Equality and diversity
Equality scheme
There have been many pieces of legislation over the years focusing on the issue of inequality. There have been as many as nine Bills and over a hundred amendments to legislation designed to address inequality in society.
The Equality Act 2010 has now changed this. All the previous pieces of legislation have been replaced with one single Act which covers all equality legislation. Now the Council needs to consider the needs of all groups of people.
The Equality Act 2010 came into force on 1 October 2010. Section 149 of the Act, known as the Public Sector Equality Duty, was introduced on 5 April 2011.
The Public Sector Equality Duty requires the Council to:
- Eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is unlawful under the Act.
- Advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristics and persons who do not share it.
- Foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristics and persons who do not share it.
As part of these duties, the Council is required to publish information to demonstrate its compliance with its statutory duties by the 31 January 2012. To fulfil this, the Council has produced an Equality Scheme to contain all its information to comply with its legal requirements.
The Equality Scheme was approved by Cabinet on 25 January 2012. The scheme is available in other formats on request.
