1.16Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998

Section 75 of the Act requires us to comply with two statutory duties:

1.17Section 75 (1)

1.18In carrying out our functions relating to Northern Ireland we are required to have due regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity between:

• Persons of different religious belief, political opinion, racial group, age, marital status or sexual orientation
• Men and women generally
• Persons with a disability and persons without
• Persons with dependants and persons without.

1.19Section 75 (2)

1.20In addition, without prejudice to the obligations above, in carrying out our functions in relation to Northern Ireland we are required to have regard to the desirability of promoting good relations between persons of different religious belief, political opinion or racial group.

1.21"Functions” include the “powers and duties” of a public authority.³ These include our employment and procurement functions.

1.22Schedule 9 4. (1) of the Act requires us, as a designated public authority, to set out in an equality scheme how we propose to fulfil the duties imposed by Section 75 in relation to our relevant functions.