Race and faith based equality
How race, religion and belief are affected by the Equality Act 2010.
Race discrimination
Under the new act "race" now becomes a protected characteristic.
It covers colour, nationality and ethnic or national origin.
Prohibited behaviour includes direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, and discrimination by association, discrimination by perception, harassment and victimisation.
Segregating people because of race is a form of direct discrimination.
The duty to promote race equality, introduced by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, will be replaced from April 2011 with the new wider public duty covering most of the protected characteristics.
Under the Equality Act 2010, we will no longer be required to review its policies and services for their impact on race equality every three years and produce a Race Equality Scheme. Our current Race Equality Scheme expires at the end of 2010.
We have established a number of relationships to help us to engage with ethnic minority communities across Derbyshire, and with our Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) employees.
For more information about our work in relation to race equality please contact John Cowings, Senior Policy Officer, Equalities by telephoning 01629 538384.
For more information about the BME Forum please contact Mick Evans, Research Analyst by telephoning 01629 539325.
For more information on the our BME Workers Group please contact Tanya Causebrook, Senior Human Resources Consultant by telephoning 01629 536934.
Religion and belief, including non-belief
Under the Equality Act 2010 religion and the lack of a religion, and a religious or philosophical belief constitutes a protected characteristic.
In the case of a philosophical belief, it must be:
genuinely held
a belief and not just an opinion
have a weighty or substantial impact on human life and behaviour
be cohesive, serious and important
and worthy of respect in a democratic society, not incompatible with human dignity or conflict with the fundamental human rights of others.
From April 2011 we will be under a duty as a public body to promote religion and belief equality as one of the relevant protected characteristics.
We engage with faith based organisations in a number of ways, including in relation to education and schooling.
For more information about faith equality and inclusion in schools please contact Steve Ford in the Education Inclusion Service by telephoning 01629 532766, who provides support to our Special Advisory Committee on Religious Education.
Related documents
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