Dear Colin,

Thank you for contacting the Scottish Human Rights Commission.

Your email has been forwarded on to the person in our organisation responsible for dealing with Freedom of Information requests. We will respond to you as soon as possible, and no later than 20 working days as required by the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act.

Kind regards,
Tiia

Scottish Human Rights Commission
E: [Scottish Human Rights Commission request email]
www.scottishhumanrights.com

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Dear Mr White

Request 113

Thank you for your recent request under the Freedom of Information
(Scotland) Act 2002, asking:

Your request

1. If you hold the information that public authorities are under an
Equality Act 2010 s149 duty to promote equality and public authorities are
also under a Human Rights Act 1998 s6 duty to interpret legislation in
accordance with persons' human rights under the Human Rights Act 1998 such
as the Article 6 right to a fair trial and Article 14 enjoyment of the
rights and freedoms of the convention without discrimination please
confirm this.

2. If you hold the information that SLAB routinely invites public
authorities to make submissions to oppose legal aid in cases that are
founded on breach of the Equality Act 2010  or Article 14 discrimination, 
so treating these type of cases the same as cases that do not involve
discrimination or public authorities,  please confirm this.

3. If you hold the information that according to SLAB's own statistics, in
a third of cases ( approximately) public authorities then oppose
applications for legal aid in cases founded upon breach of the Equality
Act 2010 and that when opposed by a public authority those Equality Act
2010 legal aid applications are more likely to be refused, please confirm
this.

4. Please provide the information which you hold where consideration has
been given as to the Equality Act s149 lawfulness of SLAB's and other
public authorities'  interpretation of the legal aid regulations in
Scotland in which SLAB  routinely invites public authorities to oppose
legal aid for litigants who bring legal action under the Equality Act 2010
or Human Rights Act 1998 for discrimination so following the exact same
procedure in all legal aid applications despite the extra equality duties
of public authorities under the Equality Act and Human Rights Act.

5. Please provide the information which you hold where consideration has
been given as to the lawfulness of the interpretation of legal aid
regulations in Scotland by SLAB and other public authorities with regard
to s6, Article 6 and Article 14 of the Human Rights Act 1998 where SLAB
and other public authorities routinely encourage and actively oppose legal
aid for litigants who bring legal action under the Equality Act 2010 or
Human Rights Act 1998 for discrimination.

6. If you do not hold the information requested at 1 to 5,  please supply
the information you hold regarding your own compliance with The Equality
Act 2010 s149 by your own failure to give consideration to the issues in 1
to 5.

Our response

The Scottish Human Rights Commission has a general duty to promote
awareness, understanding and respect for all human rights – economic,
social, cultural, civil and political – to everyone, everywhere in
Scotland, and to encourage best practice in relation to human rights.

We have powers to recommend changes to law, policy and practice; promote
human rights through education, training and publishing research; and to
conduct inquiries into the policies and practices of Scottish public
authorities. Our full duties and powers are set out in the Scottish
Commission for Human Rights Act 2006. 

The statement below sets out the terms of the Human Rights Act 1998 in
relation to point 1 in your request.

Section 6 Of the Human Rights Act provides that it is unlawful for a
public authority to act in a way which is incompatible with a Convention
right.  A ‘Convention right’ in this Act means the rights and fundamental
freedoms set out in— (a)Articles 2 to 12 and 14 of the Convention,
(b)Articles 1 to 3 of the First Protocol, and (c)Article 1 of the
Thirteenth Protocol as read with Articles 16 to 18 of the Convention - 
meaning the rights contained in Articles. This includes the Article 6
right to a fair trial and Article 14 enjoyment of the rights and freedoms
of the convention without discrimination.

You may also be interested to read information the Commission has
published, outlining our views on the Human Rights Act 1998

https://www.scottishhumanrights.com/proj...

In relation to your points 2, 3, 4 and 5 we do not hold any information on
SLAB's processes or statistics. I suggest that you contact SLAB directly
for their information using the contact details below.

Email: [email address]  Telephone: 0131 226 7061

By post: The Scottish Legal Aid Board, Thistle House, 91 Haymarket
Terrace, Edinburgh, EH12 5HE

As a public sector body the Commission complies with the Public Sector
Equality Duty, as set out in the Equality Act 2010, in carrying out all of
our functions. However, the Public Sector Equality Duty does not include a
duty for the Commission to monitor or regulate other public bodies’
compliance with the Equality Act 2010. The Equality and Human Rights
Commission has this regulatory role in the whole of the UK, including
Scotland.

For further information I suggest that you contact the Equality and Human
Rights Commission using the contact details below:

Telephone: 0141 228 5910 Email: [1][email address]

By post: Equality and Human Rights Commission, 151 West George Street,
Glasgow, G2 2JJ

Further information

If you are not satisfied with this response then under the Freedom of
Information (Scotland) Act 2002 you have the right to ask for an internal
review of our response. Please contact us at [Scottish Human Rights
Commission request email] within 40 working days. We will aim to provide
you with our review response within 20 working days.

If you remain unhappy with our response, you then have the right to appeal
to the Scottish Information Commissioner. You should keep copies of all
the correspondence you have had with us, as if you decide to appeal to the
Scottish Information Commissioner you will be asked to provide these. You
can find out more information about the Scottish Information Commissioner
at www.itspublicknowledge.info

Yours sincerely

Liz Gibb

Scottish Human Rights Commission

E: [2][Scottish Human Rights Commission request email]

[3]www.scottishhumanrights.com

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