Diverse Women of Wales report

4 March 2022

Dear

ATISN 16051

Thank you for your freedom of information request which I received on 04/02/22. You asked for:

1. A copy of the review report commissioned by Welsh Government following the Women of Covid campaign and all drafts.

2. The interview notes and the research methodology undertaken as part of the report on the Women of Covid campaign.

2.1 How did this report give due regard to the public sector equality duty? 

3. What failings has the report identified?

4. How was due regard given to Black communities with this report? 

5. How does the Welsh government plan to hold organisations "to account" around "diversity and inclusion"?

5.1 Please provide any documentation or action plans on how the Welsh government plans to hold organisations "to account".

5.2 How has the government held organisations "to account" on previous occasions?

6. Given the nature of the report finding failings from these majority-white organisations, would the Welsh government consider asking these organisations to publicly apologise?

7. What happens if board members of Chwarae Teg, Welsh Women's Aid, and others, do not advocate for a review?

8. What % of the Welsh government is BAME?

9. What % of the editors of the report are BAME?

10. How many people have seen the report?

10.1 Has Welsh Women's Aid seen this report?

10.2 Has WEN Wales seen this report?

10.3 Has Chwarae Teg seen this report?

11. How much the government has spent on the report written by Ms Chantel Patel.

11.1 Where did this money come from?

12. How will contact with ethnic minority groups be conducted? By whom?

13. What does the Welsh government feel is a sufficient demonstration of anti-racism

14. How many times did the Welsh government meet with Chwarae Teg and other organisations about this report?

15. How many reports similar to this report on institutional equality failings has the government undertaken since 2012?

16. Please provide all documentation that the Welsh Government has published that mentions the terminology ‘diverse women of wales’.

17. How much money has the Welsh government given to Welsh Women's Aid from 2010? Please provide this year on year.

18. How many BAME-led organisations were in the gender review?

19. How much money has the Welsh government given to Chwarae Teg from 2010? Please provide this year on year.

20. How did this report give due regard to the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act? 

21. How did this report give due regard to Welsh language speaking BAME populations?

22. Has the Welsh government considered diverting funding from organisations who have failed in their due regard?

23. How does this relate to women under 25?

On 14/02/22, we wrote to you to seek clarification on the information you were seeking. Thank you for your response on 02/03/22 where you set out clarification related to questions 2.1, 3, 5.1, 15 and 22. We will write to you separately in relation to these.

For the remainder of this letter, it’s important to note that The Freedom of Information Act gives individuals a right of access to recorded information held by a public authority at the time the request was received.  It does not require an authority such as the Welsh Government to provide views or opinions where those views are not already recorded.  This is confirmed by the Information Commissioner’s guidance ‘The Guide to Freedom of Information’, page 7: 

“The Act does not cover information that is in someone’s head. If a member of the public asks for information, you only have to provide information you already have in recorded form. You do not have to create new information or find the answer to a question from staff who may happen to know it.” 

To that end, we regard questions 2, 5, 8, 9, 11, 11.1, 16, 17, 18, 19 as requests for recorded information. I can confirm that Welsh Government holds certain information of that description and a copy of the information I have decided to release is enclosed at Annex 2.

I have decided that some of the information in the enclosed list is exempt from disclosure under section 41 of the Freedom of Information Act and is therefore withheld.  The reasons for applying this exemption are set out in full at Annex 1 to this letter.

Some of the information requested is also exempt under section 21 of the Act - Information accessible to applicant by other means. I have highlighted where this is the case. This is an absolute exemption and not subject to the public interest test.

Next steps

If you are dissatisfied with the Welsh Government’s handling of your request, you can ask for an internal review within 40 working days of the date of this response.  Requests for an internal review should be addressed to the Welsh Government’s Freedom of Information Officer at:

Information Rights Unit, 
Welsh Government, 
Cathays Park, 
Cardiff, 
CF10 3NQ 

or Email:  Freedom.ofinformation@gov.wales

Please remember to quote the ATISN reference number above.   

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner.  The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: 

Information Commissioner’s Office, 
Wycliffe House, 
Water Lane, 
Wilmslow, 
Cheshire, 
SK9 5AF.

However, please note that the Commissioner will not normally investigate a complaint until it has been through our own internal review process.

As questions, 4, 5.2, 6, 7, 10, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 12, 13, 14, 20, 21, and 23 are not regarded as requests for recorded information and are, instead, seeking opinion and explanations they do not fall to be answered under the Freedom of Information Act. However, we have provided responses to these questions below, in addition to the recorded information provided in annex 2.

Question	Our response
4. How was due regard given to Black communities with this report?	The review responded to a specific complaint.
5.2 How has the government held organisations "to account" on previous occasions?	The Welsh Government gives out in excess of 11,000 grant awards each year. The grants are awarded in line with a series of terms of conditions and it is the responsibility of the officials who manage each of these grants to ensure that organisations comply with these and take action if this is not the case.
6. Given the nature of the report finding failings from these majority-white organisations, would the Welsh government consider asking these organisations to publicly apologise?	Our understanding is that both organisations did apologise publically.
7. What happens if board members of Chwarae Teg, Welsh Women's Aid, and others, do not advocate for a review?	We have been in contact with both organisations, including representatives of their Boards, who have committed to taking action to address the review findings.
10. How many people have seen the report?	It is not possible to give a number of individuals but the report was shared for fact checking purposes with Chwarae Teg and Welsh Women’s Aid.  A copy was provided by the independent reviewer to the Welsh Government.
10.1 Has Welsh Women's Aid seen this report?	Yes, Welsh Womens Aid were issued a copy of the report to fact check by the independent reviewer.
10.2 Has WEN Wales seen this report?	WEN Wales were not provided a copy of the report by the Welsh Government or the independent reviewer.
10.3 Has Chwarae Teg seen this report?	Yes, Chwarae Teg were issued a copy of the report to fact check by the independent reviewer.
12. How will contact with ethnic minority groups be conducted? By whom?	We have asked Chwarae Teg and Welsh Women’s Aid to provide an action plan outlining how they will address each of the recommendations from the report, this will include how they intend to reach out to ethnic minority community groups to raise awareness of what they do and ensuring their voices are heard.
13. What does the Welsh government feel is a sufficient demonstration of anti-racism	Our commitment to anti-racism is outlined as part of our Race Equality Action Plan.  Publically available information on the ongoing work is available here: https://gov.wales/race-equality-action-plan-anti-racist-wales
14. How many times did the Welsh government meet with Chwarae Teg and other organisations about this report?	In relation to this report, the Welsh Government have met with Chwarae Teg once and with Welsh Women’s Aid once.
20. How did this report give due regard to the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act?	The review responded to a specific complaint.
21. How did this report give due regard to Welsh language speaking BAME populations?	The review responded to a specific complaint.
23. How does this relate to women under 25?	The review responded to a specific complaint.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

 

Annex 1

The Freedom of information Act provides a right for anyone to ask a public authority to make requested information available to the wider public. As the release of requested information is to the world, not just the requester, public authorities need to consider the effects of making the information freely available to everybody. Any personal interest the requester has for accessing the information cannot override those wider considerations.

I have decided to withhold the following information under section 41 of the Freedom of Information Act:  

1. A copy of the review report commissioned by Welsh Government following the Women of Covid campaign and all drafts.

This Annex sets out the reasons for the engagement of Section 41 of the Freedom of Information Act.

Engagement of section 41 of the Freedom of Information Act

Section 41(1) of the Freedom of Information Act covers information provided in confidence.

Section 41(1) states:

(1)      “Information is exempt information if –

a) it was obtained by the public authority from any other person (including another public authority), and

b) the disclosure of the information to the public (otherwise that under this Act) by the public authority holding it would constitute a breach of confidence actionable by that or any other person.”

Section 41 is an absolute exemption and is not, therefore, subject to the public interest test. For the purposes of s41(1)(a), I can confirm that the information has been provided to Welsh Government by a third party.

‘Confidential’ is not defined in the Act; it’s a common law concept and the test of confidentiality involves determining whether information was obtained in confidence, whether the information has the necessary ‘quality of confidence’ and whether its disclosure would constitute an actionable breach of confidence. For the purposes of s41 a breach will always be actionable if:

· the information has the necessary quality of confidence;

· the information was imparted in circumstances importing an obligation of confidence; and

· there was an unauthorised use of the information to the detriment of the confider (the element of detriment is not always necessary).

This three stage test is taken from the case of Coco v Clarke.  For the information in question the Welsh Government believes it has the necessary ‘quality of confidence’, the information is not otherwise accessible and it is not trivial. This review was commissioned in response to a complaint received by Welsh Government. The organisations involved participated in the review voluntarily in order to learn lessons for the future, and provided information in confidence to support the reviewer in their work with no expectation that it would be put into the public domain.

We have decided to withhold the report and all drafts from being released into the public domain as they contain information that was provided in confidence by 3^rd parties.  Welsh Government is working with the complainants and the organisations involved to address the report’s recommendations and to outline next steps.

It is our concern that were the Welsh Government to release the information requested and breach the confidence of the 3^rd parties involved, it may prevent these and other organisations from participating in voluntary reviews such as these in the future.  This would have negative consequences on our ability to process complaints and seek resolution to issues and concerns. 

 

Annex 2

Information requested	Our response
2. Interview notes	We do not hold this information.
2. Research methodology undertaken as part of the review	Please see Doc 1.
5. How does the Welsh government plan to hold organisations "to account" around "diversity and inclusion"?	Please see Doc 2 and Doc 3.
8. What % of the Welsh government is BAME?	This information is exempt under section 21 of the Act - Information accessible to applicant by other means. This information can be found here: Annual Employer Equality Report 2019-2020 (gov.wales)
9. What % of the editors of the report are BAME?	We do not hold this information as the report did not have editors.
11. How much the government has spent on the report written by Ms Chantel Patel.	£6,300.
11.1 Where did this money come from?	The Welsh Government Equality and Inclusion budget.
16. Please provide all documentation that the Welsh Government has published that mentions the terminology ‘diverse women of wales’.	Published information is exempt under s21 of the Act – information accessible to the applicant by other means.
17.  How much money has the Welsh Government given to Women's Aid from 2010? Provide this year on year.	Please see Doc 4.
18. How many BAME-led organisations were in the gender review?	This information is exempt under section 21 of the Act - Information accessible to applicant by other means. This information can be found here: Gender-Equality-a-roadmap-for-Wales.pdf (chwaraeteg.com)
19. How much money has the Welsh Government given to Chwarae Teg from 2010? Provide this year on year.	Please see Doc 5.

 

Doc 1 - Excerpt from the Terms of Reference for the Review

Methodology

1. The review will consider a series of evidence through documentation and interviews with any relevant Welsh Government, Chwarae Teg and Welsh Women’s Aid staff.

2. The Consultant will interview representatives of Diverse Women of Wales.

3. The Consultant will set out how they propose to undertake the Services within the timescales set out below.

4. The reviewer will be able to request access to relevant documentation supplied by Chwarae Teg or Welsh Women’s Aid, this will include project plans and relevant communications and cover the period 1st April 2020 – present.

5. The findings will be shared with Chwarae Teg and Welsh Women’s Aid in advance of sharing with the Minister, for fact-checking and clarification purposes. The findings will be shared with the Minister.

Doc 2 – Any documentation or action plans on how the Welsh government plans to hold organisations "to account” - Extract from a briefing dated 21/12/21 to the Minister for Social Justice from the Communities Division.

1. 1. Recommendation 1.7 of the Women of Covid campaign review asks the Welsh Government to hold all organisations who receive government funds to account in line with their stated plan for diversity & inclusion as part of the continued funding arrangements.

1. 2. Equality officials have consulted with Finance colleagues and identified the following options through which we could take forward this recommendation.

General grant funding option 1 – A mandatory change to all grant awards issued by the Welsh Government.

• The Welsh Government gives out in excess of 11,000 grant awards each year to various organisations, for many different purposes, including for the purchase of equipment or, as in recent times; emergency Covid funds. Further work is required to assess the extent to which recommendation 1.7 should apply to these awards. 

General grant funding option 2 - Individualised grant changes

• Changes to specific grants or specific kinds of grants can be made. Any changes to the terms and conditions of the grant would make the commitment legally binding and so further work is required to specify which grant or grant types this should apply to and whether it is based on the type of organisation, type of funding or both. We would need to consider the consequences for organisations who break these Terms and Conditions and the impact this may have.

General grant funding option 3 – General advice to policy and grant managers on equality, diversity and inclusion

• Additional guidance could be produced for grant managers in order to facilitate improved grants and contract management in relation to equality, diversity and inclusion.

Recommended way forward

1. 3. Officials suggest piloting an approach that progresses options 2 and 3 and that will help assess and evidence any need for option 1. The pilot will relate to the forthcoming new round of the Equality and Inclusion grant funding which is due to issue in 2022.

1. 4. Following the pilot work, which can be taken forward over the next six months, in partnership and co-production with the existing and prospective Equality and Inclusion funded organisations, further advice on an approach to grant funding will be submitted to you and the Minister for Finance for approval.

Doc 3 – Any documentation or action plans on how the Welsh government plans to hold organisations "to account” - Emails  

From: Equality Official 1
Sent: 07 January 2022 09:43
To: Equality official 2 and Equality official 3
Cc: Equality official 4

Subject: FW: MA-JH-4177-21 Reviews into the Women of Covid campaign and Chwarae Teg Grant

Hi both,

Hope you managed to have a nice break over the festive period?

The Minister has recently cleared the attached MA which includes an action to look at,  “developing a pilot , taken forward over the next 6 months, in partnership and co-production with the existing and prospective equality and inclusion funded organisations, in order to take forward recommendation 1.7 from the review into the Women of Covid campaign”

Would it be ok to meet with you in the next week or so we can explain the background to this, have an initial discussion on how we could take forward this work and the latest developments with the E&I funding?

Many thanks,

Equality official 1

From: Equality official 2
Sent: 07 January 2022 11:27
To: Equality official 1 and Equality official 3
Cc: Equality official 4
Subject: RE: MA-JH-4177-21 Reviews into the Women of Covid campaign and Chwarae Teg Grant

Equality official 1,

We probably need a short chat about this as the core funding comes from Employment and Skills and not from the E&I funding arrangements. We can make links between the 2 funding streams but would need to work out how that functions with relevant officials who manage the current grant.

It has been expressed on a number of occasions that there should be complementarity between the Employment and Skills funding and E&I funding and to that end officials in Employment and Skills have amended objectives to more fully support equality aims.

Equality official 2

From: Equality official 4
Sent: 07 January 2022 16:34
To: Equality official 1 and Equality official 2 and Equality Official 3
Subject: RE: MA-JH-4177-21 Reviews into the Women of Covid campaign and Chwarae Teg Grant

Thanks Equality official 2,

The idea of this pilot does relate to the next phase E and I funding, not the Employment and Skills pot (some of which might come over to us in due course though).  Probably easier to explain when we meet but we had a meeting with [Deputy Director, Communities Division] and [Director of Finance] and his team to discuss options around amending the grants system in line with [the reviewers] recommendations and ended up coming away with this pilot as the next steps.  Essentially, [Deputy Director, Communities Division] would like us, as part of the co-production process, to work out how we can incorporate effective requirements around diversity and inclusion into the grants process and how this can then be monitored through the grants monitoring process.  Ideally, this will give us a model of best practice that may be put to GCE/Ministers for wider grants across WG.

Thanks,

Equality official 4.

Doc 4 - How much money has the Welsh Government given to Welsh Women's Aid from 2010? Provide this year on year.

Please note that any Covid grant schemes paid to these companies will not have been included in the figures as these are paid in a different way which means we cannot search appropriately.

Row Labels	Sum of Amount
2010/11	£2,085,270.21
2011/12	£2,685,431.91
2012/13	£1,532,156.31
2013/14	£700,238.16
2014/15	£916,503.00
2015/16	£1,108,884.00
2016/17	£779,511.00
2017/18	£1,176,344.85
2018/19	£1,170,994.00
2019/20	£1,189,191.00
2020/21	£1,346,480.85
2021/22	£1,334,678.72

 

Doc 5 - How much money has the Welsh Government given to Chwarae Teg from 2010? Provide this year on year.

Please note that any Covid grant schemes paid to these companies will not have been included in the figures as these are paid in a different way which means we cannot search appropriately.

Row Labels	Sum of amount
2010/11	£1,269,448.59
2011/12	£1,469,445.80
2012/13	£468,784.00
2013/14	£1,669,439.00
2014/15	£297,212.63
2015/16	£963,574.45
2016/17	£961,368.78
2017/18	£884,683.00
2018/19	£1,014,795.31
2019/20	£1,036,236.09
2020/21	£380,404.18
2021/22	£351,508.00