A GUIDE FOR PUBLIC AUTHORITIES ON MEETING THE PUBLIC SECTOR EQUALITY DUTY A guide for public authorities on meeting the Public Sector Equality Duty 1 2 FOREWORD The Equality Act 2010 and the Public Sector Equality Duty are some of the most important legal safeguards for LGBT equality. They go further than prohibiting discrimination and harassment - they put a legal obligation on public bodies to act to reduce inequalities faced by LGBT people in day to day life. But too many public authorities struggle with these duties, whether it’s setting equality outcomes that have a direct positive impact on issues LGBT people face, or gathering information about the sexual orientation of their employees. This guide is here to help you meet your obligations to LGBT people under the Public Sector Equality Duty, and use the duty to create real change. As well as guiding you through writing equality outcomes to tackle the barriers faced by LGBT people, this guide will show you how to find and use data on LGBT people’s experiences. We’ll also share some of the best practice we’ve gathered through working with public authorities all across Scotland, giving you sample templates and equality outcomes to work with. Public authorities affect our lives every day, making them vital partners in our ongoing work for LGBT equality. Stonewall Scotland already works with public authorities all over Scotland, from criminal justice agencies and health boards to colleges and local authorities, helping them to support and include their LGBT staff and service users. All our work is driven by your needs, so please do take us up on our offer of support. Colin Macfarlane Director, Stonewall Scotland A guide for public authorities on meeting the Public Sector Equality Duty 3 CONTENTS CONTENTS Overview - 5 A GUIDE Setting Equality Outcomes - 6 Writing specific outcomes FOR PUBLIC for LGBT people - 6 Using equalities data to AUTHORITIES ON develop outcomes - 8 Data on trans people’s MEETING THE experiences - 13 Measuring your progress - 14 PUBLIC SECTOR Templates - 16 Further resources and EQUALITY DUTY support - 21 4 OVERVIEW OVERVIEW The Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) was introduced as part of the 2010 Equality Act, to help public authorities reduce inequalities faced by LGBT people and other people with protected characteristics. All public authorities, and anyone delivering a public function on their behalf, needs to meet the General Equality Duty. Some listed organisations (such as colleges and hospital boards) also need to meet the Specific Equality Duties, including setting equality outcomes, gathering equalities information from staff and reporting back on how they’re meeting the general equality duty every year. These legal obligations aren’t just an arbitrary set of responsibilities – they’re there to support public bodies to remove the barriers that LGBT people still face. When one in six LGBT people still experience discrimination or poor service from a public service, it’s clear that public bodies can and must do more to ensure that LGBT people are treated fairly. This clear guide is here to show you how you can use these legal duties to create meaningful change for LGBT people, from writing equality outcomes that help dismantle the barriers that LGBT people face, to using equality data and evidence to measure your progress. We’ve also included templates and examples of good practice from throughout the public sector to give you a head start. No matter how small your organisation, or what sector you work in, we hope that this will help you make your services more inclusive and accessible for the LGBT people you work with. A guide for public authorities on meeting the Public Sector Equality Duty 5 SETTING EQUALITY OUTCOMES SETTING EQUALITY OUTCOMES Any listed public body will need to write equality outcomes to help them reduce inequalities within their own organisation and to report back on these every two years. These outcomes are a great opportunity to focus on the specific barriers faced by LGBT people using your service or working within your organisation. But many organisations find LGBT equality outcomes difficult to develop, sometimes because they don’t know enough about the experiences of LGBT people, or how to incorporate these into the rest of their organisation’s strategies and business plan. Here, we look at some of the most common challenges faced in including LGBT equality in writing equality outcomes, and show how you can overcome them. WRITING SPECIFIC OUTCOMES FOR LGBT PEOPLE Often, it can seem more inclusive to mainstream LGBT issues through your equality outcomes, and set broad outcomes that cover multiple protected characteristics. There are some advantages to this approach, in particular recognising that more than one protected characteristic may be affected by a particular issue. Outcomes such as “reduce barriers to learning caused by bullying” or “ensure equal access to primary healthcare”, could apply to multiple characteristics. Additionally, to really remove barriers and achieve equality in workplace culture or service provision, organisations may need to consider many different aspects of a person’s identity. However, often the disadvantage that some people face due to their protected characteristics can be complex, and people from different backgrounds face different barriers. Broad equality outcomes can risk ignoring the specific barriers that LGBT people face. Writing outcomes that specifically relate to the barriers that LGBT people face will help you to tackle these much more effectively. If an equality outcome is appropriate and relevant to multiple characteristics, make sure you plan for different actions or activities to address the different barriers faced by each characteristic (see below for examples), as well as planning specific measurements for how the activity has impacted each of the relevant characteristics. REMEMBER Your equality outcomes are required to cover all protected characteristics, unless you can give a good reason why they shouldn’t be addressed. Equality outcomes should also be proportionate to the size and scope of your organisation. If your organisation is large, such as an NHS health board or a national authority, you should include equality outcomes that specifically address the barriers faced by LGBT people. 6 WRITING SPECIFIC OUTCOMES FOR LGBT PEOPLE GOOD PRACTICE CASE STUDY: NHS 24 STRATEGIC OUTCOME: Mental Health – patients, other service users and carers’ mental health will improve through enhanced access to treatment for mental illness, preventative measures and wellbeing initiatives delivered through new technology and person centred, safe and effective services EQUALITY OUTCOME: LGB&T people’s mental health improves through access to safe, confidential advice and information (see annex A) NHS 24 recognised that different minority groups experienced high levels of mental ill health, and identified a high level strategic outcome around improving mental health services which would benefit all these groups. They also developed specific equality outcomes for each key group targeted through this high level outcome, including one focusing on LGBT people. This approach ensured that the cross- strand issue of mental health is mainstreamed within NHS 24 policy, but allows for targeted work for specific minority groups. This equality outcome helped NHS 24 to specifically focus on improving LGBT people’s mental health. They worked with Stonewall Scotland to further identify the needs and experiences of LGBT people. Staff at Breathing Space, NHS 24’s mental health helpline, received training to allow them to provide an inclusive service to LGBT people accessing the service. Breathing Space also developed promotional materials, such as pop up banners and leaflets to promote the helpline as being inclusive, and encourage LGBT people to use the service. A guide for public authorities on meeting the Public Sector Equality Duty 7 SETTING EQUALITY OUTCOMES USING EQUALITIES DATA TO DEVELOP OUTCOMES It’s important to have evidence and data on LGBT people’s experiences when you’re developing your equality outcomes. A strong evidence base helps you understand the specific barriers faced by LGBT people, and write equality outcomes that help to address them. Whatever your sector, there’s data that you can use to get a greater insight into LGBT people’s lives. NATIONAL LGBT RESEARCH Over the last five years, a great deal of research has been done into the experiences of LGBT people in various public services. National research has highlighted areas of inequality experienced by LGBT people in health and social care, criminal justice, education and local community services, and this data can provide a starting point to develop equality outcomes specifically focused on LGBT people. Health and Social Care Criminal Justice Many LGBT people expect to be discriminated One in six (17 per cent) lesbian, gay and against when accessing health and social care bisexual people in Scotland have been the services. More than one in five would not feel victim of a homophobic hate crime or incident comfortable being open about their gender in the last three years. (Homophobic Hate identity or sexual orientation with health and Crime – Scotland Cornerstone, Stonewall social care staff (Your Services Your Say, Scotland, 2013). Stonewall Scotland 2013). More than a third (36 per cent) of LGBT One in eight (12 per cent) practitioners with direct responsibility for patient care are not people would not feel confident reporting