equaility conferance

HOW TO USE THE EQUALITY ACT 2010

A major conference organised by the Equality and Diversity Forum to help NGOs use the 2010 Equality Act

Monday 7th June 2010, Maple House, 150 Corporation Street, Birmingham, B4 6TB

The Equality and Diversity Forum is running this free conference to help NGOs to make good use of the 2010 Equality Act. The conference is particularly aimed at regional and local NGOs who are either directly involved in equality work or who could use equality law to advance other social justice objectives. As well as hearing from key speakers and having the chance to ask questions, participants will be able to join two interactive workshops looking at specific parts of the 2010 Equality Act that are likely to be useful to NGOs.

Content
The event will cover:
• Overview of the new Equality Act
• Guide to parts of the Act that may be particularly useful tools for NGOs
• How the Equality and Human Rights Commission will support and enforce the new legislation
• Workshops looking in more detail at specific parts of the legislation.

Who should come to this event?
This is a capacity building event mainly aimed at people working in:
• Organisations working directly on equality (either a single strand or pan-equality) or human rights
• Infrastructure organisations that support frontline NGOs
• Regional or local networks of equality organisations
• Advice agencies, law centres and trade unions

The conference is funded to help to non-governmental, non-profit organisations and they will be given priority in bookings.

About the Equality and Diversity Forum

The Equality and Diversity Forum (EDF) is the network of national organisations working on equality and human rights. EDF’s staff and associates have worked in the public, private and voluntary sectors and between them have experience of implementing equality legislation, advising government on the law, drafting statutory guidance, taking groundbreaking cases and enforcing the law.

Registering to attend

This event is free. To register please complete the event booking form and return it to info@edf.org.uk by Friday the 16th May . Please note that non-governmental, non-profit organisations will be given priority in bookings.


Conference Programme

10am Registration and coffee
10.45am Chair’s opening remarks
10.55am Key Features of the 2010 Equality Act
Jonathan Rees, Government Equality Office (invited)
11.25am How NGOs might use the Act in their work
Amanda Ariss, Chief Executive, Equality and Diversity Forum
11.45am The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s work on the Act
EHRC speaker tbc
12.05am Q & A
12.45pm Lunch
1.30pm Workshop session one (see details below)
2.45pm Workshop session two (see details below)
4.15pm Tea and Close

Workshops
Each participant can attend two workshops. The workshops topics are
• The public sector equality duty (session one and two)
• Equality impact assessments (sessions one and two)
• The law on service provision for specific groups and employing people from particular groups (sessions one and two)
• Carers and discrimination by association and perception (session one only)
• Procurement and commissioning (session two only)


Book your place now by completing the booking form and returning it to info@edf.org.uk.








This conference is supported under the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity – PROGRESS (2007-2013).

This programme is managed by the Directorate-General for Employment, social affairs and equal opportunities of the European Commission. It was established to financially support the implementation of the objectives of the European Union in the employment and social affairs area, as set out in the Social Agenda, and thereby contribute to the achievement of the Lisbon Strategy goals in these fields.

For more information see: http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/progress/index_en.html