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Describes the approach taken by Merton Library and Heritage Service, part of the London Borough of Merton, to address equalities in a meaningful way. It examines aspects of service delivery and the changing staffing structure. Without appropriate structures and policies to address equality matters, no fundamental change, required for the creation of a service based on principles of social justice, can occur. The underlying vision and philosophy are examined. It has been written for use within the service and to inform others of the successes and failures to date. Based on the experience of the process of change to date, a list is provided of key requirements for creating a service based on principles of equality.

Equality and diversity are generally positioned as special interests, marginal to the mainstream of social policy teaching and learning. The purpose of this paper is to make the case for shifting equality and diversity out of the margins and into the centre of education for mid career public managers, and offers practical methods for doing so.

The current EU policy framework requires public services to go beyond eliminating discrimination, and to promote equality. The paper suggests that while this offers great opportunities for advancing the cause of social justice, the cultures that predominate in public policy may lead to loss and failure. Academic research and experience demonstrate that these changes are highly complex, touching on issues that are integral to our sense of who we are, and how we relate to each other as educators and students, and as enforcers, beneficiaries and implementers of these policies. The paper touches on deeply held emotions, showing that more exploration of appropriate pedagogical methods is needed.

The paper finds that only by raising issues of equality and diversity to mainstream social policy teaching and learning is there likely to be a shift in thinking and commitment that will encourage integration of equality measures within management and leadership of public.

The paper offers three dimensions of pedagogy for enabling public service managers to engage with diversity and the equality agenda within educational contexts, and offers three illustrations of pedagogic processes that support this learning.

Social policy in the UK has subsumed race inequality into a wider framework of inequalities, managing diversity and social exclusion. However, the David Bennett Inquiry and the Race Relations Amendment Act (2000) have placed ‘race’ firmly back onto the policy agenda, particularly within mental health services. In response to the Inquiry and as part of a wider strategy, the Department of Health has set out proposals to improve mental health services to black and minority ethnic (BME) communities. Although there is a long history of race equality training to address race inequality in public services in the UK, the definition and effectiveness of race equality training remains unclear.This paper presents an overview of approaches to training in the UK, the evidence of effectiveness and explores whether cultural competency is an appropriate and adequate framework to address race inequality.

The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the Achieving Age Equality Toolkit, to give the background to its development, and to advise readers of the ways in which it has already been successful in the health and social care arena.

The subject of this paper is the ban on age discrimination in goods and services that came into force on 1 October 2012. The objectives of the paper are achieved by setting out the policy context, and by detailing how the age equality recommendations were made through an independent review.

Older people have different experiences of health and social care services, but most want to be able to access support when they need it. Age as a barrier to treatment and screening in areas such as mental health and cancer continue to give cause for concern. Organisations need to ensure they are working in an “age equal” way across services.

Implications for further research could include an assessment of the extent of “institutional ageism” in services after the ban on age discrimination in goods and services on 1 October 2012.

The article illustrates through case studies how use of the toolkit enables one organisation to better identify where changes are needed towards embedding anti age discrimination practice.

As well as obeying legal requirements, ending age discrimination in health and social care requires a change in hearts and minds towards encouraging society to think differently about the ways in which older people are supported by health and social care services.

Since the review, there have been repeated cases of age discrimination in goods and services, illustrating the need for change.

This article examines if there is evidence of racial or gender bias in email reference services in American public and academic libraries.

Using a two-by-two study design and an unobtrusive data collection, the authors conducted two studies in which the authors sent 1,960 email requests to 505 academic and public libraries. Requests in both studies differed in the perceived identity of the user as indicated by their name, and the counterbalanced method was utilized to control for intervening variables. Based on content analysis of the responses, the authors examined the statistical significance of the differences by race, gender and race by gender.

Overall, the authors found equitable service to users regardless of their race and gender; at times, however, there was evidence of favorable service to the White female in academic and public libraries and to the Black male in academic libraries.

There is little research into potential bias in email reference services in both academic and public libraries in the United States of America. Yet, following the rise of the Black Lives Matter Movement in 2020, there has been an increased focus on racial equality in library services and the American Library Association (ALA) Code of Ethics was modified accordingly. The authors' study makes significant contributions to the increasing body of research on racial and gender equality in online library services.

Draws upon recent legislative changes to Wales to provide new evidence and understanding of the way in which government reforms in the UK have impacted upon the promotion of equality of opportunity at government level. Analyses the problems and challenges that this new legislative duty presents for the elected representatives and bureaucrats as well as the civil groups it was designed to help. Points out a wider significance of these changes and engages the debate about the relationship between government, law and the promotion of equality.

To examine and account for an innovative project bid and delivery partnership by a fire and rescue service in an area (Eastern European migrant integration) usually thought to be beyond its remit. An interpretation of the findings will be based on public value theory.

The study examines three sets of conditions: national and local political and economic environments facilitating the grant bid and its success; a history of safety and safeguarding work by a specific fire and rescue service that made the bid plausible and leadership of the FRS in constructing both bid (for funding) and turning that into a delivery partnership. Methods included a focused analysis of existing academic work and government reports, observation of partnership meetings, interviews and a focus group.

That the success of the funding bid and delivery of objectives can be explained in terms of national government funding decisions relating to migrant integration; the recognition both locally and nationally that the specific FRS had the capacity, because of previous innovative partnership work, to manage all aspects of a sub-regional partnership; the ability of the FRS to manage the delivery of partnership objectives over a two year period; that the project realised a range of public value outcomes. It generated a range of public value outcomes. Individual managers took risks and worked ‘beyond authority’ but the partnership that they built and maintained was the principal entrepreneurial agent.

The findings may have implications for the reconfiguration of sub-regional public service delivery.

The chapter is a study of a successful innovative, fire and rescue service led public sector partnership creating public value outcomes.

The article is based on a study of the changes in the methods used in working with gender equality issues in management in Sweden from the early 1990s until the early 2000s.

The material consists of interviews with 20 people who work either as employees in organisations or as business owners/consultants in the field of increasing the numbers of women at executive levels. In the article, they are referred to as “equality professionals”.

The changes that have taken place may be described in two ways – partly changes in how the work is pursued within organisations, and partly through the work having moved to other arenas. When summarising the material, four overriding trends can be identified that characterise the changes in gender equality work: (1) a more radical understanding of gender equality among groups positive to change; (2) a professionalisation of gender equality work; (3) a shift from organisational projects to working with individuals; (4) a shift from organisational projects to influencing organisations from other public arenas.Research limitations/implications – Its focus on Sweden as well as its focus on a specific, quite small (20) group of people.

Useful and interesting for those working with gender equality, especially as Sweden is sometimes put forward as “the world's most gender equal country”.

The article has value because it shows the Swedish context as well as the longitudinal approach, i.e. that the study focuses on a 10‐year period (1993‐2002) and includes comparative material.

Contends that public service quality is necessarily a democratic concept. Because the public generally has no choice and/or is disempowered, dependent or excluded in relation to the services it is entitled to, quality, both in its technical and non‐technical dimensions, must be defined through bargaining. Different groups, including citizens and communities as well as individual consumers, need to be empowered to make their needs and desires known. For this, a new kind of organizational infrastructure and culture are needed. These look remarkably like those being developed in current models of decentralization. The key elements in both quality and decentralization are the three building blocks of front and back line (or centre), and, most importantly, the public. The service chain connects them. It is the maintenance of this chain which now needs to be the concern of front‐line managers, to sustain democracy and ensure a holistic and integrated response to need and quality development. Some recent research on decentralized managers reveals the kind of integrative, boundary‐crossing skills which will be relevant, indeed essential, in future quality developments.