Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 (the Act) requires public authorities, in carrying out their functions relating to Northern Ireland, to have:

• Due regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity between persons of different sexual orientation, persons of different age or marital status, between men and women generally, between persons with a disability and persons without, and between persons with dependants and persons without
• Regard to the desirability of promoting good relations between persons of different religious belief, political opinion or racial group.

In our equality scheme we set out how we, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual), propose to fulfil the Section 75 statutory duties.

We, the Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Ofqual, are fully committed to fulfilling our Section 75 statutory duties across all our functions relating to Northern Ireland (including service provision, employment and procurement) through the effective implementation of our equality scheme.

We will commit the necessary resources in terms of people, time and money to make sure the Section 75 statutory duties are complied with and that the equality scheme is implemented effectively, and on time.

We commit to having effective internal arrangements in place for managing our effective compliance with the Section 75 statutory duties, and for monitoring and reviewing our progress.

We will develop and deliver a programme of communication and training with the aim of ensuring that all our staff and Board members are made fully aware of our equality scheme and understand the commitments and obligations within it.

We realise the important role that the community and voluntary sector and the general public have to play to ensure that the Section 75 statutory duties are effectively implemented. We will engage with our stakeholders and those affected by our policies and functions in an appropriate, meaningful and timely manner.

Our equality scheme demonstrates how determined we are to make sure there are opportunities for people affected by our work to positively influence how we carry out our functions in line with our Section 75 statutory duties. Persons directly affected by what they consider to be a failure, on our part, to comply with our equality scheme, can make complaints.

We have also undertaken an audit of inequalities and are developing a Section 75 action plan to cover the period of our corporate plan to manage the effective implementation of our duties through our internal reporting systems. These documents are separate from the equality scheme as they are living documents, and there will be more than one action plan (three years) during the life of this scheme (five years).

On behalf of our Board and our staff we are pleased to support and endorse this equality scheme for Northern Ireland, which has been drawn up in accordance with Section 75 and Schedule 9 of the Act and the Equality Commission's guidelines.

Glenys Stacey	Amanda Spielman
Chief Executive Officer	Chair
Date: 11.01.2012	Date: 11.01.2012