Last Friday, 6 September, the Government Equalities Office (GEO) published its report on the recent review of the Public Sector Equality Duty.

The Public Sector Equality Duty is set out in section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 and says that public bodies must have due regard to the need to: eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation; advance equality of opportunity; and foster good relations between people who have, and those who do not have, any of the ‘protected characteristics’. The ‘protected characteristics’ identified in the Equality Act are: age, gender, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, disability, ethnicity (the Act uses the term ‘race’), marriage & civil partnership (in connection with eliminating discrimination), pregnancy & maternity and religion or belief. The Public Sector Equality Duty came into force almost two-and-a-half years ago, on 5 April 2011.

In May 2012 the Home Office had called for a review of the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), as part of the Red Tape Challenge spotlight on equalities, which seeks ways for the aims of existing regulation to be fulfilled in the least burdensome way possible. In spring 2013 a call for evidence was announced, to which CSIE responded .

There appeared to be no official announcement of the report’s publication and some of those who saw it were quick to criticise the review as “ unnecessary and wasteful” and the report as “ an extremely amateurish, ignorant and inadequate piece of work”.

CSIE is alarmed at the ease with which equality seems to be brushed aside in the name of speed and efficiency, and at any suggestion that the rights of people at the margins of society could ever be considered burdensome or bureaucratic.

We stand by our claim that the PSED is not fully understood or implemented in schools and welcome the report’s recommendation that “the EHRC should produce shorter, more bespoke guidance clearly setting out what is necessary for compliance.”

Schools’ low awareness of the requirements of the Equality Act were also reported earlier this year by the Children’s Commissioner for England in a report on school exclusions. Yet the government has not taken action to monitor and improve the situation.

The report concludes that “it is too early to make a final judgement about the impact of the PSED and evidence, particularly in relation to associated costs and benefits, is inconclusive.” Nonetheless, we stand by our original assertion: the benefits of eliminating discrimination, advancing equality of opportunity and fostering good relations should outweigh financial costs in the process, by far.