The Equality Act’s Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) applies to Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Board (ICB) and other public bodies who carry out public functions. It supports good decision-making by ensuring public bodies consider how different people will be affected by their activities, helping them to deliver policies and services which are efficient and effective; accessible to all; and which meet different people’s needs.

The PSED requires the ICB to have due regard (consideration) to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations for people with a protected characteristic when developing its policies, services or when carrying out day to day functions and activities.

The protected characteristics covered by the Equality Act’s PSED are: Age, Disability, Gender Reassignment, Marriage and Civil Partnership (but only in respect of eliminating unlawful discrimination), Pregnancy and Maternity, Race – this includes ethnic or national origins, colour or nationality, Religion or Belief – this includes lack of belief, Sex and Sexual orientation.

Specific Duties

The PSED is supported by specific duties, which require public bodies to publish relevant, proportionate information demonstrating their compliance with the PSED; and to set themselves specific, measurable equality objectives. Publishing relevant equality information will make public bodies transparent about their decision-making processes, and accountable to their service users. It will give the public the information they need to hold public bodies to account for their performance on equality.

The specific duties require public bodies to:

• publish information to show their compliance with the Equality Duty, at least annually; and
• set and publish equality objectives, at least every four years.

The information published must include:

• information relating to employees who share protected characteristics (for public bodies with 150 or more employees); and
• information relating to people who are affected by the ICB policies and practices who share protected characteristics (for example, service users).

The PSED Report provides information on the ICB’s annual activity in relation to Equality Diversity and Inclusion. The ICB developed the 2022-2025 equality objectives based on the NHS Equality Delivery System Framework.

The 2022 – 2023 PSED Annual Report is currently in draft, subject to approval. Once approved the final report will then be published on the ICB’s dedicated equality webpage in April 2023.

This report is produced to meet legal publishing requirements and also to help to identify key areas for consideration and discussion for the ICBs Staff Network and Engagement Groups, Ambassadors and Champions, Decision Making Bodies and Committees and Trade Unions.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a renewed focus, creating a great deal of positive action across the NHS to support staff. It recognised that our leaders need to continue to ensure that all staff are at the centre stage of all decision-making and that deep-rooted problems with inequality and discrimination in our workplaces are addressed.

Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care System (ICS)

At a system level the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB will actively lead, support and contribute to the significant progress towards delivering workforce equality with their NHS partners to make the local area a better place to work including a movement towards an ‘one workforce’ approach as set out in the ICS Design Framework – where the greatest impact can be had by affecting change across the whole local workforce.

Integrated Care Systems can widen participation in health and care for local communities, including in areas of greater deprivation, for excluded groups and for people not in education, employment, or training. They can also make the most of the skills and talent across the whole local area, by creating employment, volunteering, and apprenticeship opportunities. This can not only help develop a broader talent pipeline, but also have a positive direct impact on communities’, families’, and individuals’ lives.           

For more information, visit our publications.

Workforce Diversity Profile Report 2022

As both local leaders in commissioning health care services and as employers, the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICB provides a statement, reviewed annually in respect of the ICBs commitment to, and efforts in, preventing slavery and human trafficking practices in the supply chain and employment practices. NHS England have also produced a video (watch below) to explain Modern Slavery and its relevance and impact on healthcare.

Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent ICS Modern Day Slavery Statement 2023-24

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• NHS Accessible Information Standard
• NHS Accessible Information Standard – Easy Read

1. Commissioned or provided services.
2. Workforce health and well-being
3. Inclusive leadership

• ensure that your decisions impact in a fair way: where there is evidence that particular groups will be negatively affected by a decision, reasonable actions should be taken to address this.
• make your decisions based on evidence: EIRAs provides a clear and structured way to collect, assess and put forward relevant evidence.
• make decision-making more transparent: a process which involves those affected by the service, policy or function and which is based on evidence is much more open and transparent. This is more likely to engender trust in decision-makers and in your decisions.
• provide a platform for partnership working EIRA offers an opportunity for organisations to work in partnership to consider the impact on members of their shared communities and how they might best collaborate and co-ordinate financial decisions.

• Improve equality of access to health services and health outcomes for the diverse population we serve.
• Build and maintain a diverse, culturally competent ICB workforce, supported by an inclusive leadership team.
• Create and maintain an environment where dignity, understanding and mutual respect, free from prejudice and discrimination, is experienced by all and where patients and staff feel able to challenge discrimination and unacceptable behaviour.