Consultations

Part 1: Introduction

Background

• 1.

  The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is the independent regulatory body of the Law Society in England and Wales, regulating solicitors and solicitor practices.

• 2.

  The SRA is a public authority for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010 and is bound by the public sector equality duty which comes into effect in April 2011. The duty covers the following equality groups, referred to by the Act as 'protected characteristics': age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

• 3.

  The equality duty requires the SRA, in the exercise of its public functions, to have due regard to the need to:

  • eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation;
  • advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not; and
  • foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.
• 4.

  As a public authority, the SRA also has a duty to work in a way that complies with human rights.

The purpose of this consultation document

• 5.

  We are planning to publish an Equality Framework and an Engagement Strategy by the end of July 2011 which will explain how we are going to meet our equality and human rights obligations and set out our objectives for equality.

• 6.

  This consultation paper is intended to give our stakeholders an opportunity to comment on and influence our direction of travel in relation to equality and engagement. We are consulting in particular on the following three areas:

  • Our proposed equality objectives for 2011/12—see part 3 of this consultation document.
  • Our proposals for publishing our equality information—see part 4 of this consultation document.
  • Our engagement strategy—see part 5 of this consultation document.

What is the Equality Framework?

• 7.

  The Equality Framework brings together our equality objectives, action plan and strategy and our annual equality and diversity performance report and data. It will identify the key equality issues for us as an employer and in relation to our regulatory functions and services.

• 8.

  We will update the Equality Framework each year, reporting progress from the previous year and setting out our equality objectives for the forthcoming year which will flow directly from and support the SRA's annual strategy and business plan.

• 9.

  The Equality Framework will be made up of the following documents:

  • our vision for equality and human rights at the SRA—what are we seeking to achieve as an employer and as a modern regulator
  • a report of our Equality and Diversity performance to date
  • our equality objectives for 2011/12
  • our workforce diversity data for 2010
  • our regulatory outcomes data broken down by equality groups for 2010
  • our equality action plan for 2011/12 – explaining what steps will we be taking to meet our equality objectives
  • a schedule of equality impact assessments that we have prioritised for completion during 2011/12
  • our approach to equality impact assessment – an explanation of how we conduct and publish the outcomes of our equality impact assessments
  • our performance measurement tool – how we are planning to measure progress across the SRA in working towards our vision for equality
  • our Engagement Strategy

What is the Engagement Strategy?

• 10.

  Inclusive engagement is an essential part of our equality and diversity work at the SRA and our Engagement Strategy (at Annex 1) explains our approach. Inclusive engagement is about actively encouraging and supporting the participation of all individuals and organisations interested in our regulatory approach, our guidance, our policies and our procedures. It is deeper than simple consultation or communication, and generally requires a long term process of building and maintaining relationships, and planning a programme of activity, rather than a one-off event.

• 11.

  In recent years we have been proactive in our engagement with the profession, holding roadshows across England and Wales to explain our work and listen to the feedback. More recently we have held a series of webinars which have also proved very popular.

• 12.

  One of our key successes has been the improved engagement we have established with the diverse segments in the profession ranging from sole practitioners to large city firms. Through our proactive approach we have also established good relationships with the key equality groups such as the Black Solicitors Network (BSN), The Society of Asian Lawyers (SAL) and the Lawyers with Disabilities Division (LDD).

• 13.

  Our engagement strategy will consolidate our approach and help us to ensure that we adopt best practice across the SRA in the way that we engage with our stakeholders.

Progress against our Equality and Diversity Strategy 2009/11

• 14.

  The SRA's first Equality and Diversity Strategy and supporting action plan was published in 2009. The strategy included our response to the recommendations made by Lord Ouseley, following his independent review of the SRA in 2008. Lord Ouseley was commissioned to look at equality and diversity in the SRA in the light of data which showed that Black and minority (BME) ethnic solicitors were over represented in some of our regulatory activities.

• 15.

  A report setting out our performance against the strategy has now been published and in the future we will be publishing annual equality performance reports as part of the Equality Framework.

• 16.

  The Equality Framework will replace our Equality and Diversity Strategy and the race, disability and gender equality schemes which were published for the Law Society Group some years ago.

Our stakeholders

• 17.

  'Stakeholders' is a generic term for any individuals or groups that either affect or are affected by what we do, or have an interest in the work of the SRA.

• 18.

  Broadly speaking, the SRA has five stakeholder groups:

  • those we regulate;
  • consumers of legal services and the general public in England and Wales;
  • students, trainees and education providers;
  • government, political, media and other stakeholders; and
  • SRA and the Law Society's Group staff members.
• 19.

  There are many sub-groups within these five areas, each of which is unique in terms of the frequency and the ways in which we need to engage inclusively with them.

Part 2: Equality and diversity at the SRA

Our regulatory objectives

• 20.

  In common with the Legal Services Board and other legal services regulators, the SRA is bound by the regulatory objectives which are set out in the Legal Services Act:

  • protecting and promoting the public interest
  • supporting the constitutional principle of the rule of law
  • improving access to justice
  • protecting and promoting the interests of consumers
  • promoting competition in the provision of services
  • encouraging an independent, strong, diverse and effective legal profession
  • increasing public understanding of the citizen's legal rights and duties
  • promoting and maintaining adherence to the professional principles
• 21.

  These regulatory objectives underpin all our work at the SRA.

The SRA's vision and values

• 22.

  Our vision is for the SRA to become an increasingly effective regulator acknowledged for setting high professional standards, for our fair and transparent outcomes, and for delivery of service excellence. We are realising our vision for the future regulation of legal services by transforming our approach to regulation by developing, implementing and successfully embedding outcomes-focused regulation.

• 23.

  New ways of working, supported by an upgraded IT infrastructure, will enable the organisation to meet the demands of the future. The right technology for the right people will give us the platform from which to deliver excellent customer service, from a reduced cost base, and in a speedier and more effective manner.

• 24.

  Equality and human rights are central elements of this vision to enable the SRA to be:

  • a fair employer which recruits, develops and retains a diverse and talented workforce
  • a fair regulator, which is open, proportionate, non-discriminatory and transparent in the way it regulates a diverse profession
  • an inclusive and stakeholder focused organisation
• 25.

  Our values will guide our work and provide the framework for how we will develop as an organisation. Our values are:

  • In all we do we will be fair and consistent, and open and honest in our contacts with the public, consumers and regulated community.
  • We will show accountability through the rigour with which we set and uphold standards and in the transparency of our decision making.
  • We will demonstrate value for money, efficiency and effectiveness in all our transactions. We will strive for continuous improvement through the management of performance and staff development; we will challenge poor performance and reward exceptional performance.
  • We will be inclusive and actively promote equality and diversity in the way we undertake all our activities. We will work in partnership with our stakeholders so they feel listened to and valued and show that we recognise the value of their different contributions.
• 26.

  You can read more about our vision and values in the SRA strategic plan 2010-13.

The SRA as an employer

Our employees

• 27.

  With nearly 600 employees, office locations in Leamington Spa and Redditch and London, 80 field and home based employees, we have a very diverse workforce. We are currently looking at basing our employees on a single site from 2012.

• 28.

  Although the SRA operates its regulatory functions independently of the Law Society, we are part of the Law Society Group and our key support services (Human Resource & Development, Finance, IT, Procurement etc) are provided by services shared with the Law Society.

• 29.

  We are continually seeking to improve our workforce diversity and have identified a number of priorities for improvement going forward which are captured in our equality objectives set out in part 3 of this consultation paper. We will be publishing our workforce diversity data on our website as part of the Equality Framework. More details of publishing proposals are set out in part 4 of this consultation paper.

• 30.

  We conduct an annual employee attitude survey about how staff are feeling about their workplace. The survey findings indicate that staff are aware of and committed to our strategic equality work and there have been considerable improvements across a range of areas from 2009 to 2010.

• 31.

  We are continuing to make improvements in 2011 and one area will be in relation to harassment and bullying. The majority of staff feel they are treated by colleagues with dignity and respect , but 8.6 per cent of employees responding to the survey in 2010 believed they had experienced discrimination and 17 per cent believed they had observed discrimination in the workplace in the last 12 months. 18.9 per cent of employees reported that they had experienced harassment, bullying or other inappropriate behaviour from customers or clients, with 10.7 per cent reporting that they experienced this from other colleagues.

• 32.

  We will be addressing these findings and putting in place measures to ensure that staff, customers and clients are aware that this behaviour will not be tolerated. We will take the necessary action to ensure that all staff feel safe in the workplace and are treated with dignity and respect.

Our Board and Committee members

• 33.

  The SRA is governed by the SRA Board whose work is supported by 8 committees and groups. One of these groups is the Equality and Diversity Group comprising the SRA Chair and two Board members, which oversees our progress against the Equality and Diversity Strategy and reports to the full Board. We provide further information about our Board and Committee members on our website. Our Board is comprised of 9 solicitors including the Chair and 7 lay members.

• 34.

  At the moment we do not publish diversity data about our Board and committee members, but as part of the Equality Framework, will be considering how we can publish this diversity data whilst protecting their privacy.

Adjudicators

• 35.

  Many of the decisions that we make on individual matters as part of our regulatory function are taken by external adjudicators. We have a panel of 23 adjudicators who make decisions such as whether to reprimand a solicitor or refer them to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, whether to intervene (close down) a firm, and decisions on entry to the Roll of Solicitors by students and foreign lawyers. For complex cases and for some appeals, a panel of three adjudicators will make the decision.

• 36.

  The new panel is made up of 13 men and 10 women. 11 are lay members and 12 are lawyers, and six of the panel are from BME backgrounds.

The SRA as a regulator

Decision making

• 37.

  In order to help us ensure that our regulatory decisions are fair and transparent we have adopted a set of decision making principles. The first principle is that decisions should be based on the application of guidelines or criteria, which should be (a) fair to all individuals and groups regardless of their ethnic origin, race, colour, gender, religion, disability, sexual orientation or age, (b) published and transparent, and (c) applied consistently.

• 38.

  For all of regulatory decisions that we can make, we have published criteria to support objective decision-making. We are committed to assessing all of these criteria for equality impact and a list of those assessments scheduled for completion during 2011/12 will be published as part of the Equality Framework.

Monitoring regulatory outcomes

• 39.

  To help us assess whether our decision making is fair we monitor our decision making and for a number of key regulatory areas we publish annual monitoring data broken down by age, gender and ethnicity.

• 40.

  Since 2004, it has been clear that BME solicitors are over-represented in many of our regulatory decisions and outcomes. Understanding the possible causes of this has proved difficult but the work we commissioned from Pearn Kandola to look at the data, gives us a much more detailed view of where disproportionality is arising, and where we should be directing our efforts. We have adopted a number of recommendations made in the Pearn Kandola report to continue our work in this area. The recommendations are captured in our draft equality action plan for 2011/12 which will be published as part of the Equality Framework once our objectives are finalised.

Promoting equality in the profession

• 41.

  One of our regulatory objectives is to 'encourage an independent, strong, diverse and effective legal profession'.

• 42.

  We collect diversity data from the profession to enable us to track trends and to monitor our regulatory work. We improved our diversity data through a census of the profession in 2009 and now hold ethnicity data for over 90 per cent of the solicitor population, disability data for 45 per cent of the population and sexual orientation and religion or belief data for 26 per cent of the population.

• 43.

  Rule 6 of the Code of Conduct 2007 sets out the regulatory requirements in relation to equality and diversity and applies to the firm's approach to equality as an employer and as a service provider. We monitor the outcomes from Rule 6 conduct matters brought against the profession through an annual report to the SRA Board/Committee.

• 44.

  We published and circulated a leaflet to all firms in 2010, warning them of the need to comply with Rule 6 and as we move to outcomes-focused regulation from October 2011, we will be looking at further ways to promote the equality and diversity provisions of the new SRA Handbook.

Moving to outcomes-focused regulation from October 2011

• 45.

  As we prepare for the introduction of new business structures which are set to enter the legal service market in October 2011, we are also transforming the way that we regulate the profession, moving towards an outcomes-focused approach rather than requiring compliance with detailed prescriptive rules. This transformation offers us a real opportunity to embed equality in our new approach from the very beginning.

• 46.

  As well as redrafting the Code of Conduct and all the various rules and regulations that apply to the profession and incorporating them into a new SRA Handbook, we are completely revamping the way that we authorise solicitors and solicitors firms, the way that we will supervise the profession and ultimately how and when we will take enforcement action to protect the public. We will be much more driven by risk and we are developing a comprehensive risk framework to underpin all our regulatory work.

• 47.

  We have consulted extensively on our new Handbook and have published the work that we are doing to assess the equality impact that the new Handbook may have at each stage.

• 48.

  We are developing our approach to the authorisation of firms and designing how we will approach risk and how we will work with the profession to design the different levels of supervision that will be needed. We have taken equality into account as this work has developed and will be publishing reports setting out our assessment of the equality issues in relation to each of these new areas.

• 49.

  There is more information about what this transformation will mean for the profession on the Freedom in Practice section.

The SRA's role in protecting consumers

• 50.

  Four of our regulatory objectives are related to the needs of consumers of legal services and the wider public: we are required to protect and promote the interests of consumers and the public, as well as promote access to justice and increase public understanding of the citizen's legal rights and duties.

• 51.

  We are working harder this year to better understand the needs of consumers of legal services to help us focus our regulatory work in the right areas to meet our regulatory objectives.

• 52.

  During 2010, we developed our consumer engagement work, holding events through the year and conducting consumer research to inform our work. We will be expanding our consumer affairs function for 2011, and will be publishing a consumer affairs strategy to help us identify ways to promote access to justice for a diverse range of people who may have the need to consult a solicitor for a number of reasons during their lives.

Part 3: Our proposed equality objectives for 2011/12

• 53.

  Our priorities for equality and diversity this year are:

  • to support the organisation in delivering our strategic plan, making sure that equality is embedded into the rules, policies and processes we are developing for the future of outcome-focused regulation and the organisational transformation that is under way to support this; and
  • to continue our progress in relation to a number of important equality issues that we have identified in relation to our regulatory work such as the disproportionate regulatory outcomes for BME solicitors that we have been working on for some time.
• 54.

  We have set out below our proposed equality objectives and a summary of the main actions we are proposing to help achieve those objectives for 2011/12. We would welcome your comments on each proposed objective and whether there any other actions that you feel we should prioritise above the ones identified.

• 55.

  We recognise that our final equality objectives will need to be more specific and measurable and we will focus on this once we have consulted on the broad priority areas for our equality objectives.

• 56.

  We are introducing a new performance measurement framework in 2011 which will allow us to assess how we are performing against key equality and diversity performance indicators. This will help us monitor our progress, support the development of best practice, promote accountability and transparency and help us embed equality and diversity across the business.

• 57.

  The first four equality objectives relate to our role as an employer and the final five objectives relate to our regulatory and consumer affairs work.

Objective 1: Promoting diversity in the workplace

• 58.

  We will be working to promote a diverse and inclusive working environment. Our workforce diversity data will be published annually as part of our Equality Framework and we will continue to monitor recruitment outcomes and trends.

• 59.

  We will be tackling a number of areas of under-representation in 2011/12, for example to improve the gender, ethnicity and disability balance of our staff. We will continue to look at our approach to recruitment advertising so we reach a more diverse group of potential applicants and will be developing a positive action plan.

• 60.

  We will carry out our employee attitude survey again at the end of the year, aiming for improved response rates and overall satisfaction rates. Having identified some staff concerns about bullying and harassment in the workplace we will be putting measures in place to address this by reinforcing our bullying and harassment policy to staff, publishing a policy to help us manage unreasonable behaviour from our 'customers', and encouraging staff to seek support. We will also be developing staff focus groups and providing ongoing support for various staff consultation forums, including our diversity working group.

• 61.

  We will also be running a range of diversity events during the year such as International Women's Day, Black History Month and Human Rights Day.

Objective 2: Promoting diversity at Board and committee level

• 62.

  One of the key recommendations of the Ouseley report was the need to improve the diversity make up of our workforce in particular at Board and committee levels.

• 63.

  We have used positive action measures with some success to increase the diversity of our adjudicator panel and are also looking to see how we might do this for our Board and Committees when we have vacancies. We are working with the Law Society to ensure that we target our recruitment to encourage applications from individuals from diverse backgrounds and will ensure that we use suppliers who have a track record in diversity recruitment.

• 64.

  We will continue to offer equality and diversity training to the Board and Committee members and provide the Board with good quality equality impact assessment reports so that they are able to take account of equality in carrying out their work.

Objective 3: Developing our people for new ways of working

• 65.

  We will be delivering business-focused learning and development activities which support and embed the changes in culture and skills required to support our new way of regulating the profession.

• 66.

  In 2010 we introduced a new performance development review process supported by six behavioural competencies and all staff are being assessed in relation to the behavioural competencies by a team of external consultants. This will allow staff and their managers to agree a plan for development over 2011 and training will be offered to support staff in meeting the required standards.

• 67.

  To support staff in their equality work, we will be appointing Equality Champions to support with equality and diversity initiatives across the business. Equality Champions will promote an inclusive workplace to develop, maintain and implement effective practices. They will be integrated across the SRA and will also provide support for staff who are undertaking equality impact assessments.

Objective 4: Embedding equality in the work we are doing to transform our organisation

• 68.

  In order to support our transformation to outcomes-focused regulation we are undergoing significant changes to our organisational structure. Delivering this organisational reform is one of the SRA's four business objectives for 2011.

• 69.

  We have undergone a series of staged reorganisations, introducing a new senior management structure, setting up four principal directorates, and more recently restructuring the organisation in line with our new key functions of authorisation, supervision and legal enforcement so that we are better able to deliver our new approach to regulation from October 2011.

• 70.

  Coupled with the proposed move to a single site in 2012 this has meant a great deal of uncertainty and change for staff and we recognise that we need to work even harder during such times to ensure that equality remains high on our agenda.

• 71.

  We are consulting with staff as we proceed and assessing the equality impact the changes are likely to have on our staff and our potential for recruiting a diverse workforce in the future.

• 72.

  In addition to the work we are doing to develop our organisation, we are also continuing to encourage best practice in our procurement work and will be providing staff with a best practice guidance for promoting equality and diversity in procurement.

Objective 5: Supporting small firms in managing the transition to outcome focused-regulation and the introduction of alternative business structures

• 73.

  It is clear from our equality impact assessment work that sole practitioners and small firms are likely to be the most vulnerable to any potential adverse impact arising from the introduction of alternative business structures and our new approach to outcomes-focused regulation.

• 74.

  This has implications for equality because a disproportionate number of BME and female firms are represented in the overall population of 1- and 2-partner firms.

• 75.

  We will continue to try and minimise the potential impact as much as we can through our equality impact assessment work on the new Handbook and as we develop our authorisation, supervision and enforcement functions. For example, we will be publishing further material to help the profession understand the new approach and proactively seeking to engage with small firms and sole practitioners to prepare them for the changes.

• 76.

  We have already run a series of roadshows across the country and more are planned for May and June 2011. Our webinars have proved popular and more are planned for the summer. Our supervision and relationship management pilots have included small firms so we are better able to develop our approach with all sectors of the profession in mind.

Objective 6: Continuing to closely monitor the disproportionate outcomes for BME solicitors and firms and seeking where possible to reduce that disproportionality

• 77.

  We have agreed a programme of further work arising from the Pearn Kandola report, which will help us examine our decisions in more detail to make sure our decision-making criteria and procedures are fair and transparent. These actions are already published as part of the Pearn Kandola report and will be incorporated into our equality action plan for 2011/12 which will form part of our Equality Framework. We will publish a progress report against these actions separately by the end of July 2011.

• 78.

  We will also be continuing the equality impact assessment of our decision making criteria and the criteria that we have identified as having a high priority will be included in our equality impact schedule as part of the Equality Framework.

Objective 7: Improving how we respond to those in the profession with a disability

• 79.

  We will build on the work that we started in 2010 to ensure that we get better at providing reasonable adjustments in particular for those disabled people whom we regulate but also for other people we are in contact with during our work, such as clients who have reported misconduct to us.

• 80.

  Following the implementation of our Reasonable Adjustments Policy in 2010, we will be running further staff training, monitoring the requests we receive, improving our communications about reasonable adjustments and thinking ahead about how we can improve accessibility of our communications and processes.

• 81.

  We are also proposing to introduce an advocate's scheme for regulated individuals and others who are disabled.

• 82.

  We will continue to work closely with Legal Practice Course providers and firms to address the concerns that disabled students have raised with us about the provision of reasonable adjustments during their training.

Objective 8: Increase our level of engagement with consumers and the wider public

• 83.

  We will be developing our consumer affairs function and strategy which will take account of the needs of all consumers including those who may face barriers to accessing legal services.

• 84.

  Our consumer affairs work will feed into different areas of the SRA to make sure that consumer views and experiences are well-represented and positioned across our work. We are moving on from making assumptions on behalf of consumers to empowering consumers to make informed choices on the basis of improved knowledge, understanding and information. Our work will focus on education, engagement and empowerment.

• 85.

  In relation to consumer education, we want to support members of the public in being aware of issues they may face in using legal services, how best to manage these, and how to understand the services they want to access and know more about their rights.

• 86.

  Our consumer engagement work will help us improve our supervision and enforcement activities, giving us a better understanding of the risks and concerns consumers have in using legal services. We will be proactive and inclusive in helping consumers put their point of view across to us and make it easier for consumers to tell us what they think about our work, and more widely about legal services.

• 87.

  If our education and engagement are both effective, consumers will be informed and empowered to access legal services and understand what to expect.

• 88.

  Some of the initial projects will include the creation of a network for members of the public to have their say about issues facing them in using legal services, setting up new links with organisations in the not-for-profit and charity sectors, as a means of identifying emerging issues, and working more closely with other organisations within the legal services sector, including the Legal Ombudsman, the LSB Consumer Panel and other Approved Regulators, to boost the strength of signposting and support services for consumers using legal services.

Objective 9: Encouraging a diverse profession

• 89.

  To meet this broad objective, our focus for 2011 will be on three areas. Firstly we will be working further with the Legal Services Board (LSB) in relation to their proposal to require legal firms to collect and publication of workforce diversity data by law firms. The LSB consultation paper is available to download (PDF 62 pages, 584K).

• 90.

  Secondly, we will be working with firms to promote understanding of how they might meet the equality and diversity outcomes set out in the new Code. In particular, we will be preparing guidance for the profession with more information about our expected outcomes and how to meet them.

• 91.

  And thirdly, we will be looking at further opportunities for promoting access to the profession through our review of the current legal education and training system for lawyers in England and Wales. This is being jointly commissioned by the SRA, the Bar Standards Board and the Institute of Legal Executives and will be looking at equality issues such as access to the profession. We are also continuing with a number of initiatives such as the work-based learning pilot to encourage diversity through the promotion of non traditional routes to qualification as a solicitor.

Part 4: Our proposals for publishing equality information

• 92.

  In addition to our equality objectives, the SRA is required to publish sufficient information to demonstrate that we have complied with our general equality duty. The Equality and Human Rights Commission in their recent guidance has confirmed that this must include:

  • information on the effect that our work has had on employees, the people that we regulate and others;
  • evidence of the analysis that we have undertaken to establish how our work is furthering the three aims of the general equality duty;
  • details of the information that we have used in our analysis; and
  • details of the engagement we have had with our stakeholders (i.e. those whom we regulate and other people and organisations that we work closely with).
• 93.

  We will be publishing a range of equality information as part of our Equality Framework, and we are currently reviewing our systems to identify any gaps in the equality information that we already collect and publish.

• 94.

  As part of our transformation process we are introducing new IT systems and we are working with Legal Services Board to integrate the collection of equality data from the profession within our new systems. The Legal Services Board (LSB) is consulting on its proposals to require legal services regulators to collect workforce equality data from solicitors and solicitors firms and if these proposals are accepted, we will be able to align our own data collection requirements with the LSB's requirements.

• 95.

  We are proposing to publish our equality information in four broad categories: employment data; regulatory outcomes data, including the diversity profile of the profession; research reports that we have commissioned; our equality impact assessment reports.

Employment data

• 96.

  The first category of data that we are proposing to publish is the data that we collect in relation to our workforce which includes:

  • Workforce data including diversity data for staff, adjudicators, Board and committee members.
  • Information that we have collected in relation to any pay gaps - in particular the analysis we have undertaken in reaction to gender equality.
  • Employment data in relation to recruitment, promotion, training, performance assessment, promotion, redundancy and leavers.
  • The outcome of our annual staff surveys.
  • Grievances and disciplinary action taken, in particular highlighting any harassment or discrimination issues that have arisen.
  • The rates of return to work for parents on maternity/paternity leave and for those on long term sick leave.
• 97.

  This data is already collected and published internally on our employee intranet pages and we are making arrangements to publish this data on our website.

Regulatory outcomes data

• 98.

  The next category will be the data that we collect in relation to regulatory outcomes. We already provide data about our workload as part of our annual report, but in addition for the past two years have published an equality breakdown of key areas of our regulatory activity.

• 99.

  These 'equality and diversity annual reports' provide an equality breakdown (for age, gender and ethnicity) for the following areas of our regulatory activity:

  • New Conduct Investigations - this includes all matters that are opened when we receive information alleging that a solicitor has breached the Solicitors' Code of Conduct, even though a number of these matters are closed relatively quickly if we find that there is no evidence of misconduct for us to pursue.
  • Interventions - this is where the SRA takes control of a practice, or part of a practice, that the SRA believes is putting the interests of clients at risk. An intervention is not a disciplinary outcome for the individuals involved, but a regulatory step designed to protect clients' interest and client money
  • Referrals to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) - in serious case of misconduct, the SRA may refer an individual to the SDT which is an independent tribunal that adjudicates upon alleged breaches of the rules of professional conduct for solicitors.
  • Late Accountants' Reports - solicitors who fail to file an accountants' report, or do so late, are required to give the SRA notice before applying for their next practising certificate and the SRA has a discretion in such cases to grant or refuse a practising certificate, or to place conditions on a solicitor's practice.
  • Practising Certificate Conditions - conditions can be applied to solicitors, registered European lawyers or registered foreign lawyers as a method of regulation. Conditions are placed onto a practising certificate or registration and can restrict the ability to practise, the type of work which can be undertaken or other limitations.
• 100.

  We will be publishing similar data for 2010 and most likely for 2011, but will be reviewing the categories for our 2012 report as this will be our first full year of outcome focused-regulation and we are likely to require additional or different information to effectively monitor outcomes under that new regime.

• 101.

  We will develop a more sophisticated approach to understanding equality impact data, looking in more detail at impact across different ethnic groups where we can, rather than using only the BME/White classification which provides only a high level picture of what is happening.

• 102.

  We now have improved equality data for the profession following our diversity census which was completed in 2010 and hope this year to publish some data in relation to disability, which had not been possible before. We are still unlikely to have enough data for the other equality categories to publish statistical data e.g. for religion or belief or for sexual orientation, so we will be looking elsewhere for equality information about impact in relation to these groups.

Research data

• 103.

  The next category is the various research or other thematic reports that we may produce in relation to various equality issues. This will include reports such as the Pearn Kandola report that we have referred to in this consultation paper.

Equality impact assessment reports

• 104.

  The final category will be the reports that we produce about our equality impact assessment work which we are already publishing on our website. We will be improving the way that these reports appear on our website so it is clearer what the content of this section is.

• 105.

  In the past we have published a number of initial equality impact assessments which often provide very little information and confirm only that we are continuing with the work to look in more detail at the equality issues as part of a full equality impact assessment report.

• 106.

  We are not proposing to publish these initial impact assessments in the future as we do not feel that they are particularly helpful. In future, the only time we will be publishing an equality impact assessment report is when we are consulting on a particular proposal and the information would be helpful to inform the consultation process and when the equality impact assessment report is concluded.

• 107.

  We are committed to transparency in our equality work but also want to be proportionate and relevant in the information that we make available.

Part 5: Our engagement strategy

• 108.

  Our engagement strategy (at Annex 1) sets out six principles for engagement:

  • Clarity of purpose - we will be clear from the start about the purpose of any engagement activity we carry out.
  • Being inclusive - we will aim to make sure all those interested or impacted by our work can participate and get involved in what we do. We will be inclusive and accessible by adopting approaches to enable us to reach a diverse range of stakeholders.
  • Open and honest - we will be up-front about the reasons provided to stakeholders for wanting to engage, and will be realistic about what can realistically be achieved in terms of benefits for our stakeholders and for the SRA.
  • Making the best use of resources - we will try to identify time and financial constraints from the outset of any new engagement exercise and will make sure that approaches we use to engage are effective and efficient.
  • Tailor and target - we will ensure clear information on complex issues is provided, that it is easy to understand, and that stakeholders have enough time and support to make considered and informed decisions.
  • Accessibility - we will carry out engagement activity in ways that do not create unnecessary barriers for stakeholders.

• 109.

  We have made real progress in the past few years in the way that we have been engaging with our stakeholders, although we are always looking for new and innovative ways to reach people.

• 110.

  Some of the ways that we have been engaging are set out in our Engagement Strategy, including:

  • focus groups about particular areas of our work
  • roadshow events for people to learn about our work and discuss how it impacts them
  • providing on-line communications such as webinars
  • carrying out on-line surveys and consultations
  • conducting research and market surveys
  • creating networks

Part 6: Equality and diversity impact

• 111.

  The purpose of the Equality Framework is to ensure that we are meeting our equality duty. As we have prepared this Equality Framework we have identified one or two areas where there may potentially be adverse equality impact.

• 112.

  Although we are proposing that the Equality Framework will be largely web based, we recognise that some people may not find this accessible. We are proposing to make available a short summary of the Equality Framework which can be downloaded in word or PDF format or sent on request in hard copy format to those requesting it.

• 113.

  We recognise also that we have not identified any particular objectives focused on specific equality groups other than:

  • BME solicitors in relation to regulatory outcomes;
  • the way that we provide reasonable adjustments to disabled solicitors and others who we deal with; and
  • the indirect impact on BME and female solicitors of policies or proposals which may disproportionately impact on sole practitioners and small firms.
• 114.

  However, this does not mean we are not monitoring our work for equality across all protected characteristics. We will ensure that we are in a position to gather equality data (in whatever form) about all equality groups so that we can fully meet our equality duty. This will be done on a case by case basis through our equality impact assessment work which is conducted by our staff with support and quality assurance from our Diversity and Inclusion team.