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Equality and diversity in procurement
Last updated: 26 May 2010 14:47 UKThe Council is committed to an Equalities and Diversity Policy covering colour, ethnic origin, age, disablility, sexual orientation, religion or belief, gender and gender reasignment. An important part of this commitment is encouraging and, where possible, requiring, companies and other organisations which bid for Council services to practise equalities and diversity in employment and service delivery.
The Council provides a wide range of services to residents, visitors and businesses within the City. In some cases these are provided directly by the Council but in many cases our business partners provide these. The people to whom these services are delivered come from all sections of society - men and women, young and old, people with disabilities, gay men and lesbians, and people from all ethnic groups, faiths and religions. As such the services provided to them should be geared to their diverse needs, no matter who actually deliverers them.
For further details of the Council's equalities policies, see the Equalities Literature link at the bottom of this page.
Legal Issues
A number of Acts contain various prohibitions on discrimination on the grounds of race, sex and disability in the provision of goods, facilities and services, and as such the Council expects its business partners to comply with all the relevant legislation, incorporating these as a requirement within all its contracts.
The Race Relations Act 1976 - as amended by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 now outlaws discrimination in all Council functions, including procurement.
The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 – requires anyone who provides goods and/or services to comply with its provisions no matter how many people they employ.
The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the Equal Pay Act 1970 - outlaws discrimination on grounds of gender, although not currently a statutory duty on local authorities, it is consistent with the Council’s Equalities and Diversity Policy.
The Procurement Approach
The Council will take into account within its tender evaluation and contracting processes, a potential contractor’s approach to equalities in terms of its employment practices and service delivery, which will also be monitored and managed during the life of each contract.
The Council will check a contractor’s compliance with equality and diversity issues in two ways:
- Prior to Contract Award - by asking equalities questions either prior to or during the tender process. If following evaluation the response does not satisfy the Council’s criteria, the firm may not be shortlist or awarded a contract.
- After Contract Award - by including contract conditions on equality in all Council contracts and by monitoring a contractor’s performance and compliance with those conditions.
Commitment to the Common Values Partnership initiative will assist contractors in matching the city council's own objectives. Further information on this Common Values Initiative can be found by clicking on the link.
Further information
The following organisations can be contacted for information and advice on equal opportunities in employment.
Disability
The Commission for Equalities and Human Rights
FreePost MIDO2164
Stratford Upon Avon
CV37 9BR
Tel: 08457 778 878
The Commission for Equalities and Human Rights
FreePost RRLL-GHJX-CTRX
Arndale House Arndale Centre
Manchester M4 3EQ
Tel: 0845 604 6630
Web site: www.equalityhumanrights.com
The Low Pay Commission
Ground Floor, 1 Victoria Street
London SW1H 0ET
General enquires: 020 7215 5773
E-mail: lpc@lowpay.gov.uk
Associated documents:
Public Procurement & Race Equality (0.24 MB)