Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority Item 12

Human Resources Committee Meeting

15/03/200521 April 2006

Fairness and Dignity Forum Error! Bookmark not defined.

Report by the Chief Officer

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

1

Summary

1.1

This report summarises the content and the discussion held in the Fairness and Dignity Forum held at Alresford Fire Station on Monday 23 January 2006.

2

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a

That the Human Resources Committee note the contents of the Report.

b

That the Human Resources Committee notes the date and venue of the next meeting which is Thursday 18 May 2006 commencing at 1000 hours at Hightown Fire Station.

3

Introduction Error! Bookmark not defined.and Background

3.1

Dave Curry welcomed the guest speaker Dr Julian Clarke, Equality and Diversity Consultant from Edgehill College, Lancashire, Members of Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority, members of the Watch, Officers and members of staff to the meeting and noted a very successful attendance of over 30 people. Dave then asked Shanti Waas to introduce Dr Clarke to the audience.

3.2

Dr Clarke has been involved in equality issues for over twenty five years, initially as a lecturer on the subject and lately as a consultant working across a range of agencies and public authorities. He was a member of the team that developed the Equality Standard for Local Government and is currently involved in developing an equality standard for the Fire Service.

4

Guest Speaker

4.1

Dr Clarke thanked HFRS for inviting him and said that in addition to his professional interest in equality and diversity issues, he was also personally committed to promoting and championing equality of opportunity and to addressing areas of inequality and disadvantage. He gave the audience a brief resume of his work on the equality standard and the current state of play in the development of the equality standard for the Fire Service. He is expecting this work to come into the public domain as a draft within the next 10 weeks or so.

4.2

As a way of stimulating debate and participation, Dr Clarke invited the audience to consider two questions: Can women and people from minority ethnic backgrounds make good firefighters? and are there any barriers in accessing employment opportunities for them in the fire service?

4.3

A healthy debate took place around the issues posed by the guest speaker's questions. The participants were unanimous in the view that women and people from minority ethnic communities would make good firefighters and that there were many examples in Hampshire and other fire services. However, the participants felt that there were barriers that needed to be addressed, particularly in the way the fire service promoted firefighter opportunities in these communities. They saw the benefit of positive action initiatives in helping to address some of the issues around institutionalised practices.

5

Update of Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service Equality and Diversity Progress

5.1

Shanti Waas informed the Forum that HFRS is currently preparing to respond to three new legal duties under Disability, Gender and Age. The most urgent of these was the preparation and publication of a Disability Equality Scheme by 2 December of this year. He said that, unlike the Race Equality Scheme, the Service was required to involve disabled people, organisations representing disabled interests and other stakeholders in the actual production of the Scheme and to show in the Scheme how this exercise was carried out by the Service.

5.2

Shanti Waas said that the setting up of the group was well under way and that he has had a positive response by individuals and disabled groups to his requests to join the HFRS Disability Involvement Group. The first meeting of this group was scheduled for 1 March.

5.3

He also informed the Forum that the Service had to produce and publish a Gender Equality Scheme by April 2007.

5.4

Our Race Equality Scheme and associated action plan sets out our arrangements to provide training at all levels of the organisation.

5.5

Equality training for elected member forms part of the agreed action plan, and the first training session was held in March, covering Equality Legislation, National Fire Service Values and also our achievements to date. Due to prior commitments, only a small number of members attended the session, however we are providing members with another opportunity to attend a training session on 21 September 2006.

5.6

Once the majority of members have attended this session, there will be additional awareness training for members providing a strategic overview of how they can challenge unlawful discrimination, demonstrate to other agencies and groups how Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service are meeting the needs of the counties population and show that as a member of the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority they are leading the Service to meet the challenges ahead. Due to the additional training taking place in September, this will now be rescheduled for 2007.

6

Close of Meeting

6.1

Dave Curry thanked Dr Clarke and all the participants for attendance and contribution to the discussion. The next meeting will be held on 18 May 2006 at Hightown Fire Station.

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

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. Equalities is an issue highlighted as part of a broader Corporate risk and the Fairness and Dignity Forum is seen as an important measure in controlling this risk.

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.

9.2

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.

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.