Issue - meetings

The Public Sector Equality Duty 2011 requires the Local Authority to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between different people. The Equality Improvement Action Plan (EIP) sets out how Bath and North East Somerset Council is committed to maintaining a focus on equality, diversity and inclusion.

The EIP was considered on 26^th September 2022 by the Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel. Suggested amendments to the EIP format have been implemented.

The Council considered a report which set out the Equality Improvement Action Plan.

On a motion from Councillor Dine Romero, seconded by Councillor Karen Warrington it was unanimously

RESOLVED to

1.  Agree that the performance of the Council is measured against the highlighted performance indicators;

2.  Adopt the Equality Improvement Plan (EIP) as part of Council policy and practice; and

3.  Note that the Corporate Equality Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group is responsible for ensuring delivery on the EIP.

Cherry Bennett - Director of People and Policy - and Councillor Dine Romero - Cabinet Member for Children, Young People, Communities and Culture - introduced the item.

Panel members made the following points and asked the following questions:

Councillor Warrington congratulated the officers on the work and the report. She asked that another column be added to show moves between red/amber/green.

Councillor Davis mentioned the issue of access to schools regarding pavements outside of the school building. She has recently had a case where the issue had been with highways for 2 years. This must be considered in terms of school accessibility. Councillor Warrington asked that the Council be proactive in this type of situation. The Cabinet Member confirmed that the situation was quickly dealt with as soon as we were made aware. Samantha Jones, Inclusive Communities Manager, added that a post was being recruited for an accessibility officer regarding infrastructure changes and develoments, including new buildings (50m ring around the facility).

Councillor Hodge asked the following questions (Officer responses shown in italics):

·  It would be useful to have more information on targets met which needs quantifying initiatives/impacts. Performance Indicators are hard to develop. It is a challenge to produce KPIs that are data driven. The group is going to work on this as a high priority.

·  Why is financial reporting shown as red and what is the plan to improve? We always do an Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) as part of a budget report. We need to look at the cumulative impact rather than separate directorates. The EIA should be done before the decision making process on a budget.

·  Strategies around communication and access seem to focus on digital solutions, can we also consider non-digital solutions. We are working looking at a more community approach to consultation and also capturing verbal feedback at a familiar/accessible venue.

·  Why was the census data late? This is not a function of council reporting so we can only guess but we believe it is  partially due to Covid and also the system and processes being developed.

Councillor Duguid asked the following questions (Officer responses shown in italics):

·  How far has Covid put us back? A year or maybe more, it is very difficult to tell.

·  What is the staff monitoring process? The Performance Management process has moved away from an annual appraisal to more regular conversations. We now have the facility to capture information on a software platform and have done management training to support this. We also now have staff networks which can provide challenge.

Councillor Warrington asked about the networking groups and if they have equalities and inclusion embedded into their culture. She asked how people would convey their concerns. The officer explained that colleagues are able to share in the network groups and can raise issues with their line manager.  There is also a ‘reasonable adjustment’ panel; policies on domestic abuse; an Independent Advisory Group; Corporate Equalities Steering Group Board and also links with the Trade Unions.

Councillor  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21