Corporate report

UKHSA equality objectives 2022 to 2023

Published 30 August 2022

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is an executive agency sponsored by the Department of Health and Social Care. UKHSA is responsible for protecting every member of every community from the impact of infectious diseases, chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear incidents and other health threats. We provide intellectual, scientific and operational leadership at national and local level, as well as on the global stage, to make the nation’s health secure.

Public Sector Equality Duty

The Equality Act 2010 applied a Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) to public bodies. The PSED requires organisations to consider how they could positively contribute to the advancement of equality in the design of policies and the delivery of services. Specifically, the PSED requires ministers to have due regard to:

• eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under the Act
• advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and people who do not share it
• foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not share it

Section 149 of the Act sets out the PSED, a key lever for ensuring that public bodies, such as UKHSA, seek to address inequalities when shaping policy and delivering services.

Under the terms of the Equality Act (Specific Duties) Regulations 2011, UKHSA must, at least every 4 years:

• set and publish equality objectives setting out its approach to meeting the obligations of the Act
• publish information, at least annually, to demonstrate its compliance with the PSED

Equality objectives

UKHSA is committed to equality diversity and inclusion in our workforce, reducing health inequalities and addressing health inequity in our population, and supporting everyone to live healthier lives with more equal outcomes.

Below are UKHSA’s equality objectives for 2022 to 2023 against which our performance will be measured and reported on for our first full year of operation. UKHSA intends to publish its first annual equality report in Spring 2023, to align with its planned annual reporting schedule. The objectives will be reviewed and updated at that point.

Our objectives for 2022 to 2023

1. We will embed understanding and promote awareness of the PSED and health equity issues in everything we do, using these insights to improve the way we design and deliver our functions and products, and procure and commission from others, working with partners to ensure services are equitable and reduce health inequalities for everyone we serve.

We will start this programme of work in 2022 to 2023 by:

• improving understanding of the PSED across UKHSA through refreshing our PSED and Health Equity toolkit, developing training and promoting their use across the organisation
• monitoring the uptake and use of the toolkits, measuring the proportion of the people trained in their use and assuring the quality of impact assessments to identify areas requiring improvement
• developing our organisational approach to engaging with communities and stakeholders to understand how health hazards impact differently on different population groups and ensure services, products and policies are designed with user experience and needs in mind, starting with a review and gap analysis of current activity

2. We recognise that a workforce that reflects the diverse nature of our population is more likely to enable UKHSA to succeed in its ambitions. We aim to nurture and sustain an inclusive and respectful culture and working environment that values and respects diversity and where everyone can thrive, achieve their potential and advance their careers. We will continue to invest in a talented workforce that represents the diversity of the working population. In 2022 to 2023 we will:

• continue to strengthen the completion, collation and monitoring of diversity information about our staff
• by driving up declaration rates, enhance our evidence base and insights, and use this information to develop our future strategic priorities and action plans
• set and monitor key performance indicators to enable us to track progress and show improvement