Setting Equality Outcomes

Setting equality outcomes:

guidance for Scottish institutions

Introduction

Under the Scottish specific duties of the Equality Act2010, your institution is required to prepare andpublish equality outcomes.

Institutions published their first sets of equality outcomes in 2013, and are required to develop andpublish a new set by 30 April 2017, and subsequently at intervals of not more than four years.

What are equality outcomes?

Equality outcomes are results that your institution aims toachieve that will further one or more of the parts of the publicsector equality duty (eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations – see Equality legislation section).

They are the changes that will result as a consequence of institutional action that will improve equality for individuals, communities or society. For example, improved participation orattainment, and changes in skills, attitudes, behaviours and environmental conditions.

‘By focusing on outcomes rather than objectives, this specific duty aims to bring practical improvements in the life chances of those who experience discrimination and disadvantage. So in practice, you might find it helpful to think of equality outcomes as results intended to achieve specific and identifiable improvements in people’s life chances.’

Equality and Human Rights Commission Scotland

Strategic focus

Your institution’s equality outcomes should be strategic and should focus its equality work for the following four years. Their development should therefore be led by senior management.

Linking your outcomes to your institution’s strategic priorities and plans will increase the impetus for delivery and their impact. Linking equality outcomes to your institutional strategy will also help you deliver on that strategy.

Using this briefing

This briefing aims to assist your institution to meet your requirement to set outcomes.

It will be helpful for those responsible for equality outcomes incolleges and universities. It will be of particular interest to senior managers responsible for equality, and equality and diversity staff, as well as staff in charge of strategy and planning, policy, analysis, performance management, human resources and governance.

Background

Equality legislation

The public sector equality duty (PSED) of the Equality Act 2010 came into force on 5 April 2011, replacing the previous separate equality duties for disability, gender and race. The PSED consists of a general duty supported by specific duties which are intended to assist organisations to meet the PSED.

The specific duties for Scotland commenced on 27 May 2012 andincluded a duty to set equality outcomes. Equality outcomes should help institutions meet the three needs of the PSED by giving due regard to:

= eliminating unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010

= advancing equality of opportunity between people from different groups, considering the need to:

– remove or minimise disadvantages suffered by people due totheir protected characteristics

– meet the needs of people with protected characteristics

– encourage people with protected characteristics to participate in public life or in other activities where their participation is low

= fostering good relations between people from different groups, tackling prejudice and promoting understanding between people from different groups

The PSED covers the following protected characteristics that are recognised within the Act:

= age

= disability

= gender reassignment

= marriage and civil partnership (only in relation to eliminating unlawful conduct to employees)

= pregnancy and maternity

= race

= religion or belief (including lack of belief)

= sex

= sexual orientation

Duty to prepare and publish equality outcomes

Regulation 4 of the specific duties requires your institution toset equality outcomes. It requires that equality outcomes are based on evidence and involvement of equality groups and are published.

Your institution must:

= prepare and publish a set of equality outcomes that will enable the institution to better perform the PSED by 30 April 2017 and subsequently at intervals of not more than four years

= take reasonable steps to involve people who share relevant protected characteristics, or who represent the interests ofthose people

= consider relevant evidence relating to people who share arelevant protected characteristic

= publish reasons if the equality outcomes do not cover every relevant protected characteristic

= review and publish a report on progress made towards achieving the set of equality outcomes by 30 April 2019 and subsequently at intervals of not more than two years

Learning from previous equality outcomes

The duty to set equality outcomes is relatively new, and setting equality outcomes has inevitably been a developmental process for institutions. Much can therefore belearned from successes and challenges experienced by institutions in setting and delivering previous equality outcomes.

= It is important not to confuse equality outcomes with outputs. Outputs describe actions, what an organisation produces or delivers. Outcomes, on the other hand, are the changes that result for people as a consequence of the action taken, or outputsproduced.

= While there is no set format for how equality outcomes should bepresented, they must demonstrate that they will enable better performance of the PSED and include all protected characteristics or explain why they do not, and must be published in an accessible manner.

= ECU found that many institutions could do more to ensure reports are easily accessible to staff, students and the public. Thisincludes:

– clear positioning of reports on websites

– clarity of titles of reports, including which duties they contain (such as equality outcomes and mainstreaming) and publication dates

– providing summary versions of longer reports

= Measures of success should be established for each equality outcome. This ensures outcomes are measurable and enables more effective review and reporting on progress, as is required by the duty.

= Many institutions have reflected that they set outcomes that were too broad and occasionally unrealistic. (Outcomes should be specific to the priority equality issues for the institution, achievable and realistic.)

Extend your knowledge

ECU (2012) The public sector equality duty: specific duties forScotland.
www.ecu.ac.uk/publications/the-public-sector-equality-duty-specific-duties-for-scotland

EHRC Series of guides for public authorities in Scotland on how to meet the requirements of the Equality Act 2010.
www.equalityhumanrights.com/about-us/devolved-authorities/commission-scotland/public-sector-equality-duty-scotland/non-statutory-guidance-scottish-public-authorities

EHRC (2015) Equality outcomes self-assessment toolkit.
www.equalityhumanrights.com/publication/equality-outcomes-self-assessment-tool-public-authorities-scotland

ECU (2015) Performance of the specific duties in Scotland 2015.
www.ecu.ac.uk/guidance-resources/equality-legislation/performance-specific-duties-scotland-2015

EHRC (2013 and 2015) Measuring up? Monitoring the public sector equality duty in Scotland.
www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/public-sector-equality-duty-scotland/scotland-public-sector-equality-duty-projects/measuring

The process of setting equality outcomes

While every institution will take a slightly different approach to developing equality outcomes, the following three stage process, which is broken into nine steps, can act as a guide for the key activities and considerations typically involved in developing new outcomes.

Three stage process / Steps / Examples of activity
1. Investigate equality issues / 1 Review previous outcomes / = Using evidence, review progress against your institution’s previous set of equality outcomes
= Identify where previous outcomes have not been fully achieved and could be continued as part of the new outcomes
= Identify where good progress has been made that could be built upon in the new outcomes
2 Involve people / = Consult and involve staff, students and others to gain further evidence of equality challenges
= Take steps to involve people or organisations representing protected characteristics to find out what would make the most difference to them
3 Gather and consider evidence / = Consider institutional equality data and information on staff and students from a range of sources
= Consider evidence of national and sectoral equality and diversity challenges and priorities
= Consider your institutional priorities and how they relate to equality and diversity
= Identify gaps in evidence, including gaps identified at the involvement stage and take steps to fill these to have the fullest possible range of information

Three stage process / Steps / Examples of activity
2. Identify equality outcomes / 4 Prioritise / = Consider all information gathered in stage 1 and identify the inequalities that are the priorities for your institution to address
= Consider the scale and severity of the inequalities, and the potential for impact to be achieved through addressing them
= Ensure all of the protected characteristics are explicitly covered within these areas, or that there is a rationale if they are not, and that they will support one or more needs of the PSED
= Consider how addressing these inequalities will align with and support achievement of institutional priorities and strategies
5 Formulate / = Formulate a set of potential equality outcomes that describe the measurable changes that will be achieved to address the priority inequalities identified
= Specify a measure or set of measures for each equality outcome from which to measure progress
6 Assign / = Agree timescales and staff responsible for monitoring progress against each outcome
= Ensure senior commitment and mechanisms are in place for delivery and reporting
7 Gain approval / = Consult on the potential set of outcomes internally and externally as appropriate and use feedback to refine and finalise
= Gain final approval by an equality committee or equivalent and the governing body prior to publication
3. Disseminate equality outcomes / 8 Publish / = Publish both the new set of equality outcomes and information on progress of the previous outcomes, either separately or in one report
= Provide an accompanying rationale for the new outcomes to help stakeholders understand how the outcomes were reached.
= Make sure that this information is easily accessible to the public in terms of location, format and content
9 Promote / = Consider methods to engage staff and students with the new outcomes, including in delivering them

Timeline

Equality outcomes must be published by 30 April 2017. The process of setting equality outcomes should fit within your institution’s own planning cycle.

The following considerations may prove helpful when determining a timeline for setting new outcomes:

= Time required for involvement activity, such as surveys or events with different groups

= Dates of equality committee/equivalent group meetings to ensure that they are involved in the process and can approve the outcomes prior to publication date

= Dates of governing body/board meetings to ensure they can approve the outcomes prior to publication date

= Time needed for publication of the outcomes, such as time for proof reading, typesetting, and uploading on to the website

Stage 1 Investigate equality issues

Review previous outcomes

As well as developing and publishing new equality outcomes, your institution is required by the duties to report on its progress in delivering its previous set of equality outcomes. This requires areview of progress against these outcomes, which forms an important part of the process of setting the new equality outcomes. Your institution’s experience of delivering its previous outcomes should inform the types of outcomes it sets for the next period, and the ways in which it delivers them.

Steps for reviewing outcomes

1 Review key evidence for each outcome. It is helpful to use sources of evidence that are the same, or similar, to those that were used as evidence when setting the outcomes. For example, if qualitative evidence from a staff survey was used, you should repeat the survey, asking similar questions.

2 Compare the evidence against the baseline and success indicators for each outcome and identify where change has occurred, be it improvements, no change or a worsening of an equality issue.

3 Reach a conclusion as to whether the intended outcomes have been fully achieved, partially achieved, or not achieved.

4 Consider what factors affected the success of the outcomes, such as activities not being as successful as hoped, or an outcome being unrealistic within the timeframe.

5 Use this information to inform the development of the new outcomes and to report on the progress of the previous outcomes.

= Identify any areas for continuation in new outcomes, for example, where previous outcomes have not been fully achieved or where good progress has been made that could be built upon.

= Identify ways in which development of the new outcomes will beimproved.

= Also use this information to report on progress with the previous outcomes, including impact, achievements and challenges.

Identifying levels of impact

The extent of progress and success achieved for each outcome can be identified as a level ofimpact. ECU uses the following model.

Inputs / Outputs / Outcomes
Input:
the initial resources (time, staff, costs) required to produce outputs / Foundation:
the activity oroutput produced asaresult / Reaction: theresponse to the activity or output / Learning:
the initial impact of the activity or output – such asgrowth in knowledge andskills / Behaviour:
any change inbehaviour that follows / Outcomes:
how the changes have resulted in the institutions’ equality outcomes

Impact levels

Extend you knowledge

ECU (2014) Measuring progress using qualitative evidence.
www.ecu.ac.uk/publications/measuring-progress-qualitative-evidence

Involve people

The specific duty requires that while developing equality outcomes, reasonable steps be taken by your institution to involve people who share a relevant protected characteristic and their representatives. By involving staff, students, equality groups and communities your institution can gain vital information about where action is most needed. This is especially important where there are evidence gaps.

Tips for involvement

= Undertake both targeted and open involvement, for example meetings with groups that represent those with protected characteristics as well as open surveys for all staff and students.

= Use a range of involvement methods for different groups; for example, what works for a staff network may not work as well forstudents.

= Ensure the involvement exercises are accessible and open to all parties targeted.

= Aim as far as possible to identify individuals or representatives from each protected group who can participate, and take steps to address any gaps in participation.

= Involve leaders at all levels and ensure their public commitment to the process.