REPORT TO LOCAL ECONOMY OVERVIEW GROUP
9th of November 2006
REPORT OF STRATEGIC DIRECTOR
DRAFT OF THE REVIEWED CORPORATE EQUALITY ACTION PLAN
1.Purpose
1.1To present the Overview Group with the draft of the reviewed Corporate Equality Action Plan related to their area of responsibility and to explain the new legislative and performance requirements that impact on the action plan.
1.2The Corporate Equalities Action Plan was developed by Service Units, then collated and approved by Cabinet in November 2005. In October 2006 it will have been in place for a year and needs to be reviewed, updated and reported to Cabinet on 5th December 2006.
1.3As part of this process, new equalities legislation needs to be considered by Service Units to feed into their business planning. The Council has to respond to the new Disability Equality Duty by December 2006, the Equality Act 2006 (including the Gender Equality Duty) and Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006, as well as make progress towards Level 3 of the Equality Standard (BV2a).
2.Decision required
2.1Members are asked to support the review of the Corporate Equality Action Plan (Appendix A) related to their area of responsibility and make suggestions to enhance the draft as necessary.
3.Background – New Equalities Legislation3.1Disability Discrimination Act 2006 requires authorities to have ‘due regard[1]’ to:
-promote equality of opportunity between disabled people and other people
-eliminate discrimination that is unlawful under the Act
-eliminate harassment of disabled people that is related to their disability
-promote positive attitudes towards disabled people
-encourage participation by disabled people in public life
-take steps to meet disabled people’s needs, even if this requires more favourable treatment.
The specific duties require the authority to have aDisability Equality Scheme[2], which must include:
-a statement of how disabled people have been involved[3] in developing the scheme
-the action plan
-arrangements for gathering information about performance on disability equality
-arrangements for assessing the impact of the activities of the authority on disability equality and improving these when necessary
-details of how the authority is going to use the information gathered, in particular in reviewing the effectiveness of its action plan and preparing subsequent schemes.
3.2This Act places a more positive duty on the Borough to consider and address the needs of disabled people proactively in service design and delivery (including through suppliers), in employment practice and in the community.
3.3The Equality Act 2006’s main relevant provisions are:
-to make unlawful discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief in the provision of goods, facilities and services, education, the use and disposal of premises, and the exercise of public functions;
-to enable provision to be made to address discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation in the provision of goods, facilities and services, education, the use and disposal of premises and the exercise of public functions;
-to create a duty on public authorities to promote equality of opportunity between women and men ('the gender duty' – see below), and prohibit sex discrimination and harassment in the exercise of public functions (see below).
3.4The Gender Equality Duty amends the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 to place a statutory duty on all public authorities to have due regard to the need:
-to eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment
-to promote equality of opportunity between men and women
It applies to functions as service providers, policy makers and employers. It also applies to services and functions which are contracted out.
3.5Again, the Authority needs to prevent unlawful discrimination and assess what the priority issues are for men (boys)/women (girls) in services and the community based on differentials in outcomes. In employment, there is a need to address pregnancy discrimination, sexual harassment & transgender discrimination, as well as address cause of pay gap, occupational segregation, & indirect discrimination in pay & promotion structures.
3.6Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 came into force on 1st October 06. It applies to all aspects of employment, including job interviews, terms of employment, training and dismissal. The law makes either direct or indirect discrimination in employment on the grounds of age illegal unless discrimination can be justified. (see Appendix B Communication from Personnel and Training on these regulations).
4.0Borough of Poole’s Performance against the Equality Standard has also reached Level 2 of the Equality Standard in March 2006. To begin moving towards Level 3 by March 2008, the Borough needs take action to consolidate this position and take against some of the new criteria of the Standard, such as EQIAs when developing new policy; improve equality monitoring and begin to set equality targets.
4.1Equality and diversity is becoming an integral part of inspection processes. The Comprehensive Performance Assessment ‘Harder Test’ will assess Councils on 10 Themes: community engagement; customer focus; disability; race; gender; young people; older people; sexuality; religion and human rights. It will cover all areas from ambition or ‘vision’; understanding of local needs; consultation; decision-making and accountability; capacity; and performance management. The Audit Commission will increasingly check whether the Council considers the impact of decisions on communities (ie Equality Impact Assessments) and builds equality into performance frameworks. Council decisions will have to be user focused and evidence based.
4.2 Effectively, each Service Unit needs to consider equality issues, with a particular focus on disability and gender equality this year, within their:
-Policies and strategies (including performance indicators)
-Buildings and infrastructure (eg ICT)
-Customer access strategy and information
-Consultation and participation of service users in service design
-Monitoring of service use
-Contractors and supplier relationships
-Partnerships
-Employment practice
-Responding to harassment and prejudice incidents in the work place, in complaints against the service and in the community
5.Relevance to the Responsibilities of Local Economy Overview Group
5.1The services that fall under the responsibilities of Local Economy Overview Group are extremely important, in particular to the new disability equality as they need to improve accessibility to the environment and services. This is emphasised by the findings of the Positive About Disability consultation with local disabled people. (The report can be found on the Poole Partnership website at
5.2There are also potential implications for new gender equality duties, as well as other equality strands. For example, challenging occupational segregation in roles where they have traditionally been male dominated, such as in building surveying, or making sure women are equipped to maximise their economic potential, given they are less like to be able to access resources.
5.3As well as improving outcomes for specific groups of people, identifying and taking an approach which promotes inclusivity and independence should improve customer care and satisfaction.
5.4The attached draft Action Plan contains a review of actions undertaken over the last year against those identified as corporate actions and those specific to this Overview Group’s services. It should also include new actions that address the above legislation and performance requirements. In the following two sections achievements from last year and priority actions for the coming year are outlined.
6.0Service Unit Achievements over the last year
6.1Some of the key achievements over the last year are highlighted in the table below:
Building Consultancy / Focus has been on training members of Unit
Customer Services and Communications / All the new Customer Service Advisors have received equality and diversity training as part of their induction
Key accessible communications guidance has been drafted on how to help disabled customers, how to access interpreters and the accessible communications statement has been incorporated into the corporate design standards.
Planning, Design and Control / Provided tactile drawings and a BSL interpreter for clients with sight and hearing impairments respectively
Reception staff undertaken training to enable them to address needs of disabled clients. One part-time staff member has undertaken some British Sign language training
Strategic Planning / Economic Development Team, with Bournemouth Borough Council, organised the first Cosmopolitan Business Event attended by 80 Black and minority ethnic business people and service providers to look at how they can be better supported
Together with partners, commissioned an accommodation needs study for Gypsies and Travellers, together with a follow-up study in Poole and Bournemouth focusing on those members of the Gypsy community housed in bricks and mortar who would prefer caravan site accommodation. The latter study is a precursor to a bid for Government funding to refurbish the Mannings Heath Caravan site. A working party is developing a corporate approach to the issue.
Tourism / The Friends of the Dolphin Charitable Trust received the Sibbott Gregory Special Award at Poole’s 2006 Tourism Awards in September for their specially equipped boat which gives Poole Harbour to people of all ages with a disability. Conceived as a special project by the Rotary Club of Parkstone in 1980 and staffed by volunteers, they have welcomed aboard over 27,000 passengers. Dolphin III, in service from 2003 has been a great success enabling those who would not normally be able to go out for trips access to the harbour.
Transportation Services / Provided an additional 20 plus disabled parking bays across the Borough, giving us one of the highest ratios of these bays to parking stock in the area, to help meet the need of an increasing number of Blue Badge holders.
For disabled people who don’t own a car, a new beach car parking permit has been introduced for use with a Blue Badge to enable easier access to beach car parking.
In 2005/06 Poole Community Transport Service provided 19,798 trips for 1533 clients. Dial-a-Bus trips totalled 10,111(average of 842.5 trips per month); volunteers drivers provided an additional 9,544 trips in their own vehicles, and a further 143 in the Citroen Berlingo wheelchair accessible vehicle, helping people to get out and about and maintain their independence
Usage survey to monitor use of disabled bays and implement any recommendations from surveys.
7.0Priority actions identified for Service Units
7.1Some of the key areas identified for the coming two years are as follows:
Building Consultancy / To ensure that mechanisms for assessing customer satisfaction include equalities issues where appropriate
Customer Services and Communications / Revision of the Communications Strategy will be inclusive of disability and race equality by May 2007
Upgrading of the website to AA compliance by April 2007
Ongoing equality training of Customer Service Advisors
Planning, Design and Control / To improve awareness of equality and diversity to Units work through training and integration of work into business planning.
Strategic Planning / Economic Development Team are developing and securing funding for a joint project with Job Centre Plus, LSC and the Supported Employment team to address issues around long-term economic in activity (lone parents, people on incapacity benefit from particular localities)
They will also assess the capacity and need, with partners, for further English Language skills training
To work with sub regional partners to find sites for Gypsy accommodation for inclusion in Local Development Frameworks. Continue to develop a corporate approach to a co-ordinated Gypsy + Traveller policy.
Tourism / Loop system installed at Poole Welcome Centre by December
A member of the welcome centre staff is undergoing training for British Sign Language
Transportation Services / Progressing the accessibility audit of the town centre, reconciling the conflicting priorities of the various groups involved.
Develop a Community Transport policy for Poole.
8.0Conclusion
8.1LEOG are asked to review the revised action plan to assess and reflect on the actions that have been undertaken over the past year. They are also asked to discuss and agree whether the action plan will sufficiently enable the Units to meet the new duties and take forward the Equality Standard for the Units. Key information will be feed into the report to Cabinet in December 2006.
Jan Thurgood, Strategic Director
Contact Officer:
Sue Newell, Improvement and Policy Officer – Equalities
01202 633035
Appendix B P&T e-mail Transcript on AGE DISCRIMINATION LEGISLATION - EFFECTIVE FROM 1 OCTOBER 2006
You are probably aware that new regulations about Age Discrimination in employment come into effect on 1 October 2006 - Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006. They apply to all aspects of employment including job interviews, terms of employment, training and dismissal. The law makes either direct or indirect discrimination in employment on the grounds of age illegal unless discrimination can be justified as a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. This reflects the provisions of other discrimination legislation covering gender, race, disability etc. The main implications for the Council as an employer are as follows :-
Retirement Age
Employers can set a compulsory retirement age at 65 but no earlier unless they can show objective justification. This is not an issue for us as 65 is our normal retirement age. However employees approaching 65 have the "right to request" to be allowed to delay their retirement. We are in the process of setting up a procedure to deal with such requests. In short we will be writing to all employees up to 12 months before their 65th birthday giving them notice of their retirement to ascertain whether they will be retiring at 65 or wish to request to delay their retirement to a new date. The regulations require employees to respond no later than 3 months before their 65th birthday otherwise they will automatically be retired. (Transitional arrangements will apply to those reaching 65 before 1 April 2007 involving shorter timescales). Any "requests" we receive will be passed to Service Unit Heads/ Head teachers for them to consider and respond to. We will be advising managers on possible criteria they should take into account so that the reason for the decision is clear. We are required to provide a right of appeal internally. There should not be an exposure to an unfair dismissal claim where the reason for dismissal is clearly retirement and we have followed the correct procedure.
Terms of employment
Terms which relate to age or length of service may constitute direct or indirect discrimination. The regulations however exempt any terms relating to service of up to 5 years (eg our sickness payments). Terms which relate to longer periods of service need to be objectively justified (eg on grounds of recognising loyalty). We are currently reviewing annual leave entitlements and will be consulting on proposals. Other terms of our employment appear to be age-neutral.
Redundancy payments
The upper and lower age limits for statutory redundancy payment will be removed by the Government but they are retaining the current age-related bands which provide for higher payments for older employees on the grounds that redundancy impacts greater on older employees. The current discretionary redundancy provisions for local government employees and teachers which provide for higher payments are to be revoked and replaced with a general discretion for a one-off enhanced payment unrelated to age as an alternative to granting added pensionable years.
Appointments and promotion
Decisions and processes in this area have hopefully always been age-neutral. The Council's Recruitment and Selection Good Practice Guide is being revised to ensure this continues to be the case. Managers need to be particularly careful to ensure that requirements such as "5 years experience" can be objectively justified and that the wording in advertisements and job specifications cannot be construed by applicants as discriminatory.
Conclusion
The regulations are intended to remove considerations about "age" from employment decisions other than when they can be objectively justified. Much of the publicity has focused on older employees and in Local Government the reality is that we have a higher proportion of employees over 40 (62%) than the economy as a whole (48%). However younger people are just as capable of being discriminated against. This legislation in many respects simply gives statutory backing to the aims of the Council's "Promoting Diversity and Respecting Diversity" policy.
1
[1] Due regard’ means authorities should give due weight to the need to promote disability equality in proportion to its relevance
[2]Borough of Poole’s approach, like many other Authorities, will include this as part of their Corporate Promoting Equality, Respecting Diversity Policy.
[3] Involvement means more than consultation