The Equality Act (2010) introduced a public sector equality duty.
This requires public authorities to pay due regard to the need to:
- eliminate discrimination
- advance equality of opportunity
- foster good relations across a range of protected characteristics
This means we are required to proactively consider equality when carrying out our work, in order to mainstream equality into our core business, in everything we do, including how we set our budgets.
We use Equality Impact Assessments (EIA) to show that we have met the general duty and shown due regard to eliminating discrimination, advancing equality of opportunity and fostering good relations.
It demonstrates that any impact – positive or negative – has been identified for one or more of a group sharing the same protected characteristics which are:
- age
- disability
- gender reassignment
- marriage or civil partnership
- pregnancy/maternity
- race
- religion or belief
- sex (gender)
- sexual orientation.
If, at the beginning of the budget setting process, an EIA identifies there is a negative impact on one or more of the protected characteristics, changes may have to be made to proposed savings in order to mitigate any detriment.
Fairer Scotland Duty
As a public body we also have a duty to assess for the socio-economic impact of our strategies, which is the Fairer Scotland Duty (FSD). This is designed to ensure public bodies specifically take cognisance of poverty-related issues, by assessing the impact of socio-economic factors, in addition to any equality impacts, although the FSD only applies to our strategies.
We have now adopted an integrated form for undertaking Equality Impact Assessments with the Fairer Scotland Duty Assessment (an EIA/FSD Assessment).