Commentary on Sections Section 22: Equality Duties
112.Section 75 of the 1998 Act imposes a statutory duty to promote equality of opportunity on public authorities. Section 75(3) lists a number of public authorities to whom the statutory duty applies and contains powers (but not any obligation) for the Secretary of State to designate by order other persons or bodies as public authorities for that purpose. Currently, the power under section 75 only allows the Secretary of State to make a ‘full’ designation – that is, for all of a person’s functions and without exceptions. The effect of the current law is that even where it might be sensible to designate a person for certain functions only, that option is not available.
113.Section 22 amends the power of the Secretary of State under section 75 to enable persons to be designated in respect of certain of their functions only or to apply to certain elements of the equality duty only. This means that persons or bodies who it is currently considered cannot be designated in their entirety (because, for example, certain of their functions must be excepted from the duty) can be considered for designation in the future. This section facilitates designation in a manner similar to that permitted by the Equality Act 2010 in England and Wales.
114.Section 22 does not alter the position of any persons who have already been designated for the purpose of section 75. It does not identify the persons who might be designated by the Secretary of State in future for certain of their functions only. There is no intention to partially designate any public authorities which are already subject to full designation in Northern Ireland.