Race Equality Scheme
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.