Law Society of Scotland
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Equalities Law

The public sector equality duty came into force on 5 April 2011. Scottish Ministers intend to make 'specific duties' which will enable its better performance.

Two consultations have already been undertaken on proposals for specific duties. The first considered the broad scope of what specific duties might look like. The second was on draft Regulations.

The purpose of this consultation is to seek the views of stakeholders and members of the public on revision of those draft Regulations. The consultation seeks views on revisions only, specifically in relation to the following points:

Equality and Human Rights Commission Consultation: Strategic Plan Phase 2

This consultation was launched by the Equality and Human Rights Commission to help them develop their next strategic plan for 2012-2015. The consultation is aims to provide pportunity to comment on the proposed mission and roles, and the key equality and human rights issues going forward.

Consultation on revised draft Regulations for the public sector equality duty specific duties

The public sector equality duty came into force on 5 April 2011. Scottish Ministers intend to make 'specific duties' which will enable its better performance.

Two consultations have already been undertaken on proposals for specific duties. The first considered the broad scope of what specific duties might look like. The second was on draft Regulations.

The purpose of this consultation is to seek the views of stakeholders and members of the public on revision of those draft Regulations.

The UK Government's Red Tape Challenge

In April, the UK Government began a new initiative through The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to review a significant amount of secondary legislation, the majority being statutory instruments, which it considers create unnecessary red tape to business.

The Equalities Law Subcommittee are currently considering the equalities legislation covered in the review.

Visit the red tape challenge website to view the consultation

Building a Fairer Britain: Reform of the Equality and Human Rights Commission

This paper sought comments on the Government's plans to reform the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to ensure the EHRC can focus on its core role as an equality regulator.

Equality Act 2010: Banning age discrimination in services, public functions and associations.

The Equality Act 2010, which received Assent in April 2010, includes provisions enabling a ban on age discrimination in the provision of services and public functions.

Implementing the age discrimination ban would require secondary legislation to be made, setting out the circumstances in which it would remain lawful to use age as a reason for treating people differently.

The consultation sets out areas where the Equalities Government believes that different treatment of people of various ages is justified; and proposes how the legislation will be drafted to take account of these.

Draft Code of Practice for Schools in Scotland

As part of the new Equality Act, the Equalities and Human Right Commission published a consultation on the draft Code of Practice for Schools in Scotland.

The Commission is producing a Code of Practice for Schools to explain the new provisions as set out in Chapter 1 of Part 6 of the Act. The Code will help to ensure that the law is applied consistently by lower courts and tribunals, and will also help make the law accessible to a wider a wider audience.

The public sector Equality Duty: reducing bureaucracy Policy review paper

The purpose of this policy review paper is to seek views on new draft regulations imposing specific duties to support better performance of the public sector Equality Duty.