Devon County Council is committed to eliminating discrimination, providing equality of opportunity, and challenging prejudice in order to advance the achievement of equality and foster good relations between diverse groups in Devon.
Equality brings quality for everyone and the creation of a fairer society where everyone can participate and achieve their potential.
Equality is about valuing a person ‘as an equal’ and treating people according to their needs and characteristics to achieve an equal or fair outcome – it’s not necessarily about treating everyone the same.
An equal society values human diversity, recognising that diversity brings a range of skills, knowledge, values, styles, perspectives and ideas that secure Devon’s future as a place where people want to live, work and prosper, and challenges the inequalities that destroy this diversity in our society and organisations.
Our commitment to driving improvement is underpinned by the Equality Act 2010. Under section 149 of the Act – the Public Sector Equality Duty, public bodies like the Council need to have ‘due regard’ in everything they do to:
- Eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by the Act.
- Advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.
- Foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.
Our goal is to ensure that this commitment is embedded in our day to day working practices, in everything we do including when working in partnership.
We will ensure that services are provided in a way that embraces diversity and promotes fairness and access. As an employer, we will enhance and value diversity within our workforce through inclusive practice.
We will provide equality of opportunity in all that we do and assess the impact of our proposals and decisions on diverse communities.
We will not tolerate discrimination and harassment on the grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex and sexual orientation or socio-economic standing.
Our Equality Policy sets out what we expect of our staff in order to meet this commitment.