NITHC Draft Equality Scheme

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Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company Equality Scheme

Drawn up in accordance with Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and approved by the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland on 14 September 2005.

Summary

Download full text of Equality Scheme >> (Adobe PDF document 183.79kb)

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1. Section 75 duties

Under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, NITHCo is required to draw up an Equality Scheme setting out how equality of opportunity will be promoted through the implementation of all functions, including those undertaken by subsidiary companies. The Equality Scheme was approved by the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland on 14 September 2005.

Section 75 imposes a duty to promote equality of opportunity between people in 9 categories and to have regard to the desirability of promoting good relations between people of different religious beliefs, political opinion or racial group.

The 9 categories of people are –

those with different religious beliefs, political opinion, racial group, age, marital status and sexual orientation
men and women generally
people with a disability and those without
people with dependants and those without.

NITHCo and Translink are committed to the fulfilment of the Section 75 duties in all our areas of responsibility. Our Equality Scheme sets out a series of principles and an action plan to implement the new tasks identified. This document summarises the Equality Scheme and sets out what we intend to do to implement it. The full text of the Equality Scheme can be accessed on the website translink.co.uk Download full text of Equality Scheme >>

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2. Consultation

Our commitment to full and meaningful consultation lies at the heart of our Equality Scheme. We recognise the importance of consultation on all matters relating to our Section 75 duties and we will apply best practice guidelines when carrying out consultation. In particular, we will try our best to make all consultations timely, open and inclusive.

We will consult as widely as possible and include any organisation or group which has a particular interest in our work. We will apply the following principles when consulting –

we will begin as early as possible
we will aim to allow 12 weeks for all consultations, where possible
we will work with groups representing people in the Section 75 categories to identify the best ways to consult
we will use different methods of consultation for different groups according to their needs – methods might include face to face meetings, surveys, consultative panels and Internet discussions
we will make the language in our consultation documents as clear as possible
we will give extra consideration to the needs of young people and people with learning disabilities
we will provide sufficient information so that those we consult can consider the full implications of our proposals
we will take steps to make sure there is full participation at any consultation meetings – this will include careful consideration of, among other things, the time of day, the suitability of the venue, how the meeting is run and child care arrangements.

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3. Impact of policies

The Equality Scheme sets out how we will assess the impact of our policies on the promotion of equality of opportunity. We will consider the impact of all our current policies through a process called “screening”. We will look at each policy in terms of whether there is –

higher or lower participation or uptake (by the different groups within the 9 categories)
different needs, experiences, issues and priorities in different groups
indications (in earlier consultation) that particular policies create problems for particular groups
any opportunity to better promote equality of opportunity or good relations.

If a policy is likely to create any of these situations then we will consider conducting an “equality impact assessment”. This is a thorough review of a policy, including consultation with everyone affected by it, which can result in suggestions for change.

We will consult on the results of the screening during 2005/06 and complete the process by the end of March 2006.

In future whenever we are developing a new policy – or revising an existing one – we will screen the policy at as early a stage as possible and consult on the results of the screening. If necessary, we will carry out equality impact assessments on these policies before any decision is made and take the results into account when making decisions.

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4. Monitoring

By April 2006 we will put in place a system to monitor the impact of our policies on the different groups of people in Section 75. Some of the information we will need to collect is personal and so we will act sensitively at all times.

If the monitoring shows that a policy is having more negative impact on equality of opportunity than we thought, we will revise the policy to reduce or remove the negative impacts. If the monitoring shows that there are new opportunities to promote equality of opportunity, we will revise the policy to take advantage of them.

We will review the monitoring results every year and publish our findings.

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5. Access to information

We will publish the results of the screening of any policy, the results of any equality impact assessments and what we find out through the monitoring process. The Equality Scheme contains a list of groups which we will inform but we will also make information available to the general public. We will do this by issuing press releases, obtaining media coverage and publishing information on our website.

We will make sure that all this information is fully accessible by:

publishing everything in a timely manner
making the language as clear as possible
making documents available, on request, in alternative formats such as Braille, disk and audio cassette
making documents available, on request, in minority languages for those who may have difficulties with information provided only in English
giving extra consideration to the needs of young people and people with learning disabilities.

During 2006 we will review our arrangements for providing information to make sure that they are effective, taking account of best practice guidelines.

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6. Staff training

We intend to include targets relating to our Section 75 duties in our operational plans, as appropriate, and report progress in our annual report. We will build a commitment to equality of opportunity and good relations into all job descriptions and include implementation of Section 75 duties in the personal performance plans of all staff who are directly involved in implementing them.

All staff will be made aware of the Equality Scheme and the duties imposed by Section 75 and we will make sure that all new staff are made aware as part of their induction. We have drawn up a training programme for staff who will be involved in screening, equality impact assessments, consultation, monitoring and dealing with complaints. We will evaluate the effectiveness of the training programme on a regular basis.

All staff will have access to the full version of the Equality Scheme and will receive a copy of this summary version.

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7. Review

We will review progress on implementing our Equality Scheme every year and report to the Equality Commission. We will also undertake a comprehensive review of this Scheme within five years (or sooner if appropriate) of its submission to the Equality Commission.

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