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Colleagues For any HEI considering publishing a 'race equality scheme' as opposed to a 'race equality policy', the advice from the Commission for Racial Equality below will be of interest. The original question to the CRE is also included below. Regards Tony O'Shea Policy Officer for Equality and Diversity The Open University Tel. 01908 858073 Email. [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: info info [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: 12 October 2006 10:10 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: re: Race Equality Policy Dear Tony Thank you for your e-mail to the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE). I would like to apologise for the delay in responding to you. The CRE would recommend that your race equality policy be called a race equality policy and not a race equality scheme or be known as a race equality policy within a race equality scheme. This is because a race equality policy and a race equality scheme are two different things and for an educational institution to call their race equality policy a scheme would be confusing. As well as the general statutory duty to promote race equality, certain public authorities in England, Wales and Scotland are also bound by specific duties. One of these specific duties requires these bodies to prepare and publish a race equality scheme (public authorities), or a race equality policy (schools and institutions of further and higher education). The purpose of this is to explain how they will meet both their general and specific duties under section 71(1) of the Race Relations Act. A race equality scheme essentially packages the specific duties into a coherent strategy and action plan. It should cover all relevant functions and policies, bringing them within a single framework. A scheme must make clear how a public authority plans to meet both its general and specific duties. It is a public document and public authorities will be answerable to the public for delivering the programme set out in the scheme. Ideally a scheme should summarise the public authority's overall approach to racial equality and how this links to its corporate aims and objectives. A race equality policy should set out how you intend to prevent racial discrimination, promote equality of opportunity, and promote good race relations across all areas of your activity. The policy should be part of the planning arrangements you already make. It is a public document and further and higher education institutions will be answerable to the public for delivering the programme set out in the policy. The race equality policy essentially packages the specific duties into a coherent strategy and action plan. It should cover all relevant functions and policies, bringing them within a single framework. The policy must make clear how a further and higher education institutions intend to meet both its general and specific duties. Ideally a policy should summarise the institution's approach to racial equality and how this links to its corporate aims and objectives. The policy should be a written statement of responsibilities and commitments on how you intend to prevent racial discrimination, promote equality of opportunity, and promote good race relations across all areas of activity. The policy should be part of the planning arrangements you already make. I trust that the above information is of some assistance to you. kind regards Naila Noori Information and Assistance Officer >>> "A.F.OShea" <[log in to unmask]> 04/10/2006 10:56 >>> Dear madam/sir I would be grateful for some guidance on the following point. As you are no doubt aware, public authorities are currently creating disability equality schemes and gender equality schemes. We are also at this time reviewing and rewriting our current race equality policy. As a higher education institution, the statutory code says that we should create a 'race equality policy', however for consistency and to improve communication, we are considering calling our next version of the race equality policy, a 'race equality scheme'. Do you foresee any difficulty in us referring to the policy as a scheme? An alternative option is that we create a scheme with a policy contained within it. I would appreciate your view on this matter. Thank you Tony O'Shea Policy Officer for Equality and Diversity The Open University Tel. 01908 858073 Email. [log in to unmask]