Meeting documents

1 THE ISSUE

1.1 The Equality Policy agreed by full Council on 17^th March 2005 is due for review as described in the minutes (Annex 2).

2 RECOMMENDATION

2.1 That the Council approves the policy as part of its Policy and Budget Framework.

2.2 Endorses the view that Elected Members be encouraged to participate in Equalities training.

3 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

3.1 None directly arising from this report.

4 THE REPORT

4.1 This policy will assist the Council in achieving almost all of its corporate priorities including by: ensuring legislative compliance, promoting individual and collective rights and responsibilities, developing equality of opportunity, promoting greater access to employment and services, developing customer access and identifying key areas for Council involvement in Equality best practice.

4.2 The revised Equal Opportunities Policy links into the Council's current Visions and Values. The Equal Opportunities Policy will be a living document that will be amended with Executive Member agreement as and when legislation is brought in/amended and best practice indicates necessary change.

4.3 The policy offers a frame work for the Council and its employees to work to. It covers the six legislative strands required as well as identifying a further five key areas.

4.4 All Local Authorities are assessed against the "Equality Standard for Local Government". Showing serious intent towards equality of opportunity will enable Bath & North East Somerset Council to progress through levels 1-5. Full details of these standards have been available at training sessions.

4.5 At a previous Overview & Scrutiny Panel, training for Elected Members was considered to be very important, particularly so for those Members undertaking regulatory functions and Member Champions. The panel suggested 18 monthly equality updates and that training is delivered to Members in existing structures such as Overview & Scrutiny panels, Committees etc. They also recommended that a variety of different training methods be on offer such as "on-line" packages to suit Elected Members' needs.

4.6 As requested, consideration has been given to the issue of how to achieve a greater mainstreaming of equalities throughout the Council. Achievement of targets related to equality of opportunity has become increasingly more important in the assessment of Councils' performance by the Audit Commission and therefore the role of the equalities team in helping achieve this is also becoming more prominent. As part of the current re-structuring within the Council it has therefore been decided to move the Team out of the Director of Social Services area and locate it within the remit of the Director of Support Services. This should allow the team to function alongside other support services such as HR which go into all service areas and reduce the belief (held by some) that equality of opportunity is "a Social Services issue". "Mainstreaming" is not a quick or easy process but it is believed that this move should assist the process.

5. RISK MANAGEMENT

5.1 The main risks in not having an agreed Equal Opportunities Policy are that the Council would be unable to meet our requirements under level one of the Equality Standard for Local Government and would put our services and the Council at risk of being in contravention of current legislation. The legal implications of not following the policy, thus legalisation, leave the Council open to legal challenge; this policy gives staff and members a framework in which to be aware of these issues. The Equalities Team have a risk register that outlines all of these risks for the Council.

6. RATIONALE

7. OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED

8. CONSULTATION