Equality Scheme
Schedule 9 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 requires that all public authorities who are designated under the Act must set out in an Equality Scheme how it proposes to fulfil the duties imposed by Section 75 of the Act. This Equality Scheme must be submitted to, and approved by, the Equality Commission in Northern Ireland.
An Equality Scheme outlines the public authority’s arrangements for:-
- Assessing its compliance with the duties under Section 75
- Assessing and consulting on the likely impact of policies on the promotion of equality of opportunity
- Monitoring any adverse impact of policies on the promotion of equality of opportunity
- Publishing the results of such assessments
- Training staff
- Ensuring and assessing public access to information and services provided by the public authority
All government Departments are designated public authorities and therefore must have their own individual and approved Equality Scheme. The purpose of the Department for Employment and Learning’s Equality Scheme,is to set out how the Department proposes to fulfil its statutory duties under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, namely to give due regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity throughout all areas of its business, and to support the promotion of the good relations duty. It was also intended to be a working manual for Departmental officials.
The Department's first Equality Scheme was approved by the Equality Commission in February 2001.and a five year review was published in October 2006. A new Scheme has now been produced in accordance with revised guidance from the Equality Commission. The new Scheme was approved by the Comission on 14th September 2011.
