Contact: Jane Goodwin - 01962 813847; e.mail [email protected]

1. Introduction

1.1 This report intends to inform Cabinet of the outcome of the best value Review of Equality and Diversity; the review of the Race Equality Scheme and the annual assessment of the Council's performance against the Equality Standard for Local Government.

1.2 The report also advises Cabinet of actions required to achieve continued improvement to ensure that the Council meets statutory requirements on human rights, race, age, sexual orientation, gender, disability and religion as well as continued progress towards level 3 of the Equality Standard.

2. National developments

2.1 The statutory and enforcement framework relating to equality and diversity continues to develop. It is very clear that the Government is expecting local authorities to take an even stronger lead to outlaw discrimination and bring about greater community cohesion.

2.2 The Bill to amend the Disability Discrimination Act (1995) received Royal Assent on the 7^th April and this will place a duty on public bodies to promote Disability Equality. This duty is similar to the Race Equality duty and public bodies will be required to produce a Disability Equality Scheme. The draft code of practice states that a key element will be evidence of the participation of disabled people, customers and staff, in the development of the scheme. Consultation on the code ended on 22^nd April and a response from the County Council has been sent. The key points relate to the importance of joining up with existing performance measures e.g. the Equality Standard and the impact on schools who will be expected to produce a disability scheme.

2.3 By 2006 there will be a similar duty in terms of Gender Equality but details are yet to be published. Also in 2006 it will be unlawful to discriminate against a person because of age. This will relate to employment and training and again details are yet to be published.

2.4 The revised Corporate Performance Assessment (CPA) has user focus and diversity as a key element which is reflected throughout the key lines of enquiry. It specifies that the assessment will look at how an authority fulfils it's statutory duties. Further details can be found in the outcome report of the Equality and Diversity Review which was presented to Policy and Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 11^th April 2005. The diversity manager of the Audit Commission has made it very clear that an authority who is not meeting the performance criteria on diversity is highly unlikely to be rated good or excellent.

2.5 The Commission for Racial Equality(CRE) has also been directed by Government to focus on it's enforcement role and consequently has actively been screening public bodies for their compliance with the specific duties under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act. Over 50 public bodies have been informed by the CRE that they have not complied with the race equality duty and are therefore likely to be served compliance notices. Further details can be found in the outcome report of the Race Equality Scheme Review which was presented to the Corporate Management Team on 4^th May 2005.

2.6 In light of these developments the Equality and Diversity Improvement Plan (appendix 1) has focussed action on the current and anticipated changes.

3. Equality and Diversity Review

3.1 The final report was presented to Policy and Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 11^th April 2005. Member debate focused on the need for compulsory staff training and further projects to be undertaken to engage ethnic minority communities. The report was agreed and Councillors A.R Ludlow and Mrs PA West will be involved in overseeing the implementation of the improvement plan.

3.2 Throughout the review the issue of resources was considered. Any progress made within the Council has been as a result of a dedicated group of staff who undertake this work in addition to their regular work. The agreed option for delivery was to continue to work in this way as it is likely to be more effective than an increased central resource. In order for this approach to continue to be effective Chief Officers have agreed to ensure that officers with responsibility for equality and diversity have sufficient time and authority to act.

3.3 The main areas of the Improvement Plan focus on:

_ Development of a more robust and challenging approach to enable leaders i.e. Chief Officers and Elected Members, to set the direction and manage performance. Cabinet are advised to consider the role of the existing Disability Discrimination Act Panel and whether there may be an option to merge this with the Equality Strategic Action Group to form a Member Officer group with revised terms of reference.

_ A project based approach to delivering actions

_ Ensure adequate funds available to support effective outcomes of projects.

_ An internal and external communications programme.

_ Better use of e.solutions

_ Continued focus on equality & diversity training

_ Develop staff and user reference groups to ensure their perspective is reflected in service improvement.

4. Review of the Race Equality Scheme

4.1 In line with statutory duties this review took place alongside the equality and diversity review and the findings have influenced the improvement plan (appendix 1). There is clearly some targeted action to be taken particularly in relation to assessment of functions. Following discussions with Chief Officers a more detailed action plan will be developed by expanding outcome 1b of the improvement plan.

4.2 In response to the messages received from the CRE's recent activity in Hampshire, Chief Officers have agreed that the Race Policy Adviser (Social Services) be charged with taking corporate responsibility for race issues including the Race Equality Scheme. This will enable the Equality and Diversity Manager to focus on developing the Disability Equality Scheme alongside the overall corporate equality plan and response to the CPA.

5. Performance against the Equality Standard for Local Government

5.1 During the past year the Equality Strategic Action group has been involved with the review in addition to departmental activity. This is a corporate wide assessment and has contributed to the consolidation of level 2.

5.2 Departmental activity has focussed on implementing the requirement for race and equality impact assessment and staff training. The Corporate Management Team and Cabinet have been involved in this activity. Training has been delivered to each department and Elected Members and the staff who have been involved are developing a clearer understanding of how the process can inform and improve service delivery. It is also clear that the outcome of the impact assessments will provide the basis for departmental and corporate equality action plans. Continued focus on this is one of the main requirements for achieving level 3 of the Equality Standard.

5.3 At the annual equality and diversity seminar the final reports from the two reviews were shared with staff involved in departmental equality groups. It also provided a stimulating learning opportunity which considered issues for the Traveller and Gypsy population in Hampshire. The revised Race Equality Scheme will include a section on responding to the needs of these communities.

5.4 Departmental progress reports were presented to an Equality Strategic Action Group meeting on 22^nd April 2005. This confirmed that the County Council has consolidated its work to achieve level 2 of the Equality Standard.

5.5 Actions required to achieve level 3 of the Equality Standard by March 2006:

_ Implementation of the equality and diversity improvement plan

_ Revised Race Scheme for consultation and final version published by March 2006

_ External validation of performance February 2006

6. Employment and Training

6.1 The restructure of the Human Resources Department has enabled a coordinated approach.

6.2 A `Monitoring Equality in Employment' report has been developed by the Business Support Centre. This presents information taken from the SAP system which gives a range of data relating to staff. The reporting requirements are determined by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act and , in line with the Equality Standard, data has also been reported in relation to disability and gender. This report will be presented in detail to CMT and Cabinet alongside the HR plans where each department is expected to identify actions to be taken to improve the diversity of staff profiles. In accordance with statutory requirements this data will be published on the public web site by the end of May.

6.3 The HR Resourcing Centre is currently developing a range of initiatives that will support departments to attract applicants from more diverse backgrounds.

6.4 The HR Employment Practice Centre is reviewing and developing policies that will ensure the Council meets its statutory duty under the range of equality laws. One of the aims of the Remuneration and Benefit project is to ensure that the pay system complies with the Equal Pay Act. Staff development is also taking place to ensure that all staff have the competence to respond to employment related diversity issues e.g. A project is underway to develop a set of policy guidance on `reasonable adjustments' for disabled staff.

6.5 Hampshire Learning Centre has employed a diversity learning consultant on a one year project to work with departments initially to focus on training for race and equality impact assessment, designing a suite of corporate courses and assisting departments to identify equality and diversity training needs. An e.learning course has been developed and departments have agreed to develop an effective plan to ensure that all staff complete the course as soon as possible. A similar approach is advised for Elected Member induction.

6.6 Staff training is key requirement of all equality legislation and, as reported last year, the Council is required to show evidence that this training has taken place for all staff. This work has started and CMT has agreed to continue this support by making it a mandatory requirement that all staff and Members take part in equality learning activity appropriate to their role. To maintain momentum on this it has also been agreed that the diversity learning post be made permanent.

7. Potential risk of non compliance

7.1 It has been shown clearly this past year through the experiences of another public body in the County that if the Council were to delay action on equality and diversity there would be a number of risks:-

Financial: the potential costs of Employment Tribunal or Civil Court claims even where the Council is successful in settlement before a hearing.

Reputation: Adverse publicity that will follow any complaint or claim

Performance

Assessment: It has been made very clear by the Audit Commission that retention of `Excellent' status is likely to be challenging and activity on diversity will be a key element of Corporate Performance Assessment

8. Recommendations

Cabinet are asked to:

1. Agree the actions identified in the Equality and Diversity Improvement Plan

2. Endorse the recommendations of the Race Equality Scheme Review

3. Continue their support for equality and diversity issues through ensuring that all Members are trained to understand their role

4. Ensure that a member of Cabinet be identified as Diversity Champion

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose 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 this report.

The Equality Standard for Local Government

The Code Of Practice (Race Relations Amendment Act)

Best Value Performance Indicators - Guidance from the Audit Commission

N.B. the list excludes:

1. Published works

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

Race and Equality Impact Assessment

The purpose of the Equality and Diversity Review and the Race Scheme Review was to assess performance. This function has a high impact on Race and Equality in its widest sense. Differential impact has been identified particularly for some groups and actions to address this have been included the improvement plan and will also be addressed through the revised Race Scheme to be developed during 2005.

Further details will be made available on the revised equality and diversity web pages, until that time the full report is available from Jane Goodwin or Mohammed Mossadaq.