Equality and diversity policy

Read our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy.

Under the Public Sector Equality duty, as an NDPB we also work to:

• eliminate unlawful discrimination
• advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who don’t
• foster or encourage good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who don’t.

In our activities, we’re required to have ‘due regard’ for the need to:

• remove or minimise disadvantages suffered by persons who share a relevant protected characteristic that are connected to that characteristic
• take steps to meet the needs of persons who share a relevant protected characteristic that are different from the needs of persons who do not share it
• encourage persons who share a relevant protected characteristic to participate in public life or in any other activity in which participation by such persons is disproportionately low
• tackle prejudice
• promote understanding

Northern Ireland is subject to a separate legal regime, known as the Section 75 duty. It requires public authorities to promote equality of opportunity between persons of different religious belief, political opinion, racial group, age, marital status or sexual orientation, men and women generally, persons with a disability and persons without and persons with dependants and persons without. It is also a requirement to submit an Equality Scheme to the NI Equality Commission.

We’re committed to advancing equity across our working environment. The Armed Forces Covenant, our needs- and evidence-led approach to programme design, grant making principles, ethics code, accessibility policy and Disability Confident status all help us to do this, and we’re always working to improve even further.