Archived decisions

Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority

Personnel Committee Item 8

12 September 2003

Equality, Fairness and Dignity - Progress Report

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Contact: Shanti Waas, Equal Opportunities Adviser - 023 8064 4000 ext 5340

1

Summary

1.1

As members of the HFRA are already aware, the Service is required to meet a number of statutory and other requirements under equality, fairness and dignity. Most recently, the new Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 has placed further obligations on the Service.

1.2

This has meant that most, if not all, Fire Services in the UK have had to review their equality strategies and policies. In response, HFRS has developed its own Race Equality Scheme and this is underpinned by our top level timelines on Diversity, Equality and Fairness that includes a new policy framework for Equality, Fairness and Dignity.

1.3

Members will be pleased to note that the Service has made genuine progress in an area that can be best described as challenging, high profile and long- term in nature.

1.4

This report provides members of the Authority with a summary of the progress made in the last twelve months in respect of the Service's equality, fairness and dignity action programme. Appendix A to this report provides the detailed action points.

2

Equality, Fairness and Dignity- Implications for HFRS

2.1

The expectations now placed on public bodies including Fire Authorities in relation to equality, fairness and dignity has grown exponentially in recent years. This is the result of a number of legislative drivers and more specific fire service reviews. The current main equality drivers are outlined below:

· Legislation - Race, Gender and Disability

· Her Majesty's Inspectorate - Thematic Review on Equality in The Fire Service

· Office Of the Deputy Prime Minister (previously DTLR) Equal Opportunities Task Group (EOTG) - Towards Diversity 2 Equal Opportunities Action Plan

· Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000

· Local Government Standards for Equality

2.2

Many of the same issues are reinforced by the recent Fire Service White Paper.

2.3

A number of recurring themes run through the above drivers, particularly the need to have a robust Equality, Fairness and Dignity Policy. As a result HFRS's Fairness and Dignity Service Order (SO/1/6/2) was revised last year to meet this expectation.

2.4

Furthermore there is a requirement that committed and strong leadership not only embrace the core values of equality and diversity but also is seen to positively drive it forward. It is this which will ultimately gain commitment at all levels of the Service.

2.5

Both the Thematic Review and the EOTG action plan strongly signal that Fire Services should embed certain principles into the ethos and culture of the Service through policy and practice. These are:

· All communities should be involved in the Service

· The Service should have a team culture that is open and inclusive at all times, at all levels

· All forms of harassment and bullying are unacceptable

· Culture should be based on trust not fear

· In service delivery, all members of the community are treated with equal fairness and respect - irrespective of race, nationality, ethnic or national origins, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability

· The Service work towards improving the representation of women and people from minority ethnic backgrounds in its workforce.

2.6

Finally all the external drivers are emphatic about the local public service provider aspect, which carries the responsibility, and now a duty, under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act to communicate with and involve all sections of the community in order to better understand their needs.

2.7

It is important to recall that, notwithstanding the requirement to meet HFRS's legal obligations and to fulfil our moral responsibility, there is a proven business case. Recent experience shows that engaging sections of the community not only attracts potential recruits but achieves a much more effective communications penetration. This is particularly vital both in terms of community safety messages but also for educating community groups on the implications of our Integrated Risk Management plans.

2.8

Therefore it is imperative that the Authority supports its equality agenda through a programme of bridge building with our under-represented communities since meaningful engagement ultimately improves the quality and delivery of our services.

3

The Service Approach

3.1

The Service approach has been to recognise that there is a lot of work to be done to meet the Equality agenda and that it cannot achieve the status of true equality of opportunity overnight. Rather there needs to be a long-term investment through a programme of prioritised actions.

3.2

Additionally, the organisation now has a positive duty to promote equality of opportunity within the Service and has to demonstrate how it intends to meet this duty through a published Race Equality Scheme. This is currently in a draft pending endorsement by the Service Management Team.

3.3

Therefore the Services' strategy has thus far been to prioritise its actions under each of its obligations and place them within a dedicated action plan(s).In order to keep corporate consistency and ensure co-ordination across functions the plans have been worked specifically into the key tasks entitled `Current Legislation' and `HFRS Race Equality Scheme (RES)'. Although some actions are a requirement of more than one piece of legislation for simplicity and clarity they are combined into a single action plan.

3.4

The progress made so far under the Personnel Timelines and the Race Equality Scheme is appended to this report at Appendix A.

3.5

In conclusion, whilst the Authority has a massive task ahead and has made good progress, ultimate success is dependent on corporate level support by Members and Officers and the ownership of the ethos by all in the Service.

4

European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998

4.1

The proposals within this report are compatible with the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998 and considered in the light of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000.

Recommendation

1

That Members of the Committee note the progress to date and endorse the approach taken.

Section 100D - Local Government Act 1972 - Background Papers

The following documents disclose the facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of the report.

(Note: Insert here either the details of the background papers used or type the word `None' if no background papers used - Delete this paragraph)

Note: The list excludes:

(1) Published works

(2) Documents that disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act

cehC/H/Equality

2 September 2003

Appendix A

EQUALITY, FAIRNESS AND DIGNITY PROGRESS REPORT

This appendix provides a summary of HFRS's progress in respect of its Equality, Fairness and Dignity action programme over the last twelve months. The detailed action points are set out under the headings of Personnel Timelines, The EOTG Towards Diversity 2 -Equal Opportunities Action Plan and the Race Equality Scheme (RES).

PERSONNEL TIMELINES

The timelines for Equality, Fairness and Dignity sets out the personnel functions' prioritised actions over a 12 month period covering 4 objectives:

Positive Action

Training

Equality Legislation

Towards Diversity

POSITIVE ACTION

Taking positive action is integral to our long term goal in making the Services' workforce reflective of the diverse community it serves and in ensuring that the services we provide are equally accessible to all our communities.

HFRS currently supports a number of on-going positive action initiatives and include the following:

Emergency and Uniformed Services Access Course

This is run by Southampton City College with support from HFRS, Hampshire Police, The Ambulance Service, Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the Prison Service (Winchester). The course is primarily aimed at women and people from minority ethnic groups. The access course is designed to prepare potential applicants for entry into these services. The course has now been running for two years and will start its third year in October of this year.

`Have a Go Days'

These events are designed to offer potential recruits from our under-represented groups to find out more about a fire-fighting career and to try out some of the physical tests candidates have to undergo on a recruitment day. `Have a go days' are programmed to happen six weeks prior to a recruitment day. The event held in March 2003 was very successful and attracted a total of 74 people, which included 23 females and 13 people from minority ethnic backgrounds. The feed back from the participants were very positive with requests for more such events.

HFRS Career Information Video/CD

The career information video, which was shown to members of the HFRA earlier this year is in the process of being distributed to careers offices, schools, FE and HE institutions, community organisations and community projects across Hampshire. The feedback so far has been very positive and the service is confident that this video used in conjunction with all the other positive action initiatives will further increase interest from our targets groups.

Other Initiatives

The Service through its Equal Opportunities Adviser, Recruitment team and black and minority ethnic and women firefighters regularly attend careers events, pay visits to community organisations and places of religious worship and educational establishments to give advice and information on career opportunities and fire safety.

TRAINING

The need for the delivery of good quality equality, fairness and dignity training, particularly in the area of bullying and harassment and cultural and religious awareness, is a theme that is common to all the external equality drivers.

As a matter of fact, the issue of fairness and dignity training, in particular who in the service delivered the training was identified very early in 2001 as a priority action area for the Service. This was based on the feedback received from employees who on the whole felt intimidated, fearful and threatened by the content and the style of delivery of the Services' previous fairness and dignity training programme.

In response, the Service in collaboration with the representative bodies developed 30 volunteer trainers to deliver its equality, fairness and dignity related training. These trainers have undergone a Training the Trainer course and as such are qualified to deliver the Services' current bullying and harassment training programme.

All our retained fire fighters have received training in how to deal with bullying and harassment in the work place. Training for staff at SHQ is near completion. Training for W/T fire station personnel are expected to commence in October 2003.

Members of the Service Management Team have attended this training including most members of the Authority. And those members who were unable to attend the scheduled sessions will be offered further opportunities to attend.

The feedback from the participants so far has been positive.

EQUALITY LEGISLATION

HFRS's commitment to creating and maintaining an environment consistent with equality, fairness and dignity for its employees and service recipients was set in the policy document `Fairness and Dignity at Work' (SO/1/6/2). However, since the adoption of this policy in 1999, the Service has had to respond to an increasing number of statutory and other demands under equality.

Therefore, the response to these changes and as well as the Service Management Teams decision to take a strategic approach to the delivery of equality, fairness and dignity in the Service, has resulted in the following:

Fairness and Dignity Policy - Service Order 1/6/2

This Service Order has been revised to not only reflect the new obligations placed on the Service, but also to set out clearly the scope of the policy and how it should be implemented.

HFRS Code of Practice on the Employment and Retention of People with Disabilities

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 outlaws discrimination on the Grounds of disability and requires employers to make reasonable adjustments where working arrangements and physical features place a disabled employee at a substantial disadvantage.

A Code of Practice setting out the Services' intentions in meeting its legal obligations have been produced and will be appended to the Fairness and Dignity Service Order 1/6/2.

HFRS Local Diversity Group

This group was set in February of this year to support, monitor and review the implementation of the Fairness and Dignity Service Order. The group comprises of senior managers from each of the Service functions, members from each of the representative bodies, the Equal Opportunities Adviser and an external Community Representative from the Ethnic Pride Project in Portsmouth. The Diversity Group will submit regular reports to the SMT.

TOWARDS DIVERSITY

Progress under this heading is covered below under the title `Towards Diversity 2'

Towards Diversity 2 - Equal Opportunities Action Plan

This action plan was developed by the Equal Opportunities Task Group (EOTG) of the Central Fire Brigades Advisory Council for England and Wales as a follow up to the first action plan- `Towards Diversity, 'and presented to the UK fire services for action last year. Towards diversity 2 action plan in fact has carried forward many of the actions from its predecessor because the EOTG felt that most Brigades needed to build on the progress already achieved.

The `Towards Diversity 2' action plan covers five objectives under the headings of Leadership; Culture and Diversity, Surveys and Audits; Policy, Provision, Training and Development; Recruitment and Retention and National Initiatives.

HFRS is addressing all these objectives through its Personnel Timelines Frame (2.1 above) and the Race Equality Scheme except the National Initiatives Objective, for which we are still awaiting guidance from the EOTG. The progress made in respect of these objectives are summarised below.

Although HFRS has implemented the required actions under the leadership objective, it recognises that the continuation of the leadership agenda is vital to the achievement of its equality goals and its ability to respond to new demands. Actions under the leadership objective will therefore feature as an on-going activity within the Services' personnel timelines programme.

So far, the Service can demonstrate the following:

· CFO statement of core values and commitment to Equality, Fairness and Dignity

· Equality, Fairness and Dignity is a core function of the Service - Local Diversity Group established to monitor progress. (2.2 above)

· Implementation of Equality, Fairness and Dignity Action Plan

· Use of minority role models in training, seminars and recruitment and positive action events.

· An on-going positive action programme

Under the objective of Culture and Diversity, Surveys and Audits, the Service has carried out the following:

· The Service has established a programme of surveys under best value to monitor the feelings and attitudes of the local community.

· Last survey carried out in 2001. Next survey due to be done in 2004.

· The service has set up links with a number of community organisations across the county and uses these links to promote recruitment, positive action events and community fire safety initiatives

· Under the objective of Policy, Provision, Training and Development the Service can demonstrate the following:

    · A bullying and harassment training programme in place. (see 1 (b) above)

    · Training programme for managers to recognise bullying and harassment is covered in the above training programme and a separate training programme on how to deal with such situations is in place. A number of managers have already attended a conflict resolution training programme.

    · Core values and issues of diversity are included in the induction for new employees and in the trainee fire-fighter training module. Equality and diversity issues cut across the new IPDS programme.

    · Work life balance policy is currently being developed

    · A mentoring scheme to provide support for women and people from minority ethnic backgrounds is in the process of development- this programme is about supporting the better retention of personnel from these backgrounds.

Under the objective of Recruitment and Retention the Service has the following in place:

· Selection tests are closely monitored to ensure non- discrimination

· The Service is currently piloting a rolling recruitment programme on behalf of the South East region CACFOA.

· An on-going positive action programme

· A refresher training programme for all those involved in recruitment and selection to commence next year.

· The Service is on the ODPM list to pilot the national fire-fighter point of entry selection tests

· Exit interviews for employees leaving the Service

HFRS RACE EQUALITY SCHEME (RES)

The Race Relations(Amendment) Act 2000 has imposed an additional positive duty on public Authorities to promote race equality and demonstrate how it intends to do this in the form of an action plan (RES). This is different to any other action plan in that it requires us to examine everything we do and make an assessment of their impact on racial/ethnic minorities and then to identify actions over a three-year period designed to promote race equality within the Service.

The Service is already taking a number of actions and these are outlined under the following service areas:

Fire Safety

To provide information in the common minority ethnic languages.

To provide fire prevention advice

Community Fire Safety

Review previous years fire death/injury statistics

Review community fire safety materials

Operations - Control

Considering a programme of cultural awareness

Input into Emergency and Uniformed Services

Access Course

Training and Education - Training Centre

Participate in the Services positive action programme.

Training Dept

Develop race and cultural awareness training programme

Personnel

Recruitment publicity campaigns- Local radio, advertising in minority press and accessing the local community organisation network

Open days for under- represented groups

Visits to educational establishments, community groups

Monitor recruitment and selection

Set up Minority ethnic focus group in Eastleigh

Training for mangers in conflict resolution

Monitoring systems for complaints/ Disciplinary and Grievance

cehC/H/Equality

2 September 2003