Aberdeenshire Council seeking views on equality outcomes
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People in Aberdeenshire are being invited to take part in a consultation which focuses on fairness and equality.
Aberdeenshire Council sets equality outcomes every four years which state how the local authority aims to achieve improvements in people's lives, as a requirement under equalities legislation.
This is in support of laws in place to protect people from unfair discrimination relating to the protected characteristics of age; sex; race; religion; disability; gender reassignment; sexual orientation; marriage and civil partnership; and pregnancy and maternity.
The updated equality outcomes will take account of feedback gathered during the consultation, along with engagement with community groups and forums, as well as local and national research.
Once agreed, the new outcomes will also apply to the Aberdeenshire licensing boards and to education and children’s services.
Highlighting the importance of taking part, councillor Andy Kille, leader of Aberdeenshire Council said: “Local authorities in Scotland have a duty to state how they intend to achieve specific improvements in people’s lives.
“Our equality aims were published in 2017, and we are now revising these as we look ahead to 2025.
“An important step in this process is getting the views of Aberdeenshire residents on whether there have been improvements and identifying what areas we need to focus on improving in the next four years, so I would encourage as many people to take part as possible.”
The consultation survey can be found at engage.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/equalities-2021-2025
Participants can also contact equalities@aberdeenshire.gov.uk or call 01467 538029 to find out about other ways to share their views.
Responses can be submitted until the end of Sunday, March 14, and the information gathered will be used to inform the council’s equality outcomes for 2021-25, which will be published later this year.
