Equality

All public bodies as part of the statutory requirements of The Equality Act 2010 are required to have due regard to:

• Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimization and other conduct prohibited by the Act.
• Advance equality of opportunity between people from different groups*
• Foster good relations between people from different groups*

*there are currently 8 groups with protected characteristics, these are: age, disability, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment and pregnancy and maternity.

NHS FASP has developed a Single Equality Scheme, which includes our equality objectives and the action plan to deliver them, following a consultation by the National Screening Committee. The Single Equality Scheme was available online for consultation from 30th January to 9th March 2012. All comments received during the consultation period were reviewed and the final edition is available above. 

Equality Objectives

1. Meet the requirements set out for public bodies in the Equality Act 2010.
2. Assess the information needs of women relating to Down's syndrome and Fetal Anomaly screening biennially.
3. Provide information on Down's syndrome and Fetal Anomaly screening in appropriate formats for all pregnant women.
4. Ensure that the offer of, and access to, the recommended strategies for Down's syndrome and Fetal Anomaly screening are assessed annually.
5. Ensure that all pregnant women can access screening and diagnostic services as recommended by the current national policy.
6. Maximise the accuracy of the Down's syndrome and Fetal Anomaly screening programmes for all pregnant women.
7. Ensure that the results of screening and diagnostic tests are communicated appropriately to all pregnant women.
8. Develop a data collection system that will provide robust and routine information to support the equality objectives.

Timescales

The general duties of The Equality Act 2010 came into force on 5th April 2011.

Equality Analyses

NHS FASP will conduct equality analyses on policies as they come under review. An equality analysis measures the policy against a set of questions to establish any potential negative and positive impacts on groups with protected characteristics.

Completed equality analyses are available to download below