Public bodies currently have statutory duties in three areas; Race Equality, Gender/ Gender Identity Equality, and Disability Equality (the RED, the GED and the DED).

These organisations must Equality Impact Assess all of their policies, and produce Equality Schemes for each duty, in order to demonstrate to staff, customers and other stakeholders the actions they are taking to ensure equality of opportunity and service provision.

An organisation's Equality Scheme should include information about its approach to ensuring equality in relation to its management practices and its interactions with customers and potential customers (or service users), and all stakeholders.

It should also specify key issues and priorities for the organisation (ie those identified through consultation, and by the organisation's own staff), state where the organisation is now in relation to where it wants to be, and identify areas for improvement.

In addition to these three statutory duties, there are other equality strands that are covered in part by UK law, but as yet, are not required to be covered by a duty.  These are religion or belief, sexual orientation, and age.  The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, is on record saying that he wants to move to a single equality position.  This one-stop-shop approach was demonstrated in the creation of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights a short time ago.  It may only be a matter of time before public bodies have additional duties.

CPD can provide clear and useful tools and training to undertake Equality Impact Assessments, and can work with organisations to produce Single Equality Schemes, reducing the resources required, and putting organisations ahead of the game in response to the shifting national agenda.

Contact us for more information.