Codes of Practice, Values and Standards in Public Services

About the course

Learn about stakeholders and codes of practice for public services. This course is ideal for intermediate learners.

Introduction

Basic facts about Codes of Practice.
• They provide an explanation of the Equality Act and how it should be applied to everyday situations for employees, employers, and organisations
• They provide advice for those who need a technical and precise understanding of the law and its impact (particularly lawyers as the Codes are complicated)
• They assist those who need to understand and enforce the law (courts and tribunals)
• They assist those who need to apply the law while advising a client (lawyers and employers)
• They apply throughout England, Scotland and Wales.

A stakeholder is someone with an interest in a business, or in this case the Equality Act, and are usually people who are affected by the legislation.
The stakeholders that were involved in the Equality Act Codes of Practice post consultation report for the period of 2010 were:
• Stakeholders for each of the potential characteristics
• Stakeholders from each key sector (such as education, health)
• Legal experts (such as employment law, government, trade unions)

To discuss the initial drafts of an Equality Act, different groups of people are invited to meetings or consultations. This is where issues may be raised by the stakeholders.

Some of the issues from the 2010 period included:
• Use of language in the Employment Code, for example the term ‘employee’ as opposed to ‘worker’
• Audience and accessibility of the Codes
• For the examples used in the Codes, striking the right balance between reflecting discrimination in a realistic way and avoiding offensive stereotypes

The language and structure of the document may be altered or changed. However, complex issues may need more time to be answered in future publications.

You will learn

What the codes of practice are
Stakeholders and what they do
Seven principles of public life
The importance of the principles

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