Good Relations the Public Sector Equality Duty Chris

Good Relations & the Public Sector Equality Duty Chris Oswald Head of Policy & Comms EHRC Scotland February 13.

The Context • National Outcome 7 - “We have tackled the significant inequalities in Scottish society. ” • National Outcomes on employment, education, health, crime, older people, life chances and public services. • Single Outcome Agreements • The impact of the recession and demographic change • Christie Commission – Reform of public services

Public Sector Equality Duty: purpose • Take effective action on equality issues • Make the right decision, first time round • Develop better policies and practices, based on evidence • Be more transparent, accessible and accountable • Improve outcomes for all

General Equality Duty • eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Act; • advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it; and • foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic, or not

Good Relations – General Duty unpacked. • . . . involves having due regard, in particular, to the need to— • (a)tackle prejudice, and • (b)promote understanding. Slide Number 5

General Equality Duty • Single duty covering 8 of the protected characteristics – age, disability, gender, sexual orientation, race, religion and belief, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity • It covers marriage and civil partnership in relation to the non-discrimination duty only • Covers all “listed” public authorities • Also covers all bodies carrying out a public function, in relation to that function • A “public function” is one defined as such by the Human Rights Act 1998

Overview of Scottish specific duties • • • Mainstreaming equality Equality outcomes Assessment and review Employment information Gender pay gap information Equal pay statement Procurement Scottish Ministers duty Publication duty

Equality Outcomes As a public authority, you must; • publish a set of Equality Outcomes by 30/04/13 and every four years thereafter • take reasonable steps to involve people with protected characteristics in preparing outcomes • consider relevant evidence relating to protected characteristics • publish reasons for not setting outcomes on individual protected groups • publish a progress report by 30/4/15 and every two years thereafter

Equality Outcomes What they are not; • Outputs • Performing the other specific duties • Making your services accessible • About your services or functions

Equality Outcomes What they are; • results that you aim to achieve in order to further one or more of the ‘needs’ of the general equality duty • changes in the lives of people affected by what you do • as a consequence of the actions you have taken

Equality Outcomes Partnerships • General equality duty is held by the individual authority • Does not extend to partnerships except in relation to the authorities partnership activities

Equality Outcomes Partnerships • the most pressing issue of inequality may be one which can only be addressed through partnership • partners may wish to confer on preparing outcomes and working jointly towards achieving progress • accountability for equality outcomes rests with the individual body

Our approach • Hands off – for those authorities who we believe are performing well • Hand in hand – assisting those authorities who are struggling with issues such as using equalities evidence (see Improving Local Equality Data) • Hands on – for the minority of cases where either the authority is not willing to make changes or to clarify areas of conflicting rights.

Monitoring Outcomes • Major monitoring & reporting project planned • Commences May 2013, looks at all published outcomes from all 300 PA’s • Identifies non compliant authorities • Assesses the type and nature of published outcomes, by sector, evidence base, scope etc • And reports to Scottish Parliament in Autumn 2013. Slide Number 14

Contacting us Freepost RRLL-GYLB-UJTA 2 nd Floor 151 West George Street, Glasgow G 2 2 JJ 0141 228 5910 • www. equalityhumanrights. com