Equality and diversity at the Council

We are committed at the Isle of Wight Council to ensuring we are an accessible and inclusive organisation that welcomes and respects the diversity of all who live and work on the island, its employees, elected members, and visitors to the Isle of Wight.

Following the introduction of The Equality Act (2010) the council is now required to undertake specific duties:

1)    It has to publish information to show compliance with the equality duty, at least annually; and

2)    set and publish equality objectives, at least once every four year.

The Public Sector Equality Duty (Section 149 of the act) came into force on 5 April 2011, and the Equality Duty applies to public bodies and others carrying out public functions.  The duty has three aims.  It requires public bodies to have due regard to the need to:

• eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the act
• advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not
• foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not

This duty enables the support of good decision making by ensuring that all public bodies consider how people in the community will be affected by their activities.  This means that the Isle of Wight Council must consider the needs of people before changing, introducing or ending a particular policy, strategy or service.

To find out more on the specific duties of local government, please see the "Public sector: quick start guide to the specific duties". 

The Isle of Wight Council is committed to meeting the requirements of The Equality Act 2010 as prescribed by law.  As such we expect that businesses who provide services to and on behalf of the Council through our standard tender processes have due regard to:

• eliminating unlawful discrimination
• advancing equality of opportunity
• fostering good relations when exercising our functions

All bidders wishing to provide goods and services to and on behalf of the Council are required to satisfy the Isle of Wight Council that they meet a minimum requirement in respect of Equality and Diversity practice as set out in the commissioning documents.