SECTION 75
About Section 75
Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 (the Act) places a statutory duty on public authorities, such as NIFRS, to mainstream equality in all its functions. The Act provides that each public body is required, in carrying out its functions relating to Northern Ireland, to have due regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity between:-
- persons of different religious belief, political opinion, racial group, age, marital status and sexual orientation;
- between men and women generally;
- persons with a disability and persons without; and
- persons with dependants and persons without
Without prejudice to these obligations each public body in carrying out its functions relating to Northern Ireland must also have regard to the desirability of promoting Good Relations between persons of different religious belief, political opinion or racial group.
About Our Equality Scheme
Schedule 9 of the Act requires that all public authorities who are designated under the Act must set out in an Equality Scheme how it proposes to fulfil the duties imposed by Section 75 of the Act. These Schemes are approved by the Equailty Commission for Northern Ireland. An Equality Scheme sets out the arrangements for
- assessing its compliance with the duties under Section 75;
- assessing and consulting on the likely impact of policies on the promotion of equality of opportunity;
- monitoring any adverse impact of policies on the promotion of equality of opportunity;
- publishing the results of such assessments;
- training staff;
- ensuring and assessing public access to information and services provided by the public body.
Our Equality Scheme was approved by the Equality Commission on 14 August 2001. In accordance with Schedule 9 of the Act we have set out in an Equality Scheme how we propose to fulfill the Statutory Duties. A copy of our Equality Scheme can be downloaded from clicking this link - Equality Scheme
To find out more about the meaning of some equality-related terminology please click here -
Equality Jargon Buster
Section 75 Annual Progress Reports to the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland
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