Issue - meetings

The Scrutiny Development Officer explained that as the Equality Officer was on sick leave, the responsibility for equality issues was being met by the Policy and Performance section. Two workshops had been set up to consult stakeholders. The first on 8 April 2008 was for staff, whilst the workshop on 10 April was for external stakeholders. Unfortunately, Councillors would not be permitted to chair these workshops due to the proximity with the election in May. However, it was hoped that Councillors JD Batchelor, R Hall and TJ Wotherspoon would be able to attend the meeting on 10 April as observers from the Committee. This would enable them to gather first hand evidence to inform this Committee’s scrutiny of the draft Equality Policy in April.

The Committee noted the verbal report.

Cabinet AGREED to

(a)               adopt the draft Comprehensive Equalities Policy and associated consultation programme at Appendix A and B; and

(b)               commit to improving equality practice within the Council, particularly the actions set out in paragraphs 7 to 20 of the report. 

Decision taken and published 13 December 2007; call-in expires 20 December 2007 and decision can be implemented from 21 December 2007 if not called-in.

Cabinet AGREED to

(a)               adopt the draft Comprehensive Equalities Policy and associated consultation programme at Appendix A and B; and

(b)               commit to improving equality practice within the Council, particularly the actions set out in paragraphs 7 to 20 of the report.

Councillor MP Howell, lead member for Equal Opportunities, commended the work of the officer Equalities Group, lead by the Improvement Manager, and explained that the Council had been tasked to achieve Level 1 of the Equalities Standard for Local Government (ESLG) by December 2007, and to begin work on Level 2.  Level 1 required the Council to set out its current position on equalities and to identify future areas of work.

Cabinet AGREED to

(a)               adopt the draft Comprehensive Equalities Policy and associated consultation programme at Appendix A and B; and

(b)               commit to improving equality practice within the Council, particularly the actions set out in paragraphs 7 to 20 of the report.

The Committee

RECOMMENDED THAT CABINET AGREES

that, subject to the adoption of the draft Comprehensive Equality Policy, the Council has reached level 1 of the Equality Standard for Local Government.

The Policy and Performance Manager presented this report, which invited the Committee to consider:

• the self-assessment for the attainment of level 1 of the Equality Standard for Local Government
• the draft Comprehensive Equalities Policy, which will be discussed by Cabinet on 13 December 2007.

Members of the Committee recognised the importance of ensuring that all the District’s residents were and could expect to be treated fairly by the Council and that there would be serious implications for the authority, particularly with regard to planning appeals, if equality issues were not treated seriously. Concern was expressed at being judged by residents’ perceptions.

Name of Steering Group

The Policy and Performance Manager agreed that the possibility of renaming the Equal Opportunities Steering Group the Equalities Steering Group would be considered on the grounds that it better reflected current terminology.

Stakeholder Groups

It was noted that stakeholder groups would be consulted on the Comprehensive Equalities Policy.

Language

It was recognised that recent comments made by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government made it unclear whether the Government supported the promotion of translation into languages other than English.

Working in partnerships

The Policy and Performance Manager explained that it was important for the Council to engage with its partners on the Local Strategic Partnership Board to influence cross cutting issues such as the promotion of local democracy.

It was noted that an appendix on the profile of equality groups in the District had not yet been added.

The Committee agreed to examine the draft Comprehensive Equality Policy over the next three months and make recommendations for the final Policy, identifying which of the activities in paragraph 9 the Committee will conduct.

The Committee

RECOMMENDED THAT CABINET AGREES

that, subject to the adoption of the draft Comprehensive Equality Policy, the Council has reached level 1 of the Equality Standard for Local Government.