Advance HE has published two reports today about equality reporting on tertiary education in Scotland. The reports are:
- Reporting on equality: Assessment of colleges’ performance of the Scottish-specific equality duties requirement in 2017
- Reporting on equality: Assessment of higher education institutions’ performance of the Scottish-specific equality duties requirement in 2017
Both reports focus on how colleges and higher education institutions (HEIs) respectively have met the specific reporting duties required of them by the Equality Act 2010.
The following areas are assessed in both reports:
- Duty to report progress on mainstreaming the equality duty
- Use of member information
- Duty to publish equality outcomes
- Duty to publish a report on the progress of equality outcomes
- Duty to gather employee information
- Duty to publish gender pay gap information
- Duty to publish statements on equal pay
- Duty to publish in a manner that is accessible.
The specific duties aim to help colleges and HEIs meet the general duties of the Equality Act. The general duties are ‘to have due regard’ of the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination and other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010; advance equality of opportunity between people from different groups; and foster good relations between people from different protected characteristic groups, tackling prejudice and promoting understanding.
David Bass, Advance HE Associate Director, Membership (Scotland, Wales, Ireland) said,
These are important reports in the continuing efforts to promote equality, diversity and inclusion across tertiary education in Scotland. There are many very positive examples of good practice in both assessments, as well as pointers in how colleges and higher education institutions can sustain their efforts to continuously improve performance.”
The specific and general duties required of all public authorities, which includes colleges and HEIs, are summarised in both of the Reporting on Equality 2017 reports.