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Equality Act

Public Sector Equality Duty, April 2011

Specific Equalities Duties for Public Sector Organisations

A set of requirements came into force on 27 May 2012 which will bring about some important changes in how we tackle inequality in NHSGGC.

The purpose of these ‘Specific Duties’ in Scotland is to help public sector organisations to deliver the Equality Duties laid out in the Equality Act 2010. These require that public authorities, in the exercise of their functions, give due regard to the need to:

  • Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other prohibited conduct
  • Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not
  • Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.

The Specific Duties require NHSGGC to:

  • Report on how we are putting equality at the heart of all our services
  • Publish equality outcomes and report progress
  • An equality outcomes should further one or more of the following needs: eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity or foster good relations. An outcome has been described as measuring -“Not how many worms the bird feeds its young, but how well the fledgling flies”
  • Assess and review our policies and practices
  • NHSGGC already has a process in place to carry out Equality Impact Assessments
  • Gather and use employee information to ensure our workforce represents the communities we serve
  • Publish gender pay gap information
  • There is a 11% gap between men’s and women’s full-time hourly rates, and a 32% gap when you compare women’s part time hourly rate to men’s full time hourly rate
  • Publish statements on equal pay to say how we will close any gaps in relation to ethnicity and disability
  • Ensure that our procurement processes to buy goods and services consider equality issues
  • Publish information in a manner that is accessible, for example translated into different languages and accessible

Contact person: Jac Ross, Corporate Inequalities Team
Email: jac.ross@ggc.scot.nhs.uk
Telephone: 0141 201 4560 or 0141 201 4967

You can also read more information on the Public Sector Equality Duties and the Specific Duties using the link below:

https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/public-sector-equality-duty-scotland