A new online process to solve race discrimination legislation is being piloted by three public sector organisations and has been pre-ordered by each.
The Equality Impact Assessment System from Marshall ACM will help organisations deliver on the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000, meaning they can implement effective online procedures to eliminate discrimination and produce positive outcomes for equality. The system was initially developed for The Arts Institute of Bournemouth, and Kingston and Surrey universities have now joined the pilot.
“Every public sector organisation has a requirement to deliver on legal duties under the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000, but it is very difficult and complicated to fulfil, which is why so few have acted upon it,” explains David Marshall, chief executive of Marshall ACM.
“Subsequent legislation means organisations are compelled to also impact assess against disability and gender. Although the Central Government, some police forces and other criminal justice agencies are mostly doing better than average, the NHS, local governments and universities are not close to hitting targets.”
A Commission for Racial Equality Spokesperson said, “Policies do not affect everyone in the same way. A Race Equality Impact Assessment is a vital tool in making sure that all public authorities serve everyone equally well, irrespective of race, colour, nationality, or ethnic or national background.
“The CRE welcomes this new system and the role it may play in helping public authorities to undertake effective EIAs and fulfil their legal duty to promote race equality.”
The tool can be used to impact assess against all six strands; race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, age and religion.
Marshall continues, “We’ve developed the Equality Impact Assessment system as an online training programme and electronic tool as a systematic analysis of the potential or actual effects of a policy so establishing whether they have a differential impact on different groups of people.
“One prospective customer has described it as definitely topical for the NHS ‘with capital letters and flashing lights. Although we have undertaken some training in this area our managers are struggling with equality impact assessments’.”
It has been developed for all public sector organisations with consultant, Ann Allcock, who was formerly the diversity manager at Brighton University.
