Equality Scheme

Our equality scheme outlines the public authority's arrangements for:

assessing its compliance with the duties under section 75
assessing and consulting on the likely impact of policies on the promotion of equality of opportunity
monitoring any adverse impact of policies on the promotion of equality of opportunity
publishing the results of such assessments
training staff
ensuring and assessing public access to information and services provided by the public authority.

We will commit necessary resources (in terms of people, time and money) to make sure that the statutory duties are complied with and that the Equality Scheme can be implemented effectively, and on time.

The Council was designated as a public authority under Schedule 9 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and has its own approved Equality Scheme. It was approved by the Equality Commission in April 2001.

Download the Belfast City Council Equality Scheme (PDF - 1.09MB) (The document contains some formatting issues which we hope to fix as soon as possible.)

Review of the Equality Scheme

Schedule 9 (para 8.3) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 requires all public authorities to review their equality scheme after five years. The aim of the five year review is to evaluate the effectiveness of the equality scheme in meeting the public authority's statutory duties.

The council reviewed its equality schemes and submited a report to the Equality Commission in March 2006.

Access the report to the Equality Commission on the Belfast City Council Five Year Review of the Equality Scheme (PDF 267KB)