Public sector equality duty guidance published by Commission

Posted by cremedmu on January 27, 2011 · 1 Comment 

Recently, the Equality and Human Rights Commission(EHRC) has published guidance that explains what public authorities in England and non-devolved bodies in Scotland and Wales have to do to comply with the public sector equality duty[1].

As described on the EHRC website[2]:

From 6 April 2011, when this part of the Equality Act 2010 comes into force, public authorities will need to consider what they are doing to tackle discrimination, harassment or victimisation. The new duty includes age, disability, gender, gender reassignment, pregnancy, race, religion or belief and sexual orientation.

The Commission’s guidance on the public sector equality duty can be found on its website at www.equalityhumanrights.com/ea2010.

Last week’s blog post titled ‘The Equality Duty: Obstacle or Opportunity’ addressed that, contrary to initial plans under the previous Labour government, public sector procurement has been removed from the equality duty as a vehicle for the promotion of equality.

In this week’s blog post we would like to provide some more information on what implications the Equality Duty might have on public sector procurement, especially since CREME is currently working on a procurement project with Leicester City Council titled ‘Selling to the Public Sector’[3].

While the new Equality Duty does not specifically place targets on procurement, it does replace the existing duties on race, disability and gender equality, while placing new duties that will also cover age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity, and gender reassignment.

Bureaucratic process requirements have also been stripped away so public bodies will no longer have to produce equality schemes, action plans, and annual reports. They will not be told what equality objectives to set or how to conduct their procurement activity.[4] However, Equality Impact Assessments will continue to be used in practice.

Instead the overall focus is on transparency – about the decisions they make. Public bodies will have to publish more information on equality than before.

According to the Government Equalities Office:

Public bodies will have some discretion over (the information that is published), but the information will need to be sufficient to show that the organisation has complied with the duty – to give the public a picture of how it is promoting equality, both as an employer and in public service provision.

Public bodies might choose to release data on particular outcomes for different equality groups; data about the employment of different equality groups; information from surveys of staff and customers; data about complaints; statistics collected by external bodies, such as the Office of National Statistics; and so on.

To read CREME’s other blog posts on the equality duty, please click on the links below:

• The Equality Duty: Obstacle or Opportunity
• Thoughts on the New Equality Act http://wp.me/p11tAS-13 

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[1] Government regulations for England and non-devolved bodies in Scotland and Wales on the specific public sector equality duty can be obtained from the Government Equality Office at http://www.equalities.gov.uk.

[2] http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/news/2011/january/public-sector-equality-duty-guidance-published-by-commission/

[3] Selling to the Public Sector aims to work with public sector procurers in Leicester to encourage greater engagement with local SMEs. In particular, Selling to the Public Sector targets female, disabled and black and minority-ethnic owned SMEs in Leicester’s disadvantaged areas. The project provides these businesses with advice, guidance and support on how to access procurement and supply chain opportunities in the public sector.

[4]http://www.equalities.gov.uk/equality_act_2010/faqs_on_commencement_of_the_eq/public_sector_equality_duty.aspx

Filed under Alex Kiselinchev, CREME, Equality Act 2010, ESRC, Monder Ram, Procurement, Selling to the Public Sector