Background
On April 2 2001 the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 came
into force, this Act extends the scope of the 1976 Race Relations
Act to include all functions of all public authorities. In
addition, the 2000 Act places a positive, enforceable General Duty
on most major public authorities, including Royal Colleges to 'have
due regard in carrying out their functions to':
- eliminate unlawful racial discrimination;
- promote equality of opportunity; and
- promote good relations between persons of different racial
groups
Some listed authorities must also comply with specific duties
that set out the arrangements for meeting the requirements of the
General Duty. These authorities, which do not include the Royal
College, are required to prepare and publish a race equality scheme
that identifies those public functions, policies and procedures
that are relevant to the General Duty and to then set out the
arrangements for:
- the assessment and
consultation on the impact of these functions and policies
on the promotion of race equality;
- monitoring the
functions and policies for any adverse impact on the
promotion of race equality;
- publishing the
results of: assessments; consultations and monitoring for
any adverse impact on the promotion of race equality;
- ensuring Black and
minority ethnic groups have access to information and to
services provided by the College; and
- training staff
on issues relevant to the duty to promote race equality.
Those authorities listed for the specific duties must publish
their scheme by 31st May 2002. The Commission for Racial Equality
have issued guidance for public authorities on meeting the General
Duty in England and Wales and for 'non-devolved' public authorities
in Scotland. This guidance, which is a statutory code of practice,
states that a Race Equality Scheme is 'a set of minimum standards
to meet the General Duty'.
Although the Royal College is not listed in the Act as having
specific duties it regards having a Race Equality Scheme as good
practice in meeting the General Duty and therefore intends to
utilise the same framework in setting out its own assessment and
action plan.
What the College has done so far
The Royal College has a long-standing commitment to addressing
race equality having first established a special committee to
review the issues in 1987. The most recent assessment of College
functions and policies resulted in Council report CR92 'Report of
the Ethnic Issues Project Group' (February 2001) which made the
following ten recommendations:
- The College should undertake a systematic review of its
structures to determine whether or not there is evidence of
institutional racism
- The review should specifically include scrutiny of the
College's role in the appointment procedures for psychiatrists,
including the short-listing procedure
- The College should not tolerate any racially discriminatory
behaviour from its members
- Dialogue should continue with all relevant user groups,
including Black user groups
- All psychiatrists should be trained to be culturally sensitive
in their interactions with people and culturally competent in their
therapies
- Particular effort should be made to meet the training
expectations of psychiatrists on the Overseas Doctors' Training
Scheme in the UK and Ireland
- Members of the College should be made aware of the possibility
of discrimination or abuse when applying mental health legislation
to Black and other ethnic minorities
- Psychiatrists should work with their employing authorities to
ensure equal access and appropriate services for all in the local
community
- Epidemiological studies should include Black and other ethnic
minorities in a community study
- An Ethnic Issues Committee should be established
The College has already enacted the first and last of these i.e.
establishment of an Ethnic Issues Committee and commissioning an
external audit of College structures. As one of its first
activities, the Ethnic Issues Committee has reviewed and updated
the recommendations in CR92. The external audit of the College is
nearing completion of its first year and findings from this and the
review work undertaken by the committee have informed the
development of this Race Equality Scheme.
Next steps - developing the race equality scheme
The CRE statutory code states:
"Public authorities must list, in their Race Equality
Scheme, the functions and policies (including their proposed
policies) that are relevant to their performance of the general
duty to promote race equality". (4.8 page 22)
In determining which functions and policies are relevant the
College should address two questions:
- Whether there is already evidence that the function or policy
is affecting some racial groups differently; and
- Whether there is any public concern that the function or policy
in question is causing discrimination.
The College has taken the recommendations in CR92 as the
starting point for developing its Race Equality Scheme, as it both
provides the most recent evidence and raises the issues that have
caused most public concern. The adapted recommendations have then
been subject to assessment and action planning using the framework
of the specific duties as follows:
- Assessment of impact on racial equality
- Access to information and
services
- Training and education for staff, members and trainees
- Arrangements for
Consultation
- Arrangements for Monitoring and publishing the results
The College has endorsed this scheme at the highest level of the
organisation and included within it a public statement of intent
regarding its commitment to race equality and the key
recommendations that it intends to prioritise in the coming
year.