EHRC urged to tackle PCTs on gender duty

Some primary care trusts are still not on gender duty. The Forum is urging the Equality and Human Rights Commission to write directly to PCTs who have yet to comply under the Equality Act 2006 and remind them that they are breaking the law.

The Forum conducted a survey towards the end of last year which showed that dozens of PCTs were failing to comply with the duty which became law on 6 April 2007. Some 44 out of 152 PCTs had not published a gender equality scheme at all. The Forum assessed those schemes that had been published against 20 criteria.

The EHRC then conducted its own research - still at least 27 PCTs were not compliant. For its part, the Department of Health ran events on the duty for PCTs and SHAs. Despite this, says MHF parliamentary officer Colin Penning, a 'worrying number' of PCTs were still failing.

The Commission wrote to SHAs reminding them of their duty to bring PCTs up to scratch. But the Forum is still looking for improvements in outcomes. MHF CEO Peter Baker said: 'It is now time for the Commission to write to poor performing PCTs directly, they should not be let off the hook.'