These guidelines are designed to help those who have signed up to the protocol on procuring legal services.
Organisations may wish to review their employment practice and consider what impact it has on the delivery of services. Research has identified the following factors which are key to the development of good practice.
Key principles of procurement
- Equal treatment regardless of race, disability, gender, religion, sexual orientation , and age.
- Procurements of any type or value should include equality and diversity considerations Ensure that equality requirements specified under anti-discrimination legislation are given due weight in the tender specification, selection and award criteria, and contract conditions, in a way which is consistent with EU and UK procurement rules and positively demonstrates a commitment to best practice in diversity and inclusion.
- Relevance : Ensure the tender does not prevent any groups from making bids. Consider whether your procurement policies might result in any form of discrimination.
- Proportionality : Could the contract have different effects on different diverse groups? Is the contract likely to have a large or small impact?
- Accountability Should lie with the chief executive/senior partner(s) who may delegate actions to others. Accountability under the anti-discrimination laws i.e., race, gender, disability cannot be delegated to a third party.
- Transparency : Make publicly available your proposals for compliance, consult on them, and publish the results of impact assessments .
Key building blocks
- Include equality, inclusion and diversity considerations in your procurement strategies and policies, and link them to your organisation's equality, inclusion and diversity policies or schemes.
- Be consistent in your approach to equality, inclusion and diversity practice across all departments, and at each stage of the procurement process.
- Provide training and guidance for all officers responsible for the equality, inclusion and diversity elements of a contract, including monitoring.
- Ensure there is a level playing field for all potential suppliers, regardless of size or ethnicity, disability, gender, age, sexuality, religion or belief. Make your policy on equality, inclusion and diversity clear to all interested firms.
- Consider the impact of equality, inclusion and diversity when defining your requirements at each stage of the contract process, monitor and assess results, and plan for improvement.
- Encourage other organisations and partners to commit to the Diversity and Inclusion Charter and its protocols not only for corporate social responsibility reasons but also to demonstrate best practice.
The aim of achieving fairness and equality for the profession is not merely driven by legal considerations. However we do have to take into account our statutory obligations and the requirements of developing anti-discrimination legislation.