2010 Equality Act – Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED)

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.

All other Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) information and publications can be accessed from the ICB’s (EDI) Main Page or by clicking here