The duty
The Fairer Scotland Duty, set out in Part 1 of the Equality Act 2010, came into force in Scotland from 1 April 2018.
It places a legal responsibility on some public bodies in Scotland, including RoS, to actively consider (‘pay due regard’ to) how they can reduce inequalities of outcome caused by socio-economic disadvantage, when making strategic decisions.
To fulfil their legal obligations under the Duty, we must actively consider how we could reduce inequalities of outcome in any strategic decision we make.
Socio-economic disadvantage can be described as:
- Low/no wealth
- Low income
- Area deprivation
- Socio-economic background
- Material deprivation
Publication
RoS incorporate the impact assessment required to meet the duty into our Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA), and we publish all completed EqIAs. LINK
The Scottish Government provides further information on how the Fairer Scotland Duty applies to public bodies.