of approved funding or services

Pilot Candidate Diversity Grant 

A Candidate Diversity Grant is being piloted. This offers funding to organisations to provide services supporting candidates from underrepresented groups to stand in devolved elections.  The pilot scheme opened on 26 September and closed 24 October 2025. 

This scheme allows provision of financial support to individuals directly, or provision of financial assistance to third parties who provide services such as training or mentoring. The scheme is open to third sector organisations working in Wales (or proposing to work in Wales using grant funding).  

It is aimed at the 2026 Senedd and the 2027 local government elections, in respect of current and potential candidates. 

Long-term aim 8: the Welsh public sector leads the way as exemplar inclusive and diverse organisations and employers

Objective 8: by 2024 the Welsh Government will be an exemplar employer, increasing diversity, removing barriers and supporting staff from all backgrounds to reach their potential, creating equality of opportunity for all. 

Examples of progress

We have continued to work to support the actions set out in the Welsh Government workforce equality, diversity and inclusion strategy: 2021 to 2026.    

Our overall objective, as set out in Welsh Government’s current Strategic Equality Plan, is that Welsh Government will be an exemplar employer, increasing diversity by:

• addressing, in particular, the under-representation of disabled people and people from minority ethnic communities at all levels of the organisation and the underrepresentation of women in senior roles
• removing barriers
• supporting apprenticeships from diverse communities
• enabling staff from all backgrounds to reach their potential, creating equality of opportunity for all

Welsh Government Annual Employer Equality Reports can be found at Welsh Government employer equality reports.

Organisational highlights 2023 to 2024 

Achievements to drive forward our equality, diversity and inclusion ambitions include: 

• a comprehensive outreach toolkit for recruiting line managers developed to support the recruitment process and attract a wide field of candidates
• measurable anti-racism and social model of disability performance objectives introduced for the Senior Civil Service to strengthen accountability
• introduction of a new online recruitment system (CAIS), enabling name-free recruitment, minimising the risk of unconscious bias within the recruitment process
• all-staff online events to build understanding of neurodivergence
• celebration of Staff Networks Day, relaunch of the Aspire development programme for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic colleagues looking to progress their careers, developed in collaboration with our Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic staff network
• we continue to recognise and support a range of EDI-themed global events throughout the year to raise awareness

The Equality Act 2010: the Public Sector Equality Duty

The Equality Act 2010 (the 2010 Act) replaces previous anti-discrimination laws for England, Scotland and Wales with a single Act. The Act protects people from discrimination because of: 

• age
• disability
• gender reassignment
• marriage and civil partnership
• pregnancy and maternity
• race
• religion or belief
• sex
• sexual orientation

These categories are known as the ‘protected characteristics’. 

The 2010 Act also introduced the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), which has three overarching aims. Those subject to the duty must in the performance of their duties have due regard to the need to: 

• eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Act
• advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not
• foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not

The aim of the PSED is to ensure that those subject to it consider advancement of equality when carrying out their day-to-day business. For the Welsh Government this includes shaping policy, delivery services and in relation to our employees.

The Equality Act 2010 (Statutory Duties) (Wales) Regulations 2011 (the regulations)

In Wales, the public bodies listed in Part 2 of Schedule 19 to the Equality Act 2010 are subject also to specific duties found in the Regulations. These Regulations are also known as the Welsh specific equality duties. 

‘Listed authorities’ refers to public bodies listed in Part 2 of Schedule 19.  Where we have referred to the ‘Welsh public sector’ or similar, we are referring only to those bodies listed in the schedule and subject to the Welsh specific equality duties. 

The aim of the Welsh specific equality duties is to enable the better performance of the PSED. They do so by requiring, for example, the publication of equality objectives together with equality impact assessments, engagement requirements, progress reports, collection of data and more. The equality objectives must, at their core, seek to address inequalities related to the nine protected characteristics specified in the 2010 Act. 

Regulation 16: reports by authorities on compliance with the general duty

Chapter 1 of this report fulfils partial compliance with regulation 16 of the  Equality Act 2010 (Statutory Duties) (Wales) Regulations 2011  that provide for the Welsh specific equality duties, requiring the Welsh Ministers to publish a report each year setting out how they are complying with the specific duties. The report must set out the steps the authority has taken to identify and collect information, how that information has been used to comply with the general duty, any reasons for not collecting information, any progress made to fulfil each of the equality objectives, a statement of effectiveness and the information required to be collected pursuant to Regulation 9. 

Chapter 1 includes a number of progress statements outlining how we are complying with the specific duties, including those regarding engagement, equality evidence and equality impact assessments.

Regulation 16 also requires listed authorities to provide an annual statement of the arrangements for identifying and collecting relevant information and the effectiveness of the steps we have taken to fulfil our Equality Objectives. We will be publishing a separate report covering this information by the statutory reporting deadline of 31 March 2019.

The Government of Wales Act 2006 

The duty in section 77 of the Government of Wales Act 2006 (“the 2006 Act”) requires Welsh Ministers to make appropriate arrangements to help ensure that their functions are exercised with due regard to the principle of equality of opportunity for all people. Each year Welsh Ministers must publish a report containing information on these arrangements and their effectiveness in promoting equality of opportunity. 

This duty further emphasises the importance that Ministers place on mainstreaming equality in their work and ensuring it is given due consideration when making their decisions. The duty under the 2006 Act ensures that we give weight to promoting equality, as well as meeting our responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010.

This report includes examples and case studies outlining how we have exercised our functions with due regard to the principle of equality of opportunity for all. 

The Socio-economic Duty

Section 45 of the Wales Act 2017 conferred powers to Welsh Ministers to issue guidance to relevant authorities on how to fulfil their public sector duties regarding socio-economic inequalities. 

This involved enacting Part 1, Section 1 of the Equality Act 2010 the Socio-economic Duty. The duty applies to eligible public bodies.

It requires specified public bodies to consider how their decisions might help to reduce the inequalities associated with socio-economic disadvantage when making strategic decisions such as ‘deciding priorities and setting objectives’. 

The Welsh Government defines “socio-economic disadvantage” as “Living in less favourable social and economic circumstances than others in the same society”.

The Socio-economic Duty ensures that those taking strategic decisions: 

1. take account of evidence and potential impact through consultation and engagement
2. understand the views and needs of those impacted by the decision, particularly those who suffer socioeconomic disadvantage
3. welcome challenge and scrutiny
4. drive a change in the way that decisions are made and the way that decision makers operate

A wide range of material to help Public Sector organisations and individuals is available including A More Equal Wales: The Socio-economic Duty and The Socio-economic Duty: guidance and resources for public bodies

Public Sector Equality Duty: an explanation of the aim of the Public Sector Equality Duty and the organisations covered.

This section fulfils our duty to publish a Welsh Ministers’ Report on Equality every four years, in accordance with regulation 17 of the 2011 Regulations, outlining the progress relevant Welsh authorities in Wales have made towards complying with the PSED, and further opportunities for coordinated action. 

‘Relevant Welsh authorities’ refers to public bodies listed in Part 2 of Schedule 19 to the Equality Act 2010. Where we have referred to the ‘Welsh public sector’ or similar, we are referring only to those bodies listed in the schedule and subject to the Welsh Specific Equality Duties. 

We invited the relevant Welsh authorities to provide feedback on their experiences in implementing the 3 aims of the PSED within their organisations, recognising the wide range in size, resources and the nature of their functions. 

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) in Wales carries out its own research to measure compliance with legal requirements and establish whether the PSED is being used to drive forward action on making Wales a more equal nation. 

To avoid duplicating the EHRC’s work in this area, we have not included an exhaustive description of all compliance activity, instead providing an overview that highlights areas of good practice across a random sampling of Relevant Welsh Authority work. 

Relevant Welsh authorities are subject to the statutory reporting requirements of the Welsh Specific Equality Duties, and as such are required to publish an annual report on equality. More detailed equality information for these bodies is usually located on their websites. 

PSED organisations

Welsh ministers routinely provide progress updates on work being done to comply with PSED by public bodies in Wales and the Welsh Government sponsored bodies (WGSB) which receive funding provided by the Welsh Government to carry out their duties. These include:

Welsh Government

• The First Minister for Wales
• The Welsh ministers
• The Counsel General to the Welsh Government

Welsh Government sponsored bodies

• Arts Council of Wales
• Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales
• National Library of Wales
• National Museum Wales
• Natural Resources Wales
• Qualifications Wales
• Sport Wales

National Health Service

Local health boards

• Aneurin Bevan University health board
• Betsi Cadwaladr University health board
• Cardiff and Vale University health board
• Cwm Taf Morgannwg University health board
• Hywel Dda University health board
• Powys Teaching health board
• Swansea Bay University health board

NHS trusts

• Public Health Wales
• Velindre NHS trust
• Welsh Ambulance Services NHS trust

Llais: your voice in health and social care

Llais Wales is an independent body which:

• engages with members of the public
• represents the voice of people to health boards and local authorities
• provides free and confidential complaints advocacy and support

Local government

County Councils and County Borough Councils

• Blaenau Gwent
• Bridgend
• Cardiff
• Carmarthenshire
• Caerphilly
• Ceredigion
• Conwy
• Denbighshire
• Flintshire
• Gwynedd
• Isle of Anglesey
• Merthyr
• Monmouthshire
• Neath Port Talbot
• Newport
• Pembrokeshire
• Powys
• Rhondda Cynon Taff
• Swansea
• Torfaen
• Vale of Glamorgan
• Wrexham

There are 4 regional partnerships or Corporate Joint Committees, where local government organisations have elected to work together for mutual benefit.

• Mid Wales Corporate Joint Committee
• North Wales Corporate Joint Committee
• South East Wales Corporate Joint Committee
• South West Wales Corporate Joint Committee

Although covered within the Public Sector Equality Duty, they have no website in their own right. Information in their activities can be obtained by contacting relevant local authorities.

• Welsh Local Government Association Home : WLGA

Fire and rescue authorities

• Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service
• North Wales Fire and Rescue Service
• South Wales Fire and Rescue Service

National park authorities

• Brecon Beacons National Park Authority
• Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority
• Snowdonia National Park Authority

Educational bodies

• The Education Workforce Council for Wales  (previously General Teaching Council for Wales)
• Estyn His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales
• Higher Education Funding Council Wales
• Qualifications Wales

Other public authorities

• Audit Wales
• Auditor General For Wales
• Public Services Ombudsman for Wales
• Social Care Wales
• Welsh Revenue Authority

Commissioners for Wales

• Children’s Commissioner for Wales
• Older People’s Commissioner for Wales
• Welsh Language Commissioner

Universities in Wales

• Aberystwyth University
• Bangor University
• Cardiff Metropolitan University
• Cardiff University
• Swansea University
• University of South Wales
• University of Wales Trinity Saint David
• Wrexham Glyndwr University

Further education institutions

• Bridgend College
• Cardiff and Vale College
• Coleg Cambria
• Coleg Gwent
• Coleg Sir Gar
• Coleg y Cymoedd
• Gower College Swansea
• Grŵp Llandrillo Menai
• NPTC Group of Colleges
• Pembrokeshire College
• St David's Catholic Sixth Form College - Cardiff
• The College Merthyr

UK Organisations covering England and Wales 

Cross border organisations (along the border between England and Wales): cross border Welsh authorities

• Environment Agency
• NHS Blood and Transplant
• NHS Business Services Authority
• Student Loans Company

There are several UK organisations which operate in Wales, which are not covered in the Welsh ministers’ report since they operate at a UK level.

Progress and key achievements 

The introduction of the PSED and Welsh specific equality duties has helped to progress the equality agenda in Wales. Each Relevant Welsh Authority will have their own Strategic Equality Plans which can be found on their own websites. We have included some of the examples provided to us by Relevant Welsh Authorities.

It is clear that there has been a great deal of progress across Public Sector organisations in Wales in implementing the requirements of the PSED and in embedding its principles in their day-to-day delivery of services to the Welsh public. This can only be welcomed, We are clear in our wish to see the momentum gained continuing across our shared aims. 

Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council (BGCBC)

The Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council (BGCBC) annual report highlights how they are meeting the Public Sector Equality Duty (the “general duty”) or (PSED).

The full BGCBC Strategic Equality Plan Annual Report 2024-25 can be found at Equalities in Blaenau Gwent. As a snapshot in this report, we have focused on BGCBC’s Objective 6 only: Equality Objective 6. We will strive to reduce inequality caused by poverty.

Summary of progress

Community Hubs 

Our community hubs offer a range of support and guidance for individuals facing financial challenges or digital barriers that hinder their access to necessary services. They provide discretionary payments for living expenses, rent assistance for older adults and disabled people, and help with eligibility checks for council tax reductions, benefiting people with mental or physical impairments, carers, and those on low incomes. Additionally, families with children can receive support through school uniform grants.

The hubs are places where people can get help in local libraries that are in each valley. From the 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024, the hubs have supported 6,881 people. The main reasons why people visited the hubs were for benefit support, blue badges, council tax and fuel vouchers. The hubs are considered vital for residents to receive the help they need in places that are easy to reach.

Support to care leavers 

The Welsh Government Children and Communities Grant continues to provide essential support to care leavers who have been adversely affected by, or are facing undue pressure from, the cost-of-living crisis.  

In 2024 alone, there were 110 individual requests for funding to assist with income loss, food supplies, household bills, and other essential living costs, including securing tenancy arrangements. This grant has been crucial in helping young people who are or have been in local authority care to access opportunities that lead to independent and successful lives. 

The fund is used flexibly, and we encourage the 14+ team to work collaboratively with the children and young people regarding its use. This co-productive approach ensures that the support provided aligns with their personal outcomes, reducing barriers they have identified for their goals and aspirations. We remain committed to continuing to support care leavers in a flexible manner, helping them manage the impact of the cost-of-living crisis and achieve their personal and professional aspirations.

Socio-economic aspect of the Integrated Impact Assessment 

Following the council's motion to recognise care-experienced individuals as a protected characteristic, we have made amendments to the Integrated Impact Assessment (IIA) under Section 6, Children’s Rights Approach The Right Way.

These changes specifically address the potential positive and negative impacts of our decisions on Children Looked After (CLA) and Children & Young People with care experience.

The updated section now includes a detailed analysis of how our policies and decisions affect these groups. This involves assessing the potential benefits, such as improved access to services and support, as well as identifying any possible negative outcomes, such as unintended barriers or challenges. 

By incorporating the perspectives and experiences of care-experienced individuals, we aim to ensure that our decisions are more inclusive and supportive.

UK Shared Prosperity Fund Community Food Development Grant Scheme 

Grant funding for local community food initiatives has been made available during 24 to 25 for improving access to healthy and sustainable foods in Blaenau Gwent. The grant scheme is for projects that promote a more coordinated approach to tackling the root causes of food insecurity through supporting community-led initiatives to promote healthy, sustainable eating and growing. This includes growing projects, community food pantries, food education programmes such as cookery and nutrition classes.

Ceredigion County Council

Ceredigion County Council states that it remains committed to implementing the Public Sector Equality Duty, with reference to the three arms of the PSED:

• Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct that is prohibited by the Act.
• Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not.
• Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.

Hate Crime Charter 

In November 2022, the Ceredigion Cabinet signed the Victim Support Hate Crime Charter, committing to tackle hate crime, provide support and information for victims, and raise awareness of hate crime among staff and communities. 

To meet this commitment, Ceredigion County Council’s Corporate Equalities Workgroup developed a 10-point action plan, which Victim Support recognized as good practice:

1. Conduct awareness-raising campaigns during Hate Crime Awareness Week and other key times throughout the year.
2. Ask Ceredigion Youth Council for feedback on resources aimed at raising awareness among young people.
3. Distribute posters, leaflets, and other resources to schools.
4. Provide hate crime training for frontline staff, managers, education leads, and Elected Members.
5. Encourage hate-related anti-social behaviour training for housing staff and other community-based workers.
6. Consider including hate crime topics within current anti-social behaviour policies.
7. Place hate crime awareness leaflets in Council buildings.
8. Assess the need to amend HR policies to address hate acts in the workplace.
9. Maintain hate crime as a standing agenda item at weekly multi-agency tension monitoring meetings.
10. Monitor progress to determine if we are making a difference. 

Ceredigion County Council implemented the plan between June 2023 and January 2024 (action point 10 is ongoing) submitting evidence to Victim Support, who approved Ceredigion Council as active delivery partners in February 2024. 

This contributed to ongoing work to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct that is prohibited by the Act and to foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. 

Age Friendly Ceredigion 

The World Health Organisation describes age-friendly communities as places in which older people, communities, policies, services, settings and structures work together in partnership to support and enable us all to age well. 

In October 2022 Ceredigion County Council began engagement sessions at local supermarkets and with local groups to ask 3 questions: 

1. What’s good about growing older in Ceredigion?
2. What’s not so good about growing older in Ceredigion?
3. What could be better about growing older in Ceredigion? 

The feedback from those engagements formed the baseline of the Council’s self-assessment.  

In October 2023, Ceredigion County Council celebrated International Older Persons Day. In December 2023, the Council joined the Age Friendly Community of Practice, set up by the Older People’s Commissioner for all local authorities in Wales. 

Socio-economic Duty

Ceredigion County Council states that it is well aware of the requirements of the Socio-economic Duty. its Integrated Impact Assessment includes a specific section that explains what it means and requires officers to consider the impact a proposed policy may have on people experiencing socio-economic disadvantage. 

Ceredigion PSB Local Well-being Plan 2023 to 2028 recognises that poverty remains one of the biggest challenges for the county. Universal Credit reduction and high housing costs/housing affordability are the drivers of poverty in Ceredigion. The Council takes the lead in coordinating the PSB Poverty sub-group and it is chaired by their Equality Champion who is also a Cabinet member. The sub-group brings together relevant PSB partners and specific third sector groups to ensure that tackling hardship and poverty is a PSB priority. It acts as a voice for those impacted by poverty and hardship in Ceredigion and makes sure that benefits and resources to mitigate the impact of poverty are collated and shared to ensure that it reaches all those that need support. The Council’s webpage, Cost of Living Support - Ceredigion County Council is an example of how they do this. 

Examples of an instance where the Socio-economic Duty has shaped a strategic decision in a way to positively impact on reducing inequalities of outcome borne out of socio-economic disadvantage

The Council undertook a Local Housing Market Assessment in 2023 which confirmed that there is a housing affordability issue in Ceredigion. Due to the acknowledgement of expensive and largely unaffordable housing in the county, a new banding factor has been added to our Common Allocation Policy. Should applicants be able to prove that they are spending more than 30% of their income on rent, priority banding will be awarded. The policy was approved by Cabinet in February 2025 , agenda item 168, Ceredigion County Council. 

Flintshire County Borough Council

Flintshire County Council states that it is committed to promoting equality and eliminating discrimination. The Council's Diversity and Equality policy sets out how we will eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between communities. The Council has also developed a Strategic Equality Plan 2020-2024 to meet the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED). This plan includes equality objectives and the actions the Council will take to achieve them. All of the Council diversity policies and related reports can be found at Flintshire County Borough Council Equality and Diversity web pages

Key achievements, with reference to the 3 arms of the PSED

• Students from Flintshire secondary schools decided to work with the Youth Service to organise their own Pride event to raise awareness of issues facing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) people and to celebrate being different. This event is now held annually. Outcome - developing more awareness and understanding in school environments and creating inclusive school environment..
• Seven secondary schools are participating in Show Racism the Red Card’s Leaders of Now project. The outcomes of the project are:
  • empowering young people to be actively anti-racist in their own communities
  • creating a self-sustaining network of anti-racism activists
  • enabling ongoing longer-term conversations about racism and anti-racism
  • enabling young people to feel confident in challenging racism within their own spaces
• The Council’s Youth Service and Play Team worked with the Council’s Resettlement Team to support Refugees and resettled families to participate in Summer Playschemes. The Teams are working together to focus on identifying and addressing potential barriers to participation to enhance attendance and strengthen relationships with families. Outcomes of the project: Increased participation in community activities, English language skills improved, increased social interaction between resettled families and the local community as parents stayed to chat at some activities. 

Actions taken to promote and advance the Socio-economic Duty for Wales in policy development and service delivery

Implementation

Training: training has been delivered to all elected members who sit on Scrutiny committees, this included providing examples of making changes to initiatives /projects to meet the Socio-economic Duty. (SED). The Welsh Government resources were shared with elected members as part of this training.

Further training is being planned to ensure elected members are reminded of this.

Integrated Impact Assessments: the Council’s IIA template includes the SED to ensure IIA authors consider this. An IIA Quality Assurance sub-group of the Equality Board has been established, the purpose of this group is to “ensure the quality of Equality and Socio-economic Impact Assessments/IIAs to support service improvement and ensure they meet statutory guidance and regulations”. 

This group sample-checks completed IIAs and gives advice/feedback to IIA authors.  A process is being developed by Democratic Services to ensure formal reports do not go to Committees without a draft or final IIA where relevant.

Example: the Youth Justice Team include the analysis of Looked After Children, Poverty and Deprivation in their review of young people entering the youth justice system to identify any disproportionality. This involves looking at postcodes of children and young people who enter the youth justice system to identify areas of deprivation and looking at other indictors of poverty e.g. in receipt of free school meals, uniform grant. This will help identify any specific action that can be taken to address unequal outcomes because of their socio-economic status. This project is in the initial stages.

Disability equality

The Council is an accredited Disability Confident Employer (level 2) and is committed to achieving level 3 (Disability Confident Leader). 

The Council also operates a guaranteed interview scheme for disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the post.

The Council co-hosts a cohort of interns via HFT DFN Project Search (in partnership with Betsi Cadwallader University Health Board) which is a supported internship programme for young adults who have a learning disability or autism spectrum condition to secure meaningful permanent work.

Gender pay gap

The Council publishes gender pay gap information for its workforce on an annual basis.  The latest report was approved by the Council’s Cabinet on 15 April 2025. The cover report, and appendices can be accessed.

Isle of Anglesey County Council

Here are some examples of how Isle Anglesey County Council promoted and developed Equality and diversity during 2024 in line with their equality objectives and Strategic Equality Plan:

• Education: Canolfan Addysg y Bont has been awarded ‘Exemplar’ status by the EQUALS charity, the first special school in Wales and one of only seven across Britain.
• The workplace: a Staff Health and Well-being group was established and its purpose is to foster an inclusive and supportive work culture, promoting good health and well-being for all staff.
• Living standards: £250,000 of funding secured to help tackle the costs of living crisis
• Health and social care: the Council has been recognised as the first Dementia Friendly Council in North Wales
• Personal safety: ‘Professional conman’ who targeted vulnerable residents prosecuted
• Participation: Tenants satisfaction survey published, a survey is carried out every 2 years to give tenants a chance to have their say
• Socio-economic disadvantage: Costs of living data dashboard available on our intranet to help officers and councillors to make more informed decisions
• Working practices: Monthly ‘Equality Matters’ messages shared to raise awareness of equality, diversity and inclusion matters and to show respect for others, despite our differences
• Celebrating diversity: Welcoming North Wales Pride to Anglesey for the first time 

Many more examples can be found on the ‘Newsroom’ page on our website, as well as various other corporate and service publications.

Social Care Wales (SCW)

What we do: Social Care Wales

Social Care Wales (SCW) Strategic equality plan for 2022 to 2027 can be found on  What we do | Social Care Wales. it supports the ambitions of their wider Strategic plan for 2022 to 2027. It also responds to the ongoing inequalities that have been highlighted and made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic.

SCW developed the plan by speaking to people who use care and support and their carers, and listening to people who represent a range of the protected characteristics.

The plan has 5 outcomes. SCW will:

• improve the use of equality data and information
• work with employers and leaders within social care and early years to help advance equality at work
• work to make sure equality, accessibility and inclusion are central to our work of building a digitally ready social care and early years workforce
• support the workforce by promoting well-being resources and offers, and improving access to them
• promote opportunities to work with SCW, to help achieve a more diverse and inclusive Board, staff and regulatory panel, and to widen their networks

Progress Update

To advance equality of opportunity SCW has improved Equality impact assessments

SCW evaluated the effectiveness of its equality impact assessment process after Audit Wales published its ‘Equality Impact Assessments-more than a tick box exercise’ report. SCW has updated their equality impact assessment process, provided training across the organisation and embarking on a cultural change process in 2024 to 2025.

Development of a Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES)

Improvement in data has enabled the production of a Workforce Race Equality Standard with colleagues from Welsh Government. SCW’s first report was published in 2025. Workforce Race Equality Standard: Social Care Wales,

WRES is a tool to help monitor the experiences of people from ethnic minority backgrounds who work in health and social care in Wales.

Overseen by Welsh Government, it brings together data about the workforce to help highlight where there are differences between the experiences of White, Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff. It includes a focus on 4 areas:

• leadership and progression
• continuous professional development (CPD) and training
• discipline and capability
• bullying, harassment and discrimination

The information gathered can then be used to support organisations to take action to address the biggest issues and improve the experiences of ethnic minority workers.

Training and collecting employment information

Disability confident scheme

SCW has have maintained stage one of the ‘Disability Confident’ scheme this year and to improve equity within its recruitment processes, they now share all interview questions with prospective job candidates prior to interview.  In the last year SCW has seen a slight increase in applications from disabled candidates with 10.29% of candidates stating they’re disabled, up from 9.34% in 2022 to 2023. SCW has also seen a marked increase in the number of disabled candidates appointed, almost doubling from 6.67% to 12%. 

Board recruitment

Working with the public appointments team in 2023 to 2024 SCW recruited 11 new Social Care Wales Board members. The values-based recruitment process has enabled the recruitment of Board members which reflect the diversity of the communities they serve, with members from different ethnic backgrounds, gender, ages and physical abilities. 

Lived Experience Reference Group

During 2024 to 2025 SCW began advertising for a lived experience reference group for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion within Social Care Wales.

Review of anti-racism in regulated social work degree programmes

In 2023 to 2024 SCW asked Higher Education Institutions who offer social work education programmes to detail their work around anti-racism.

This included how:

• anti-racism is taught in social work degree programmes
• anti-racist structures support student social workers

SCW also commissioned an independent report to make sure it considers students’ voices in the regulated social work degree programmes. This has helped to identify actions to further advance equality ambitions in social work programmes. 

Ymlaen

In 2024 SCW published Ymlaen, a research, innovation and improvement strategy for social care.

Equality, diversity and inclusion is a central theme. SCW held workshops about equality, diversity, inclusion and anti-racism and the Welsh language to help shape its strategy. SCW also held a focus group with people with lived experience of protected characteristics.

This strategy supports work by a range of partners to help tackle discrimination, through the Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan and the LGBTQ+ Action Plan, and the More Than Just Words Welsh language plan, and make a measurable change to current and future generations.

Monitoring the health and well-being of the social care workforce

In 2023 to 2024 SCW published the findings of its ‘have your say’, the first ever social care workforce survey of the registered social care workforce in Wales. More than 3,000 social care workers (6 per cent of the registered workforce) responded. 

Fron this survey:

•  Almost half (45 per cent) of the respondents from a Black, Black British, Caribbean or African heritage said they’d experienced discrimination, compared with 21 per cent of those with Asian heritage and 14 per cent of White workers.
• Asian workers were the most likely to say they had no negative experiences (73 per cent).
• Those of White heritage were more likely than other ethnic groups to say they’d experienced bullying.
• There’s a correlation between feeling supported by managers and colleagues, and never having experienced bullying, discrimination or harassment in the workplace (71 per cent). The survey found those who feel their managers and colleagues only ‘sometimes’, ‘rarely’ or ‘never’ help and support them are more likely to report bullying (42 per cent), discrimination (26 per cent) and harassment (17 per cent).    

This survey supports SCW to articulate where work is required across the social care sector to support equity.

Supporting Welsh Government’s Anti-racist Wales Action Plan

In 2023 to 2024, SCW continued work to meet the actions set out in Welsh Government’s Anti racist Wales Action Plan. This included:

• commissioning research to help develop a leadership offer for ethnic minority people working in social care
• developing an anti-racist e-learning resource for people working in social care
• trialling a cultural competency framework which is a workplace development tool to help organisations implement good workplace practice, ensuring services are fair and equitable for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people in Wales. SCW also produced a report for Welsh Government on the scheme’s potential for the social care workforce in Wales
• developing an approach for reviewing the early years and childcare qualification guidance, with support from Welsh Government

Working with employers

SCW supported employers to start on their anti-racism journey by running sessions on anti-racism in social care at regular employer roadshows.

Strategic Equality Plan

SCW has a strategic equality plan in place which runs from 2022 to 2027 Strategic equality plan 2022 to 2027. SCW also provides reports on progress. Our annual equality report: What we did in 2023 to 2024. 

Swansea Bay University Health Board (SBUHB)

The Swansea Bay University Health Board (SBUHB) Strategic Equality Plan can be found at Swansea Bay University Health Board Strategic Equality Plan - Equality Objectives 2020 to 2024. The Health Boards Strategic Equality Plan, now referred to as ‘We All Belong’ outlines clear objectives to ensure services are accessible to all and employment practices are fair. The plans are developed through engagement with diverse groups including staff and communities, and is regularly updated based on feedback and evidence, such as the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s “Is Wales Fairer” report.  

Progress and key achievements 

Eliminating Unlawful Discrimination, Harassment, and Victimisation

• Mental Health Stigma Training: The Health Board collaborated with Time to Change Wales to develop bespoke training modules aimed at challenging mental health stigma and discrimination among NHS staff. These sessions included real-life case studies and scenario-based discussions, enhancing staff awareness and encouraging reflection on personal practices.  
• Communication Regarding Zero Tolerance and Support: Zero tolerance posters have been distributed and displayed across SBUHB sites through Health and Safety regarding the safety of staff and patients. SBUHB has regular messaging from their CEO and Executive colleagues regarding this, along with relevant sign-posting for support. An example of this is during the summer of 2024 the Interim CEO sent out a communication to support colleagues who may have been affected with the protests being seen nationally with signposting to relevant support mechanisms.

Advancing Equality of Opportunity Between People

• Staff Networks: The Health Board supports various staff networks, including the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Staff Network and the Calon LGBT+ Staff and Allies Network and the Neurodiversity Network. These groups provide peer support, celebrate diversity, and work towards creating an inclusive workplace.  
• Optimise: Recognising a need to support women across SBUHB develop and to support efforts towards addressing the Gender Pay Gap, in 2022 we designed and developed our in-house women's development programme. The programme is aimed at all women and those who identify as women, from all professionals and job families across SBUHB. The programme provides time to focus on themselves and to further explore personal leadership development as a cohort. Recognising there can be barriers for colleagues who identify as Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, and to support opportunities for all, the programme lead has worked closely with the Global Majority Forum in SBUHB to ensure colleagues who identify as Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic are supported to attend.
• Widening Access, Equality and Careers (WAEC) SBUHB WAEC team support recruitment and retention in the Health Board through various streams of work from work experience through to internal talent development for existing staff. Engagement includes links with local education and communities. The team engage with various external partners and stakeholders to share these opportunities and initiatives within the footprint of the Health Board, which are open to all. The team have supported a number of people from underrepresented groups through placements that support gaining experience via vocational training with many choosing to apply for work in SBUHB and gaining permanent employment with the Health Board.

Fostering Good Relations Between People

• Cultural Conversation Initiative: The Health Board plans to expand cultural conversations initially started to understand the experiences of the Internationally Educated Nurses who joined Swansea Bay, to develop cultural competency awareness sessions that celebrate diversity, promoting inclusivity, a sense of belonging and understanding among staff.  
• Menopause Awareness Sessions and Menopause Café: The Health Board is raising awareness and education around Menopause. Menopause Cafes are inclusive events and open to staff of all genders and ages, giving an opportunity to support each other and share ideas. They are hosted in person across SBUHB sites and have also been held virtually.  The face-to-face cafes have been held for the past five years and offer a safe place to discuss any menopause-related issues and experiences - good or bad. To complement the café events, the Health Board also runs Mindful Menopause sessions along with training for Menopause Champions and Menopause and menstruation awareness for Managers.
• Chai & Chat: The "Chai & Chat" sessions organised by the Health Board form part of SBUHB outreach efforts to engage with diverse communities, particularly ethnic minority groups. These sessions are informal, in-person gatherings designed to share important health and wellbeing messages. They often feature guest speakers who discuss topics like nutrition, health screenings, immunisations, and local support services.