ALLIANCE response to the Public Sector Equality Duty consultation

The response calls for improved accountability mechanisms, and a strengthened relationship between human rights and equality.

The ALLIANCE has submitted a response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on the review of the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) in Scotland (this link will take you away from our website).

The PSED sits within the Equality Act 2010 and requires public bodies to embed and promote equality throughout their processes. In Scotland, the PSED is supported through Scottish Specific Duties which were designed to ensure that Scottish Ministers and public bodies give better effect to the PSED.

The consultation reflects on the effectiveness of the PSED regime in Scotland, and seeks views on proposals relating to the Scottish Specific Duties, as well as the wider environment for implementation. It makes several proposals, including plans to embed inclusive communication and expand gender pay gap reporting duties to ethnicity and disability.

Our response highlights key areas for improvement:

• There is a need to develop wider, systemic culture change in relation to the PSED, and resource at a national level to support public bodies to achieve this. Wider culture change will facilitate the shift away from a focus on process towards how listed authorities are proactively creating meaningful change which impacts positively on the lives of marginalised population groups.
• There is a need to ensure more robust implementation, enforcement and accountability mechanisms for listed authorities who fail to comply with their duties and obligations under the PSED. This will help to ensure compliance and meaningful change at ground level.
• There is scope to strengthen the relationship between human rights and equality via the PSED. Both equality and human rights are core to achieving national and local performance outcomes in Scotland. The consideration of both will help public bodies to delivery high quality, accessible, inclusive, and efficient public services in a way that meets the rights and needs of people accessing those services.

You can read our full response in the resource list below.

The ALLIANCE has also submitted a joint response, together with 25 equality and human rights organisations in Scotland, calling for a rethink in Scottish Government plans to change public bodies’ equality obligations. The response outlines that the proposals are “light-touch” and “will be insufficient to drive the change that is required”.

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