The Assembly Commission acts in accordance with Equality legislation, which includes the public sector equality duties for disability, gender and race. This Equality Scheme aims to meet the requirements set out under the duties. The Assembly Commission extends this approach to age, religion/belief and sexual orientation and has included these strands in the Scheme.
The National Assembly for Wales (the legislature) however, is exempt from these duties but nonetheless strives to ensure that it operates with a best practice approach to equality and human rights. This Scheme anticipates the introduction of a Single Equality Bill and subsequent Act by the UK Government.
Public Sector Equality Duties
The requirements for each of the disability, gender and race equality duties are listed below.
Disability Equality Duty
Our organisation has to pay due regard to the following requirements of the disability equality duty:
Eliminate unlawful discrimination
Eliminate harassment of disabled people that is related to their disabilities
Promote equality of opportunity between disabled people and others
Take steps to take account of disabled people’s disabilities even where that involves treating them more favourably than others
Promote positive attitudes towards disabled people
Encourage participation by disabled people in public life
Gender Equality Duty
Our organisation has to pay due regard to the following requirements of the gender equality duty:
Eliminate unlawful sex discrimination (also on the basis of gender reassignment)
Eliminate unlawful harassment (also on the basis of gender reassignment)
Promote equality of opportunity between men and women
Race Equality Duty
Our organisation has to pay due regard to the following requirements of the race equality duty:
Eliminate unlawful discrimination
Promote equality of opportunity
Promote good relations between people of different racial groups
The Human Rights Act 1998
Section 6(1) of the Human Rights Act makes it unlawful for a public authority to act in a way that contravenes rights protected by the European Convention on Human Rights. Public authorities are under a duty to ensure that they act or refrain from acting in a manner that protects individuals or private bodies from a violation of their rights. Respect for human rights principles is embedded throughout this Equality Scheme. The Assembly Commission ensures that human rights principles underpin our work and ethos by, for example, factoring them into our equality impact assessment process and our staff training/awareness raising programme.
The Government of Wales Act 2006
The Government of Wales Act 2006 requires the Assembly Commission to make appropriate arrangements to ensure that its functions are exercised with due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people. The Act also requires Assembly proceedings to be conducted with due regard to the principle of equality of opportunity for all people.
The Welsh Language Act 1993
The Assembly Commission operates as a bilingual organisation and has a separate Welsh Language Scheme and Action Plan which covers the National Assembly for Wales, made in accordance with section 21 of the Welsh Language Act 1993. Given these arrangements, the Equality Scheme and Action Plan do not relate to the Welsh Language Scheme which has specific monitoring and reporting arrangements which differ from our Equality Scheme. The Government of Wales Act 2006 also states that there should be equality of opportunity between the Welsh and English Languages in the Assembly. This is met through our ambitions and objectives as set out in our Welsh Language Scheme and Action Plan.
The Corporate Unit also oversees the implementation and monitoring arrangements of the Welsh Language Scheme and Action Plan, which are also factored into corporate planning arrangements.
