Agenda item

The Director of Corporate Services submits a report updating on the final draft of the corporate Equality Strategy and the accompanying action plan to support its delivery. The strategy will be adopted for the next four years and the action plan will be updated annually.

The Director of Corporate Services submitted a report updating on the final draft of the corporate Equality Strategy and the accompanying action plan to support its delivery. The strategy would be adopted for the next four years, and the action plan would be updated annually.

The Committee was recommended to comment on the draft Equality Strategy and the draft Equality Action Plan.

The Equalities Manager attended the meeting to assist with the discussion.

The Assistant City Mayor for Communities, Adult Learning, Jobs and Skills introduced the item and noted that:

• The strategy was reviewed every four years.  However, the last strategy had been extended until this point, in part due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
• The current strategy set the objectives for the next four years in relation to equality, diversity and inclusion.
• Whilst the strategy was being reviewed, an extensive period of engagement had been undertaken which was in three parts:
• Engagement with internal staff and officers to gain their view on various aspects of equality.
• Engagement with volunteer and community sector organisations to gain their input on how they felt on the strategy.
• Engagement with Councillors to gain their input on the strategy.
• The aim of the strategy was to embed and strengthen good equality practices across the Council and to support Council services to assess the impact of any changes.
• This was a corporate strategy, focussing specifically on how the Council could build its work around equality, diversity and inclusion, including communities having a diverse and inclusive workforce.
• This work was focussed on what the Council did as an organisation.  Members were reminded that this was a corporate strategy, and it was not intended to fully capture all aspects of the Council’s work.
• There are different areas of work where equality needs to be addressed and as such had their own strategies.  Examples cited were the cost-of-living crisis, community cohesion and child poverty initiatives. 
• Each sector and division had their own strategies.  However, they worked together to address inequalities within individual strategies plans and policies.
• The strategy being presented would help to underpin how the Council as an employer met its legal duties in relation to the Equality Act 2010.
• The strategy built on work carried out previously.  It had a more direct approach compared to previous strategies and aimed to be as realistic as possible.
• The action plan had aimed to be measurable in terms of progress and in terms of what was working and what required further work.  From this, necessary changes could be identified in order to achieve objectives.  Members would be kept up to date with progress.
• A key area of work concerned carers and children in care.  This was not a protected characteristic and as such could not be included as such.  However, it had been referenced in the action plan that the Council would be keen to look into this further. 

The Commission were invited to ask questions and make comments and the officers and the Assistant City Mayor for Communities, Adult Learning, Jobs and Skills to respond. Key points arising from the discussion included:

• In terms of care experience, this had not gone straight into the plan as it needed to be considered further.  However, this was something that could be quickly progressed.
• With regard to equity, there was still some way to go to achieve a full understanding of the concept.  However, there was confidence that the action plan and strategy were moving forward, and there was a lot in the action plan and strategy regarding the removal of barriers, which was key to this.  It was stated that the concept had been included in principle, but not in terminology that was well known and well regarded.
• Work on workforce representation was still ongoing and the next meeting of the task group would be in mid-September.  The issue was included in the action plan along with a number of sub-actions.  These included elements surrounding external recruitment and internal approaches to diversity in terms of areas of low representation and succession planning in terms of how people with certain characteristics could be upskilled to have a realistic chance of applying.
• In terms of inclusive language, it was important that correct pronouns were used for gender identity and that language that could cause offence, particularly for those with disabilities, was avoided.
• The issue of community cohesion was beyond the equality strategy and was being progressed under the portfolio of the Assistant City Mayor for Community Cohesion.  A key area on this would be engaging with different communities as it was important to understand the needs of different communities.  Various models of how this could be done were being looked at and progress had been made in developing appropriate networks.
• In terms of ensuring that services that were moved online were inclusive, an embedded approach was important and there were separate actions included for this.
• In terms of the diversity of the workforce, statistics would be shared at the presentation provided to the informal scrutiny meeting in September. 
• Separate information regarding community feedback could be shared with members of the Commission.
• In terms of lived experience, this was a strong element compared to the previous action plan.  It was a challenging element to change immediately as it needed to be identified as to who to speak to, although it was also aimed to strengthen this over the coming years.
• The elements of racial literacy in the strategy were corporate and were separate to those conducted in schools.  An element of racial literacy had arisen from a programme of work around Black Lives Matter, and it was important not to lose this element.  It was aimed to specify as to how this could be achieved in the action plan.
• Institutional racism was difficult to measure as it was relatively subjective.  Measurable change around equity and equal opportunities was being sought in the strategy.
• Regarding the ‘Women Talking City Listening’ scheme, much of this work was taken by Neighbourhood Services Scrutiny Commission and a number of actions had arisen from it, particularly regarding community safety and lighting in areas where women may walk at night as well as positive actions to support shift-workers such as nurses.  These were put into specific and separate action plans. 
• In response to a query regarding ensuring that the strategy was not tokenistic, it was clarified that when this was mentioned, it was specifically in relation to the recognition of carers and children in care.
• In response to a question around what elements within the action plan were and were not working, it was confirmed that the Action Plan was a working document and it was aimed to measure success after it had been implemented over a length of time to ensure that targets were met and progress was made.  The plan had been set based on the information available and success could be measured over time once it was implemented.
• In terms of the document looking outwards as well as inward, it was stated that it was not just inward-looking as it reflected considerable lived experience to help shape future service delivery.  It was necessary to have a direct strategy for this rather than being treated as an add-on. 
• In response to concern raised that the strategy was too broad and needed to focus on certain aspects, it was clarified that there were four key aims which had various actions.  It was not suggested that all actions would occur at the same time, and a plan was needed that was measurable and achievable.
• Hate crime was not a part of this strategy and was managed separately.  However, if patterns emerged, it would be necessary to consider more centrally as part of this work. 
• Scrutiny Chairs were reminded that specific service area plans could go to other Scrutiny Commissions as they are developed. 
• The strategy would go to Full Council for decision.
• Councillor March recommended that the Committee engage with wider groups in order to open wider communication. This motion was seconded by Councillor Dawood and carried. 

AGREED

1)    That the report be noted.

2)    That comments made by members of this commission to be taken into account by the lead officers and Executive lead member. 

3)    That other groups be engaged with in order to open wider communication.

4)    That information regarding community feedback could be shared with members of the Commission.