The Public Sector Equality Duty and the voluntary sector

Martin Hayward

EHRC Scotland

1

The challenge of inequality

• 47% of disabled people are employed

• 1/3 of managerial jobs held by women

• Women are paid 11% less than men in full time work

• Pakistani/ Bangladeshi’s have highest rates of working age illness/ disability

• 1:8 LGBT people are victims of “hate crime” annually4

• 1:3 Scots believe Eastern Europeans are taking “Scots” jobs

Inhibiting progress

• Poor data and research on equalities groups• Poor investment in local community networks • Place based v’s interest based interventions• Reductionist view of equality law• Negative discourse on equalities and human rights• “Project/ pilot-itus”• Staff capacity and knowledge• “Tick boxing”

Contexts

• 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

• Christie – Reform of public services

• The impact of the recession and public sector spending

Public Sector Equality Duties

• Shifting emphasis from onus on individuals to placing onus on public authorities

• Help public authorities avoid discriminatory practices and integrate equality into their core business

• Taking a proactive and organised approach• Tackling “institutional discrimination”• Focusing on organisational change not individual

adjustments

Purpose of the Duties

• 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

The 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

• ‘due regard’

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

General equality duty applies

• Public authorities when carrying out their functions i.e. as service providers, policy makers, employers.

• Also to services and functions which are contracted out

• Also to private and voluntary sector organisations which carry out public functions in the exercise of those functions

• May form a part or condition of procurement

General equality duty

Advance equality of opportunity by• removing or minimising disadvantage• meeting the needs of particular groups that are

different from the needs of other• encouraging participation in public life

Foster good relations by• tackling prejudice• promoting understanding

Specific equality duties

• S149 EA 2010 sets out that regulations can be passed by each of the 3 GB governments to enable the better performance of the General Equality Duty.

• Only bodies listed for the general duty can have specific duties placed on them. A list of those bodies to be subject to the specific duties is set out in the regulations.

Overview

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

Equality Outcomes

• Defined as ‘a result intended to be achieved in order to further one or more of the 3 needs of the general equality duty, as a consequence of actions taken by an authority

• Listed authorities must publish a set of equality outcomes

• First set published by 30 April 2013• Each subsequent set should be published at intervals

of no more than 4 years

Mainstreaming

• Publish a report on action taken and progress made to make the duty integral to the exercise of its functions by 31/4/13 and every two years thereafter, including

• employment diversity

• And action taken as a result of information gathered

Employment information

• Take steps to gather information on employee diversity

• Monitor the recruitment, development and retention of persons as employees

• Use this information to better perform the equality duty

Equal Pay & Occupational Segregation

• Publish a statement on your policy on equal pay and occupational segregation and refresh every 4 years

• In relation to – men and women– disabled and non disabled persons– ethnic minority and non ethnic minority persons

Assessment and review

• An authority must assess the impact of its proposed policies and practices as well as any changes to and revisions of its existing policies and practices

• It must assess the impact on people with protected characteristics and on its ability to meet the equality duty

• As part of the assessment it must consider relevant evidence relating to people with protected characteristics, including any evidence received from those people

Assessment and review

• An authority must have due regard to the results of any assessment

• It must also publish the result of any assessment in a way and within a timescale it considers reasonable

• An authority must also make arrangements it considers appropriate to review and if necessary change or revise its existing policies and practices to ensure they don’t have a detrimental impact on its ability to fulfil its public sector equality duties

Public procurement

• If an authority intends to enter a procurement agreement which is “the most economically advantageous” it must have due regard to whether the award criteria should include considerations relevant to its public sector equality duty

• If it intends to put performance conditions into an agreement it needs to have due regard to whether the conditions should include considerations relevant to its public sector equality duty

Scottish Ministers Duty

• By 31 December 2013 and every 4 years thereafter, Ministers must publish proposals for activity which will assist authorities to fulfil their public sector equality duty

• They must then publish a report on progress no later than 31 December 2015 and every 4 years thereafter

Publication

• All publication must be accessible

• So far as practical an existing means of public performance reporting should be used

England

There is quite wide divergence between the duties in each of the nations

•The focus is on “transparency”•Duty to set one or more objectives•Duty to publish information to demonstrate compliance with the public sector equality duty

Wales

Wales duties are much more prescriptive:• Produce strategic equality plans• Set equality objectives including setting out how they

will be achieved and to what timescale• Engage with representatives of protected groups• Identify and publish information on how they have met

the general duty• Carry out impact assessments• Publish training and employment information• Procurement

What is assessing impact ?

• What will be the effect of my proposed policies and practices on different people?

• What does this mean for me?

Why assess impact?

• enables authorities to consider systematically relevant evidence in order to determine whether particular groups may be disproportionately affected by decisions; or whether more could be done to advance

equality and good relations.

Impact assessment enables;

• Take effective action on inequality

• Develop better policies and practices, based on evidence

• Be more transparent and accountable.

Stages in the impact assessment process

• Establish relevance • Proportionality• Scoping the assessment – aims, relevance, protected

groups, evidence gaps, consultation and involvement, analysing information

• Identifying options• Decision making and publication

Our work on assessing impact

• Section 31 Investigation

• Using the equality duty to make fair financial decisions

• Mitigation Project 2011/12

• Non-statutory guidance

Role of voluntary sector?

• Getting involved in “involvement”• Providing evidence for outcome setting• Making sure Councillors are aware of their own

obligations in decision making• Requesting and reviewing impact assessments• Assessing impact to meet the general equality duty• Helping authorities meet their equality outcomes

Role of the Commission

The Commission works with the public sector, including intermediary bodies and inspectorates to:

•develop, monitor and spread good practice;

•provide practical guidance; and,

•monitor progress and compliance with the duty

•enforce the duty where necessary.

Our work with duties

• Monitoring the public sector equality duty

• June 2013 – Measuring Up?

• 259 Scottish public authorities

Our work with duties

June - September 2013

• Assess the performance of public authorities with regards to the duty to gather and use information on the composition of their work force and their recruitment, development and retention

• Publish a report providing an assessment of the sets of outcomes published by public authorities, including a qualitative and quantitative analysis, broken down by sector.

 

Our work with duties

September 2013 - March 2014• Use evidence and analysis collected to inform practice

and improve performance across public authorities:

• Provide information and analysis to Scottish Ministers to assist in the performance of their own specific duty

• Review and update non-statutory guidance for public authorities and work in partnership with other organisations to promote good practice

Our work with duties

• Census Analysis• Constitutional Reform• Education Improvement• Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessment• Modern Apprenticeships• Procurement Guidance• Scrutiny Improvement• Transfer of Expertise – Event planned for November 2013 –

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Equality and Human Rights Commission151 West George Street,GlasgowG2 2JJ

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