Comprehensive Equality Policy
Policy No:
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Final Version 1.0
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Applies to:
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All employees, partners, service users
and Members
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Author:
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Equalities & Access Officer
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Authorised:
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SMC 7 Oct 2008
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Revision due:
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Oct 2009
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CONTENTS
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1.
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1
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2.
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2
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3.
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2
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4.
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3
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5.
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4
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6.
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5
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7.
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5
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8.
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5
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9.
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6
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10.
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6
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7
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1.1. This policy
sets out Havant Borough Council’s commitment to equal opportunity
and diversity and how we will:
- Eliminate unlawful discrimination
- Promote equality of opportunity across the 6
strands of equality.
- Positively promote good relations between people from different
backgrounds
- Promote positive attitudes and tackle damaging stereotypes
- Tackle unlawful harassment
- Encourage participation of people from all our diverse
communities in public life - specifically taking steps to promote
‘positive action’.
In the way we:
- provide our services
- buy goods and services
- employ people
- act as a ‘community leader’.
1.2. Havant
Borough Council is committed to a comprehensive policy
which mainstreams equality practices within democratic
activity, service planning and delivery and all human resource
processes.
2.1. This policy
applies to all Havant Borough Council councillors and employees,
contractors and placements regardless of gender, gender
reassignment, pregnancy, maternity and paternity, race, religion or
belief, disability, sexual orientation, age, part time, fixed term,
temporary, trade union or public interest disclosure status.
2.2. This policy
also applies to the services Havant Borough Council provides,
including the fair treatment of all our customers.
2.3. This policy
will be reviewed annually and may be amended to ensure it continues
to meet legal requirements
3.1. Direct
discrimination is treating one person less favourably than
another on grounds of age, disability, gender, sexual orientation,
race, religion or belief. Direct discrimination is unlawful.
3.2 Race The
current legal definition of a racial group (to
which the Race Relations Act applies) is a group of people defined
by their race, colour, nationality (including citizenship), ethnic
or national origins.
3.3.
An ethnic minority community is an ethnic
group that is numerically smaller than the predominant white group
in Britain. This includes groups distinguished by their skin
colour, as well as those such as Irish, Turkish, Cypriot, Eastern
European and Travelling people.
3.4.
Indirect Discrimination Occurs where a particular
group (eg disabled or race) would be, are or have been treated less
favourably or put at disadvantage compared to others and it cannot
be shown to be a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate
aim. Indirect discrimination is unlawful
3.5.
Disability The current legal definition states that “a
person has a disability if he or she has a physical or mental
impairment, which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on
his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.”
(long term is 12 months or more)
3.6. Gender
Sex is the biological difference between men
and women.
3.7.
Sexual Orientation means an individual’s sexual
orientation towards:
- people of the same sex (gay or lesbian);
- people of the opposite sex
(heterosexual);
- people of both sexes (bisexual).
It does not include transsexuality which is
related to gender and is covered in the employment context by sex
discrimination legislation.
3.8.
Religion The concept of religion will include, but not be
limited to, those religions widely recognised in this country such
as; Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism,
Rastafarianism and Sikhism Denominations or sects within a
religion can be considered as a religion or religious belief, such
as Catholics or Protestants within Christianity.
3.9.
Belief The concept of belief includes beliefs such as
Humanism, or other philosophical beliefs similar to a religion.
However, other categories of beliefs, such as support for a
political party, are not included.
3.10.
Harassment occurs where, on grounds of sex, race,
disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief or age a person
is subjected to unwanted conduct which has the purpose
(intentionally) or effect (unintentionally) of:
(i) violating that person’s dignity; or,
(ii) creating an intimidating, hostile,
degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that
individual.
3.11.
Victimisation Treating someone less favourably because
they have brought, have intended to bring proceedings of
discrimination, or they intend to give evidence to such
proceedings, or have alleged/intend to allege or there is a
suspicion to any of the above.
3.12. Racial Incident
In respect of race equality the Council has adopted the Macpherson
definition of a racial incident, i.e.
‘a racial incident is any incident which is
perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person’.
4.
POLICY
4.1. Our Statement of Commitment
towards equal opportunities and diversity,
“Our mandate is to build a safe, just,
tolerant and equal society for everyone in the Borough”. In
practice equalities includes – age, asylum or refugee status,
caring responsibilities, class, colour, disability (including
physical, sensory impairment, mental health problems or learning
difficulties), ethnic or national origin (including race, culture,
nationality, citizenship, and travelling communities), gender
reassignment, HIV status, language, marital status, part time
working, religion, ,sex and sexual orientation.
All Councillors, employees and those acting
on behalf of the Council are responsible for implementing our
Comprehensive Equality Policy and have a continuing duty to
challenge discrimination”.
5.1.
Management development and training will concentrate on both
employment protocols and the inclusion of equality into service
provision.
5.2.
Equality and Diversity awareness training will be available for all
staff, elected members and service partners to attend as well as
induction training for all newcomers.
5.3.
Vacancies for permanent jobs are normally advertised internally and
externally concurrently and are placed on the Council’s website and
in media outlets, which aim to be reasonably accessible to all
suitable candidates.
5.4.
Wherever possible, the Council will provide job information in
alternative formats if requested.
5.5.
The Council will be positive in examining whether reasonable
adjustments can be made to working practices to overcome the
barriers presented by disability.
5.6.
The Council will apply fairly the provisions in national and local
conditions of service. The Council will give fair consideration to
all reasonable requests for adjustment of working arrangements to
accommodate child care responsibilities, subject always to the
requirements of maintaining an effective public service.
5.7.
The Council will continue to develop employment policies which are
consistent and reasonable and which do not result in less
favourable treatment for any employee on the grounds identified
above.
5.8.
Human Resources will regularly review all employment policies and
practices to ensure they are fair and lawful.
5.9.
The Council will monitor annually the composition of the workforce
across 4 strands of equality (age, disability, gender and
race). The purpose of this is to be able to analyse the
results and detect any unhelpful trends, bias or
discrimination. The results will be published on the
internet, intranet and in Serving You (The Council’s
community magazine). The Council will aim to achieve
a representative workforce at all levels.
6.1. The Council
will ensure that all services are equally accessible to all people
and are free from prejudice and discrimination. This will be
achieved via the Council’s Corporate Strategy and in addition to
training and integrating equality into service provision.
6.2. The Council
aims to make sure that all employees and contractors have the
information they need in order to provide equality of opportunity
and that this is reflected in their conduct. The Council will
require partners and contractors to have equal opportunity
policies, and will seek sufficient information and evidence that
compliance with equal opportunities legislation is genuine.
6.3 The
Council will fully investigate and monitor all complaints of
discrimination, victimisation and harassment and take appropriate
action.
6.4. The Council
will assess performance against the National Indicators, as laid
out by Communities and Local Government and take appropriate action
where the Council falls short of the targets
7.1. Council
members will ensure that the overall policy is implemented and
integrated into service action plans as part of continual service
review and best value processes.
7.2 The
overview and scrutiny committees will monitor equality objectives
and ensure adherence to national performance
targets/indicators.
8.1.
Management and supervisors at all levels will be expected to set an
example in non-discriminatory behaviour and to ensure that staff
are aware of the Council’s policy and act in accordance with it.
All new and existing staff will be notified of their personal
obligations as part of the Council’s induction training under the
policy. The notification will include reference to the
serious disciplinary consequences that could result if they:
8.1.1. Discriminate, in the course
of their employment, against other employees, job applicants or
members of the public, or harass them or otherwise behave towards
them in ways which are unwanted, unwelcome and unreciprocated;
8.1.2. Induce, or attempt to
induce, other employees to practise unlawful discrimination;
8.1.3. Victimise individuals who
have made allegations or complaints of discrimination, or provided
information about such discrimination.
8.2. The
Council has a Dignity at Work Procedure to handle complaints of
unacceptable behaviour relating to this policy; complaints relating
to members are handled through the Member / Officer Relations
Protocol.
8.3. The
Executive Management Team is responsible for approving action plans
emanating from service reviews and annual business planning.
Management will ensure equality objectives are included within
service and business action plans.
9.1. The
Council will conduct equality impact assessments on its policies
and its functions with regard to the 6 equality strands (age,
disability, gender, religion/belief, race and sexual
orientation).
9.2. These
assessments are a systematic way of finding out whether a policy,
service or strategy will have an adverse impact for any particular
group. The process is designed to tackle the long term challenge of
removing “institutional discrimination” from the public sector, and
ensure that polices, services and strategies do not unfairly
discriminate.
9.3. Guidance and training have
been, and will continue to be, provided to employees who are
responsible for undertaking Equality Impact Assessments.
9.4. Equality
Impact Assessments will be published on our website
10. RELATED
STRATEGIES/POLICIES/PROCEDURES
- Disability Equality Scheme
- Gender Equality Scheme
- Race Equality Scheme
- Comprehensive Equality Action Plan
- Corporate Strategy “Focus On Our Future”
- Cultural Strategy “Inspiring Life”
- Regeneration Strategy “Unlocking the
Potential”
- Customer Care and Access Strategy
- Members/Officers Relations Protocol.
- Grievance Procedures
- Hate Crime Procedures
- Procurement Guidelines
Introduction
Recent legislation extended the duty on public
organisations to positively promote equalities.
At this time (June 2008), there are new legal
duties relating to disability equality and gender equality and
duties that already exist for race equality.
Public organisations can make a big
contribution towards removing the barriers to equality for diverse
communities. As a local authority, we can do this by being
proactive about equality in the way we:
• provide our services
• buy goods and services
• employ people
• act as a ‘community leader’.
The Race Equality Duty
The Race Relations Act 1976 defines direct and
indirect discrimination. It outlaws racial discrimination in
employment, training, education, housing, public appointments and
the provision of goods, facilities and services.
The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000
strengthens the Race Relations Act 1976, by placing a ‘general
duty’ on all public bodies, in carrying out all their purposes to
have due regard to:
• Eliminate unlawful racial discrimination
• Promote equality of opportunity
• Promote good relations between people of
different racial groups.
The general duty is supported by a series of
specific duties, one of which is that public bodies produce and
publish a Race Equality Scheme. A scheme essentially identifies
actions to be taken by the Council to achieve the general duty.
Another specific duty requires all educational
institutions, including schools, to publish a race equality policy
and put in place arrangements for monitoring the delivery and
impact of that policy. There are also specific duties relating to
employment.
The specific duties came into effect in 2001
and all public bodies bound by the new duties had to publish a
three year Race Equality Scheme in 2002.
The Disability Equality
Duty
In 1995 the Disability Discrimination Act was
introduced. This conferred rights to disabled people in relation to
employment, goods and services. From 2004, additional duties under
this Act came into force with a requirement to make reasonable
physical adjustments to public buildings to make services more
accessible.
The Disability Discrimination Act 2005 creates
a Disability Equality Duty. This duty is similar to that prescribed
under the Race Equality Duty and also has requirements to involve
Disabled People in the development of the Disability Equality
Scheme and to take steps to meet Disabled People’s needs, even if
this requires more favourable treatment. The council must produce a
Disability Equality Scheme by December 2006.
The Gender Equality Duty
The Equality Act 2006 includes a new gender
public duty. This duty is intended to address the fact that,
despite 30 years of individual legal rights to sex equality (Equal
Pay Act 1970; Sex Discrimination Act 1975), there is still
widespread discrimination and persistent gender inequality.
Policies and practices that seem neutral can
often have a significantly different effect on women and on men,
often contributing to greater gender inequality and poor policy
outcomes. Individual legal cases have not been enough to change
this.
The new legal duty is intended to improve
equality for both men and women, boys and girls. This is a similar
duty to that prescribed for race equality. Consequently, the
council produced a Gender Equality Scheme by April 2007.
Transsexual people are protected from
discrimination and harassment on the grounds of gender reassignment
in employment and vocational training under existing sex
discrimination legislation. Public authorities are legally required
to take this into account when addressing that part of the gender
duty which requires the elimination of unlawful discrimination and
harassment.
Gender reassignment discrimination and
harassment in access to goods and services also became unlawful in
late 2007, under the European Goods and Services Directive.
Public authorities will also be legally
required to take this into account under the duty, from the date
that government regulations were introduced.
The Equality Act 2006 and employment
equality regulations
The Equality Act makes provision for a new
unified equality commission, for the recently established Equality
and Human Rights Commission. As noted above, the Act also creates a
new gender public duty. In addition, it prohibits discrimination on
the grounds of faith or belief in the delivery of goods and
services. This allowed for future provision by regulation to
prohibit discrimination or harassment on grounds of sexual
orientation. The latter regulation came into force in October
2006.
Two sets of employment equality regulations
outlawing discrimination in employment and vocational training came
into force at the end of 2003. One set for sexual orientation and
one set for faith and belief. Equivalent employment equality (age)
regulations came into force in October 2006.
Other related legislation
The council has to consider the provisions of
other legislation that has anti-discrimination or equality content.
For example:
- The Children Act 1989, and the subsequent
Children Act 2004 which provides the legal underpinning for Every
Child Matters (the programme aimed at changing children’s
services). It placed a duty on local authorities to consider the
racial and cultural needs of children looked after by the
authority
- The NHS and the Community Care Act 1990
recognises that different ethnic groups have different care
needs
- The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and
the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 makes it illegal to
threaten people or stir up hatred against a person because of their
religion or faith
- The Human Rights Act 1998 is having an effect
on employment rights and entitlement to public services.