Equality, Diversity and Human Rights

Transcription

1 Equality, Diversity and Human Rights 1 Key things you need to know Make it your business

2 Equality Act 2010 and protected characteristics 2 The Equality Act 2010 is the UK s most recent equality and diversity legislation, replacing previous anti-discrimination laws with a single act. The Act covers nine protected characteristics (see below). Age Disability Gender Reassignment Marriage and Civil Partnership Pregnancy and Maternity Race (includes Ethnic or National Origins, Colour and Nationality) Religion or Belief Sex (Gender) Sexual Orientation For more information please go to: Hyperlinks in pink will only connect if you are reading this document on a computer connected to the Leicestershire County Council network. Hyperlinks in green will work as long as you are reading this document on a computer with a working internet connection.

3 Public Sector Equality Duty 3 The Public Sector Equality Duty (Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010) requires public bodies to consider all individuals when carrying out their day-to-day work, whether that is shaping policy, delivering services or in relation to their own employees. The general duty states that a public authority must have due regard to the need to: Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation Advance equality of opportunity between different groups Foster good relations between different groups For more information please go to:

4 Human Rights Act Leicestershire County Council strongly supports the importance of valuing human rights and ensuring that everyone must have equal access to their human rights. This is why we assess any human rights implications of new and significantly changed policies, procedures, functions and services. We also consider opportunities to promote or protect any of the relevant human rights of individuals. For more information please go to:

5 Articles of Human Rights Act 5 The Human Rights Act has four schedules to it, the first schedule of which contains Articles which are set out in two parts. HUMAN RIGHTS ACT PART 1: The Convention Rights and Freedoms Article 2: Right to life Article 3: Prohibition of torture, inhuman or degrading treatment Article 4: Prohibition of slavery/ forced labour Article 5: Right to liberty and security of person Article 6: Right to a fair trial (applies to criminal and civil issues) Article 7: No punishment without law Article 8: Right to respect for private and family life Article 9: Freedom of thought, conscience and religion Article 10: Freedom of expression Article 11: Freedom of assembly and association Article 12: Right to marry Article 14: Prohibition of discrimination HUMAN RIGHTS ACT PART 2: The First Protocol Article 1: Protection of property/ peaceful enjoyment Article 2: Right to education and out-of-school children Article 3: Right to free elections

6 Leicestershire County Council s priority equality objectives 6 One of the requirements of the Public Sector Equality Duty is for public bodies to publish a set of key Priority Equality Objectives. These are the aims that we want to achieve. The Council s nine priority equality objectives are as follows: Objective 1: Objective 2: Objective 3: Objective 4: Objective 5: Understanding the employees of Leicestershire County Council so that we can instigate actions that ensure fairness and equality of opportunity for all Demonstrating equality in pay Ensuring that equality analysis is undertaken on all new and significantly changed policies, functions, procedures and services to mitigate adverse impact Promoting and enhancing understanding of equality, diversity, community cohesion and human rights at all levels within Leicestershire County Council Reduce the number of hate incidents and increase levels of hate incident reporting across the county Objective 6: Objective 7: Objective 8: Objective 9: Encourage and empower under-represented groups and individuals to participate in society, their community and at work Encouraging engagement and communication with people in the most appropriate and accessible ways Empower communities across Leicestershire to have and develop high levels of cohesion, tolerance and resilience Strengthening and developing equalities bodies/structures and embedding equality and diversity across partnership structures. For more information go to:

7 Equality strategy The equality strategy sets out the council s commitment for progressing equality, diversity, community cohesion and human rights within Leicestershire. The strategy focuses on continuing to take forward the equalities agenda in order to improve outcomes for local people. It also aims to bring about real and lasting change to people s lives. It outlines what we will do to make Leicestershire a place where people get along with each other, treat each other with dignity and respect, and work together in order to provide a strong foundation for cohesive and confident communities. For more details about the council s equality strategy (and associated equality action plan) go to:

8 Equality, diversity, community cohesion and human rights charter 8 The county council is committed to Leicestershire to its people, places, communities and individuals. The leader of the county council, the lead member for equalities, the political group leaders and the chief executive of the county council have signed this charter to pledge the council s commitment to equality, diversity, community cohesion and human rights. The charter takes into account the authority s responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 and Leicestershire County Council s nine priority equality objectives. It will support the council s commitment to creating a place where people get along with each other with dignity and respect, in order to provide a strong foundation for cohesive and confident communities. For more information about the equality, diversity, community cohesion and human rights charter go to:

9 Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessments 9 We need to understand whether our policy, procedures, functions and services are meeting everyone s needs and that everyone has access to our services. The council has therefore developed an Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessment to assess this. An Equality and Human Rights Impact Assessment is a tool to help individuals and departments to identify whether or not any new or significantly changed policies, practices, procedures, functions and services may have an adverse impact on particular individuals or groups of people. It also helps assess whether the human rights of individuals may be affected. For more information please go to:

10 Learning and Development 10 The learning and development service have developed a programme of equality, diversity and human rights related training packages, to help ensure that: Staff are equipped with the right skills and knowledge to perform their duties The council s workforce are given opportunities to support their continuous development Mandatory training for managers includes: Managing diversity (1 day course) Managing diversity e-learning module - every two years Training courses for all staff include (These should be refreshed every two years): Equality & diversity e-learning module or Equality & diversity workbook or Equally yours half day training Other e-learning packages include: Equality and Human Rights Impact Assesment Hate awareness Disability discrimination LGBT awareness Learning disabilities awareness Equalities monitoring Supporting customers with disabilities Community engagement Dementia awareness Autism awareness For more information, please go to: CIS: intranet/ corporate_learning_ and_development_ activities

11 Interpretation and Translation 11 In addition to English, around 50 community languages are spoken in Leicestershire. Arrangements for interpreting (including Face to Face, Telephone and British Sign Language) and translating can be made through Pearl Linguistics. Tel: Online Booking: You will need an access code for this service, which is available via:

12 Workers Groups 12 The council believes in equality of treatment and fairness to all staff, and to ensure we demonstrate this in our practice as an employer, we support the following Workers Groups: Black Workers Group: _information Disabled Workers Group: LGBT Workers Group: Straight Allies: Working Carers Group: support_ sheet_and_hr_summary_documents_now_ available_to_staff More information about the Workers Groups, along with information about departmental equalities groups can be found at:

13 For more information about the council s work on equality, diversity and human rights 13 equality@leics.gov.uk Intranet: Website: N0546