I am writing in response to your Freedom of Information request dated 3 November 2015 in which you asked for information held by PHSO about protected characteristics, specifically about the number of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) and Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) customers accessing our complaints service.
As explained in my response to you on 2 October 2015, our policies, procedures and guidance are implemented in line with the Equality Act 2010 since came into force on 1 October 2010.
We would not make a distinction of a customer’s age, marriage or civil partnership status, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation when they access our complaints service. However we do take into account the customer’s gender to register their complaint, and any disabilities they may have in case of any reasonable adjustments they require. For reference I attach my last response to you regarding the reasonable adjustments we make for our customers.
In line with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 I can confirm we do hold some BME related data falling within the scope of your request, however we do not data regarding sexual orientation.