Agenda Reports Pack (Public) 15/10/2012, 19.00 - Meetings ...

7.2 The report incorporates and illustrates risks presented by theadoption of the four housing strategy documents and implementingtheir objectives and specific actions. These will be managed inaccordance with the council’s project management approach.8. EQUALITY IMPLICATIONS8.1 The Council’s statutory duty under the Equality Act 2010 applies to thehousing strategy documents which are the subject of this report. Theprotected characteristics to which the Public Sector Equality Duty(“PSED”) applies now include age as well as the characteristicscovered by the previous equalities legislation applicable to publicbodies (i.e. disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civilpartnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, sexual orientation, religionor belief and sex).8.2 The PSED is set out in section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 (“the Act”)provides (so far as relevant) as follows:(1) A public authority must, in the exercise of its functions, have dueregard to the need to:(a) eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any otherconduct that is prohibited by or under this Act;(b) advance equality of opportunity between persons who share arelevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it;(c) foster good relations between persons who share a relevantprotected characteristic and persons who do not share it.(3) Having due regard to the need to advance equality of opportunitybetween persons who share a relevant protected characteristic andpersons who do not share it involves having due regard, in particular, tothe need to (a) remove or minimise disadvantages suffered by personswho share a relevant protected characteristic that are connected to thatcharacteristic;(b) take steps to meet the needs of persons who share a relevantprotected characteristic that are different from the needs of personswho do not share it;(c) encourage persons who share a relevant protected characteristic toparticipate in public life or in any other activity in which participation bysuch persons is disproportionately low.8.3 Case law has established the following principles relevant tocompliance with the PSED which Council will need to consider:(i) Compliance with the general equality duties is a matter of substancenot form.(ii) The duty to have "due regard" to the various identified "needs" inthe relevant sections does not impose a duty to achieve results. It is aduty to have "due regard" to the "need" to achieve the identified goals.Page 354