The race, disability and gender duties are known as public sector duties. They are statutory duties, meaning that they are legally enforceable. All public bodies (like councils and hospitals) that are subject to the duties are legally obliged to pay 'due regard' to the need to take action on race, disability and gender equality.
The race equality duty was introduced into legislation in the Race Relations (amendment) Act 2000. It means that public bodies must have due regard to the need to:
What are the specific duties for England?
The specific duties require all listed public bodies to publish a race equality scheme that identifies all functions/policies that are relevant to race equality. The scheme should be a timetabled and realistic plan, setting out the public body's arrangements for meeting the general and specific duties. They must also set out arrangements to:
Although there is no requirement to revise and republish the race equality scheme every three years, we recommend public bodies to do this.
Under the race equality duty, all schools, further and higher education institutions must produce a race equality policy which is a written statement of their policy for promoting race equality. Further information about the requirements of this are set out in the race equality duty codes of practice.
Under the race equality duty, all listed public bodies must monitor their staff by racial group (using the categories of the 2001 census) for: staff in post and applications for employment, and promotion and training. Employers with over 150 staff must also monitor for training, performance appraisals, grievances, disciplinary action and reasons for leaving their employment. These monitoring findings must be published annually.
The specific duties for Wales are the same as the duties set out above for England.
The specific duties for Scotland are the same as the duties set out above for England.
The disability equality duty was introduced into legislation in the Disability Discrimination Act (amended 2005). It means that public bodies must have ‘due regard’ to the need to:
You can view the disability equality duty code of practice here.
The specific duties require all listed public bodies to publish a disability equality scheme, demonstrating how they intend to fulfil their general and specific duties. Public bodies should involve disabled people in the development of the scheme, implement the action plan set out in the scheme, and review and revise the scheme every three years.
The scheme should include:
Public bodies should report annually on: the steps taken in the action plan, the results of their information gathering and how this information has been used.
The final specific duty requires listed Government departments to publish a report signed by the relevant Secretary of State. This should set out an overview of progress on disability equality as well as proposals for co-ordinated action between authorities in the sector to progress disability equality.
Read more about the Secretary of State duty.
The specific duties for Wales are the same as the duties set out above for England. However, the Secretary of State duty for England applies to Welsh Ministers.
The specific duties for Scotland are the same as the duties set out above for England. However, the Secretary of State duty for England applies to Ministers in Scotland.
Read a speech by Patrick Diamond on 'The Disability Equality Duty – impact and outcomes so far'.
The gender equality duty was introduced into legislation in the Equality Act 2006, amending the Sex Discrimination Act. It means that public bodies must have ‘due regard’ to the need to:
You can view the gender equality duty code of practice here.
The specific duties require all listed public bodies to produce a gender equality scheme showing how it intends to fulfil the general and specific duties. It should also set out the gender equality objectives that the authority has identified for meeting the duty.
In preparing a scheme, public bodies should:
The scheme should:
The scheme should be implemented within three years. Public authorities should report on progress annually and review and revise the scheme at least every three years.
There are currently no specific gender duties for Wales. However, in the interests of clarity and transparency, public authorities are advised to develop a gender equality scheme outlining their gender equality objectives and the action that is being taken to achieve them. They should prioritise action to address the most significant gender inequalities within their remit and take actions that are likely to deliver the best outcomes for gender equality.
The specific duties for Scotland are the same as for England but in addition, listed Scottish public bodies with at least 150 full time equivalent staff must publish an equal pay policy statement, and report on this every three years.
Scottish Ministers must publish reports every three years, in addition to the Scottish Executive’s equality scheme and equal pay statement. These reports will set out the priority areas which Ministers have identified for advancement of equal opportunities across the public sector, and provide a summary of progress made in these priority areas by the public sector.
In July 2008 the Government announced plans to introduce a new equality duty. This will cover all seven equality strands, namely race, disability, gender, gender identity, religion/belief, age, and sexual orientation. The duty will not come into force until 2011 so it is important that public bodies continue to meet their legal obligations under the race, disability and gender duties until this time.
The duties require public bodies to pay due regard - this means that the weight given to race, disability, gender equality needs to be in proportion to its relevance. In practice this means that in order to meet the duties, public bodies will need to prioritise action to address the most significant areas of race, disability, gender inequality in their remit and focus their efforts where they can have most impact.
The legislative framework has two main components: the general duty and the specific duties. The general duty sets out the main objectives of each of the duties, whilst the specific duties are the steps that public bodies have to take to help them to meet the general duty. Although the specific and general duties vary for race, disability and gender, all three duties share a common vision: for public services to mainstream equality to ensure that all individuals are able to benefit equally from public services, regardless of their race or gender, or whether or not they are disabled.
England, Scotland and Wales are all covered by the same general duties for the race, disability and gender duties, but there are some variations in the specific duties between the different countries. These differences are set out below for each of the duties.
Where differences between the duties exist they reflect the different nature of discrimination faced by different groups, the varied communities involved and the lessons learned from the introduction of earlier duties. It is important that public bodies take account of these differences when they are considering what action they need to take to meet the duties.