Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority Item 13

Human Resources Committee

15/03/20058 September 2005

Error! Bookmark not defined.Report of the Fairness and Dignity Forum - 14 July 2005

Report by the Chief Officer

Contact: DCO Dave Curry Tel: 023 80 626 832 Email: [email protected]

1

Summary

This report summarises the content and the discussion held in the Fairness and Dignity Forum held at St Mary's Fire Station on Thursday 14 July 2005.

2

RecommendationError! Bookmark not defined.(s)

2.1

That the HR committee note the contents of the Report.

3

Introduction Error! Bookmark not defined.and Background

3.1

DCO Curry welcomed everyone to the meeting and informed the attendees of a change to the name of the Fairness and Dignity Committee Meeting. It had been agreed that from now on it would be known as the Fairness and Dignity Forum, as this better describes the discussions and informative debate held at the gathering.

3.2

DCO Dave Curry and introduced the guest speaker, Chief Inspector Karen Scipio from Hampshire Police Constabulary.

4

Guest Speaker

4.1

Chief Inspector Karen Scipio gave a very informative talk on fairness and diversity issues in the Police. She explained that Positive Action was targeting groups in under-represented groups of our community and levelling the playing field. She spoke about how the Service had dealt with various equalities issues and how they had benefited as a result, both internally and externally in the community. Karen explained the value of supporting black and ethnic minority people in the job by posting people of similar ethnicity together.

4.2

Various questions were raised from the floor :-

4.3

How do the Police monitor ethnicity at incidents?

Karen advised that a form has to be completed after every incident. She said that Officers either ask directly or make a judgment.

4.4

How is this data benefiting the service?

Karen said that most monitoring is Government driven.

4.5

How do the Police regard the Rank structure?

The Police will retain the Rank structure as it is important to maintain discipline and know who is in charge.

4.6

How has the programme recently aired on TV showing secret filming affected the Police?

Karen said it has been very embarrassing but the positive side is that it keeps diversity on the agenda. To get rid of the stigma, they are publicising what they do well. Good service delivery helps with public perception.

4.7

Who sits on the Police selection panel?

Karen said it was important to have black and ethnic minority personnel on the panel as they are better able to test applicants on diversity issues.

4.8

Do the Police have issues in the workplace between uniformed and non-uniformed staff?

Karen explained that this had been virtually eradicated as civilian staff are no longer in only the lower paid jobs and now work alongside high ranking Police Officers.

4.9

How do the Police deal with internal racial issues?

This would depend on what action the abused person wishes to take. The incident may be due to ignorance and can be resolved with training but if someone is guilty of blatant racism, the incident will go to a tribunal and be sacked. Karen said that the Police have procedures in place to stop victimisation against the person making the complaint.

4.10

DCO Curry thanked Karen for a very informative and useful debate. He said that the Fire Service shared a lot of common ground with the Police and we could learn a lot from their experiences.

5

Update from National Equalities Forum

5.1

DCO Curry advised that the National Equalities Forum were presently covering three key areas :-

· A Cultural Audit Questionnaire was being developed and would be sent to all staff in the autumn. This would enable the cultural feeling nationally to be monitored.

· Four principal Core Values had been signed up to nationally. They are :-

1. To value our people

2. Diversity

3. The Service provided to the public

4. Improvement of Services

and it was now being discussed how these will be implemented into Fire Services throughout the country

· European Leonardo funding project for Training of Equal Opportunity Trainers had been approved. This was a two year project involving 5 European Member States.

5.2

DCO Curry said that he had attended the Networking Women in the Fire Service Conference on 8 and 9 July and was pleased that 7 women from Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, both operational and non-operational, had attended. Over 300 women throughout the country had attended and it was pleasing to see how women support each other in a male dominated Service.

6

Equality and Diversity Workplace Training

6.1

DO Andy Kettle advised that training on equality and diversity continued and a new package had recently commenced, which covers the Service's legal responsibilities under the Race Relations Act, the Core Values and Positive Action .

6.2

He advised that an Awareness Session was taking place on 3 August and urged all Managers to attend.

7

Community Outreach Workers

7.1

DO Andy Kettle advised that three Community Outreach Workers were being appointed to assist networking in the community, as well as being involved in recruitment and selection. He said that Lud Ramsey had been seconded to one of the posts and would be working mainly in the north of the County. The others would be based at St Mary's, Southampton and Southsea, Portsmouth respectively and it was hoped they would be in post by September.

8

HFRS Race Equality Scheme

8.1

DO Andy Kettle advised that the Race Equality Scheme would shortly be sent out to all Managers and Stations and he encouraged people to read it. He pointed out that it contained an Action Plan covering the next three years and said that he and Shanti Waas were available to answer any questions.

9

Ethnicity

9.1

DO Andy Kettle advised that the Service was undertaking a data collection exercise on the ethnicity of the workforce in order to establish the ethnic profile of the Service. He explained that this information was necessary for the Service to measure performance and encouraged staff to complete the questionnaire.

10

Close of Meeting

10.1

DCO Curry thanked Karen for her informative and stimulating debate and the wider audience for their attendance and participation. The next meeting will be on 13 October 2005 at Andover Fire Station commencing at 1000 hours.

6

Contribution to Corporate Aims and Objectives

6.1

The Fairness and Dignity Forum, the discussion held and the issues that the Equality Team are progressing are providing a fundamental contribution to the achievement of the organisations aims and objectives

7

Risk Analysis

7.1

One of the key risks within the Corporate Risk Register at the moment is the need to develop diversity within the Service. The Fairness and Dignity Forum provides an opportunity for Managers, Frontline Staff and Members to openly debate equalities issues and inform the Equalities Team of the feelings and concerns towards current initiatives and ideas.

8

Resource Implications

8.1

There are no direct resource implications from the recommendations of the Report.

9

Equality Impact Assessment

9.1

Equality Impact Assessments are carried out on all new initiatives and ideas that maybe discussed at the Fairness and Dignity Forum. It was recognised however that there was still a need to widen the attendance to the Forum to include minority community representatives, which would develop the debate still further.

9.3

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

10

Consultation

10.1

Consultation has not been required for the contents of this Report however, the Fairness and Dignity Forum serves as a useful method of consulting a wider audience over development in the areas of Equalities and Diversity.

11

Conclusion

11.1

This Report details the contents of the Fairness and Dignity Forum on the 14 July 2005. The Forum was successful and the presentation encouraged meaningful debate. It became very clear that the Police are travelling the same path in terms of Equalities and Fairness and that in many areas we can learn a lot from their experience. A commitment was made at the end of the meeting to remain in contact with Karen to improve the sharing of best practice between the Services.

11.2

The next Meeting was confirmed as 13 October 2005 at Andover Fire Station commencing at 1000 hours and the Equalities Team were asked to consider/arrange the speaker and to encourage a wider audience attendance.

Background Information (Section 100D of Local Government Act 1972)

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:

"None"

Note: The list excludes: (1) published works; and (2) documents that disclose exempt or confidential information defined in the Act.