Archived decisions

Hampshire County Council

Single Equality Scheme

"Breaking down barriers - improving choice for all"

January 2009 -April 2012

1. Introduction

In April 2000 we published our first Equality Strategy - Quality Through Equality. At the time the strategy was innovative as it committed the Council to equality, fairness and justice. The document described how the Council intended to deal with matters of equality in employment and service delivery. We set out an approach which covered rights and opportunities for everybody regardless of age, disability, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation as well as issues of social exclusion arising from poverty or rural isolation. At the time this was above and beyond legal requirements.

Life in local government never stays still so, unsurprisingly, things have changed. The legal framework has developed and duties have been placed on public bodies to promote race, disability and gender equality - a key part of these duties is a requirement to produce specific schemes for each of these areas and we have done so. In addition the law now covers discrimination on grounds of age, religion or belief, and sexual orientation - we refer to as the 6 equality groups.

There is now recognition that local authorities have a key role to play in ensuring that all people have equal life chances and that communities get on well together. The legal framework continues to develop and there has been a review of the discrimination laws (Discrimination Law Review)1 as well as the Equalities Review (Our Shared Future)2 which looked at the causes of persistent discrimination and inequality in Britain. As a result Government will introduce an Equality Act during 2009 which will bring together all the various discrimination laws and introduce a legal duty for public bodies to promote equality across all strands of equality.

The development and enforcement of this new law will be overseen by the Equality and Human Rights Commission which was set up in 2007 by merging the 3 previous commissions for Gender, Disability and Race Equality.

The way that the performance of Councils is monitored by the Audit Commission and other inspectorates have also recognised the importance of meeting the needs of different communities and expects authorities to show how they understand and meet the needs of diverse communities.

Purpose - What will the scheme do for you?

Our aim has always been to provide fair and responsive services and this scheme explains how we intend to make further improvements. Whilst there is a legal reason for producing this scheme the most important purpose is to tell the public, people who use our services and staff who work for us about the principles of fairness which underpin the work of the Council. We want to provide fair and more responsive public services and a key factor is that we tackle unfair discrimination and promote social cohesion.

These principles will apply whenever we employ people or plan and deliver services. Success will be achieved when matters of equality and diversity move away from the `Political Correctness' arena towards an understanding that this relates to fairness for all. We want to promote a culture in Hampshire where people can prosper and make the best use of their different talents.

2. Diversity in Hampshire

Hampshire is a prosperous county with safe and strong communities, where 1.27 million residents in over 502,000 households enjoy good opportunities, good health, an outstanding environment, good infrastructure and excellent services3. However, there are significant disparities and inequalities between different areas of the county, and various challenging trends will affect quality of life in the future. These include:

    · demographic changes leading to an ageing population, smaller households and increasing ethnic diversity

    · changes to the economy, including global competition.

    · housing growth and affordability

    · traffic growth

    · climate change

    · lifestyle trends, including the increasing impact of alcohol misuse, obesity and patterns of consumption and waste

    · risks of social exclusion and deprivation in certain pockets of the county and for particular groups.

According to the 2001 census we have an ethnic minority population of 2.3% but we do know that there has been an increase in the past 7 years in particular migrant workers from the EU. An example of the changing diversity can be found in the school population. In 2008 7.1% of school pupils were shown to be from ethnic minority backgrounds and 3.1% of pupils have English as an additional language and there are over 100 different first languages. Schools and pupils are supported to ensure equal access to the curriculum by the Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement service 4

Approximately 15% of the population are considered as disabled and there is an increasing number of people over the age of 75. For those with more severe disabilities, Hampshire Adult Services each year helps over 4,500 adults under the age of 65 to continue to live at home by providing domiciliary care, day services, respite care and equipment

Hate crime figures for the County show that in 2007/08 there were 732 reported incidents 83.5% of these crimes were related to race while the remaining 16.5% related to hatred of homosexual and transsexual people.

There are over 4,500 children and young people with special educational needs in Hampshireiand over 5,500 children and young people with disabilities

Although official unemployment is low, there are many people (34,000) who would like to be employed but are held back by barriers such as disability, age, gender or race or the need to look after family.

Further information about the future demographic challenges can be found in `Shaping our future together' Hampshire Sustainable Community Strategy 2008-18

We provide a range of services to people in the county, many of which are provided in partnership with District and Borough Councils, the National Health Service (NHS) and other community-based organisations. Other public bodies in the county are subject to the same legal requirements and have prepared their own Equality Schemes. We will do our best to make sure their and our services work together to deliver equal life chances for all.

3. Hampshire's Vision for Equality:

We have begun by agreeing this vision for equality which will underpin all our work.

      "Hampshire County Council values diversity, respects individual rights and expects others to take personal responsibility to do the same"

This definition reflects the findings of the National Equalities Review which uses an inclusive definition of equality:

      "An equal society protects and promotes equal, real freedom and substantive opportunity to live in the ways people can value and would choose, so that everyone can flourish. It recognises people's different needs situations and goals; it removes barriers that limit what people can do and can be"

Hampshire County Council recognises that equality is an issue for everyone, that we don't all start from the same position and to create a fair society we must recognise different needs.

This document will tell you how we intend to remove barriers to opportunities and improve choice for all by building on our current equality schemes and setting out an approach which aims to improve life chances for all

4. Policy Statement

Hampshire County Council wants to take a lead and promote a place where people get on well together. Everyone has the right to expect to be treated fairly, without discrimination and accept the responsibility to respect the rights of other. This means that the way we employ people and deliver services will take account of the barriers and/or discrimination that individuals often face on account of their age, disability, gender, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, social circumstances or personal lifestyle. To achieve this we have agreed the following aims

1. We will do our best to tackle inequality and the causes of inequality.

      2. We will take steps to counter the effects of barriers which may have led to under-representation of certain groups within our workforce and those people who use our service.

      3. Where certain people may feel they have been prevented from making their needs known to us we will work with partners to build capacity in different communities to enable them to understand the role of the County Council and encourage them to make their views known.

The Council expects that partner organisations, contractors, community groups and trade unions will share these aims.

5. What we have done so far

We have given staff responsibility for equality and diversity

There are some staff who have responsibility for developing the policy framework. This work is lead by the Corporate Equality and Diversity Action Group (EDAG) which includes Elected Members and senior managers. Over the past 7 years this group has helped the various departments in the Council to understand more about the needs of different groups and individuals in the community.

We have published the statutory schemes:

The Race Equality Scheme (appendix 3) was first published in 2003 and at the time our main priority was to get a better understanding of the relatively small and dispersed ethnic minority communities in the County. Through working in partnership with other statutory and voluntary partners there is now a network of dedicated community development workers across the County who have helped the Council to engage more proactively with various communities and individuals. This scheme was reviewed in 2006 and a revised scheme published. We have used consultation and market research to measure our effectiveness and can see that capacity building takes time so we continue to invest in this approach.

A key achievement has been the work with the voluntary and community sector especially Community Action Hampshire to develop the capacity of voluntary organisations through the Diversity Networks Project. We need to continue to find ways to support this project. Further information on this project can be obtained from Community Action Hampshire http://www.action.hants.org.uk/index.php?id=50 telephone 01962 857357

Example of positive result of our actions:

The Basingstoke Diversity Forum has been established through a partnership between the County Council and Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council. They held a successful employment fair which promoted job opportunities for people from minority ethnic communities.

Gypsies & Travellers

Since the development of this scheme there is a growing recognition that Gypsies and Travellers are among the most marginalised people in UK society. In Hampshire we have historic and well established communities e.g. in the New Forest and in the north of the County. We provide services in particular through our Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service. Recently there has been the Gypsy & Traveller Accommodation Needs Assessment, currently we provide 4 sites for permanent encampments and this assessment has identified the need to increase this provision to include transit sites. This work is being progressed with the District and Borough Councils who are responsible for housing.

Example of positive results of our actions:

Hampshire records office worked with the Gypsy & Traveller community to show the history and contemporary culture of Gypsy children and their families http://www.hants.gov.uk/rh/gypsy/ . This has resulted in roving exhibition which visit schools and libraries

Migrant Workers

Hampshire has a long history of attracting migrant workers to the agricultural and tourist industries. There has been a marked increase in migrant workers since the expansion of the EU. We have been working with our partners to understand the nature and needs of these people and hosted an information sharing seminar in May 2006.

Examples of actions with our partners:

    · Hampshire Economic Partnership has taken a lead role in gathering information from local businesses and we know that migrant workers are most likely to be employed in the building, care and hospitality industries. Their `Informing our Future' report highlights this trend http://www.hep.uk.com/content/default.asp?PageId=45

    · District based meetings held by the Diveristy Networks Project in 2007 has begun to make contact with groups of migrant workers particularly in Test Valley, East Hampshire and the New Forest. Anecdotal evidence shows that many new migrants live in Southampton and travel out across the County to work http://www.action.hants.org.uk/index.php?id=70

The Disability Equality Scheme (appendix 1) was published in 2006 and we used a number of different ways to involve disabled people in the development. Some people were involved in a development group, others took part in local events which were organised with partner organisations to avoid `consultation fatigue'. We identified priority areas for action with the top priority being issues around transport and employment. Some progress has been made and we will continue to take the actins identified.

Examples of positive results of our work:

    · The Access Team has successfully implemented an approach which aims to improve access to our buildings http://www.hants.gov.uk/pbr/access/accessstrategy.html . Many of the audits are undertaken in partnership with local disabled people. The latest phase focuses on our 540 schools.

    · The ZIP bus priority corridor is being constructed on the A3 between Portsmouth and Clanfield this aims to be as accessible as possible and the bus shelters have been developed to cater for the needs of people with visual and mobility impairments. The design was undertaken with members of Havant Access Forum

The Gender Equality Scheme (appendix 1) was published in May 2007 and one of the key areas for action is on Equal Pay. The Council has conducted a comprehensive equal pay audit and the results are now being implemented. When the scheme was published the consultation period was used to ask views on the option to merge the schemes into one. There was overwhelming support for this approach although concern that the momentum on the Race and Disability schemes might be diluted.

Issues relating to transgender people are included in the Gender scheme and through the diversity networks project we are making contact with support groups and beginning to develop our understanding of how our services may impact on the lives of transgendered people.

We have also taken some action for other equality groups:

Age:

We made sure that our employment policies did not discriminate on grounds of age by ensuring that our policies & guidance do not ask for age requirements unless lawfully justified and we issued guidance for managers. We established an older person's wellbeing project and there are a number of projects across the services which aim to support older people to live safely in their own homes and be as independent as possible. This is in addition to the general services which we provide to older people. It is important to recognise that age covers everyone and the Children & Young People's plan sets out our ambitions to improve life chances for younger people.

Example of positive results of our actions

The Garden Maintenance Social Enterprise service was partly funded through the Hampshire County Council Older Person Wellbeing Project. It offers a high quality service, at competitive rates for garden maintenance work carried out by highly trained, experienced Staff and skilled Trainees. http://www.beneficial.org.uk/gmaintenance.htm

Religion and Belief:

We wanted to make contact with people from different faith backgrounds to understand more about the potential impact our services may have on people with different religious needs. It is important to recognise that people with no belief are also included in this area of work.

Example of action

The Hampshire Interfaith network has been set up http://www.hants-interfaith.org/ with the following objectives:

    · promote mutual understanding between people of faith through their various representatives.

    · liaise with public service providers to help facilitate better service delivery to hard to reach persons within those faith communities

This group has also established an annual faith lecture which looks at current faith related topics. In December 2008 they published an interfaith calendar, the pictures featured resulted from a competition in Hampshire schools.

Sexual orientation:

The Council was amongst the first to embrace the Civil Partnership laws and these ceremonies are now an integral part of our registration services. We have not been able to make contact with any established Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual groups in Hampshire and so we are working with Hampshire Constabulary who has set up a reference group. However, we are already taking steps to consider how our services may impact on people of different sexual orientation especially in our care services.

Schools:

There are over 540 schools in Hampshire each one is run by a board of Governors and they can all develop their own policies. The County Council supports schools with advice and develops guidance and model procedures that schools usually adopt. They are subject to the same legal duties as the Council and we have issued a range of guidance on the public duties and run a number of briefings to help their understanding. In line with the move towards a single equality scheme we have developed a template for schools to use to develop their own equality scheme.

Example of positive support

The Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service support schools and families across Hampshire in raising ethnic minority achievement, through bilingual assistance, projects, training and advisory support. They also offer bilingual assistance to schools with newly arrived pupils for whom English is an Additional Language (EAL).

Employment

As one of the largest employers in Hampshire we are very aware that by recruiting and supporting a diverse workforce we will also improve the way that our services reach out to improve access for different people. Over the past 5 years we have actively sought to increase the diversity and one of the key actions has been to improve and analyse the information we collect on staff diversity. This has led to some actions which have resulted in a gradual increase in staff from ethnic minorities and the number of women in senior posts - see section 2 for more details.

It is also important to make sure that our staff have the right skills to understand the needs of different people. We have introduced a wide range of equality and diversity courses which include a computerised learning workbook as well as briefings and traditional training courses.

Example of positive actions

A number of our staff from different backgrounds have shared their experiences of working for the Council through a DVD which is on our web site http://www3.hants.gov.uk/diverse-staff.htm

6. How this fits with our corporate priorities

The Council has identified the following priority areas for action that will improve the lives of all residents:

Hampshire Safe & Secure for All

Our overall priority is to make communities stronger and safer for all by:

· protecting vulnerable people

· making residential areas as safe as possible

· helping young people to live positive lives

· helping diverse communities to feel secure.

Maximising Wellbeing

This priority is about maintaining and improving quality of life. We want to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to:

· support themselves financially

· be active in their community

· get the services they need

· have our support if things go wrong.

Enhancing quality of life

This priority is about making the county a good place to be by:

· protecting the differences between local areas

· making sure we have excellent facilities

· respecting Hampshire's heritage

· planning for the future.

The following set of values explains the way in which we aim to work:

    · Removing barriers to opportunities and improving choice for all

    · Responding to the improvements that people say they want

    · Planning for and investing in the future

    · Encouraging partnership, participation and contribution

The Sustainable Community Strategy sets out the vision that we have for the future of our communities and helps to guide the actions of the Local Area Agreement.

An equality impact assessment ensures that each of the target areas includes equality and diversity issues however aim 5 captures and focuses the aspirations that we have for a more cohesive and inclusive Hampshire

Aim 5. Hampshire's communities are cohesive and inclusive and vulnerable people are safeguarded.

Economic growth in its own right does not bring prosperity to everyone in the county. Steps need to be taken to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to contribute and share in the benefits. It is also important to recognise that economic growth is leading to an increasingly diverse population across Hampshire, which brings particular challenges to ensure our communities are cohesive and inclusive.

This will mean tackling the risk factors for social exclusion; promoting equality of opportunity; supporting the needs of vulnerable groups and individuals; understanding and valuing diversity; and treating all people with respect. It will include co-ordinating our approach to specific places where problems of deprivation have grown and persisted for many years.

7. Monitoring the Scheme through the Equality Framework for local government

In order to deliver our overall commitments on equality and diversity, the County Council has adopted the Equality Standard for Local Government. The Equality Standard includes the six equality strands covered by law; age, disability, gender, race, religion or belief and sexual orientation. This is not a legal requirement but has been produced to provide a framework through which local authorities can meet their legal obligations under anti-discrimination legislation. It has five levels of achievement:

    Level 1 Commitment to a comprehensive Equality Policy

    Level 2 Assessment and consultation

    Level 3 Setting equality objectives and targets

    Level 4 Using information systems and monitoring against equality targets

    Level 5 Achieving and reviewing outcomes

The aim of Standard is to make equality and diversity part of our day to day activities. During 2008 we used this approach to measure our progress and this assessment has shown that we are operating at level 3. This assessment has also helped us to develop this scheme because we have identified the examples of good practice and also the areas for improvement. The attached improvement plan sets our equality objective and targets for the whole authority, it will also have an impact on our partners and contractors.

This approach is monitored by the Equality and Diversity Action Group and included in the wider corporate performance monitoring through the Corporate Performance & Efficiency Group. This means that the Council is integrating action on equality and diversity into all systems this is sometimes known as `mainstreaming'.

The Equality Standard is being updated Nationally and renamed the Equality Framework for Local Government. This is intended to make sure that it reflects the latest approach to performance management of public bodies through the Comprehensive Area Assessment. We will make sure that we adapt our approach accordingly.

8. Partnership working and the Local Area Agreement

The Local Area Agreement (LAA) is a partnership agreement which sets out how a range of public, voluntary and private sector partners will deliver the aims of the Sustainable Community Strategy http://www3.hants.gov.uk/localareaagreement.htm There are a range of priorities which we will be working on together and each priority considers equality matters in relation to their work.

Example of the result of this work:

      · The priority B which relates to the economy and skills has agreed an a plan to improve employment opportunities for people who find it hardest to get work http://www3.hants.gov.uk/prosperity_bookletdifinitive_final_version.pdf . The County Council is committed to finding ways to improve work experience opportunities and is actively going out to different communities to tell them about how to get work with the Council.

      · The priority H is led by the Voluntary & Community sector (VCS) and relates to giving people the chance to have their views heard. A key focus has been to develop the capacity of the sector to help them to reach out to different communities and find out more about their needs. The Diversity Networks Project has been set up to do this.

The County Council works closely with other public bodies in the County and to make sure that we coordinate our work on equality and diversity. The Hampshire Equality Network is a group of officers from most of the public sector organisations in the County who meet on a regular basis to share good practice and undertake joint projects which are mutually beneficial. This group has updated the remit of the partnership in order to make better links with the Local Area Agreement and partner organisations to provide advice and support the work of each priority area.

9. Community engagement/involvement

The information that has informed this scheme has been gathered from lots of different sources. Our Market Research team undertake a wide range of community research http://www3.hants.gov.uk/communications/market-research.htm . There has been a series of research and consultation with diverse communities.

Each department uses different ways to engage with the people who might use their services. We know that this an area that we have to improve and the Council is developing a framework for Community Involvement that will join up existing approaches.

This scheme has been informed by some of the existing research. In addition we sent a draft version to a wide range of community and partner organisations; ran focus groups in Basingstoke and Eastleigh as well as a series of local focus groups for our staff.

Examples of actions to involve diverse communities:

      · When developing the Disability Equality Schemes local involvement events were organised by a range of partners so that disabled people were consulted together. It also provided an opportunity to explain how the different services were delivered.

      · There is a network of community development workers who are building capacity and confidence with minority ethnic communities. Their overall aim is to raise awareness of Mental Health and Wellbeing services and to improve communication between services and communities

      · The Diversity Networks Project has been an important part of our work to reach out to different parts of the community and we have supported this project. We have commissioned the project to set up an external reference group to make sure that this scheme makes a real difference.

10. Trade union involvement

      This Scheme has been developed in consultation with the Council's Trades Unions in that it has been the subject of consultation with the Joint Consultative Group and trades union representatives have been members of the corporate Project Group, the Equality & Diversity Action Group and participants in the above-mentioned workshop activity.

11. Assessing the impact of services on different equality groups

      Policies, services and strategies do not usually discriminate unlawfully on purpose; they just do not cover a wide enough range of needs. In order to avoid this the Council has introduced an approach called Equality Impact Assessment. This is a systematic way of considering the effect that  a policy (or proposed policy), service or strategy will have on different groups.

      We have already done some assessments and they are published on our web site http://www3.hants.gov.uk/equality/iass.htm . This approach was introduced in 2003 and we have reviewed our approach a number of times to make sure that it is working effectively and helps managers to make changes to services. This approach has shown us that a good impact assessment can:

        · Help us to take account of the needs, circumstances and experiences of those who are affected by our policies/service plans

        · identify actual and potential inequalities in outcomes

        · lead us to consider other ways of achieving the aims of policies/service plans

        · increase public confidence in the fairness of our policies and services

        · help us to develop better and more inclusive policies and services in the future

Example of the results of this action:

    · The Trading Standards Service looked at places where it tested electric blankets for the public. It found that most were hard for disabled people to get into, so it changed the venues to more accessible places.

    · Communications team assessed the impact of the Council's magazine `Hampshire Now', they found that they were already proactively responding to the needs of people with sight loss through the provision of different formats and decided to expand this service to see if people required different languages. As a result they there is now a statement offering to provide articles in other languages in the top 3 commonly spoken other languages .

12. Equality in procurement

      As a number of Council services are delivered by external providers we have looked at the best way to make sure that they comply with our Equality commitment. The corporate guidance which explains to officers how to purchase goods and services includes clear equality requirements and tender documents reflect this. We have been developing sensible ways to monitor some of our largest contractors to make sure that they understand the requirements and check progress.

      This is an increasingly important part of our work and we need to continue to develop effective ways of engaging with contractors.

      Example of action on procurement

      The tender for the new highways maintenance and improvement works contracts included equality and diversity requirements at all stages and the successful companies showed that they had a good range of equality policies and practices. There is regular contact with their customer services managers and we are working together to find effective ways to monitor these policies

13. This is what we need to do next

    The following priority areas for action have been identified through equality impact assessments and feedback from a range of staff and community consultations:

· Build Capacity and confidence

      - With diverse communities & people

      - With staff to improve their understanding

· Gather and use information more effectively

      - Make sure there is data on needs of different groups

      - Involve diverse communities

· Implementation

      - Actions in current schemes

      - Improve diversity of workforce at all levels

      - Equality impact assessments

    · Promote Equality with partners

      - LAA and Third sector

      - Make sure that contracts include equality clause

    · Promote culture change

      - Improve internal equality group

      - Raise awareness with staff - communications

      - Make sure staff have the right skills - training

The attached improvement plan sets out details of how we will achieve this.

14. Putting the scheme into action

      The Chief Executive and Council Leader take personal responsibility for the management of equality and diversity across the Council and ensure that each level of the organisation is accountable. They delegate responsibility for implementation to the Corporate Equality and Diversity Action Group which is led by a Cabinet member and Senior Manager. Each department nominates a senior officer as `Equality Champion'. This group has been working for the last 8 years to improve equality in every department. The people involved will make sure that every department identifies specific actions for their services, based on this scheme.

      The work of this group is supported with professional advice and guidance from the Equality & Diversity Manager (Corporate Policy Unit), the Equality and Inclusion Manager (Adult Services), the Access Team and other specialist staff.

      Performance against this scheme will be measured annually and reported to Chief Officers and Cabinet.

15. Publishing the scheme

      It will be on our web site (http://www3.hants.gov.uk/equality) and available in various other formats. We will send copies to community groups, libraries and information centres and find other ways to make sure that people know about the scheme.

16. Dealing with Complaints

      We have a corporate complaints procedure http://www.hants.gov.uk/complaints/ and each department also has its own approach to dealing with complaints. Each complaint is monitored for equality related matters and reported annually.

To find out more about this scheme, please contact:

The Equality and Diversity Manager

Hampshire County Council

Elizabeth II Court

Winchester SO23 8UJ

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: 01962 847789

Mobile or text: 07793758823

Textphone: 0808 100 24 84

Appendix 1 - The Disability Scheme http://www3.hants.gov.uk/equality/disability-home/disabilityequalityscheme.htm

Appendix 2- The Gender Equality Scheme http://intranet.hants.gov.uk/equality/gender_schemes.htm

Appendix 3 - The Race Equality Scheme

http://www3.hants.gov.uk/equality/race-home/race-equality-06.htm

Appendix 4 - Further statistical data

Appendix 5 The Council - Decision Making structure
Appendix 6 - The legal framework for equalities
Appendix 7 - Our approach to Equality Impact Assessments