Carlisle City Council strongly supports equal opportunities, equal access and positive outcomes for all sections of the community. There are two fundamental reasons for this:
The Council has its own policy on equality which, is in place to ensure consideration is made to equality issues in the wider community by all of the Council’s employees.
Click here to access the Council's Equality Policy
The Council recognises its responsibility as a major procurer of goods and services in the Cumbrian area, and to ensure that the suppliers and contractors with which it conducts business do not operate in a way that contradicts legislation or the Council’s policy on equality.
Current UK legislation states that local authorities must consider equal opportunities in their contracts. The Council therefore needs its suppliers to have, or introduce, an equal opportunities policy and procedure.
Procurement activity is one way in which the Council can promote and enforce its equality objectives by ensuring that suppliers, contractors and their agents provide goods, supplies and services that do not discriminate against people in any way. In this way the Council can attempt to eliminate unlawful discrimination, and promote equality of opportunity and good relations between people of different groups through good procurement practice.
It is also important to ensure that prospective suppliers meet the Council’s equality requirements, that they can demonstrate that they understand their responsibilities, and that they operate in accordance with equality legislation. This information can be obtained from prospective suppliers by the means of a pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) or as part of the tender documentation.
For information or assistance with the appropriate equality legislation please contact the Corporate Procurement Team on 01228 817553.
For further equality information please visit:
• Equality and Human Rights Commission Homepage www.drc-gb.org
