Meeting documents

1 THE ISSUE

1.1 A new Corporate Equality Commitment and consequent Equal Opportunities Policy has been written to take into account new legislation. This one policy will replace a range of existing and draft policies that are currently in existence across the Council.

2 RECOMMENDATION

2.1 Endorses the corporate Equality Commitment and Equal Opportunities Policy and recommends it to Council for adoption.

2.2 Request all Elected Members to participate in training on equalities issues.

3

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

3.1 The cost of training would be encompassed in the Corporate Member training budget.

3.2 Every part of the Council has a responsibility to comply with the legislative requirements within its existing services .

4 THE REPORT

4.1 The current policies are of varying standards and do not offer a coherent message across the Council they are not linked and can be confusing. Nor do these policies meet all of the requirements of current legislation.

4.2 The draft disability policy has never been implemented.

4.3 The new Equal Opportunities Policy links into the Councils current Visions and Values and the Equality Commitment 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.

4.4 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.

4.5 All Local authorities are now being assessed against a published "Equalities Standard" on a rising scale of 0-5. Showing serious intent towards equality of Opportunity by adopting a comprehensive policy will allow Bath & North East Somerset to progress to level 1. Further progress will depend on all service areas demonstrating progress against set measures. Full details of these standards will be available at training sessions.

4.6 The draft policy and feedback from consultation was shared at a meeting of the Overview & Scrutiny Panel. Training for elected Members was considered to be very important and in particular those Members undertaking regulatory functions. The panel suggested 18 monthly updates and felt that training delivered to Members in existing structures such as Overview & Scrutiny panels, Committees could be a way forward. They also recommended that a variety of different training methods be on offer such as "on-line" packages to suit the variety of Member needs.

5 RISK MANAGEMENT

5.1 The main risks are in not agreeing to endorse a Commitment and Policy where we would be unable to meet our requirements under level one of the Equality Standard for Local Government and would be putting our services at risk of being in contravention of current legislation.

6 RATIONALE

6.1 The policy brings the Council in line with the level one of the Equality Standard for Local Government and current legislation and supports its employees and members in understanding their responsibilities around equalities issues. It offers a clear and central point of information and explanation.

7 OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED

7.1 None

8 CONSULTATION

8.1 This policy has been widely consulted on both internally and externally to the Council. Member Champions, Town and Parish Councils, Unions and internal Council mechanisms have been utilised as well as with the Local business, community, voluntary and statutory partners.

8.2 The draft policy was considered at a meeting of the Corporate Issues & Partnerships Overview & Scrutiny Panel on 29th July 2004.