Subordinate Legislation

Transcription

1 Subordinate Legislation Published 15th February 2016 SP Paper 913 2nd Report, 2016 (Session 4) Web

2 Published in Scotland by the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. All documents are available on the Scottish Parliament website at: For information on the Scottish Parliament contact Public Information on: Telephone: Textphone: Parliamentary copyright. Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body The Scottish Parliament copyright policy can be found on the website

3 Subordinate Legislation, 2nd Report, 2016 (Session 4) Contents Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations Introduction 1 Board diversity new regulation 6A 1 Publishing gender pay gap and equal pay statements regulations 7, 8 and new Regulation 8A 2 Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee consideration 2 Equal Opportunities Committee consideration 2

4 Subordinate Legislation, 2nd Report, 2016 (Session 4) Equal Opportunities Committee 1. The remit of the Equal Opportunities Committee is to consider and report on matters relating to equal opportunities and upon the observance of equal opportunities within the Parliament. 2. In these Rules, equal opportunities includes the prevention, elimination or regulation of discrimination between persons on grounds of sex or marital status, on racial grounds or on grounds of disability, age, sexual orientation, language or social origin or of other personal attributes, including beliefs or opinions such as religious beliefs or political opinions. (Standing Orders of the Scottish Parliament, Rule 6.9) scottish.parliament.uk/equalopps Follow the Equal Opportunities

5 Subordinate Legislation, 2nd Report, 2016 (Session 4) Committee Membership Convener Margaret McCulloch Scottish Labour Deputy Convener Sandra White Scottish National Party Christian Allard Scottish National Party John Finnie Independent Annabel Goldie Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party John Mason Scottish National Party Drew Smith Scottish Labour

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7 Subordinate Legislation, 2nd Report, 2016 (Session 4) Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2016 Introduction 1. At its meeting on 11 February 2016, the Equal Opportunities Committee formally considered the following instrument Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2016 [draft] The instrument was laid before the Scottish Parliament on 15 January 2016 and is subject to affirmative procedure. It was referred to the Equal Opportunities Committee as lead committee as it relates to the Equality Act Board diversity new regulation 6A 3. The instrument inserts a new regulation (6A) into the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 ( the 2012 regulations ). This provides for Scottish Ministers to gather information, in accordance with data protection legislation, on the diversity of the boards of listed public authorities. The data will be broken down by relevant protected characteristic The information will be issued to the relevant authority which will be required to use it to better perform the equality duty. As part of this requirement, in publishing its mainstreaming report (as required under the 2012 regulations), the authority must include details of: the gender composition of its board. How the information provided by Ministers has been, and will be, used to facilitate succession planning which will increase the board s diversity. 5. The policy note 3 accompanying the instrument explains that the publication of board succession plans will allow for: Greater transparency of the work underway to improve Scotland s board diversity, creating an opportunity to share good practice and also providing a method of tracking progress amongst this cohort of public authorities, thus increasing the accountability of a large number of Scotland s public authorities 6. The Scottish Government intends to aggregate the data it gathers into Scotlandwide figures which will include more detailed information, relating to all protected characteristics. It also intends to publish the data nationally. 1

8 Subordinate Legislation, 2nd Report, 2016 (Session 4) Publishing gender pay gap and equal pay statements regulations 7, 8 and new Regulation 8A 7. Under the current legislation, listed public authorities with 150 or more employees are required to publish gender pay gap information and statements on equal pay, including occupational segregation. 8. The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2016 [draft] amend the 2012 regulations to lower the threshold so that the duty to publish this information applies to listed authorities with 20 or more employees. 9. The policy note accompanying the instrument states that lowering the threshold will increase the transparency across the public sector and promote the gathering and use of relevant information by a wider range of organisations. Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee consideration 10. The Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee considered this instrument at its meeting on 26 January 2016 and agreed that it did not need to draw the attention of the Parliament to it under any of the grounds within its remit. Equal Opportunities Committee consideration 11. The Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Communities and Pensioners Rights and accompanying Scottish Government officials, gave evidence on the instrument at the Equal Opportunities Committee meeting on 11 February The Cabinet Secretary moved the motion lodged in his name S4M That the Equal Opportunities Committee recommends that the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2016 [draft] be approved. 13. The motion was agreed to. 1 Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2016 [draft] available here: 2 Relevant characteristics as set out in the Equalities Act 2010 are: age; disability; gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; and sexual orientation. 3 Draft policy note available here: 2

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