THREE RIVERS DISTRICT COUNCIL

At a meeting of the Equal Opportunities Forum held in the Penn Chamber, Three Rivers House, Rickmansworth on Tuesday 5 March 2002 from 7.30pm to 8.35pm.

Present:-Councillors Kate Turner (Chairman), Peter Lough and Ann Shaw.

Officers: - Siân Caine (Community Safety Co-ordinator)

Ian Jeffries, Committee Manager

Marilyn O’Neill (Personnel & Training Manager)

Ted O’Neill, Access Officer and Planning Department Client Manager

Representatives:-

Jan Evans, Oxhey & District CAB

Joyce Willis, Hertfordshire Association for the Disabled

Julian Treves Brown, Bushey & Watford PHAB

Jenny Reid, Bushey & Watford PHAB

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Richard Struck and Barbara Lamb.

EOF27/01NOTES

The Notes of the meeting of the Equal Opportunities Forum held 5 March 2001 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

EOF28/01DUTY TO PROMOTE RACE EQUALITY

Marilyn O’Neill, Personnel and Training Manager, introduced the report detailing an update to the Race Relations Act made in December 2001 by the Home Secretary.

She explained that the update gave local authorities new specific duties in relation to racial equality, equal opportunities and good race relations. Notably, once government consultation was complete the Council would be required to prepare and publish a Race Equality Scheme by 31 May 2002. She explained that the aim of the Scheme was to bring racial equality issues into the mainstream of work and to extend the policies to other disadvantaged groups.

The Personnel and Training Manager added that for the Council to comply with the new duty, current workloads would be significantly increased. She considered that the most time consuming task would be the production of monitoring figures for current employees which would be far more detailed than the current figures.

Councillor Peter Lough asked whether the government would be monitoring local authorities’ completion of these tasks and whether additional funding would be available. The Personnel & Training Manager stated that inspections of local authority policy would be carried out but that no additional funding would be provided.

The Chairman referred Members to paragraph 2.7 of the report which requested that the Equal Opportunities Forum approve the Council’s Racial Equality Scheme. She expressed concern whether the Equal Opportunities Forum was the most appropriate body to carry out this function.

Following discussion, it was considered that the Scheme be presented to a meeting of the Executive Committee for formal approval.

The Personnel and Training Officer presented the Council’s current Equal Opportunities monitoring figures. She explained that while there were many more male than female employees in higher level positions within the Council, these figures had altered significantly over time and continued to move in the right direction.

Julian Treves Brown requested that the wording “Disabled Employees by Grade” be altered to “Employees with Disabilities by Grade”.

RESOLVED:-

1)that the report and activities required to comply with the new duty be noted; and

2)that the Racial Equality Scheme be presented to the Executive Committee for approval prior to publication.

EOF29/01MINUTES OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE FORUM

Councillor Ann Shaw noted that the Minutes stated that a policy document had been drafted with regard to the Council’s policy on Domestic Violence. She expressed concern that Councillors had not been consulted and that the document had not been considered by the Executive Committee. The Community Safety Co-ordinator explained that this was a draft policy document which had been presented to the DVF for initial comment and feedback. She stated that the draft document would be updated and presented to Members for consideration.

ACTION AGREED:-

that the report be noted.

EOF30/01RACIAL HARASSMENT INCIDENTS

The Community Safety Co-ordinator introduced the report summarising the incidents of racial harassment for each quarter in the calendar year 2001. She explained that the report detailed the ethnic origins of the victims as well as the location of incidents by ward. She pointed out that there was a discrepancy in these totals as the ethnic origins of some of the victims were unknown.

Councillor Ann Shaw asked whether the victims listed in one quarter were likely to be victims in other quarters. The Community Safety Co-ordinator stated that this was a possibility and that she was currently investigating the issue of repeat victims within the district.

Councillor Ann Shaw commented that since 1990 there had been a dramatic increase in the number of reported racial harassment incidents. The Community Safety Co-ordinator explained that people were now encouraged to come forward and report these incidents. She anticipated that the numbers would therefore level out over time.

Councillor Peter Lough commented that the ethnic origin of the victims within the Wards could not be determined from the report. He stated that there had previously been an appendix detailing this information. The Community Safety Co-ordinator explained that a member of staff had not been in post to complete the information for this period. She stated that it would be included in the next racial harassment report.

The Forum considered that specific information on incident locations may be useful in order to determine whether they were centred at a particular shop, street and so on.

ACTION AGREED:-

that, subject to the above comments, the report be noted.

EOF31/01INCIDENTS OF GRAFFITI

The Forum received the report summarising the incidents of graffiti for the period 1 July 2001 to 31 December 2001.

ACTION AGREED:-

that the report be noted.

EOF32/01HOUSING APPLICATIONS AND ALLOCATIONS – ETHNIC MONITORING STATISTICS

The Forum received the report summarising details of housing applications and allocations from 1 July 2001 to 31 January 2002

ACTION AGREED:-

that the report be noted.

EOF33/01ANY OTHER BUSINESS

Julian Treves Brown, PHAB representative, considered that an alarm cord and buzzer could be installed in the Council’s disabled-user toilets in order to alert staff in case of an emergency. The Access Officer stated that he would investigate the matter.

Councillor Ann Shaw stated that she had recently visited a company (DEMAND) who produced pioneering aids and equipment for people with disabilities. She considered that their products were excellent and that they were happy for people to visit their premises. She suggested that they may be invited to give a presentation at the next meeting of the Forum.

CHAIRMAN

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