Diversity and Equality - The Legislation

Legislation relating to equality goes back a long way. Since the early 1970’s we have had growing amounts of legislation in relation to fairness and equality; the Equal Pay Act, the Sex Discrimination Act, the Race Relations Act, to name a few. All of this legislation was designed to prevent discrimination. It gave individuals a right of recourse if they felt they had been unfairly treated on the grounds of their race or gender, but it was reliant on the individual to raise the action. 

The Future

The much anticipated Single Equality Bill was published on 27th April 2009 and had its Second Reading on 11th May. It is expected to receive Royal Assent that will formally make it into law in Spring 2010. Providing this timetabling is not upset by an early general election, it is envisaged that most parts of the legislation will come into force in Autumn 2010.

The new legislation is an attempt to put all equality legislation in one place and to have a unified approach to equality. For public bodies this is likely to mean that we will have a Single Equality Scheme addressing all equality strands. It will also extend to duties for further equality strands. For example there will be further duties on religion or belief, sexual orientation and age and we will need to include these strands in future equality schemes.

This is very much a time of change in respect of equality legislation, but North Wales Police Authority intends to keep abreast of the changes and ensure that we are operating with the most up-to-date legal information.