DRAFT
RACE EQUALITY SCHEME
2002 – 2005
WIGAN COUNCIL
05/09/02 *
FOREWORD
We are very pleased to have the opportunity to commend Wigan’s Race Equality Scheme to you.
Although it has been produced in response to legislation, it builds on important work that was already high priority. The elimination of discrimination, the promotion of community cohesion and valuing the diverse needs and skills of everyone are at the heart of the Borough’s as well as the Government’s agenda. These aims are critical to future economic and social development as well as being ethically right and socially just.
With particular reference to race and ethnicity it has too often been thought in the past that this was a minor issue in Wigan because of our relatively low ethnic minority population. On the contrary we recognise that this places more rather than fewer responsibilities on us to address racial and ethnic diversity, to assess all our services for their possible impact on people of different backgrounds. We welcome the opportunity which this Scheme gives us to set out our policies, procedures and aims and the actions we will take to achieve them.
Our Race Equality Scheme must be a working document which is central to everyone in whatever role within the Authority. We all need to check our knowledge and awareness of others and become used to consider the impact of what we do and how we do it on others. The challenge is a serious one and will often be difficult but we are confident of rising to it and achieving excellence in both race equality and diversity more generally.
Councillor Lord Peter SmithStephen Jones
Chief Executive
OUR COMMITMENT TO RACE EQUALITY
Wigan Council has long had good policies and procedures in relation to race and ethnicity, as indeed it has across the whole equality/diversity agenda.
However, we recognise that change has often seemed slow in coming and that many parts of the organisation are not fully representative of the communities we serve. We also recognise that policies and procedures cannot, in themselves, effect change without the underpinning of understanding and commitment of all staff and a strong lead from Members and officers.
We therefore value this occasion which our statutory duty has given us, to review what we do, to assess its impact on all our different customers, and to set out the actions we will take to work towards the elimination of discrimination and to promote greater community cohesion. We have taken the task very seriously and have put a great deal of resource, effort and debate into it. While we are convinced of the moral rightness of such a Diversity approach, we also accept it as a business imperative in any pluralistic, multi-cultural society. A rigorous, accountable and audited Scheme is vital to delivering and measuring the quality of service we want.
It is very important that our race strategy is firmly located within our general diversity strategy. Our diversity strategy is an holistic, mainstream one which touches everything we do and will affect everyone in the organisation in whatever his or her role. No group is intrinsically more or less important than any other to the Council, although we vividly recognise that people’s different backgrounds and life experiences give rise to different needs, and that in terms of service delivery “one size fits none”.
We hope that the Scheme will scotch, once and for all, the myth that areas of relatively low ethnic minority population are not concerned with or are immune from racial problems. Minority ethnic people are perhaps more likely to experience prejudice, discrimination (whether unwitting or deliberate), inappropriate treatment and hostility in areas where people from their ethnic group are unfamiliar. This is true, whatever the particular minority concerned.
Race/ethnicity rightly belongs on a Diversity agenda because people are not one-dimensional. As well as our ethnic identity we all have our gender, age, sexuality, possible disability etc. etc. An effective organisation must be sensitive to all these dimensions to give the best possible service across the board. Wigan Council is determined to achieve this, and I shall play my part, as Diversity Champion, to ensure that it happens.
Councillor Lynne Liptrot
Cabinet Champion for Diversity
Cabinet Member for Environment
DRAFT WIGAN COUNCIL RACE EQUALITY SCHEME
1.0Introduction
2.0The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000
3.0Wigan Borough Profile
3.1General
3.2Wigan Council
4.0Council's Equality Commitment
4.1Council's Equality Commitment : Policy
4.2Council's Equality Commitment : Structures
4.3Council's Equality Commitment : Good Practice examples
5.0The Race Equality Scheme
5.1General Duty
5.2Specific Duty
6.0Race Equality Scheme Complaints Procedure
7.0Functions & Policies by Department
8.0Action Plan & Timetable
9.0Training Profile
APPENDICES
APreparing the Council's Race Equality Scheme
Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000
BEqual Opportunities Policy
CCouncil's Political Structure
DA copy of Complaints Form
EFunctions & Policies : Departmental pro-formas
FRace Equality Scheme : Summary Checklist
GEquality Standard
1.0INTRODUCTION
Wigan Council's Race Equality Scheme has been produced in response to the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000. The Council recognises both its general and specific duties as a public authority to promote race equality and prevent unlawful racial discrimination.
The Race Equality Scheme specifically addresses equal treatment of people from different racial groups. The Race Relations Act 1976 defines a racial group as a group of people identified by their race, colour, nationality (including citizenship), ethnic or national origins. One or more of these factors can be present in determining a group or community and white groups (such as, for example, Irish) are within the scope of the Act.
Wigan Borough has a small black and minority ethnic population (0.8% 1991 Census) and, therefore, the Council and the community has limited direct experience of a multi-cultural society or as an organisation. However, the Council recognise that this places greater, rather than fewer responsibilities on it to promote and consider good race relations.
The Council will implement its Race Equality Scheme in the broader context of its Managing Diversity Strategy, whereby all equality issues will be developed as part of the Council's commitment to the Equality Standard (see Appendix G).
2.0The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000
2.1Background
Following the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993, an inquiry was set up by the Home Secretary in 1997 to investigate matters arising from his death. The inquiry also identified lessons to be learned from the investigation of the racially motivated crime.
The report from the inquiry was published in 1999, and although many of the recommendations were specific to the police, the underlying theme was that racism could only be addressed and reduced by taking a co-ordinated approach to prevent the growth of conscious, unconscious and institutional racism in UK society.
The report stated that it was the duty of every institution to evaluate their policies and procedures to guard against discrimination and that it was not simply the police services that needed to tackle “institutional racism”.
A definition of institutional racism:
The collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin. It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness and racist stereotyping which disadvantage minority ethnic people.
The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 is the Government’s legislative response to the inquiry report. It came into force in April 2001 and places general and specific duties on public authorities to promote race equality and prevent unlawful racial discrimination.
2.2The Duties on Public Authorities
The General Duty to promote race equality
The General Duty says public authorities must have due regard to the need to:-
Tackle racial discrimination
Promote equality of opportunity
Promote good race relations
Public authorities must consider racial equality in the day to day work of policy-making, service delivery, regulation and enforcement and employment practice. They must consider carefully the weighting which they attach to racial equality in proportion to its relevance to a particular function, and they must ensure that they know how all their policies and services affect race equality.
The general duty is supported by a series of specific duties, which are not ends in themselves but provide the steps, methods or arrangements for public authorities to follow to help them to meet the general duty.
The Specific Duties to promote race equality
The Specific Duties are as follows:
To publish a Race Equality Scheme; and
To publish a statement of the functions and policies which the Council has assessed as relevant to delivering the objectives of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act.
Wigan Council must review this assessment every three years.
Duties of Wigan Council under the Race Equality Scheme
The Race Equality Scheme must include arrangements for:
Assessing and consulting on the likely impact of proposed policies on the promotion of race equality.
Monitoring policies for any adverse impact on the promotion of race equality.
Publishing the results from the above assessments, consultation and monitoring.
Ensuring public access to information and services provided by the Council.
Training staff about the general and specific duties.
In addition, Wigan Council is under duty to monitor, by reference to racial groups to which they belong, the following:
The number of staff in post
Applications for employment, training and promotion
Staff receiving training
Staff who benefit, or not, as a result of performance appraisal
Staff involved in grievance procedures
Staff who are the subject of disciplinary procedures
Staff who cease employment with the Council
2.3Summary
The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 places both general and specific duties on all public authorities to promote race equality. The Action plan for fulfilling these duties is to be developed and published in the form of a Race Equality Scheme.
The Scheme will enable public authorities to evaluate their policies and procedures; identifying their relevance to race equality, and to make any necessary changes for more effective and equal service delivery. These changes will be delivered over a three-year period.
3.0Wigan Borough Profile
Wigan lies on the north west boundary of the Greater Manchester conurbation, adjoining the local authorities of Bolton and Salford in Greater Manchester; the districts of Chorley and West Lancashire; St Helens in Merseyside; and Warrington in Cheshire. The Borough is the largest in Greater Manchester by area, at 72.64 square miles.
3.1Overview of the Borough
Economic
The population of the Borough is 311,532 (Resident Population Estimates Mid-1999). Wigan has seen a huge shift in its socio-economic structure, which reflects the change in other similar towns. Traditionally, the population has engaged in two dominant industries - coal mining and the textile industry. This has now been replaced by newer industries such as light engineering, food processing and mail order. Currently, employment is now dominated by manufacturing and distribution (27.3% in 1991) and hotel and catering (24.1% in 1991)
The demise of the coal and textile industries brought unemployment and dereliction to large parts of the Borough, with 622 hectares of land designated as derelict in the 1993 Land Survey.
There has been an overall improvement in relation to unemployment within the Borough, with the overall rate declining from 16.1% in 1985 to 4% in 2000. However, there are marked variations between unemployment rates in different wards, with some wards having high scores on the National Index of Multiple Deprivation. Overall, Wigan is ranked 9th nationally (out of 354) in employment deprivation, and the 30th most deprived on the basis of income. In August 2001, 39,000 people were considered to be economically inactive in Wigan. Regionally, the unemployment average was 3.9% in 2000.
Health & Social Deprivation
In general, people living in Wigan experience quite poor health compared to people in other parts of the country. An independent survey revealed this is due to a complex range of inter-related socio-economic factors. Some 90% of wards in Wigan are in the most deprived 20% of wards in England. All wards are in the most deprived 40% of wards in England (Index of Multiple Deprivation 2000).
As identified in the Denham & Cantle reports into the summer disturbances in Oldham, Bradford and Burnley in 2001, accessibility to good housing, employment and tackling deprivation are key factors in maintaining good race relations and community cohesion.
Wigan Population Profile
The table below estimates the current population of Wigan. Though the population figures have been estimated to remain steady, there will be an increase in those retiring from jobs. There will also be an anticipated increase of the minority ethnic population with the arrival and dispersal of asylum seekers and refugees by central government.
Source: Mid Year Population estimates 2000, ONS
POPULATION :Wigan Metropolitan Borough
Age / 1991 CensusNo. / %
0 - 4 / 21,127 / 6.9
5-14 / 38,599 / 12.6
15-19 / 21,338 / 7.0
20-34 / 70,404 / 23.0
35-44 / 43,728 / 14.3
45-64 / 68,083 / 22.2
65-74 / 25,745 / 8.4
75+ / 17,497 / 5.6
Totals / 306,521 / 100.0
Source: 1991 Census
Profile by Ethnicity
Within Wigan, the proportion of people from minority ethnic backgrounds was 0.8% in the 1991 Census, but this is expected to have increased and almost certainly to have doubled to 1.6% in the 2001 Census. This is partly due to the arrival of new refugee groups and the increase in population of the existing minority ethnic population in Wigan.
There are however, established minority communities from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures, specifically Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian, Chinese and Ukrainian established in Wigan. In addition, there are a number of eastern European families who have settled in Wigan as asylum seekers.
Regionally, authorities have an average of 4% minority ethnic population against a national average figure of 6.1%.
ETHNIC GROUPS IN WIGAN
Population breakdown by ethnicityWhite / 304,190 / 99.2
Non-White / 2,331 / 0.8
Figure 1
Population Breakdown by Wards
WARD NAME / White / Non_WhiteAbram / 13,200 / 102
Ashton-Golborne / 12,732 / 53
Atherton / 11,927 / 69
Aspull-Standish / 13,299 / 136
Bedford-Astley / 12,635 / 74
Beech Hill / 11,327 / 64
Bryn / 12,577 / 40
Hindley / 12,210 / 57
Hindley Green / 15,098 / 87
Hindsford / 13,892 / 126
Hope Carr / 12,593 / 91
Ince / 10,099 / 72
Langtree / 14,398 / 101
Leigh Central / 11,912 / 98
Leigh East / 12,761 / 241
Lightshaw / 13,831 / 91
Newtown / 11,884 / 69
Norley / 10,185 / 38
Orrell / 12,103 / 79
Swinley / 10,678 / 170
Tyldesley East / 15,275 / 251
Whelley / 11,054 / 41
Winstanley / 15,499 / 76
Worsley Mesnes / 13,021 / 105
Source:1991 Census
The above chart shows how dispersed the minority communities are across the different wards. This information is, of course, 11 years old. We are awaiting results from the 2001 survey, which will allow us access to such information from the Office of National Statistics. This information is expected to be released after March 2003.
3.2Wigan Council
Wigan Council is made up of 72 Councillors: 65 Labour; 3 Liberal Democrat; 2 Community Action and 2 Conservative (as of May 2002). The Council has adopted the model of a Leader and Cabinet system, supported by Policy Panels, with an Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The Council has 4 political principles:-
PartnershipTo act in the interests of the whole community by working in partnership.
Performance
To secure the best possible services to meet the expressed needs of citizens and to continually improve delivery performance
Place
To make the Borough a more attractive place for people to live, and to attract new opportunities and investment.
People
To develop the full potential of citizens without discrimination.
The most relevant to our equality policies is the commitment to people. In addition, the Mission Statement is as follows:-
"Within the resources available to it, Wigan Council commits itself to secure quality services, delivered fairly, courteously and responsively, by well informed employees who take pride in what they do."
Constitution & Structure
A diagram of the Council's political structure can be found in Appendix C.
Details of the Council's Constitution can be found on the Council's website:
4.0COUNCIL'S EQUALITY COMMITMENT
4.1Our Equality Commitment : Policy
4.1.1The Council has had a firmly-established commitment to Equal Opportunities in Employment since the 1980s. However, a clear commitment to Equal Opportunities in Service Delivery is more recent.
4.1.2In September 1999, the Chief Officers' Management Team established an Equal Opportunities in Service Delivery Task Group to support and produce corporate guidelines for all departments. The initiative was mainly in response to the organisational challenges identified within the Macpherson Report and by the Best Value Performance Indicators.
4.1.3At the meeting of Cabinet on 21 September 2000 (Strategy Committee 9 October 2000), Members received a progress report on developing policies and implementation guidelines for equal opportunities in service delivery in Wigan.
4.1.4Members agreed a new integrated Equal Opportunities Statement for Wigan, covering both employment and service delivery. The Committee also agreed that the CRE (Commission for Racial Equality) Standard for Local Government was to be used as a basis for review and assessment across all equality areas. Members recognised the need for the Council to respond to the specific recommendations of the Macpherson Report and to ensure that they are integrated into the work of the Council, but also saw an opportunity to develop services across all equality areas.
4.1.5Every local authority was required to state which level of the CRE Standard it had reached as part of the Best Value Performance Indicators. Wigan Council's aim was to reach Level 3 by the end of 2002. The Council will now be using the Equality Standard as its framework from 2002/03.
4.1.6Wigan Council's Equal Opportunities Statement can be seen at Appendix B.
4.2Our Equality Commitment : Structures
4.2.1The Council has set up a clear structural framework to ensure that our commitment to Equal Opportunities is integral to the work of the collective organisation (see Figure 2).
4.2.2The cross-departmental group, Equal Opportunities Champions, has responsibility for progressing the Council's implementation programme. The group is supported by four separate task groups, one of which will be focused on our Race Equality Scheme.
4.2.3The Equal Opportunities Champions report to the Chief Officers' Management Team and, subsequently, the Cabinet, via the Group's chair, the Director of Leisure & Cultural Services.