Background
In 2001, the Race Relations Act was amended to give public
authorities which includes the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (the
Trust) a new statutory duty to promote race equality. The aim is to
help public authorities to provide fair and accessible services,
and to improve equal opportunities in employment.
The legislation was necessary to ensure that we all receive the
best from our public services. Previously many public bodies were
failing to address the problems of racial discrimination and
inequality; this was highlighted by the inquiry into the murder of
Stephen Lawrence. The way in which public bodies carry out their
functions can vary based on the size of the authority, its
geographical location and local demography but all public bodies
need to take account of race equality.
Under the Race Relations Act, it is unlawful to discriminate
against anyone on grounds of race, colour, nationality (including
citizenship), or ethnic or national origin. All racial groups are
protected from discrimination.
The general duty
The general duty requires the Trust to:
- eliminate unlawful racial discrimination;
- promote equality of opportunity between persons of different
racial groups, and;
- promote good relations between persons of different racial
groups
In addition to the general duty, trusts must also comply with
specific race equality duties. Among these are three publication
duties which require Trusts to publish:
Employment duties
Under the specific
duties on employment the Trust has to monitor by racial
group:
Numbers of staff in post and applicants for employment training and
employment, training and promotion
As the Trust has more than 150 full-time staff, we also monitor the
number of staff from each racial group who:
- receive training
- benefit or suffer detriment as a result of its performance
assessment procedures
- are involved in grievance procedures
- are the subject of disciplinary procedures
- leave our employment
The Trust is required to publish the results of this monitoring
annually and will use the above monitoring information to:
- see if there are differences in the way racial groups are
treated
- investigate the underlying reasons for the differences
- deal with any unfairness, disadvantage or possible
discrimination.
Our ethnic monitoring information is shown below:
Monitoring Employment
and Study Leave Information
The Royal Wolverhampton NHS
Trust Staff by Staff Group and Ethnicity
The results of race equality impact assessments.
Click here to view register.
Sources of additional information and support
Race Equality in Procurement for the NHS: http://www.mosaic.nhs.uk
The Department of Health: www.doh.gov.uk click on A to Z site
index, then click on E and scroll down to Equality and Diversity
and Equality and Human rights
Commission for Race Equality: www.cre.gov.uk
commission for Equality and Human Rights: www.cehr.org.uk