We have published a composite report that shows how we are meeting the needs of the public sector equality duties.

Introduction

The Equality Act 2010 brought together under one framework all previous equality legislation. Recognising that giving people a means to challenge discrimination didn’t go far enough, the Public Sector Equality Duty (General Duty) came into force in 2011 and replaced the race, disability and gender duties. The PSED puts the onus on public bodies to take a proactive approach to equality - to eliminate discrimination, advance equality and foster good relations – essentially take action to avoid any discrimination or disadvantage before it occurs.   

In Scotland there are additional, specific, duties required of public bodies that are intended to assist with advancing the General Duty and evidencing what we have done. This combined report provides the following information:

• our approach to mainstreaming equality into our day-to-day business, detail about how we have done this and what has been achieved
• the progress we have made in delivering our nine Equality Outcomes set in 2021 and covering the years 2021-25
• information we have gathered about our employees by each of the protected characteristics and what that information tells us