Setting outcomes for Good Relations under the Public Sector Equality Duty

Chris Oswald

Head of Policy & Comms

EHRC Scotland

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.

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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

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

You must decide how best to prepare and publish your set of equality outcomes

• Strategic objectives

• General equality duty

• Involvement

• Evidence

Equality Outcomes

Involvement

Purpose of involvement;

• to enable equality groups and communities to contribute to the preparation of a set of equality outcomes which are likely to make the biggest difference in tackling inequality within your organisation’s sphere of influence

Equality Outcomes

Involvement

Involvement should be;

 • well-structured and focused• adequately resourced and accessible • influential and transparent• respectful of confidentiality and safety

Equality Outcomes

Evidence

• you must consider evidence across all protected characteristics

• gathering and analysing evidence will help you to

• understand the most significant equality issues facing your organisation

• show that the outcomes you set are supported and justified by the evidence

Equality Outcomes

• A council has a strategic corporate objective to improve the road network and public transport in its area, and has allocated significant resources to carry out a programme of work over the next four years to achieve this

• Equality outcome: Women, older people, and disabled people are able to participate more effectively in community life and access employment, goods and services in their local area through safe and sustainable transport.

Equality Outcomes - activity

• devise and implement new transport plans for the council area to improve: accessibility; traffic and demand management; and safety.

• consult and involve equality groups and communities to identify their needs and barriers

Equality Outcomes - activity

• assess the impact of the plans on equality at the start of the process, and continue to review and update the assessment through implementation to avoid or mitigate negative impacts and exploit potential positive impacts

• consider evidence, including evidence from across the council and partner organisations and make appropriate links to other corporate objectives

Equality Outcomes - outputs

• Lighting upgraded at all bus stops and in high crime areas

• Twenty bus shelters fitted with additional seating along one key route

• Twenty five bus stops upgraded to shelters following requests from residents

Equality Outcomes - outputs

• New road layout and bus network in town centre designed and implemented, based on balancing the needs of all community members

• New timetable for two key bus routes successfully negotiated with partners

• Equality groups and communities attending regular passenger panel meetings to review the implementation of transport schemes

But, focus on the outcome

• Equality outcome: Women, older people, and disabled people are able to participate more effectively in community life and access employment, goods and services in their local area through safe and sustainable transport

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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

Remember

• Do your outcomes

– Eliminate or perpetuate discrimination?

– Advance or hamper equality of opportunity?

– Improve or impede good community relations?

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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.

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