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Comission 2004

Equality Scheme for the Eastern Health and Social Services Council

Northern Ireland Act 1998
Section 75
Statutory Equality Obligation

May 2001

Contents

1 Introduction
2 Our role
3 Our structure
4 Our responsibility to the Public
5 Our obligation under section 75
6 Arrangements for making sure we meet our obligation
7 Carrying out our duties
8 Arrangements for assessing our performance
9 Assessing our policies
10 Timetable for setting priorities
11 Methods of carrying out impact assessments
12 Future consultation
13 Monitoring the effect of our policies and publishing negative effects
14 Training
15 Public access to information and services
16 Publishing our equality scheme
Appendix 1 The consultation process and revision of draft equality scheme
Appendix 2 Advertisement in the local press
Appendix 3 Index of organisations who responded to draft equality scheme and written responses
Appendix 4 Seminar and group discussion participants
Appendix 5 Feedback from seminar participants
Appendix 6 "How to make a complaint about the Eastern Health and Social Services Council" leaflet
Appendix 7 HSSC policies which we will consider to see if an impact assessment is needed
Appendix 8 Proposed timetable
Appendix 9 Training Plan
Appendix 10 Organisations we will consult
Appendix 11 Organisational Chart

Foreword

Under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 the Council must have due regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity:

  • between persons of different religious belief, political opinion, racial group, age, marital status or sexual orientation;
  • between men and women generally;
  • between persons with a disability and persons without; and
  • between persons with dependants and persons without.

In addition, the Council must also have regard to the desirability of promoting good relations between persons of different religious belief, political opinion or racial group. As part of this obligation we must prepare a draft equality scheme, issue it for consultation, revise it and send it to the Equality Commission by 30 June 2000. The process of consultation that we undertook is listed in appendix 1.

At the Eastern Health and Social Services Council we want to promote equal opportunities for all our region's residents. This equality scheme gives us an opportunity to review our policies and procedures and to integrate equal opportunities into all Council and staff plans of work. This will become part of all Council functions, powers and duties relating to Northern Ireland.

We will meet the commitments set out in this scheme and will make available the necessary resources in terms of people, time and money. We are fully committed to the effective discharge of the new equality obligations and we, along with all staff will give leadership to achieve this. We will put in place the internal arrangements to ensure that the duties are effectively complied with and for monitoring and reviewing progress. We are also fully committed to the development and delivery of a planned programme of communication and training and will ensure that the Equality Scheme can be drawn up and implemented effectively and on time.

When the scheme has been approved we will issue it to everyone who was consulted. The Council believes that this is the start of an ongoing process of consultation and active participation regarding all aspects of the scheme.

The scheme will be formally reviewed in five years but in the interim we intend to treat it as a "live document" which we will keep under review.

BRIAN COULTER
Chairman 		JANE GRAHAM
Chief Officer

 

: Introduction : Role : Structure : Responsibility : Section 75 : Obligation : Duties : Performance : Policies : Timetable :
: Impact Assessments : Consultation : Monitoring : Training : Information : Publishing :

Eastern Health and Social Services Council, 1st Floor, Lesley House, 25-27 Wellington Place, Belfast, BT1 6GQ
Freephone: 0800 917 0222 Fax: (028) 9032 1750 Minicom: (028) 9032 1285
E-mail:ecouncil@ehssc.n-i.nhs.uk


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