PSO 2800 - Inside Time

PSO 2800 Annexes – Page 42Good PracticeWorking with external communities is about working together and helping each other with the delivery ofbusiness.It is important to select community groups who are adequately skilled in race equality matters. PSO 4190 onVoluntary Organisations is a helpful tool on how to make the most of the links that have been made.The purpose of consultationThe purpose of consultation is to consult people from all racial groups to take their views into account whendeveloping various policy options.For reviews conducted at Prison Service Headquarters this would normally take the shape of afunction or policy review. In these cases, ideally, consultation should start at the beginning of anyfunction/ policy review or development; it should not be seen merely as a validation exercise at theend of the process. For establishments, this will usually be about finding out if the way functions,policies and practices have been implemented are having a negative impact, which will includecommon practices not necessarily covered by Prison Service policy. It is, therefore, important for youto establish at an early stage the purpose of the consultation exercise.Examples of questions to ask:When impact assessing functions and activities, or the way a particular function or activity is being carried out,establishments may also wish to consider the following:could the way a function, policy or activity is carried out put some racial groups at a disadvantage?could the way a function, policy or activity is carried out have an adverse impact on relations betweendifferent racial groups?if an adverse impact is indicated, is there some way that it could have been avoided? Could it beconsidered to be unlawful racial discrimination? Can it be justified by the aims and importance of thefunction, policy or activity, or are there other ways in which the same aims can be achieved withoutcausing an adverse impact on some racial groups?could the adverse impact be reduced in some way?is there something about the way the national policy is written that is causing adverse impact locally? Isconsultation necessary with the Prison Service Headquarters/NOMS policy group responsible fordeveloping the policy?Methods of consultationThere are many different ways of consulting other than the usual paper based methods. Someexamples include:consultation meetings;focus groups (see Annex B for guidance on Focus Groups);interviews;Issue No. 264 issue date 25/09/06