ROTHERHAM GENERAL HOSPITALS NHS TRUST - DOC

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Report to SCT Board on gender equality January 2007                                   -1-



                                                    Sheffield Care Trust
                                                             Mental Health and Wellbeing

                                          SUMMARY REPORT

Report to: SCT BOARD

Date: JANUARY 2007

Subject:          The Gender Equality Duty

From:        Report complied by Liz Johnson (Acting Head of Patient Experience, Social
Inclusion and Diversity) on behalf of Jenny Cavalot, John Ramsden and Tina Ball.

1.        Purpose
The purpose of this report is;

      To inform the Board of the Gender Equality Duty (GED), which SCT as a 'Public
       Authority', is obliged to comply with. The report will provide information about the duty
       and practical and statutory requirements, which may be relevant to the Board.

      A precursor to the Gender Equality Scheme. The Gender Equality Scheme will be
       produced as part of the Gender Equality Duty. The report provides information for the
       Board about the production of the scheme so that the Board have the opportunity to
       comment on this process as the Board will be asked to ratify the scheme prior to its
       publication.

2.        Summary
The DoH guidance for Boards on Equality and Human Rights in the NHS says,’ Board members
are directly accountable for all actions and omissions in relation to equality and human
rights legislation and this accountability cannot be delegated’1

Equality legislation has been amended with the aim of ensuring that service providers and
employers consider issues of gender in a strategic, rather than reactionary manner.

This legislation applies to men and women, however the Equal Opportunities Commission
Guidance on the Gender Equality Duty says that the implications of current legislation and
proposed amendments to existing legislation, with regard to gender reassignment, should
also be considered.

Comprehensive information on the detail of the general and specific duties required by this
legislation, the legislative background and enforcement, is provided as Appendix 1 to this
paper.




1
    Equality and Human Rights in the NHS A Guide for NHS Boards – DoH December 2006
Report to SCT Board on gender equality January 2007                        -2-

The Board needs be aware that SCT must:

     1. Comply with the ‘General Duty’

This requires public authorities to promote equality between women and men and
eliminate unlawful sex discrimination and harassment.

     2. Meet ‘Specific Duties’

These are to:
   1. Prepare and publish a Gender Equality Scheme by the 30th April 2007
   2. Consult its employees, service users and others (including trade unions)
   3. Consider objectives and how they will be achieved, using relevant data. Set out the
      actions the organisation will take to meet the objectives. In formulating these
      objectives consideration needs to be given to the need to have objectives that
      address the causes of any differences between the pay of men and women that are
      related to their sex
   4. Gather and use information on policies and practices in relation to equality between
      male and female staff and on the functions of the organisations and the way they
      are carried out in relation to taking account of the needs of women and men.
   5. Use Information to impact assess policies and practice.

    3. Implement the scheme
As is the case with other schemes the actions described in the scheme must be put into
effect within three years (unless it is unreasonable or impractical to do this)

   4. Review the scheme
Again in line with other schemes the scheme should be reviewed and a new scheme
published every three years

   5. Publish the scheme
The scheme must be published however it can form part of another published document or
be within a number of other published documents.

     6. Report Progress

Reasonable steps must be taken to publish an annual report on progress; however this
can be contained within another document (s)

Proposed Process

Development of the SCT Gender Equality Scheme is led by PEPD in close liaison with
Human Resources, however much of the action required in this and other schemes is
specific to either PEPD or Human Resources. Both Directorates have agreed a plan, this
is outlined in Appendix 2

3.      Next Steps
           The Board is asked to note the relevance and implications of Gender Equality
            for the Staff and Service Users of SCT and support the development if the
            Gender Equality Scheme
           The Board is asked to comment on the outline plan (appendix 2 )
Report to SCT Board on gender equality January 2007                      -3-
4.     Required Actions
          The Board will be asked to ratify the gender equality scheme (GES) in March
           2007

5.     Monitoring Arrangements
       John Ramsden/ Jenny Cavalot to lead progress and table the GES for the March
       Board Meeting

6.     Contact Details
       For further information, please contact:
            Tina Ball
Report to SCT Board on gender equality January 2007                             -4-

Appendix 1
The Gender Equality Duty
Gender Equality statutory provisions follow a formula that has been applied previously to
Race Equality and Disability Equality, in that they require public authorities to meet general
duties and comply with specific duties. These duties are described within the relevant
statutes and put into practice through various commissions, the relevant commission in the
case of gender equality being the Equal Opportunities Commission.

The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) is charged with enforcing this legislation and
has produced a 'statutory' code of practice .This provides comprehensive information
about the duties and how they may be met by organisations.

From late 2007 all three areas of equality law will be enforceable by a new body, the
Commission for Equality and Human Rights [CEHR]. The new body will also deal with
other areas of equality, including age, religion and belief, and sexual orientation.

As a ‘Public Authority' SCT must comply with the general and specific duties described in
relevant legislation and may be legally challenged if it does not. The HCC also scrutinises
compliance with these duties as part of its overall monitoring (standards C7e, C6, C13,
C16, C17, C18, and C22). Ultimately the benefits of compliance with this legislation lie in
the potential to improve the position of employees and service users of SCT.

The gender equality duty is a statutory duty, which applies to all 'Public Authorities'. The
Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (as amended) describes the General Duty, which requires
public authorities to promote equality between women and men and eliminate unlawful sex
discrimination and harassment.

The Equality Act 2006 amends previous legislation to incorporate specific duties, these
are described in the Sex Discrimination 1975 (Public Authorities) (Statutory Duties)
Order 2006. These apply to 'Public Authorities' that are listed in the order. Care Trusts and
Foundation Trust are included in this list.

The specific duties are:

1.   Prepare and publish a Gender Equality Scheme by the 30th April 2007
2.   In preparing the scheme - Consult its employees, service users and others (including
     trade unions) who appear to it to have an interest in the way it carries out its functions.
3.   In preparing the scheme - Take into account certain information (see 6 a) and any
     other information the organisation thinks is relevant to its performance against the
     general duty.
4.   ensure that the Scheme sets out the overall objectives which will be necessary to
     perform the general duty
5.   When formulating these objectives (i.e. as in 4 above) consider the need to have
     objectives that address the causes of any differences between the pay of men and
     women that are related to their sex.
6.   The scheme must set out the actions which the organisation has or intends to take to -

             (a) gather information on the effect of its policies and practices on men and
             women and in particular -
                    (i) The extent to which these policies promote equality between male
                    and female staff, and
                    (ii) The extent to which the services the organisation provides and the
                    functions it performs take account of the needs of men and women;
Report to SCT Board on gender equality January 2007                                  -5-

             (b) Make use of this and other information to assist it in the performance of its
             general duty, and its specific duties. In particular regular review of -
                   (i)     effectiveness of the actions defined as a result of 4 (above)
                   (ii)    arrangements for preparation of subsequent Schemes

             (c) Assess the impact of the organisations policies and practices, or the likely
             impact of its proposed policies and practices, on equality between women and
             men;

             (d) consult relevant employees, service users and others (including trade
             unions); and

             (e) To achieve the objectives it has set in line with 4 (above)


The duties apply to equality between men and women. In addition the Sex Discrimination
(Gender Reassignment) Regulations 1999 include protection for transgender people on the
grounds of gender reassignment or potential gender reassignment in employment and vocational
training. It is unlawful therefore to discriminate against a person for the purpose of employment
(recruitment, promotion, access to benefits, selection for redundancy, vocational training etc) on
the grounds that the person intends to undergo, or is undergoing, or has at some stage undergone,
gender reassignment. This area therefore needs to be considered whilst developing the scheme.
Further in this area it is likely that the Sex Discrimination Act will be further amended to incorporate
the European Council Goods and Services Directive, which prohibits harassment on the
grounds of gender reassignment in the provision of goods and services. Therefore there is a need
to consider both employment and service issues in promoting equality for people who have
undertaken or are proposing to undertake gender reassignment.
Report to SCT Board on gender equality January 2007                               -6-
Appendix 2

SCT Gender Equality Scheme Development Plan January 2007- April 2007
JANUARY                                  FEBRUARY                               MARCH                       APRIL




Report     to     SCT   Board   for      Report to OMG mid February - re Final Draft to SCT Board end of Final version      to     SCT
information- informing Board of          potential implications and required March                       board        for        formal
gender equality scheme and action        action                                                          ratification
plan     for     development   and
consultation.                            Action LJ                              Action LJ                   Action LJ
Action LJ
Set up small project group to take       Circulate information to Care Trust Draft to Care Trust Council
forward development of the scheme        Council members
with representatives of key groups
for consultation.                        Action LJ                              Action LJ

Action LJ

HR       to   advise    staff    side    Separate project group to start to
representatives of the duty and          look at relevant male gender
identify    a   representative     for   equality issues (with a view to
involvement in the project group.        planning an event and identifying a
                                         specific action plan later in 2007).
Action VL                                Outcomes to inform consultation.
                                         Action XU

Non Executive Board representative Commence discussion with service
to be identified for involvement in users and relevant representatives
the project group                   from learning disability services.
                                    Outcomes to inform consultation.
Action LJ /XU
                                    Action XU
HR to consider the need to have Commence discussions with service
objectives (within the scheme) that users and relevant representatives
address the causes of any from             older    peoples   services.
differences between the pay of men Outcomes to inform consultation.
and women that are related to their
sex Action VL                       Action XU
Report to SCT Board on gender equality January 2007                              -7-

HR to commence review of relevant      Discuss relevant input into action
existing policy and practice to        plan from      Substance Misuse
ensure compliance with existing and    Directorate. Outcomes to inform
anticipated   equality   legislation   consultation exercise.
(including sexual orientation and
gender reassignment – late 07)         Action LJ

Action VL

Forward to scheme to be requested Commence process for review of
from Chair of Board and chief pertinent issues with Porterbrook
executive                         Service.    Outcomes to inform
                                  consultation exercise.
Action LJ
                                  Action XU

Review current outcomes on             Place a Draft Action Plan with facility Continue to review and update draft
benchmarking work related to           to comment on this on SCT Web
mainstreaming gender and women's       Site by 28th February.
mental health and SCT response to
CSIP pre gender equality scheme
survey (submitted in October 2006).    Action LJ
Review to inform consultation          XU to liase with IT
exercise.
ACTION LJ


LJ - Liz Johnson PEPD
XU - Xenia Urwin PEPD
VL- Vicky Lerigo - HR