Equality and Diversity Policy

Transcription

1 RCCG/GB/14/176i Equality and Diversity Policy Version No Author Date Comments Approved by V1.0 Becky Jones APPROVED Quality and Risk Committee 1

2 Reader Information Reference Title ED001 Equality & Diversity Policy Document purpose To set out and confirm the CCGs commitment to promoting equal opportunities and to recognise and value peoples differences Version V1.0 Owner Head of Governance Approval Date 2 October 2014 Approving Committee Quality and Risk Committee Review Date September 2015 Groups/Employees Consulted Target audience Circulation list Associated Documents GEM HR Procurement All Rushcliffe CCG Employees All Rushcliffe CCG Employees Equality Delivery Scheme (draft), Bullying and Harassment Policy, Grievance Policy, Disciplinary Policy, Recruitment and Selection Policy and Your Attendance Matters and Absence Procedure, Management of Unsatisfactory Work Performance Policy Superseded Documents Equality and Diversity Strategy Equality Implications An EIA has been carried out and no implications have been identified Sponsoring Director Chief Officer 2

3 Table of Contents 1. Policy Statement Purpose Scope of Policy Introduction Corporate responsibilities NHS England Area Team Lay Members Chief Officer Head of Governance and Integration CCG line managers and employees Patient and Public Involvement Recruitment, Promotion, Transfers, Redeployment and Ending Employment Workforce Profiling and Monitoring Training Procurement Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) Equality Delivery System (EDS2) Associated Policies Outcome Monitoring and Audit of Policy Review... 8 Appendix 1 Definitions... 9 Protected characteristics... 9 Direct Discrimination... 9 Indirect discrimination... 9 Associative discrimination... 9 Discrimination by perception... 9 Harassment... 9 Victimisation

4 1. Policy Statement 1.1 Rushcliffe Clinical Commissioning Group (the CCG) is committed to the equality and diversity agenda as defined by the protected characteristics of age, disability, gender, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnerships, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion/belief and sexual orientation. 1.2 Our Clinical Objectives are to: Commission to improve the health of the whole population of Rushcliffe CG with better quality of care and outcomes for all patients, in line with three priority areas: - Supporting people to manage on-going conditions - Improving mental health and wellbeing - Promoting prevention, early intervention and supporting people to make healthy lifestyle choices Improve the quality of health services in relation to health inequalities, health outcomes, patient safety, access and patient experience. 1.3 We believe this vision will only be achieved through promoting a culture that is based on the principles set out in this document. 2. Purpose 2.1 All public sector bodies have a statutory duty to comply with the Equality Act 2010 (particularly the Public Sector Equality Duty in section 149), ensuring that in commissioning, service provision and workplaces, equality of opportunity and fair treatment for all are provided. 2.2 This Policy sets out how the CCG will meet these statutory duties which it views as crucial to the success of the CCG as a developing and dynamic organisation. It will achieve this by: ensuring all Governing Body members, employees, volunteers, patients, understand their own responsibilities for working towards an equal and diverse community ensuring the CCG s commitment to equality and diversity is strongly visible to all who engage with the CCG at all levels; and outlining the framework for promoting the equality and diversity agenda within the CCG 3. Scope of Policy This Equality and Diversity Policy applies to all employees of the CCG in all locations including temporary and contracted. 4

5 4. Introduction 4.1 NHS Rushcliffe CCG (the CCG) is committed to promoting and valuing diversity in all its roles as community champion, healthcare commissioner and employer. 4.2 It is important to understand the key differences between equality and diversity. Equality without diversity is treating everyone the same, which leads to confusion and political correctness without common sense. Diversity without equality on the other hand, would result in the survival of the privileged to the exclusion of others. Neither can be truly effective without the other. 4.3 Diversity occurs naturally. We all differ as human beings and therefore we all have unique requirements, abilities and motivations. We all have different identities within the social groups in which we are classified. For example: male, female (gender), black, white (race), English, Asian, African, Caribbean (nationality). The key is to embrace these differences whilst maintaining our core values and moral principles to enable our vision to be achieved. 4.4 Equality and diversity principles apply to everyone. It is therefore a paramount need to ensure that we have an equal, diverse and fairly treated workforce that understands the needs of the patients. 4.5 Every individual is affected by moral issues, such as dignity and privacy; by practical concerns, such as accessibility or capability; or both. It is crucial that any situation is assessed correctly in order to succeed in the aim of having a competent and confident workforce that delivers effective, appropriate and accessible services to the community. 4.6 The Equality Act 2010 has replaced and superseded all previous equalities legislation. This Policy reflects the requirements of this Act. 5. Roles and Responsibilities 5.1 Corporate responsibilities The CCG Governing Body has overall corporate responsibility for ensuring that the CCG complies with its legal and ethical obligations with regard to equality and diversity in its dealings with employees, patients and the public and other stakeholders. The Quality and Risk Committee is responsible for overseeing the CCGs compliance with legal and ethical obligations with regard to equality and diversity, including the NHS Equality Delivery System (EDS2). This Committee is responsible for providing assurance to the CCG Governing Body in this regard. 5.2 NHS England Area Team The Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Area Team of NHS England will monitor the compliance of Rushcliffe CCG with legislative requirements and established good practice with regard to equality and diversity on an ongoing basis and as part of their formal annual assessment of CCG performance. 5

6 5.3 Lay Members These members are responsible for ensuring there is sufficient scrutiny of the CCG s assurance mechanisms for compliance with the Equality Act 2010, EDS2 and associated good practice. The Lay Vice-Chair is the Governing Body Equality and Diversity Lead. 5.4 Chief Officer This senior post-holder acts as the executive lead for equality and diversity for the CCG. 5.5 Head of Governance and Integration This post-holder is the day-to-day operational and strategic lead for equality and diversity within Rushcliffe CCG. 5.7 CCG line managers and employees All line managers and employees who are involved in the development of policies, commissioning business cases and service redesign initiatives are responsible for ensuring that Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) are conducted at relevant stages in any policy or decision making process. Managers are also responsible for ensuring that any allegations of discriminatory behaviour or practices are correctly investigated and appropriate action taken. This may involve the use of the CCG s Bullying and Harassment Policy, Grievance Policy, Disciplinary Policy and Management of Unsatisfactory Work Performance Policy. 6. Patient and Public Involvement The CCG recognises its responsibilities to providing healthcare and related services which are equally accessible and appropriate to everyone within the community it serves. This will be done by engaging with the community. However, there are always going to be groups within the communities that are seldom heard for a wide variety of reasons. The Patient and Public Involvement Strategy clearly states the CCG s approach to patient engagement and should be referred to for more information on these reasons and how the CCG will be working towards ensuring they are addressed. 7. Recruitment, Promotion, Transfers, Redeployment and Ending Employment 7.1 The CCG will ensure that all job vacancies and associated adverts are nondiscriminatory and positively promote equality and diversity. In addition, where appropriate, job advertisements will include a statement to encourage applications from under-represented groups in a particular area of work. 7.2 Selection panels have been established for all procedures relating to employee recruitment and retention, promotion, transfer and redeployment and they will ensure all such decisions are fair and consistent. All unsuccessful applicants will be entitled to feedback. Please refer to the Recruitment and Selection Policy for further details. 8. Workforce Profiling and Monitoring The CCG is committed to ensuring an equal and diverse workforce and in order to do this monitoring of both our patients and employees is carried out. This is done through collecting equality data from job applicants, existing employees and leavers, in order to 6

7 build up a picture of how representative the workforce is and which areas need more work to attract people to apply to come to work for the CCG. The results can then be measured the results of this monitoring to ensure that the CCG does indeed reflect the community that it serves. 9. Training 9.1 The CCG is committed to providing equality of access to training and career development to all employees. 9.2 The CCG is committed to providing training for all employees across the whole equality and diversity agenda. In taking this approach, the CCG is able to deliver to its employees a fully rounded understanding of equality and diversity and how it is relevant to their specific role and what behaviours are expected from them particularly when dealing with sensitive issues. 10. Procurement 10.1 The CCG will seek to procure and access the supply of goods and services from a diverse business community and ensure that there is an equality of opportunity in any tendering process Wherever possible, prospective contractors will be provided with a copy of this Policy as a part of the tender process and where practicable, will be expected to comply with it should they be awarded the tender. 11. Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) 11.1 All public organisations must, in the excise of their legislative duties, have due regard to the need to: Eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation or any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010 in relation to the protected characteristics; Advance equality of opportunity between all persons; and Foster good relations between all groups of people sharing a protected characteristic and those that do not Under the specific duties of the PSED, CCGs are required to produce, in a manner that is acceptable to the public: Information to demonstrate its compliance with the PSED at least annually. This information must include, in particular, information relating to people who share a protected characteristic who are: - Its employees (where there are over 150 employees) 1 - People affected by its policies and procedures 2 Equality objectives at least every four years, which are specific and measurable. 1 Please note that as there are less than 150 employees at Rushcliffe CCG the organisation is not required to produce this information. However, the CCG does carry out monitoring of employees and is committed to delivering a fair and diverse workforce 2 This is why we need to carry out data collection and monitoring processes 7

8 12. Equality Delivery System (EDS2) 12.1 The original EDS was initiated by the Equality and Diversity Council, chaired by Sir David Nicholson, the former NHS England Chief Executive. The purpose of the EDS was to drive up equality performance and embed equality into mainstream NHS business The EDS covers the nine protected characteristics and has four goals: Better health outcomes for all; Improved patient access and experience; Empowered engaged and well supported staff; and Inclusive leadership at all levels Due to NHS England s commitment to an inclusive NHS that is fair and accessible to all 3, the EDS was reviewed and as a result, EDS2 was launched in November The EDS2 continues to focus on the things that matter the most for patients, communities and employees, emphasising genuine engagement, transparency and the effective use of evidence. The CCG will use EDS2 to ensure it delivers on the NHS Outcomes Framework the NHS Constitution and the CCG Assurance Framework. 13. Associated Policies This Policy should be considered alongside the Equality Delivery Scheme and Action Plan and relevant HR Policies, including but not limited to, Bullying and Harassment Policy, Grievance Policy, Disciplinary Policy, Recruitment and Selection Policy and Your Attendance Matters and Absence Procedures. 14. Outcome Equality means providing the same opportunities to all. Diversity means accepting differences. By harnessing differences between people the CCG can drive forward excellence and creativity in performance. Organisations that embrace variety; reject prejudice and understand and accommodate changing work patterns will be the organisations which reap the reward of a happy, fulfilled and motivated workforce with diverse skills. NHS Rushcliffe CCG is committed to delivering this outcome. 15. Monitoring and Audit of Policy This policy will be monitored for compliance and effectiveness at regular intervals by the Equality and Diversity Forum, a Sub-group of the Quality and Risk Committee. Monitoring will be carried out through the progression of the EDS2 action plan which is the working document that ensures the commitments in this Policy are successfully completed. 16. Review The Equality and Diversity Policy will be reviewed on an annual basis from the date of approval by the Equality Forum and approved by the Quality and Risk Committee. 3 Sir David Nicholson, NHS England, 4 November

9 Appendix 1 Definitions Protected characteristics These are the characteristics which are afforded explicit protection from discrimination under the Equality Act The characteristics are: Age Disability Gender Gender Reassignment Marriage and Civil Partnership Pregnancy and Maternity Race Religion and Belief Sexual Orientation Direct Discrimination This occurs when a person is treated less favourably from others in the same circumstances on the grounds of age, disability (physical, mental and sensory), gender, marital status, membership or non-membership of a trade union, race, religion, domestic circumstances, sexual orientation, ethnic or national origin, social and employment status, HIV status or gender re-assignment Indirect discrimination This occurs when an apparently neutral provision, criterion or practice would put persons of a particular group at a particular disadvantage compared with other persons. This is unless it can be shown that the provision, criterion or practice is a proportionate means to achieving a legitimate aim Associative discrimination This means someone cannot be directly discriminated against because they are associated with another person who possesses a protected characteristic. For example, employment cannot be refused because someone has to care for an elderly relative or a disabled child. Managing absence, flexible working, harassment and bullying and other appropriate procedures and policies should be reviewed to ensure that this concept is adequately and accurately reflected. Discrimination by perception This means someone cannot be directly discriminated against because others think that they possess a particular protected characteristic, even if the person does not actually possess that characteristic. For example, refusing to recruit a person purely because they are thought not to look old enough to possess the skills to do the job. Harassment This is unwanted conduct related to a relevant protected characteristic, which has the purpose or effect of violating an individual s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that individual. Subjecting someone to harassment can amount to discrimination and could potentially be considered to be gross misconduct. Victimisation This can be described as treating someone less favourably than one would treat others because the individual concerned has, for example, made a complaint of discrimination and/or having been accused of harassment and/or given evidence about such complaint. Subjecting someone to victimisation is potentially gross misconduct. 9