Equalities

The Board is committed to the promotion of equality and to tackling discrimination of any form, including age, disability, gender, race, religion or belief and sexual orientation

Our equality aims and priorities

Equality and diversity matter to us. In our mainstreaming report we outline the wide range of work we have done to ensure that we comply with the general and specific equality duties. This is in relation to both our staff and our service users. This report also describes our HR data, and how we have analysed this in relation to equal pay.

Our new equality outcomes are based on the evidence we have collected and on feedback from our staff and various representative bodies. We believe they will challenge us positively in the right areas, and with continued planning we believe they are achievable and will make a real difference. The outcomes are:

• People, irrespective of their equality characteristics, have equal access to appropriate information that helps them in accessing legal assistance in a timely manner

• People who apply for legal assistance are aware of why we collect equalities information and can conveniently disclose this information

• Our diverse workforce is aware and understands equalities and diversity and the impact of this is helping us manage and deliver our business

• Those who deliver legal assistance are aware and understand equalities and diversity and the impact on the accessibility of legal assistance

More information on how we identified these outcomes, and on how we plan to work towards these outcomes, can be found in the mainstreaming report:

• Equality Mainstreaming and Equality Outcomes April 2013 - Report (pdf format) (Word format)

• Annexe 1 - Workforce data 2011-12 (pdf format)

• Annexe 2 - Equal pay - Average and mean (pdf format)

Previous equality schemes published:

• Single Equality Scheme 2008 – 2011 (pdf format)  (Word format)

• Single Equality Scheme: annual report 2009 (pdf format) (Word format)

• Single Equality Scheme: annual report 2010 (pdf format)  (Word format)

• Single Equality Scheme: annual report 2011 (pdf format)  (Word format)

   

Consulting with our stakeholders

We are committed to involving and consulting with our stakeholders in our equality work. We have used interviews and focus groups to inform our equality schemes. We also regularly collect equality information in our more general research and national surveys. See our research pages for the research we have done to engage with our stakeholders. Recent equality research and consultations include:

• Disability Equality Research 2006. (pdf format)
• Gender Equality Research 2007. (pdf format)
• Race Equality Research 2008. (pdf format) 
• Disability involvement project 2009/2010. We worked with other partners across the justice sector  to commission number of involvement events with disabled people. This aimed to identify the factors that created barriers for disabled people who are using the justice system and to discuss how to improve disabled people's experiences of and access to the justice system. The work was managed by Capability Scotland and full details, including the final report, can be found on its website. 

Have your say

We are keen to hear your views about our approach to equality; the priorities we have identified and how you think our policies or functions impact on equality. Please contact us to provide feedback or let us know if you wish to be further involved in the Board's equality work.

Equalities contact:

Clare Duffy

Assistant Manager: Research and Policy

Direct dial: 0131 240 1888

E-mail: duffycl@slab.org.uk