The board of the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) has approved a new equality strategy.
The institute said it was delivered as part of its commitment to strive towards creating a diversity-aware and inclusive professional body for those working in insurance and financial services.
The CII stated that the board decided to introduce a Single Equality Scheme which aligns with the public sector equality duty, following its introduction in 2011 as part of the Equality Act 2010.
Although the CII is not a public body it highlighted that it has a public interest function and that this was in line with the objective of the CII's Royal Charter to ‘secure and justify the confidence of the public' through guiding the profession.
The body listed the purpose of the Equality Strategy, which incorporates the aims of the Equality Duty, as being to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation; advance equality of opportunity between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not share it; and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.
Action plan
The CII detailed that an action plan for 2013 and 2014 had been incorporated into the CII Equality Strategy to ensure ‘business as usual' and the CII moving towards becoming a ‘best practice' organisation.
Liz Coyle, chartered vice president of the CII and chair of the CII Diversity Action Group, said: "The equality strategy is one of the marks of a professional and diverse organisation, prepared to take a good look at its operations, and in my view clearly demonstrates the CII's ambition in its move to be a ‘best practice' organisation.
"Respecting equality and diversity is key to the CII enabling its students, members and prospective members to access all the benefits which the CII has to offer."
