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CHAPTER 8 - CROSS GOVERNMENT COMMITMENT TO DELIVERING THE GENERAL DUTY
Background
8.1 The 'general duty' lies at the heart of the disability equality duty. The purpose of the 'specific duties' is to help fulfil the general duty. It is against the general duty's 6 requirements that progress needs to be considered.
8.2 Coming into effect on 5 December 2006, the general duty covers all public authorities, with a few limited exceptions. It applies to all their functions, including employment, service delivery, procurement and setting the framework within which the organisation will deliver services.
8.3 The general duty for disability states that public authorities must have due regard, when carrying out our functions, to the need to:
1. - eliminate discrimination that is unlawful under the Act;
2. - eliminate harassment of disabled persons that is related to their disability;
3. - promote equality of opportunity between disabled persons and other persons;
4. - take steps to take account of disabled persons' disabilities, even where that involves treating disabled people more favourably than other persons;
5. - promote positive attitudes towards disabled persons;
6. - encourage participation by disabled persons in public life.
Meeting the General Duty to Promote Disability Equality in our Policy Making - a Cross-Government Commitment
8.4 To ensure consistent delivery of the general duty across all Scottish Government directorates and agencies, the following action will be taken:
Actions | Relevance to the general duty (parts 1-6) |
|---|
Equality Impact Assessment We will build EQIA into business planning, ensuring that EQIA is carried out on all new policies. | 1-6 |
We will consider whether existing or established policies should be prioritised for EQIA. | 1-6 |
We will use the results of EQIA to influence policy development | 1-6 |
Staff Training We will ensure that staff have appropriate disability equality training. | 1-6 |
Use of Images We will ensure that where appropriate at least 1 in 5 of the images used in our publications reflects disability. | 5 |
Increased Participation We will ensure that where appropriate we will advertise membership of groups, committees or advisory bodies through disability organisations. | 6 |
We will ensure that the events which we organise are accessible for disabled people. | 6 |
Gathering information We will ensure that we take opportunities to improve our understanding of the nature and extent of issues facing disabled people by gathering relevant data and information. This will include our consultations, data collection and our monitoring and evaluation systems. We will use the information we gather to inform the development and delivery of our policies. | 1-3 |
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