Under the public sector Equality Duty, trusts will be required to produce equality objectives for their organisation with effect from April 2012.
The guidance from the Government is that trusts will not be required to produce equality schemes, although it does also recognise that this has been a useful device for many organisations see page 16 of the Equality and Human Rights Commission guidance Equality objectives and the equality duty: a guide for public authorities.
The Government is consulting on the precise requirements and timings for this area. We will advise you on the outcome of this policy review as soon as we know, see our equality duty web page for more details about the policy review and our submission.