Equality and Human Rights Commission

Public bodies in England and non-devolved bodies in Scotland and Wales which are subject to the specific duties¹ have until 31 January 2012 to publish information that demonstrates how they are complying with the three aims of the general equality duty. Schools and pupil referral units have until 6 April 2012 to publish their information.

This information must include information relating to people who share a relevant protected characteristic and who are:

• its employees (for authorities with more than 150 staff)
• people affected by its policies and practices.

The Commission has published guidance to help public bodies decide what equality information they need to publish² .

The Commission’s assessment of the information published will be carried out from February 2012. We will review websites of authorities to assess to what extent they have published relevant and accessible information to demonstrate their compliance We will be particularly interested in assessing:

• Whether equality information can be found at all, how accessible it is and the ease of navigation. We’ll also be looking at how organisations have organised the information and how effectively they have signposted site visitors to it
• How comprehensive the equality information is about people with the different protected characteristics who are affected by its policies and practices such as service users or about employees
• Whether authorities have a clear approach to having due regard to the aims in the general duty in their policy and decision-making
• Whether authorities are preparing to comply with the new duty requirement to publish equality objectives by 6 April 2012. We will do this by looking at whether listed bodies have published or are consulting on draft objectives

A report of findings should be available in spring 2012. If any particular issues or examples of good practice are identified, we hope to be able to explore these further with the individual authority.

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Footnotes

¹ Schedule 1 on the Legislation.gov website

² Equality information: can include information about the protected characteristics of staff and service users, or evidence used to inform policy development and decision-making such as local or national research on equality issues. It includes both quantitative (numerical) and qualitative (descriptive) information. Qualitative information may focus more on factors which are more difficult to measure or represent in quantitative terms.

This section provides information on enforcement issues with regard to the equality duty.

The Commission’s general approach

The Equality and Human Rights Commission uses a range of strategies to ensure compliance with the equality duty, including:

Gathering intelligence on the duties

• Assessing equality information from national and local bodies including government departments.
• Undertaking research on progress around the equality duty in different sectors.
• Collating and promoting best practice on the equality duty.
• Compiling evidence of progress or non compliance in different sectors to support our legal and advisory work.
• The Commission undertakes enquiries into matters concerning equality and human rights.

Advice, information, promotion

• Promoting awareness about the equality duty.
• Producing information about the equality duty for public authorities and members of the public on our website.
• Advising individuals on what their rights are and how they can take action under the equality duty.
• Advising public authorities on technical aspects of the equality duty.

Legal action on the duties

• Taking legal enforcement action with authorities who are not complying with the equality duty.
• Using judicial review to challenge decisions by public authorities under the equality duty.
• Using the equality duty to challenge the priorities of public bodies. For example, our Map of Gaps enforcement work which focused on local authority service provision for women who have suffered violence under the previous gender equality duty.

Building capacity with partners to promote compliance

• Working with inspectorates to integrate equality into inspection frameworks.
• Promoting the equality duty through regional partnership work with public authorities.
• Developing the capacity of the voluntary sector and unions to use the equality duty to hold public authorities to account on equality issues.
• Working with partners to promote compliance with the equality duty in a range of sectors.

We select the most appropriate tool to ensure we achieve the best outcomes depending on the circumstances. For example, we recognise that working with organisations can, in appropriate cases, achieve wider and more sustainable change. The availability of our enforcement powers encourages organisations to work with us, so where appropriate, we have built positive, collaborative relationships rather than adopting an adversarial approach.

Legal powers

The Commission has strategically used its enforcement powers to bring about positive change with maximum and lasting impact. We have applied agreed criteria - set out in our legal strategy - to determine whether, when and how we might use our powers to best effect.

As a Commission, we have pursued a range of actions to secure compliance with the equality duties. The Commission has worked to support public authorities and to bring about outcomes which change organisational culture, policy and service provision. Within this context, we have undertaken extensive pre-enforcement action work with numerous authorities relating to all the equality duties.

Assessments

Where appropriate, we use our statutory enforcement power (section 31 of the Equality Act 2006) to assess the extent to which or the manner in which a person has complied with both the general and specific duty. In doing so, the Commission must make clear to the public authority the areas to be covered by the assessment and allow public authorities to make representations.

Compliance notices

The Commission has a power to enforce breaches of the general equality duty by serving a compliance notice upon completion of a formal assessment (under section 31 of the Equality Act 2006). It also has a power to enforce breaches of the specific duties by serving a compliance notice.

Judicial review

The Commission has a power to institute judicial review proceedings in matters of relevance to its functions including where a public authority has breached the general equality duty. See more on judicial review.

Interventions

The Commission has a power to intervene in proceedings to assist the court in clarifying the law. The Commission has intervened in a number of legal cases and it will continue to do so. When it intervenes in a case, the Commission is not supporting one side or the other but offering expert advice to the court on how to interpret the law. It has already used this power extensively with the intention of ensuring that the courts set helpful legal precedents. See examples of our interventions.

Agreements

Where the Commission suspects that a public authority is breaching the equality duty, it may enter into an agreement with the authority whereby the authority agrees to take certain steps to comply and in return the Commission agrees not to issue a compliance notice.