Equality objectives published today

Our equality objectives detail how we consider equality issues when we regulate services and how we perform as an employer.

We consulted on a draft set of objectives with our staff, including our staff equality networks, people using health and social care services and key organisations that we work with to ensure equality. This resulted in over 70 comments and many of these were incorporated in the final objectives.

Our final set of nine objectives cover:

• embedding equality in all our work.
• responding appropriately when providers breach the equality aspects of the essential standards.
• improving the information that we hold about risks to equality in organisations that we regulate.
• involving a diverse range of people who use services in our work.
• increasing the uptake of accessible information that we produce.
• embedding equality in our mental health act functions.
• ensuring a diverse workforce at CQC.
• ensuring CQC staff are treated with equality.
• ensuring CQC staff have the training and tools they need around equality.

Jo Williams, Chair of CQC Board said: "At CQC, we are committed to embedding equality and human rights in everything that we do. Our equality objectives help to provide a focus for our work - covering both how we regulate to ensure equality and how we ensure that our own staff have equality of opportunity.

“The CQC Board have actively contributed to the development of the objectives and we look forward to providing the leadership to ensure that our commitment to equality and human rights can be achieved in reality.”

Jill Finney, CQC Deputy Chief Executive, responded: "Our new equality objectives will help us to build a culture of equality in CQC - both for our staff and in our regulatory work.

“I am pleased that people who use health and social care services have participated in developing the objectives through our eQuality Voices group and SpeakOut network – and that many staff across CQC have contributed as well. This has meant that we have set stretching yet achievable equality goals for our work. Developing equality objectives is a legal requirement but the Executive Team are keen that we move beyond compliance with the law in this area.

“We aim for CQC to become a high performing organisation in relation to equality and human rights. We look forward to working with the rest of the CQC staff to deliver the objectives"

Find out more

Under the Equality Act 2010, there is a statutory requirement for most public sector organisations, including CQC, to publish these objectives.

Read more information about Equality and human rights.