EQUALITIES

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

Aims and priorities

We have now reached the end of our Single Equality Scheme which set out the Board's approach to meeting the public sector equality duties.  These covered race, gender and disability between 2008 and 2011 and compliance with all equalities legislation using good practice as an employer and service provider.

The third and final annual report on this scheme has now been 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)
  

The public sector equality duty came into force on 5 April 2011. The specific duties set by Scottish Ministers and supporting regulations will be finalised in 2012. We will be prioritising our equalities work to ensure our equality strategy and approach is in line with any new specific duties. We are currently working to identify the Board's new equality outcomes in anticipation of what will be expected of us. We will report on our plans to deliver these outcomes in December 2012.

Disability involvement project

The Justice Disability Steering Group (JDSG) is made up of representatives from the Scottish Legal Aid Board, Law Society of Scotland, Scottish Government, the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, the Scottish Court Service, and the Scottish Prison Service.

The primary aim of the JDSG are

• to develop ways in which disabled people can get involved in the improvement of access to services across the justice system in Scotland
• to draw on disabled people's skills and experience to improve the Scottish justice sector for all.

The JDSG recognises that, whilst much of the system is delivered fairly and in an accessible way, some physical, attitudinal and procedural barriers do exist and more needs to be done to promote equal access and opportunities.

The JDSG is committed to improving effectiveness and efficiency across the justice sector. This collaboration will offer a wider perspective and enable the JDSG members to identify what changes are required in each specific organisation.

The JDSG has held a number of involvement programmes 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 their website at http://www.capability-scotland.org.uk/what-is-capability-doing-for-me-now/campaigns/jdsg/.

The intention of this involvement work was also to build a network of advisors by identifying individual disabled people who have an interest in contributing to a longer-term involvement strategy. Following this work, the JDSG has identified key themes to take forward that cover the main issues people told us were important to them.
These include:

• what justice partners are doing to better communicate with disabled people
• how we are working to help disabled people ‘knowing their rights’
• how we are working to ensure offices and buildings are physically accessible.

We will continue to update our progress through this website.

Annual Equality Scheme Report

The equality duties require us to report on our equality progress every two years.  The Single Equality Scheme reports our progress against all strands up to November 2011.  Previous progress reports are published below and our annual reports can be found above.  

• Disability Equality Scheme Report 2006 – 2007 (pdf format) (word format)
• Gender Equality Scheme Report 2007- 2008 (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.  Our recent research and consultations include:

• Disability Equality Research 2006. (pdf format)
• Gender Equality Research 2007. (pdf format)

• Race Equality Research 2008. (pdf format)

 Equality Impact Assessment

We ensure that our policies and procedures meet the requirements of the public sector equality duties through an impact assessment process.  Our Equality Impact Assessment Toolkit has been developed for use by our managers and is based on best practice within the public sector.  You can view our toolkit and guidance below.

• Equality Impact Assessment Guidance  (pdf format) (word format)
• Equality Impact Assessment Toolkit - Full EQIA Form (pdf format) (word format)

                                                                   - Initial Form (pdf format) (word format)

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:

Louise Baggott

Corporate Policy Officer (Equalities)

Direct dial: 0131 240 1981

E-mail: baggottlo@slab.org.uk