Management Information Sheet

The new Minister for Equalities in the Home Office, Ms Liz Featherstone MP has recently launched a consultation paper on the operational matters and implementation arrangements connected with the Equality Act 2010. The consultation period will end on the 10^th November 2010 after which official guidance on the Equality Act 2010 will be published.

What has been established so far:-

	Timetable - The Equality Act is due to come into force from the 1st October 2010, and the new public sector duties - which apply to schools - will be implemented from the 1st April 2011.
	Equality Schemes - there will be a shift away from publishing an equality scheme to publishing equality outcome objectives, with specific, relevant and measurable objectives, combined with other requirements to publish data on performance. However, in setting equality objectives schools will still have to go through a similar process to the one used to develop an equality scheme - gathering evidence through data collection, and involvement and consultation with the school community. It is proposed that the publication of objectives will be through established routes, for example, in school improvement and development plans.
	Impact Assessments - Public bodies will still be required to ensure their existing and proposed policies and practices do not discriminate against protected groups and to identify opportunities to promote equality.
	Pre-employment health questions - An organisation that receives an application for work cannot ask about the health of the applicant before work is actually offered. - Questions can only be asked to establish whether an applicant will be able to carry out a function that is intrinsic to the work concerned so the employer may be entitled to ask the applicant at interview whether there is any condition which restricts the applicant's ability to do the job. - It will still also be possible to ask whether an applicant has a disability that would require reasonable adjustments to be made to the recruitment process. - It will also be possible to ask on a recruitment monitoring form about a disability for the purposes of monitoring recruitment data. - The provisions will not prevent employers from asking medical questions or, indeed, requesting that individuals undergo a medical assessment after the job offer has been made (but prior to commencement of employment). This would allow an employer to make any reasonable adjustments which may be required to facilitate a new recruit.
	Auxiliary aids and services - the Government is still considering a new duty for schools to provide auxiliary aids and services to all pupils, not just those with a statement of special educational needs.

Further information about the Equality Act 2010 can be found at: www.equalities.gov.uk/equality_bill.aspx.

Further updates on the Equality Act 2010 will be given when the guidance notes and statutory Codes of Practice are published by the Government.