Equality and diversity

A range of mechanisms are in place to measure and improve our performance on equality and diversity issues.

• Equality Act 2010
• Equality Framework for the Fire and Rescue Services
• Monitoring
• Equality Analysis

Equality Act 2010

The Equality Act 2010 which applies to individuals, public authorities and private organisations, replaced a raft of equality legislation.  In addition, the Act contains a new Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) and (Specific Duties) Regulations 2011.  Therefore, LFEPA will –

• Publish information to demonstrate its compliance with the PSED by 31 January 2011 and after that, annually, information relating to persons who share a relevant protected characteristic who are its employees or otherwise affected by its policies and practices.
• Prepare and publish by 6 April 2012 and at least every four years after that, one or more specific and measurable equality objectives to further the aims of the PSED. 

Equality Framework for the Fire and Rescue Services

The Equality Framework for the Fire and Rescue Service was launched in the Autumn of 2009, and replaced the Equality Standard for Local Government (ESLG).  The Framework has three levels of achievement – ‘Developing’, ‘Achieving’ and ‘Excellent’, and from 1 January 2010, LFEPA has been working in the ‘Excellent’ level of the Framework.  As LFEPA is no longer required to produce discrete equality schemes, we will continue to measure our progress on equality and diversity issues and will self-assess against this Framework.

Monitoring

Monitoring our workforce can help us measure the success and progress to be made in offering real equality of opportunity to all our employees.  The profile is published annually.

• Workforce profile for 2010-11 (see related docs)
• For previous years or more detailed data, contact: equality@london-fire.gov.uk

Equality Analysis (EA)

EAs help us improve the services we provide for Londoners and the working lives of our staff.  They allow us to assess the impact of our policies or services, helping us to eliminate or mitigate any adverse effects these may have on our employees or the communities we serve.  In accordance with the Equality Act 2010, LFEPA considers the potential impact of its policies and services, with regard to each of the protected characteristics, and carries out proportionate equality analyses.  

For further information on specific analyses, please contact: equality@london-fire.gov.uk.

Related documents

Workforce profile for 2009-2010 ( PDF, 214.5KB)

Diversity Policy ( PDF, 68.1KB)