The Assistant Director, Chief Executive’s Office will submit a report (Document “T”) which updates Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee on the progress made in relation to implementation of actions within the current Equality Objectives and Equality Plan 2021-25.

Recommended –

To accept this update report on the progress made against the Council’s equality duty and work.

(Khalida Ashrafi – 07816082796)

The Assistant Director, Chief Executive’s Office presented a report (Document “T”) which updated Members on the progress made in relation to implementation of actions within the current Equality Objectives and Equality Plan 2021-25.

Key changes to the Equalities Objectives and Equality Plan in relation to the Local Government Association’s Peer Review recommendations and other consultation and feedback were provided and it was confirmed that the only cost incurred from the review was for officer time. Members were advised that Terms of Reference for the review had not been established and an informal agreement to review the plan had been agreed.

It was questioned how thorough the review could be without established terms of reference and it was agreed that, as the officer concerned was not available, contact would be made with the Local Government Association to investigate further.

The Chair expressed disappointment that he had not received site of any terms of reference despite his previous request and that he had not been provided with a quarterly review report which he had asked for in October 2021. 

In response it was explained that a performance report had been circulated with the minutes of that meeting and had been subsequently sent to Members. The performance appraisal had provided examples of good practice and whilst there was still more to be done a lot of training and systems were in place.

A Member suggested that Terms of Reference for future peer reviews should be brought to the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committees prior to commencement of those reviews.

Communications with staff as part of the review were questioned and it was explained that a combination of discussions with network chairs; elected members; community partners; colleagues working in communities and public sector partners had been undertaken. 

The Gypsy and Traveller Strategy to support the inclusion of people from that community was questioned and it was explained that this was to look at the availability of land and site improvements which should be addressed internally.   Members suggested that this should include discrimination regarding employment for that community and it was confirmed that discrimination was part of the strategy.

It was felt that the report read as if only limited groups of people were included and questioned why women’s groups and disability groups were not included. 

In response to questions about why discussions regarding apprenticeships with Birmingham University had not been conducted locally it was explained that this had been down to availability. Discussions were being held with the University of Bradford to ensure that apprenticeships were not being awarded outside of the district.

The rationale for only including top management in the equality objectives was queried and it was explained this was to provide a commitment from the top 200 + special grade posts to ensure every member of staff should ultimately have equality objectives.

The inclusion in the plan of grievances was questioned and it was explained that this had been included when the plan had been formulated to portray relationships between managers and staff.  There had been a lack of support for grievances raised with an average of 30 being investigated at any one time.  The aim was to reduce the length of the procedure and the next step of the Respect Programme was to allow advocates to support.

A Member referred to the recommendations in the Interim Feedback Paper from the Local Government Association (LAG) and questioned why Recommendation 6 referred only to adjustments for disabled staff.  It was also questioned whey Recommendation 7 referred to equality data for only LGBTQ+ and disabled communities.  It was explained that this was because they LGA could see the work undertaken regarding other group although disability data had reduced and it was felt more work was needed.  In response to a suggestion that data should be published for all protected characteristics it was explained that the duty had been met.  The Peer Review and subsequent recommendations had been welcomed although not all the feedback was as expected.

It was questioned why the percentage of Managers at Special A who had an equality objective goal recorded on the Evolve system had reduced.  It was acknowledged that the statistics had dipped but explained that not all goals had been recorded. It was explained that discussions were held with employees and managers.  The objectives should be discussed throughout the year and reviewed at the end of the performance cycle.

To ensure that the Council reflected the population it served it was questioned if recruitment and retention was recorded for minority communities and protected groups.  It was explained that people appointed, people who left and how long they had been employed were available on the recruitment system.  Those figures were analysed and work was conducted to ensure people had the ability and interview skills and consideration was given to how and where roles were advertised.

Measures to encourage recruitment to high level roles was questioned.  It was explained that some posts were advertised through external head hunters and clear inclusion criteria was set. Searches were conducted and local on a national level and selections were made with representative parties.

A lack of identification of female employees was raised and the numbers of female workers as a percentage of the total number of staff was provided.

An awareness of pressure around trans rights was raised as a matter of concern and Members believed that this should be addressed in the equality strategy.

Concern was expressed that the information received was incomplete and had been received too late.  It was questioned if that was because of workload and capacity issues. 

In response it was clarified that a lot of time was spent driving forward the equalities agenda and amazing work had been conducted in the organisation including encouraging many more staff from different backgrounds than ever before; a successful apprenticeship programme; staff led networks and a reduction in grievances. It was difficult not to get hung up on data and the report was the nearest to a performance report which could be presented.  Assurances were provided that all managers were encouraged to set equality objective goals.

Officers were thanked for the report and their contribution to the meeting and were requested to keep Members informed of progress to enable them to help to drive the equality agenda forward. In response it was agreed to invite network chairs to future meetings.

Resolved –

(1)  This Committee requests that the Terms of Reference for any future LGA Peer Review, be presented to the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committee, prior to the review commencing.

(2)  That a report be presented to this Committee in 12 months, which specifically focuses one:

-       Key outcomes delivered;

-       Performance Indicators;

-       Activities of each of the staff networks.

(3)  Quarterly equalities performance reports be circulated to members of this Committee.

ACTION: Assistant Director, Office of the Chief Executive