Under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 the Policing Board is required, in carrying out its functions, 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 or sexual orientation;
- men and women generally
- persons with a disability and persons without
- persons with dependants and persons without
Without prejudice to these obligations, the Policing Board is also required, in carrying out its functions, to have regard to the desirability of promoting good relations between persons of different religious belief, political opinion or racial group.
In line with the legislation the Policing Board has produced an Equality Scheme which states how it proposes to fulfil the duties and this was approved by the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland on 12 February 2003. If you want more information on the Equality Scheme go to the equality catergory in the publications section.
The legislation also requires the Policing Board to:
- consult as an integral part of the policy making process - consultation must be both meaningful and inclusive;
- conduct Equality Impact Assessments, the results of which must be published;
- report annually to the Equality Commission on the progress made towards implementing the Section 75 duties - Annual Progress Reports:
