BSO 19/2018
To:BSO Board
Title:BSO Equality and Disability Action Plans 2018-23
StatusForApproval
Date:22 March 2018
1.Introduction
Under the statutory equality and disability duties, the Business Services Organisation (BSO) is required to have in place Equality and Disability Action Plans. The current plans expire on 31st March 2018.
This paper presents the new Equality and Disability Action Plans for the period 1st April 2018 to 31st March 2023.
Approval of the plans is sought by the BSO board, subject to amendments, for publication and submission to the Equality Commission.
2.Development of the new Plans
The duties under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 (the ‘equality duties’) relate to promoting equality and good relations. The duties under the Disability Discrimination Order (the ‘disability duties’) refer to promoting positive attitudes towards people with a disability and to encourage their participation in public life.
Key steps in the development process of the new Equality and Disability Action Plans comprised the following:
- Engagement with all BSO business areas; these were tasked with identifying key inequalities and opportunities for positively promoting equality relating to their functions, as well as with developing new actions to address these
- Discussion of proposed actions at the BSO Equality Forum
- Input from Tapestry, the Disability Staff Network
- A 12-week public consultation on the draft plans and their equality screening
- Revision of draft plans in light of consultation comments received.
3.Consultation
The consultation was conducted jointly with seven of the regional HSC organisations supported by the BSO Equality Unit. It involved a consultation event with café-style conversations, a one to one meeting as well as written responses.
The consultation report outlines all consultation comments received and respective responses. It reflects the joint nature of the consultation.
The consultation comments received did not necessitate any substantive changes to the actions in the plans.Taking on board comments that we should move away from process-related to outcomes-related performance indicators some small changes have been made to the wording of these.
4.Content of the new Plans
The Equality Action Plan and the Disability Action Plan are presented as separate plans within one document. This ensures adherence to the legislative requirement to have a discrete plan in place against each of the duties while allowing ease of reference for the public as well as internal audiences.
The attached draft plans outline a range of priority actions relating both to the delivery of functions and to the BSO as a workplace.The plans do not reflect all work planned by business areas that will in effect promote equality.
5.Conclusions
The plans and the consultation report seek to bring the development of new BSO Equality and Disability Action Plans to a close, in line with the statutory duties.
It is the intention to produce a graphic-designed version of the plans following their approval, for publication on the BSO website.
Board members are asked to approve the action plans and consultation report, subject to any amendments, for publication and submission to the Equality Commission.
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