Equality and Diversity Strategy: Consultation information and questionnaire
Contents
Introduction 2
About Barking and Dagenham 2
About local people with protected characteristics 3
About the Strategy 4
Meeting our legal duties 4
Why are we consulting 5
How to give your views 6
Consultation questions 7
Contact:Strategy and Programmes Team
Barking Town Hall, Town Square, Barking IG11 7LU
| 020 8227 5796
Introduction
Barking and Dagenham Council recognises, values and welcomes the diversity of people living, working and visiting our borough. We are committed to promoting equality and tackling social exclusion and discrimination.
We are a vibrant, diverse and changing borough. These are things of which we should be proud and celebrate. As London moves east to capitalise on our, and neighbouring boroughs, growth potential we will experience more change, our population will grow and the Borough will feel and look different. These are not changes we should fear.
Growth will bring homes, jobs and opportunity, but we should recognise that change can be unsettling. Anyone who knows the history of our borough knows the challenges we have faced and the need to take everyone with us. It is our job, and that of partners, to ensure that the change that happens in the Borough is positive, to the benefit of all and that no-one is left behind.
We are developing an Equality and Diversity Strategy to demonstrate our commitment and continue our work to improve the lives of our residents. Our vision is to create a place where people understand, respect and celebrate each other’s differences. A place where tolerance, understanding and a sense of responsibility can grow and all people can enjoy full equality and fulfil their potential.
About Barking and Dagenham
Our population is growing…
· The population has grown by 13.4% since 2001. GLA projections estimate that we now have a population of 201,979; by 2037 this could rise to approximately 275,000.
Our population is diverse…
· Since 2001 the proportion of the population from minority ethnic backgrounds has increased from 15% to 50%; this is predicted to increase to 62% over the next 25 years.
Our population is young…
· We have the highest proportion of under 16s of anywhere in the UK (54,912). 10% of our population is aged 0-4; this is a 50% increase since 2001.
Our population is disadvantaged and outcomes are poor…
· The 2015 Indices of Multiple Deprivation ranks the borough as the ninth most deprived borough nationally and the second most deprived borough in London. The chart below illustrates the multiple and acute challenges that face our residents.
Other sources of information about our population…
· See our key population and demographic facts infographic[1].
· The Joint Strategic Needs Assessment[2] provides a comprehensive profile of our demographics.
About local people with protected characteristics
Age / The borough has the highest population percentage of 0-19 year olds in the country at 31%. The over 60 population accounts for one of the smallest percentages of population in England and Wales (Source: Census 2011).Disability / Approximately 9,100 people are claiming disability allowance (Source: Department of Work and Pensions, 2016).
Gender / 51.5 % of the borough’s residents are female, and 49.6% are male (Source: Census 2011).
Gender reassignment / We estimate that there may be approximately 40 people in the borough who have or who will undergo gender reassignment (Source: Gender Identity Research and Education Society advice).
Pregnancy and maternity status / Teenage pregnancy rates are significantly higher than average. The rate of teenage conceptions in 2014 was 32.4 per 1000 population of females aged 15-17. This was the second highest rate in London (Source: ONS).
Marriage and civil partnership / 41.9% of the population aged 16 and above are married, 38.8% are single and never married, and 0.2% are in a same-sex civil partnership (Source: Census 2011).
Ethnicity / The population ethnicity is 24.6% Black (African, Caribbean and Black Other) residents; 15.5% Asian (Bangladeshi, Indian and Pakistani); and 8% from other or mixed ethnic groups (Source: GLA population projections).
Religion or belief / 56% of the population identify as Christian. 18.9% identify with no religion. 13.7% identify as Muslim (Source: Census 2011).
Sexual orientation / Between 10,000 – 14,000 people in Barking and Dagenham are lesbian, gay and bisexual (Source: Stonewall estimates).
About the Strategy
Getting equalities and diversity right is important to us and it is central to how we move forward and achieve our vision in terms of transforming the Council and its services to residents, and ensuring that economic growth and regeneration is inclusive and benefits everyone. Put simply, success with equality and diversity means that outcomes for residents improve. Failure means that our services do not meet the needs of residents, thus they fall further behind and miss opportunities to improve their situation.
The Equalitiy and Diversity Strategy will set a new vision for equality and diversity for the Council to aspire to, and set priorities for where we want to make an impact over the next few years. With the Strategy, we will develop an action plan, delivery of which will be monitored to ensure we are held to account hold for achieving the Strategy’s objectives.
Meeting our legal duties
The Strategy will provide the framework for how we will meet the public sector duty of the Equality Act 2010. The legal duty requires that we, as a local authority, must consider all individuals when carrying out our day-to-day work. This includes shaping policy, delivering services and how we treat our employees. More broadly, under the Equality Act, we must ensure that we are taking steps to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations between different people when carrying out our activities. In meeting these duties, the Equality and Diversity Strategy will have regard for the equal treatment of people based on the Equality Act’s nine protected characteristics:
· Age
· Disability
· Gender
· Gender reassignment
· Pregnancy and maternity status
· Marriage and civil partnership
· Ethnicity
· Religion or belief
· Sexual orientation
Why are we consulting
The purpose of this consultation is to seek the views of people who live and work in the borough about what our priorities and objectives should be with regard to equality and diversity, and to highlight issues and problems that the Strategy should seek to address. The objectives and priorities we are proposing and consulting on are outlined below:
Objective 1: / Improve outcomes for allRaising outcomes for everybody and accelerating the improvement of outcomes for those that are most disadvantaged.
· Improve education attainment
· Reduce hate crime and intervene where hostility surfaces
· Tackle health inequalities
· Reduce deprivation
Objective 2: / No one left behind
Growth is inclusive and sustainable, making the borough a better place for all our residents.
· Ensure regeneration is sensitive to people who already live here
· Help and support residents into employment
· Ensure there is provision of affordable housing
· Ensure economic growth is inclusive and benefits everyone.
Objective 3: / Fair and open service delivery
Service delivery and commissioning is based on sound evidence and research about the needs of individuals and communities.
· Make best use of insight and intelligence
· Ensure that commissioning decisions reflect the needs and expectation of service users
· Ensure equalities impact assessments are carried out, and that this is done to a high standard
· Engage with residents on service design and delivery
Objective 4: / Exemplar employer
The Council will be an exemplar employer leading the way in equality and diversity and ensuring policies and workforce reflect this.
· Ensure we have the highest standards of equality in the application of employment policies
· Ensure that employment processes and conditions are free from discrimination
· Maintain status as a ‘Disability Confident’ employer and remove barriers for people with impairments.
· Improve diversity in the workforce so that it represents and reflects the community it serves
How to give your views
To help us gather your views on these objectives we have prepared a short survey on our online consultation portal which can be accessed via this link:
http://consult.lbbd.gov.uk/public/consultation/equality_and_diversity
The survey can also be downloaded to be printed and returned to us by post. If you require the consultation material in a different format, then please contact us.
Further to this type of consultation we will be taking a targeted approach to engage with our strategic partners and key local voluntary and community sector organisations to get their feedback on the Strategy. If you are a group or organisation that wishes to engage more directly with us on the development of the Strategy, then please get in touch to arrange a discussion.
The deadline for sharing your views is 02 January 2017.
Thank you for participating in this consultation. We value your feedback.
Yours Sincerely,
Cllr Sade BrightCabinet Member for Equalities and Cohesion
Contact:
Strategy and Programmes Team
Barking Town Hall, Town Square, Barking IG11 7LU
| 020 8227 5796
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Equality and Diversity Strategy: Consultation information and questionnaire
Consultation questions
If you have downloaded the questionnaire to complete, then please return it to us by e-mail () or by post[3] to: Strategy and Programmes, Barking Town Hall, Barking, IG11 7LU.
Vision
Our vision is to create a place where people understand, respect and celebrate each other’s differences. A place where tolerance, understanding and a sense of responsibility can grow and all people can enjoy full equality and fulfil their potential.
QV: Do you support the vision of the Strategy?
Yes ☐ No ☐
QVa: Please give comments in support of your answer.
Write your comments here.
Objective 1: Improve outcomes for all
Raising outcomes for everybody and accelerating the improvement of outcomes for those that are most disadvantaged.
· Improve education attainment
· Reduce hate crime and intervene where hostility surfaces
· Tackle health inequalities
· Reduce deprivation
Q1a: Do you support the inclusion of this objective into the Strategy?
Yes ☐ No ☐
Q1b: Relevant to this objective, how do you think we could improve in this area?
Write your comments here.
Q1c: What specific actions do you think are necessary to improve in this area?
Write your comments here.
Objective 2: No one left behind
Growth is inclusive and sustainable, making the borough a better place for all our residents.
· Ensure regeneration is sensitive to people who already live here
· Help and support residents into employment
· Ensure there is provision of affordable housing
· Ensure economic growth is inclusive and benefits everyone.
Q2a: Do you support the inclusion of this objective into the Strategy?
Yes ☐ No ☐
Q2b: Relevant to this objective, how do you think we could improve in this area?
Write your comments here.
Q2c: What specific actions do you think are necessary to improve in this area?
Write your comments here.
Objective 3: Fair and open service delivery
Service delivery and commissioning is based on sound evidence and research about the needs of individuals and communities.
· Make best use of insight and intelligence
· Ensure that commissioning decisions reflect the needs and expectations of service users
· Ensure equalities impact assessments are carried out, and that this is done to a high standard
· Engage with residents on service design and delivery
Q3a: Do you support the inclusion of this objective into the Strategy?
Yes ☐ No ☐
Q3b: Relevant to this objective, how do you think we could improve in this area?
Write your comments here.
Q3c: What specific actions do you think are necessary to improve in this area?
Write your comments here.
Objective 4: Exemplar employer
The Council will be an exemplar employer leading the way in equality and diversity and ensuring policies and workforce reflect this.
· Ensure we have the highest standards of equality in the application of employment policies
· Ensure that employment processes and conditions are free from discrimination
· Maintain status as a ‘Disability Confident’ employer and remove barriers for people with impairments.
· Improve diversity in the workforce so that it represents and reflects the community it serves
Q4a: Do you support the inclusion of this objective into the Strategy?
Yes ☐ No ☐
Q4b: Relevant to this objective, how do you think we could improve in this area?
Write your comments here.
Q4c: What specific actions do you think are necessary to improve in this area?
Write your comments here.
General views on objectives...
Q5: Are there objectives or priorities that are missing from the Strategy?
Write your comments here.
Your experiences...
Q6: As a resident, worker, or visitor in the borough are there equalities and diversity issues or experiences you wish to share with us?
Write your comments here.
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[1] https://www.lbbd.gov.uk/council/statistics-and-data/census-information/key-population-demographic-facts/
[2] https://www.lbbd.gov.uk/council/statistics-and-data/jsna/overview/
[3] You will need to pay postage.