Promotion of Equality of Opportunity and Progress of Implementation of the Equality Scheme
1 April 2003 – 1 March
2004
Introduction
The Committee’s Equality Scheme, approved in May 2001, states that NILGOSC will review both the action taken during the year to promote equality of opportunity and the progress of the implementation of the Equality Scheme.
After consideration of this review the Committee is committed to publishing an annual statement which will be sent to the Equality Commission and published in the Annual Accounts 2004. The statement will also be made available on the NILGOSC website and to any person or organisation on request.
1.
Equality Scheme
1.1. The Equality Scheme, which was given final approval by the Equality Commission in May 2001, has not been amended during the year.
2.
Strategic Implementation of the S75 Equality Duties
2.1. The NILGOSC Corporate Plan for 2003-2004 included objectives relating to Equality and Community Relations as follows:
Extract from the Corporate Plan 2003-2004 |
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6.4 |
Aim 4: |
To be committed to the need to promote equality of
opportunity, the desirability of promoting good relations and the fulfilment
of its Section 75 obligations. |
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6.4.1 |
Objectives |
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2003/4 |
§ Impact assessment of the policies for the investment of contributions and the procurement of goods and services. § Review of action taken during the year to promote equality and production of annual statement on progress of implementation of the Scheme. |
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2004/05 |
§ Impact Assessment of employee policies. § Review of action taken during the year to promote equality and production of annual statement on progress of implementation of the Scheme. |
2.2. The Committee approved the Corporate Plan in February 2003. The Senior Management Team, on a quarterly basis, has monitored the implementation of these objectives. All of the objectives were progressed during the year as described elsewhere in this annual statement.
2.3. The Committee approved the Annual Equality Statement for 2002-03 in June 2003. This was published on the NILGOSC website and in the Annual Report issued in October 2003.
3.
Screening and Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA)
Timetable
3.1. The timetable for EQIAs is set out in the Equality Scheme as follows:
Year 3 – July 2002 to June 2003 § Impact Assessment of the Policies for the Investment of Contributions and the Procurement of Goods and Services. § Review by Committee of action taken during year to promote equality of opportunity. § Preparation of an Annual Statement on the steps taken to promote equality of opportunity and progress of implementation of the Scheme which will be sent to the Equality Commission and publicised with NILGOSC financial statements. § Review of the extent of existing monitoring arrangements. |
Consultation completed May- 04 with responses currently under review Completed June 2003 Completed June 2003 On-going |
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Year 4 – July 2003 – June 2004 § Impact Assessment of Employee Policies. § Review by Committee of action taken during year to promote equality of opportunity. § Review of the extent of existing monitoring arrangements. § Preparation of an annual statement on the steps taken to promote equality of opportunity and progress of implementation of the Scheme which will be sent to the Equality Commission and publicised with NILGOSC financial statements. |
Draft EQIA commenced Estimated completion date June-04 On-going Estimated completion date June-04 |
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Year 5 – July 2004 to June 2005 § Impact Assessment of New Policies. § Review by Committee of action taken during year to promote equality of opportunity. § Review of the Scheme which will be submitted to the Equality Commission and publicised to our stakeholders. § Review of the extent of existing monitoring arrangements. § Review of the Good Relations Policy. § Preparation of an annual statement on the steps taken to promote equality of opportunity and progress of implementation of the Scheme which will be sent to the Equality Commission and publicised with NILGOSC financial statements. |
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3.2. There were no new policies drafted during the year that require screening for impact assessment.
4.
Training and Communication
4.1. Staff have a rolling 3 year training plan which is reviewed annually. Those who require training in addition to general awareness training will have this incorporated into their plan. The staff conference held in October 2003 was used to update all staff on the equality scheme.
4.2. The NILGOSC commitment to the statutory duties was communicated internally and externally by various means during the year:
Internally staff have been updated with Equality Issues through the in-house newsletter ‘Changing Times’ (this format has recently changed to become a news service published via the Intranet). Staff have also been consulted on the Equality Impact Assessments on the Investment of Contributions and Procurement of Goods and Services.
Externally all members and pensioners have received a summary of the Annual Report and a summary of the Equality Scheme. In October 2002 a communication leaflet was also issued to highlight alternative formats of communication available. The database continues to be updated so that future communications can be tailored to meet individual needs. Public notices and the NILGOSC website also continue to be used as a means of communication.
4.3. The Annual Equality Statement was published in the Annual Accounts and in the Members’ Report which was distributed to all members and pensioners. The Statement was also posted on the NILGOSC website.
5.
Data Collection and Analysis
5.1. NILGOSC does not currently hold statistical information on any of the 9 groups specified in Section 75 of the NI Act in relation to its suppliers or in relation to those organisations who have provided quotations or responded to an Invitation to Tender. Therefore no quantitative data was available for the impact assessment on the Procurement of Goods and Services to show adverse impact on any one group. NILGOSC believed that it could not obtain sufficient and meaningful information to ascertain if adverse impact might exist among the 9 categories, it felt that the information available would, in all probability, relate only to 2 of the 9 groups and that it would not reflect how a supplier carries out its business (ie would not demonstrate if they employed discriminatory practices).
5.2. Similarly NILGOSC does not currently hold information on any of the 9 groups specified in Section 75 of the NI Act in relation to its investments, fund managers, property advisers or investment consultants. Therefore no quantitative data was available in the impact assessment on the Investment of Contributions to show adverse impact on any one group. NILGOSC did not feel it could obtain sufficient and meaningful information to ascertain if adverse impact might exist, as the information would be so diverse.
5.3. Although NILGOSC could not identify any evidence or data to suggest that adverse impact might exist on any one group, it did not feel sufficient data could be obtained. However, a final conclusion or decision will not be reached until all responses from the consultation exercise have been fully considered.
6.
Information Provision and Access to Services
6.1. Any information published by NILGOSC is available, on request, in alternative formats. A communication leaflet was issued to members and pensioners and invited those preferring an alternative form of communication to advise us accordingly. Records for those who have registered such a preference have been updated and future communications have been adapted as appropriate.
6.2. NILGOSC have sourced providers of alternative formats of communication (eg translators) that will be used as required. If required, NILGOSC will ensure that the turnaround time for providing the alternative format falls within the performance standards set for the traditional format.
7.
Complaints
7.1. NILGOSC received one complaint during the year from a Scheme member regarding the provision of death benefits to unmarried couples. The complainant was advised that a formal submission had been made, by NILGOSC, to the Department of the Environment, to highlight that the legislation does not provide the same death benefits to unmarried couples (either different or same sex couples) as married couples, thus meaning that legislation adversely impacts this grouping.
8.
Consultation
8.1. NILGOSC has consulted with its members, pensioners, employing authorities, trade unions, relevant public sector and affected groups and all those directly affected by our policies whether or not they have a direct economic or personal interest on all matters relating to the duties imposed by Section 75 of the Act. This includes the formulation and revision of this Equality Scheme, the assessment of the impact policies, and the screening of the elements within policies.
8.2. NILGOSC ensures that consultation is meaningful, arranged in such a way that it is open, timely and inclusive and commences as early as possible with consideration given to the best method as shown below:
§ Letter and email
§ Meetings with the public, in groups or as individuals
§ Attitude surveys of service users and potential service users
§ Consultative panels
§ Press releases/public notices
§ Internet
§ Direct invitation to groups
8.3. Focus groups and umbrella groups (such as Disability Action and NIPSA) continue to be used for the purposes of consultation.
9.
Impacts and Outcomes
9.1. Existing policies changed
§ No policies have been changed during the year.
9.2. New policies
§ No new policies have been introduced during year.
9.3. Proposed
§
NILGOSC will conduct a
survey to provide an analysis of the composition of a representative sample of
members as only a limited amount of equality information of members is
currently held. A previous survey
carried out provided NILGOSC with a breakdown of the workforce of employers by
the 9 categories specified in the Act, the results of both surveys will be
compared to identify if there is potential for an employer to not make
membership of the scheme available to its entire staff.
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NILGOSC will also undertake
a feasibility study on the use of a lo-call telephone charging system. Such a system would ensure that there would
not be any adverse monetary impact on callers from outside of the Belfast area.
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The impact assessment on the Procurement of Goods and
Services highlighted that there may be a need to update the Purchasing Policy
to include a requirement for the completion of a Fair Employment
Declaration. Use of this declaration
would ensure that NILGOSC do not deal with an ‘unqualified person’ (as defined
by the Fair Employment and Treatment (NI) Order 1988, Sections 62 (1), 64-66)
and will ensure such a person does not benefit from the procurement of goods
and services with NILGOSC. As a result
of the impact assessment on the Investment of Contributions a similar
requirement may also need to be incorporated to the process used to select Fund
Managers.
NILGOSC will not make a final
decision until all the responses from the consultation exercises have been
fully considered.
The Committee’s Equality Scheme states that the
Committee will review both the action taken during the year to promote equality
of opportunity and the progress of the implementation of the Equality Scheme.
The Committee re-affirms its commitment to the
fulfillment of its duties under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 in
that it will have due regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity –
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Between persons of
different religious belief, political opinion, racial group, age, martial
status or sexual orientation;
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Between men and women
generally;
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Between persons with a
disability and persons without;
and
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Between persons with
dependants and persons without.
In addition, without prejudice to its obligations
above, NILGOSC shall, in carrying out its functions, have regard to the
desirability of promoting good relations between persons of different religious
belief, political opinion or racial group.
NILGOSC has demonstrated its commitment to the
promotion of equality of opportunity during 2003-2004 by its support from the
most senior levels of the organisation.
The NILGOSC Corporate Plan for 2003- 2004 included
objectives relating to Equality and Community Relations. The Committee approved the Plan in February
2003 and the Senior Management Team, on a quarterly basis, has monitored the
implementation of objectives.
The Equality Scheme was approved by the Equality
Commission and published in May 2001.
Progress on the implementation of the scheme since then is detailed
below:
1.
NILGOSC published its
annual statements for the years 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 in the Annual Reports
and Financial Statements in October 2002 and 2003. The statements were also reproduced in the Members’ Report,
summaries of the Annual Report, and have been distributed to all
members and pensioners (over 70,000 copies).
The annual statements were also made available on the NILGOSC website.
2.
The Good Relations Working
Group drafted a Community Relations policy.
This was issued to all staff at a staff conference in April 2002. The policy was screened for impact assessment
in June 2002 and approved by the Committee in October 2002.
3.
The impact assessment of
the Administration of the Local Government Pension Scheme and the Premature
Retirement Scheme was completed in June 2002 and published in October
2002. As a result of this assessment:
§
A communication leaflet was
sent to all Scheme members and pensioners.
This leaflet outlined the various means of communication in use and
highlighted alternative formats available.
It invited those preferring an alternative means of communication to
advise accordingly in order that future communications could be tailored to
meet those needs.
§
In September 2002 NILGOSC
undertook research with a focus group of pensioners and members to ascertain if
they would be willing to provide information relating to the 9 affected groups
as specified in the Northern Ireland Act.
Those consulted were happy to provide such information (provided it
remained anonymous) in general with the exception of political opinion and
sexual orientation. NILGOSC intend to
complete an analysis of the composition of a representative sample of Scheme
members the results of which will be used to identify if there is potential for
an employer to not make membership of the Scheme available to its entire staff.
§
NILGOSC will also undertake
a feasibility study on the use of a lo-call telephone charging system. Such a system would ensure that there would
not be any adverse monetary impact on callers from outside the Belfast area.
4.
The impact assessments on
the Investment of Contributions and Procurement of Goods and Services were
issued for consultation in March 2004.
A number of responses have been received and the points raised are
currently under consideration. Where considered
appropriate the impact assessments will be amended in light of these comments
prior to the publication of the final versions.
5.
Specific training for those
managers responsible for the implementation of Equality Scheme has been
undertaken as well as those staff who are members of the Customer Care
Group. The remaining staff have
attended a major conference on Equality and continue to receive training and
updates on equality issues through the annual staff conference. Awareness training is provided for new
members through the induction procedure.
6.
NILGOSC received one complaint
regarding equality issues in the 2003-2004 period. This was in connection with the provision of death benefits to
unmarried couples. The current pension
legislation does not provide the same death benefits to unmarried couples
(either different or same sex couples) as married couples thus meaning the
legislation adversely impacts this grouping.
NILGOSC has made a formal submission to the Department of the
Environment regarding this issue.
7.
NILGOSC did not receive any
requests for information in alternative formats in the 2003-2004 period.