Assessment of Government Policies (Impact on Families) Bill 2015-16

The Bill

The Bill is set out on this Bill home page :

The Assessment of Government Policies (Impact on Families) Bill (HC Bill 26) is a Bill to:

Require ministers to carry out an assessment of the impact of government policies on families by giving statutory effect to the family test; to place a duty on the Secretary of State to make a report on the costs and benefits of requiring local authorities to carry out equivalent tests on their policies; to require the Secretary of State to establish, and make an annual report on, indicators of and targets for the government’s performance in promoting family stability; and for connected purposes.

The Explanatory Notes to the Bill contain an overview which states:

The objective of this Bill is to introduce a family perspective to the policy-making process in England. It aims to ensure that Ministers and departments recognise and make explicit the potential impacts on family relationships in the process of developing and agreeing proposals for new expenditure, administrative or policy proposals, including those for both primary and secondary legislation.

On her Families Bill page, Caroline Ansell explains the purpose of the Bill:

“The objective of my Bill, Assessment of Government Policies (Impact on Families) is to introduce a family perspective to the policy making process in our nation. The Bill will ensure that Ministers and departments recognise and make explicit the potential impacts on family relationships in the process of developing and agreeing new policy and new legislative proposals.” 

The Family Test

On 18 August 2014 the Prime Minister announced the introduction of a ‘family test’. 

The Family Test: Guidance for Government Departments was issued by the Department for Work and Pensions in October 2014. The guidance sets out when and how Government departments should apply the Test:

“The objective of the Test is to introduce an explicit family perspective to the policy making process, and ensure that potential impacts on family relationships and functioning are made explicit and recognised in the process of developing new policy… by asking policy makers to anticipate the potential impact of policy on families at each stage of the policy making process, and document the potential impacts to raise awareness and support effective decision making and debate.” 

The test includes a series of questions that all civil servants should consider when first developing policy and legislation. The aim is to ensure that a family perspective is at the heart of Government policy making.

The 5 family test questions are:

• What kind of impact might the policy have on family formation?
• What kind of impact will the policy have on families going through key transitions such as becoming parents, getting married, fostering or adopting, bereavement, redundancy, new caring responsibilities or the onset of a long-term health condition?
• What impacts will the policy have on all family members’ ability to play a full role in family life, including with respect to parenting and other caring responsibilities?
• How does the policy impact families before, during and after couple separation?
• How does the policy impact those families most at risk of deterioration of relationship quality and breakdown?

The guidance states that departments should document the use of the test:

“It is important that the application of the Family Test is documented in an appropriate way as part of the policy making process.  Where a detailed assessment is carried out, departments should consider a standalone document to bring together their analysis. Departments should consider publishing assessments where they are carried out, and where policy is being submitted for collective agreement through the Cabinet Committee process, the assessment should be included alongside other policy documentation.”

A blog on the Government’s “Open Policy Making” forum in November 2014, Open Policy Making: Introducing the Family Test discusses the ideas behind the test and how it is intended to work.  It also states that:

“Building on our Open Policy Making approach, we plan to hold a series of Family Test seminars next year, bringing in experts to meet policy makers, facilitating new connections across departments and with key stakeholders.”

Applying the Family Test

Since the test was announced Members have been asking how it is intended to work: 

Topical Questions

Asked by: Mr David Burrowes (Enfield, Southgate) (Con)

May I welcome the introduction of the family test and the Secretary of State’s lead on that? What is he doing to ensure that it does what the Prime Minister says it should do, which is change the way Government do business?

Answered by: Mr Duncan Smith | Department for Work and Pensions

 

This test will be reviewed through the Social Justice Cabinet Committee, which I chair. We intend, and the Prime Minister intends, that it will have teeth. We want to see an improvement in family life and greater support for those who have to juggle care for their children, care for elderly relatives and work. Through that process we hope to improve their lives.

 

22 Jun 2015 | Oral questions – Supplementary | 597 c612

 

Family and Relationship Support

 

Asked by: Baroness Tyler of Enfield

 

I thank the Minister for her Answer and welcome her to her new role. The last time I counted, there were five government departments with a direct interest in family relationships: indeed, six if you count the Home Office’s interest in domestic violence. Given this fragmentation and the fact that relationship breakdown is estimated to cost the country some £46 billion per year, what mechanisms will be used at Cabinet level to ensure that family policy is co-ordinated across government, and how will each department be held to account for the family test announced by the Prime Minister last year?

 

Answering member: Baroness Altmann | Department for Work and Pensions  

I can inform the noble Baroness that the family test will be applied to all new policies that are being developed by government, and it will be strictly applied. The idea at the moment is that we transfer the Department for Education’s responsibility to the Department for Work and Pensions so that these policies are more integrated for the benefit of the families who we are trying to support.

22 Jun 2015 | Oral answers to questions | House of Lords | 762 c1361

 

Family and Relationship Support

 

Asked by: Baroness Sherlock (Lab)

 

My Lords, I welcome the Minister to what I think is her first Oral Question and I look forward to debating with her on DWP matters. The Minister mentioned the family test, which the Prime Minister announced in 2014 and that was going to be five questions that all policy or legislation across government would have to be subjected to by civil servants before Ministers would sign them off. Today’s papers are full of reports that, according to the Prime Minister, tax credits for children will bear the brunt of the £12 billion welfare cuts. Could she tell the House whether that policy has been subject to the family test and, if so, what the result was?

 

Answering member: Baroness Altmann | Department for Work and Pensions

Clearly there is speculation in the papers about all sorts of things. I certainly cannot comment on that particular issue, but I repeat my assurance that all polices are subject to the strict family test.

22 Jun 2015 | Oral answers to questions | House of Lords | 762 c1361

  

Topical Questions

Home Office: Families

Asked by: Green, Kate

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many of her Department’s policies have been assessed against the family test; what steps she has taken to publish the outcome of such assessments; and if she will make a statement.

Answering member: James Brokenshire | Home Office

The Family Test was announced by the Prime Minister in August 2014 and introduced in October 2014. The DWP published guidance for Departments and officials on how the test should be applied when formulating policy and my Department follows that guidance.

The guidance can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/368894/family-test-guidance.pdf

The Family Test is also being integrated within the Department’s impact assessment process to ensure it is consistently addressed. Recognising that all Government policies will impact on families in some way, the Government’s guidance on the Family Test is clear that policies should pass a threshold of proportionality before the Family Test is applied in full. New Home Office policies in the current Parliament have not met the threshold for applying the Family Test. The Family Test, when applied, will be published as part of the relevant impact assessment.

18 Nov 2015 | Written questions | 16021

 

Department for Work and Pensions: Families

 

Asked by: Green, Kate

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many of his Department’s policies have been assessed against the family test; what steps he has taken to publish the outcome of such assessments; and if he will make a statement.

Answering member: Priti Patel | Department for Work and Pensions

The Family Test is an integral part of the policy making process and is applied in a proportionate way in the development of all new policy in line with the Family Test guidance. While the guidance states that departments should consider publishing assessments carried out under the Test, there is no requirement to do so.

19 Nov 2015 | Written questions | Answered | House of Commons | 16028 

Ministry of Justice: Families

Asked by: Green, Kate | Party: Labour Party

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to implement the family test.

Answering member: Caroline Dinenage | Ministry of Justice

The Family Test was introduced in October 2014 and can be located at the following link Family Test Guidance

The Family Test is part of the policy making process and is applied in a proportionate way in the development of new policy in line with the guidance. Potential impacts of policy on family functioning and relationships are identified and brought to the attention of Ministers where appropriate.

There is no requirement to publish the Family Test assessments. The Ministry of Justice does not collect information on the number of full Family Test assessments completed.

19 Nov 2015 | Written questions | 16015

 

Department for Work and Pensions: Families

 

Asked by: Dakin, Nic

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken to embed the Family Test into its policy making.

Answering member: Priti Patel |  Department for Work and Pensions

Officials have undertaken a number of activities to embed the Family Test into the policy making process. This has included training officials on applying the Test, as well as disseminating relevant evidence, learning materials and best practice.

26 Nov 2015 | Written questions | 16800 

 

Home Office: Families

 

Asked by: Ansell, Caroline

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what training her Department has provided to staff on the family test; what other steps she has taken to raise awareness of the family test among staff of her Department; and if she will make a statement.

Answering member: Karen Bradley | Home Office

The Family Test has been integrated into the Department’s impact assessment process. Workshops are being scheduled to further assist staff in understanding how to apply the guidance introduced for the Family Test issued by the Department for Work and Pensions.

30 Nov 2015 | Written questions | 17927

Parliamentary debates

The Family Test has been raised in the following debates: 

Welfare Reform and Work Bill

 

HL Deb 17 nov 2015 | 767 cc28-128 

 

Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill [Lords] 

HC Deb 17 Nov 2015 | 602 cc554-643 

 

 

Welfare Reform and Work Bill

 

HC Deb 27 Oct 2015 | 601 cc207-312