Essay
Citizenship 3
- Institution
- PEARSON (PEARSON)
Hi all, here is my citizenship 3 assignment top criteria hit
[Show more]
Content preview
Task 1 PassEqual Pay Act 1970 -
The Equal Pay Act 1970 was an Act of Parliament that prohibited any less favourable
treatment between men and women in terms of pay and conditions of employment. The
Act was proposed by the then Labour government and was based on the Equal Pay Act of
1963 in the United States.
A little history recap, on 7th June 1968, 850 women machinists working at the Ford
Factory in Dagenham went on strike for equal pay after discovering they were
being paid 15 per cent less than men for doing the exact same work. The demands of
these women paved the way for the equal pay legislation in 1970. In 1970, the Labour
Employment Minister Barbara Castle, who had backed the Ford sewing machinists,
introduced the Equal Pay Bill.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission enforces the Equal Pay Act (EPA) and
prohibits pay discrimination based on sex. However, it is limited to pay discrimination
between employees who are performing the same job at the same location, not different
locations. Overall, this has had the effect of eliminating separate lower women's rates
of pay, but the gender pay gap in Britain remains among the highest in the European Union
with women earning 15.5% less than men in 2020, down from 17.4% in 2019.
In my opinion, the Equal Pay Act is only moderately effective when looking at the bigger
picture. I feel like it could be much stricter surrounding the gender pay gap, and my
reason for this is due to several studies, including one carried out by the Fawcett Society,
supported by the BBC, recording that it will take a minimum of 60 years to completely
eradicate the pay gap in the UK. This pushes me to believe that the Equal Pay Act is only
being used as an exaggerated face for the Government’s minimal efforts at closing the
gap.
Freedom of Information Act 2000 -
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 provides public access to information held by public
authorities.
It does this in two ways:
• public authorities are obliged to publish certain information about their activities;
and
• members of the public are entitled to request information from public authorities.
The Act covers any recorded information that is held by a public authority in England,
Wales, and Northern Ireland, and by UK-wide public authorities based in Scotland.
Public authorities include government departments, local authorities, the NHS, state
schools and police forces. However, the Act does not necessarily cover every organisation
that receives public money. For example, it does not cover some charities that receive
grants and certain private sector organisations that perform public functions.
Recorded information includes printed documents, computer files, letters, emails,
photographs, and sound or video recordings.
The Act does not give people access to their own personal data (information about
themselves) such as their health records or credit reference file. If a member of the public
wants to see information that a public authority holds about them, they should make a
data protection subject access request.
, Seen as ‘your right to know’
The main principle behind freedom of information legislation is that people have a right to
know about the activities of public authorities, unless there is a good reason for them not
to. This is sometimes described as a presumption or assumption in favour of disclosure.
The Act is also sometimes described as purpose and applicant blind.
This means that:
• everybody has a right to access official information. Disclosure of information
should be the default – in other words, information should be kept private only
when there is a good reason, and it is permitted by the Act.
• an applicant (requester) does not need to give you a reason for wanting the
information. On the contrary, you must justify refusing them information.
• you must treat all requests for information equally, except under some
circumstances relating to difficult requests and personal data (see When can we
refuse a request? for details on these). The information someone can get under the
Act should not be affected by who they are. You should treat all requesters equally,
whether they are journalists, local residents, public authority employees, or
foreign researchers; and
• because you should treat all requesters equally, you should only disclose
information under the Act if you would disclose it to anyone else who asked. In
other words, you should consider any information you release under the Act as if it
were being released to the world at large.
This does not prevent you voluntarily giving information to certain people outside the
provisions of the Act.
Data Protection Act –
To begin with, the Data protection act 2018 replaces the act formed in 1998 and came into
full effect on 25th May 2018 and is an act to maintain control how your personal
information is used by organisations, business, or the government. The act projects
citizens in the United Kingdom to have the following rights: to be informed on how your
data is being used, access personal data, have incorrect data updated, have data erased,
stop, or restrict the processing of your data, having data portability which is the allowed
use to get and reuse your data for different services and to object to how your data is
processed in certain circumstances. The Data Protection Act also states the rights that an
organisation has to follow when they use your personal data. The rights are the following:
automated decision making processed which are without any human involvement and
profiling which can be used to predict your behaviour or interests. These rights are all
used to protect citizens privacy and integrity of data held on citizens by business, the
government or other any organisations.
Race Relations Act 2000 -
This Act is a modification of the earlier Race Relations Act of 1976. The Act’s main
purposes are to:
• Extend the 1976 Act in relation to public authorities, outlawing race discrimination
that weren’t previously covered
• Place a duty on the public services to work towards the elimination of unlawful
discrimination and promote equality and good relations between people of
different racial groups
• It makes chief officers of police liable for acts of race discrimination by police
officers
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller mitchellchandler. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for £7.49. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
64438 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy revision notes and other study material for 14 years now