The Race Relations Act 1976 as amended by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 makes it unlawful to discriminate against anyone on grounds of race, colour, nationality (including citizenship), or ethnic or national origin. This Act places a general duty on public bodies to promote race equality. This means that public authorities must pay 'due regard to the need':
- to eliminate unlawful racial discrimination
- to promote equality of opportunity and good relations between persons of different racial groups
- in practice, this means that public authorities must ensure that the duty is central to the way they carry out their functions
There are also specific duties that many public authorities must adhere to which include: preparing and publishing a race equality scheme, identifying functions and policies relevant to meeting the general duty, assessing and consulting on the impact of policies on race equality and publishing the results, ensuring public access to information and services, training staff on the duties and fulfilling the employment duties. The specific duty on employment applies to most of the public authorities bound by the general duty. These duties include: collecting ethnic monitoring data and publishing the results of the monitoring each year.
In addition to adhering to race specific legislation, local authorities, as part of their community leadership role are required to undertake high quality engagement with all local communities. They have an obligation to understand and act on the needs of the communities they serve, to promote equality and tackle inequalities. The Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 places a new duty on best value authorities to involve local people in decisions. The new assessment framework, CAA will look at the delivery of outcomes paying particular attention to how well people whose circumstances make them vulnerable are engaged with their local services.
The Council and its partners therefore need to review their approach to race equality to ensure they are helping to deliver improved outcomes for BME citizens. Knowing Your Communities Toolkit
Which groups does the race tool refer to?
We use the term black and minority ethnic (BME) communities inclusively to include both visible and non visible minority groups. Examples of these groups includes black African, black Caribbean, Asian, Irish, people from Eastern Europe, refugees, asylum seekers, migrant workers, gypsies and travellers. Organisations using this tool will need consider the local context and the population within it to determine which are their minority ethnic communities.
The aim of race equality legislation is to ensure that all members of the public have equal access to services, employment and procurement opportunities irrespective of their race or ethnicity and that they do not experience discrimination. The legislation also aims to ensure that public authorities promote good race relations.