Committed to equality of opportunity and fair treatment for all.
Equalities impact assessment
As a public sector body the university is required by law to ensure that we pay ‘due regard’ when making decisions to the need to:
1. Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation and other prohibited conduct under the Equality Act (2010)
2. Advance equality of opportunity between people of different groups
3. Foster good relations between people from different groups
Under previous equalities legislation we were required to take a prescriptive approach to meeting the requirement to eliminate unlawful discrimination, by carrying out ‘equality impact assessments’ on all of our policies and practices. As such we carried out a large number of impact assessments.
When the Equality Act (2010) came into force the requirement to pay due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination remained in force, but the prescriptive requirement to carry out impact assessments was removed in order to allow public bodies greater flexibility in how they meet this requirement.
The university is committed to finding the most effective approaches for ensuring that equality considerations are at the heart of everything we do. As such we have made a commitment within our Equality Objectives to reviewing how we ensure that equality issues are appropriately considered in all of our day-to-day functions, decision-making processes and activities. Until that review is complete our equalities impact assessment process remains in place and impact assessments or other forms of equality analysis continue to be carried out on major changes and activities at the university.
If you have any questions about equality impact assessment, equality analysis or other 'due regard' activity at the university, please contact us.
