Agenda item

To consider an update on the Council’s Equality Plan and the supporting Action Plans.

The Committee considered a report, set out at Agenda pages 45 to 58, which gave details of progress of the year 1 action plan which underpinned the Council’s Equality Plan 2021/25. The Equality Plan aimed to deliver a programme of improvements against the Equality Framework for Local Government (EFLG). The report also set out the action plan for year 2.

Laura Blumenthal, Deputy Executive Member for Equalities, Poverty, the Arts and Climate Emergency and Mark Gwynne, Interim Head of Insight, Strategy and inclusion attended the meeting to introduce the report and answer Member questions.

The report stated that the year 1 action plan had set out 29 actions which would progress towards the “Developing” level of the EFLG. The EFLG comprised four themes around which the action plan was structured and on which progress would be monitored. The themes were:

·           Understanding and working with your communities;

·           Leadership, partnership and organisational commitment;

·           Responsive services and customer care;

·           Diverse and engaged workforce.

Mark Gwynne highlighted progress in the Year 1 action plan in areas such as procurement, communications, customer experience and data collection. A cross-party Member working group had been established together with a Member learning and development programme. Externally, a Residents Equality Forum had been set up and work was ongoing to support a refresh of the BME Forum.

In the ensuing discussion, Members raised the following points:

In relation to Action 18 in Appendix 1 – what training had been provided on Equality Impact Assessments? Mark Gwynne confirmed that more details on training provision could be circulated to Members.

How did pay gaps fit into the Equality Plan? Councillor Blumenthal stated that she would discuss this issue with the Officers.

In relation to Action 17 – could some examples of Role Model behaviour be included, e.g. the calling out of hate speech? Councillor Blumenthal stated that this suggestion would be considered.

Could the list of protected characteristics be extended, e.g. to include socio- economic factors. Mark Gwynne stated that this could be considered.

In relation to the EFLG, was the assessment free of charge? Mark Gwynne confirmed that this was the case as a result of the Council signing up to the framework.

In relation to Action 2 – was the Plan co-produced? Councillor Blumenthal stated that the potential for more co-production could be explored in future.

In relation to Action 15 – Celebrate successes – where was the first case study published? Councillor Blumenthal confirmed that details of the first case study could be shared with Members.

Could RAG ratings be attached to the actions to give a clearer picture on which actions were progressing well and could the data be broke down into wards? Councillor Blumenthal stated that these ideas could be investigated further.

In relation to Action 11 – could a deeper dive take place into modern-day slavery within supply chains? Councillor Blumenthal confirmed that this suggestion could be pursued.

It was confirmed that the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service was doing good work on equalities. Was there potential for sharing ideas and training? Councillor Blumenthal stated that she would be happy to contact the service to discuss the potential for joining up.

RESOLVED That:

1)     progress against the Equality Plan Year 1 Action Plan be noted;

2)     the Equality Plan Year 2 Action Plan be noted;

3)     the ideas and suggestions from Members be incorporated into the future development of the Equality Plan;

4)     the Committee receive an annual update on progress against the actions in the Equality Plan.