The general duty 

 

The general duty applies to all public authorities listed in Schedule 1A of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000.

There are approximately 43,000 public authorities bound by this duty and it is obligatory for all those authorities to ensure they are meeting the general duty.  The authorities include:

  • all ministers and central government departments
  • local authorities, regional development agencies and enterprise networks
  • police authorities and police forces
  • strategic health authorities, health boards, NHS trusts and primary care trusts
  • governing bodies of maintained schools, colleges and universities
  • the Housing Corporation, Scottish Homes, housing action trusts
  • professional bodies
  • regulatory, audit and inspection bodies
  • libraries, museums and galleries
  • non-departmental public bodies

The general duty, as set out in section 71(1) of the Act requires a listed public authority, ‘in carrying out its functions, have due regard to the need to:

  • eliminate unlawful discrimination
  • promote equality of opportunity and good relations between persons of different racial groups.

Authorities are expected to consider the implications for racial equality for everything they do, from allocating council housing, to closing or opening a hospital or a school, or managing prisons.

The aim of the duty is to make the promotion of racial equality central to the work of the listed public authorities. The general duty also expects public authorities to take the lead in promoting equality of opportunity and good race relations, and preventing unlawful discrimination.  In practice, this means that listed public authorities must take account of racial equality in the day to day work of policy-making, service delivery, employment practice and other functions.

For public authorities listed in the original Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 the general duty came into effect on 2 April 2001, along with a series of other amendments to the Act. For those authorities added to the Schedule 1A on 24 October 2001, the general duty came into effect on 3 December 2001.

On this page

 

How to meet the general duty

The statutory code of practice describes four principles should govern public authorities’ efforts to meet their duty to promote race equality:

a. Promoting race equality is obligatory for all public authorities listed in schedule 1A to the Act.

b. Public authorities must meet the duty to promote race equality in all relevant functions.

c. The weight given to race equality should be proportionate to its relevance.

d. The elements of the duty are complementary (which means that they are all necessary to meet the whole duty).

But what does this mean in practice? Public authorities might find this a useful “rule of thumb” - the weight which they attach to racial equality should be in proportion to its relevance to a particular function. In a local authority, for instance, attainment levels in schools are going to be much more relevant than, say, highway maintenance.

Since public authorities must meet all three parts of the duty — eliminating unlawful discrimination, and promoting equal opportunities and promoting good race relations — they must make sure they know how all their policies and services affect race equality. For example, a new recruitment policy may help to promote equal opportunities, but if it is badly introduced, it may actually damage race relations.


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Steps to take to meet the general duty

For those public authorities that are only subject to the general duty, the statutory Code of Practice sets out four steps for public authorities to consider in order to meet the general duty:

  • Identify which of their functions and policies are relevant to the duty, or in other words, affect most people
  • Put the functions and policies in order of priority, based on how relevant they are to race equality.
  • Assess whether the way these ‘relevant’ functions and policies are being carried out meets the three parts of the duty.
  • Consider whether any changes need to be made to meet the duty, and make those changes.

Further advice can be found in the Commission statutory code of practice on the duty, and the supporting publication 'A Guide for Public Authorities'. You can find this guidance in the section race equality duty documents and by scrolling to 'General guidance' and 'Codes of practice'.

The specific duties provide a framework for the better performance of the general duty. Key public authorities are legally bound by these specific duties and therefore have to follow the requirements prescribed.  However those authorities that are only bound by the general duty (and/or the general duty and employment duty) can choose to adopt the specific duties as a means to helping them meet the general duty.


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