6.2 Northern Ireland Act 1998

In Northern Ireland, Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 requires government and public authorities’ practices to be underpinned by equality and to ensure that good relations with the communities are at the centre of policy-making and delivery of services. Section 75, in effect, encourages public institutions to address inequalities and demonstrate that they are making measurable impacts along the way on those affected by inequalities. Designated agencies under Section 75 include government departments and agencies, local councils, health trusts, housing associations, colleges and universities, and education and library bodies. Under Section 75, public authorities are required to have due regard for the need to promote equality of opportunity between:

• persons of different religious beliefs, political opinions, racial groups, ages, marital status or sexual orientation
• men and women generally
• persons with a disability and persons without
• persons with dependants and persons without.

In Northern Ireland, in complying with the provisions of Section 75, public institutions are expected to undertake inequalities audits, produce annual progress reports, assess the equality implications of their work, monitor their work, establish complaints mechanisms, and produce five-year reviews of their equality schemes.

If, as a leader, you feel and believe that a decision or a policy that affects you has not considered the equality duty, you can use the Public Sector Equality Duty to articulate your feelings and views to the authority concerned. You can also use the public duty to strengthen your discrimination case when discrimination arises.

You will explore the practicalities of how to hold professionals involved in local service delivery accountable in Activity 3.

Activity 3 Dealing with public services

Timing: Allow 20 minutes for the activity

As you watch the video, consider Yaina’s experiences dealing with local services as an ordinary citizen before she acquired the leader status. Reflect on how the lived experience helped develop her leadership skills and profile. Contrast her experience accessing public services as a private citizen and after emerging as a leader. Take notes of what she is doing to support emerging leaders and how she encourages using the equality legislation to improve and enhance service delivery to Black and other ethnic minority communities.

Download this video clip.Video player: blep_2023j_vid027_1280x720.mp4

Show transcript | Hide transcript

Transcript: Video 3 Yaina Samuels – accessing public services

YAINA SAMUELS

As a user accessing public services and being a Black woman, it was difficult. And the reason why say it was difficult is because there was a lack of understanding of cultural awareness and the barriers that prevented me from accessing services and also, on my part, a lack of trust.

I didn’t see anybody in the services at the time that looked like me. On the other side of it as a professional, my difficulties arise when I’m accessing public services on behalf of a client. I often find myself in discussion, in debate about the level of service, about the needs of the clients. I often find myself in difficult situations because of the complexities of ethnic minority mental health issues.

Firstly, we have the stigma and the shame attached to mental health. That prevents people accessing the services. Then we have the possibility of an inaccurate diagnosis that often happens, especially when many cultures are deemed as aggressive as in my culture, African.

I myself have been deemed aggressive as a diagnosis in the past. And then we have care. If you have an incorrect diagnosis, then that can lead to the incorrect care. And I think there can be a huge barrier and language issue when it comes down to care.

And the danger of not having the correct care for somebody having a mental health episode can be a huge risk to the client’s life. Based on my own leadership journey, my advice would be to get out there and meet the people, mix with the community, attend meetings and forums, so you get your face seen, let people know what you do, and also engage with the community at a level that you understand them, and they understand you, and the trust gets built up.

Once trust is built up, you can then start having those conversations for change around mental health and the stigma attached to mental health. So first and foremost, go into the community, get to know who you’re working with, and build up those relationships.

 

End transcript: Video 3 Yaina Samuels – accessing public services

Download

Video 3 Yaina Samuels – accessing public services

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

To use this interactive functionality a free OU account is required. Sign in or register.

Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Discussion

Several takeaways from the interview are listed below. You may have considered others.

Experience as a private citizen:

• Not getting the support and assistance needed to overcome challenges.
• Being sent from one service to another without anyone taking responsibility.
• Feeling discriminated against because of her background as a Black and female person.

Experience as a leader:

• Being taken more seriously.
• Being encouraged to speak up about any injustices.
• Experiencing tokenism and doing everything to resist it.
• More access to information, including Public Sector Equality Duty reports.
• Appreciating and valuing collective leadership.
• Making better use of lived experience to articulate what does not work.