Public Sector Equality Duty

Insight

Specific Equality Duties: Scotland

The list of public authorities who are subject to the Specific Equality Duties is contained in the Schedule to the Regulations.

The duties are as follows:

Report Progress on Mainstreaming the Equality Duty

Mainstreaming means embedding equality considerations in day to day activities and operational practice. It sees equality and diversity not as an “add on”, but as something which everybody should be involved with and subsuming within all types of functions and work.

Some functions will be more relevant than others. For example, there are plenty of opportunities to mainstream equality in the process of communications, but there are fewer opportunities with a function such as finance and accounts.

The Scottish Specific Duties oblige listed authorities to articulate how they mainstream consideration of equality into functions. There is no set list of functions, but it can be helpful to map out different functions or departments of an organisation and set out what they do (if relevant) to assist with paying due regard to the three elements of the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Mainstreaming progress must be published every two years. Many listed authorities in Scotland published their first report in April 2013, and accordingly the next report will be due in April 2010.

Publish Equality Outcomes and Report Progress

Equality Outcomes are results that listed authorities aim to achieve in order to further one or more of the three elements of the Public Sector Equality Duty. As a rule of thumb, having between 4-8 Outcomes can work well. Any more than this and there is a risk that the Outcomes are, in fact, actions. In practice, many organisations will have Equality Outcomes which overarch more specific action points.

In preparing the Outcomes, listed authorities must take reasonable steps to involve protected groups, and/or people who represent their interests. They must also consider relevant evidence about protected groups.

It can often be challenging engaging stakeholders in the preparation of Outcomes, and it is recommended that existing communication channels are used where possible, as opposed to launching a discrete Equality Outcome consultation process.

Given the numbers involved, it is usually easier to engage with staff than service users; however, it must be remembered that the focus of the Public Sector Equality Duty is on public services, and having Equality Outcomes which are solely dedicated to staff is often inadvisable.

In term of “relevant evidence”, most organisations will have existing information systems which have data which will help. It is doubtful if data will be comprehensive for all protected characteristics. For example, a local authority will have reliable data about the sex of residents but probably very little on the sexual orientation of residents. This doesn’t mean that the local authority should rush to capture information about the sexual orientation of residents; it means that the local authority should look for other sources of evidence, be it qualitative or quantitative.

There is no reference in the Regulations to measurement of Equality Outcomes. The EHRC advise that Outcomes should be SMART, and that a quantitative approach should be used to measuring progress. This advice is good practice but to comply with the Regulations reporting, as opposed to measuring,  progress is sufficient.

Equality Impact Assessments

Listed authorities must assess the impact of applying a proposed new or revised policy or practice against the needs of the Public Sector Equality Duty. The assessment should include the consideration of relevant evidence. The results of the assessment must be taken into account and published within a reasonable period.

Gathering and Using Employee Information

A listed authority must take steps to gather information on the composition of staff and recruitment, development and retention of staff. This information should be published annually and listed authorities should state how the information has been used to better perform the Equality Duty.

As an example, a listed authority may have information which shows that 3% of staff have declared a disability, and 40% of staff have not provided information. The 3% of staff disability rate is low compared to external benchmarks. In order to use staff information to better perform the Equality Duty, the listed authority could encourage disclosure by raising awareness of support which is available, and by highlighting the fact that disabilities which are managed by medication still count as disabilities.

There is no definition of “development”. Some organisations publish equality information about career progression, with data on internal promotions, and some organisations publish data on CPD. For example, the Scottish Government and its agencies publish a People Survey which provides data on CPD hours by protected characteristic.

Note also that the legal obligation is to “take steps” to gather information. Taking steps means requesting information and planning processes to help gather and analyse information. Listed authorities cannot guarantee that staff equality information will be reliable and/or comprehensive, and should publish what is available and explain in the narrative what steps they are taking to gather information.

Gender Pay Gap Information

This is the percentage difference between men’s average hourly pay (excluding overtime) and women’s average hourly pay (excluding overtime). Publishing gender pay gap information only applies to listed authorities who have more than 150 employees. (Note that Scottish public authorities with over 250 employees do not have to comply with the Gender Pay Gap Reporting Regulations. )

Equal Pay Statement

This statement must include sex, disability and race. Listed authorities must also provide information about occupational segregation in grades and occupations. In practice, many listed authorities publish data about the percentage of men and women in grades and in benchmark roles where there are a high number of incumbents. A cautious approach is advised when publishing occupational segregation data with regards to race and disability, as individuals may be identifiable. Concerns about this should be noted in the accompanying narrative.

Procurement

Listed authorities must have due regard to whether it is appropriate for the award criteria of procurement processes to include considerations to help meet the general duty, and whether it would be appropriate to stipulate conditions relating to the performance of the contract which might also complement the aims of the general duty.

Accessibility

Listed authorities must take all reasonable steps to ensure that any document or information it is required to publish to meet its general or specific equality duties is published in a form that is accessible to people from protected groups.