City of York S Journey to Reach Excellent Status of the Equality Framework for Local

City of York’s journey to reach Excellent status of the Equality Framework for Local Government.

Introduction

Progress Towards Good Examples of Excellent Practice

Mainstreaming Findings

Recommendations

Reaching Excellent EFLG Status Action Plan#

Appendix A: List of interviews held

1. Introduction

On the 15November 2011 we were commissioned by the Director of Communities to conduct an independent assessment of the City of York’s journey to reach ‘Excellent’ status, as defined by the Equality Framework for Local Government (EFLG) and look to how the Council could further mainstream equalities practice. This report includes both aspects and where appropriate mainstreaming actions have been added to the EFLG Reaching Excellent Plan.

The Equality Framework has a number of themes which include:

Knowing your communities.

Collecting information

Analysing and using information

Sharing information between partners

Leadership, partnership and organisational commitment

Leadership and vision

Organisational partnership and commitment

Equality Analysis

Equality Objectives

Monitoring and scrutiny

Effective communication

Commissioning and procuring services

Participation in Public Life

Fostering Good Relations

Community Engagement & Satisfaction

Engagement Structure

Effective Engagement

Responsive Services and Customer Care

Integration of equality analysis into service reviews

Integration into service planning and delivery

Service level procurement

Access to services

Human Rights

A Skilled and Committed Workforce

Workforce Strategy

Local Labour Market

Workforce monitoring

HR Policies and Procedures

Staff engagement

Promoting a positive working environment

Equal Pay Reviews

Harassment and Bullying

Appraisals

Learning and Development

To reach Excellent status, the City of York Council will need to fully complete the plan, illustrating how the Council has made a positive impact on all of the above themes. This report also identifies a number of projects that can be implemented to support the Council to reach Excellent.

The independent assessment was conducted over 30 days and included interviews with a range of staff members: Directors, Assistant Directors, Members, managers, members of ELG, other statutory partners and community / voluntary organisations. A list of all interviewees can be found in Appendix 1.

The assessment equality proofed the Procurement Strategy, the Workforce Strategy and the Customer Strategy.We have also developed a Public Sector Equality Duty Publishing Template, Dignity at Work Policy and a Diversity Handbook for Foster Parents of BAME children.

2. Progress Towards Good Examples of Excellent Practice

The assessment found that there are a number of notable areas of good practice which will support the Council to reach Excellent, although actions with the plan will further enhance the good practice to Excellent level criteria:

There is good evidence of political and officer leadership on equalities and fairness.The Leader, Chief Executive of the Council, Member for Equalities and Director for Communities demonstrate a clear commitment for embedding a meaningful equalities/fairness agenda internally and externally;

The Business Intelligence Hub profiles, with the use of Experian and the Public Health data will be instrumental in identify health/social inequalities and the design of services;

The proposed Neighbourhood Management Unit (NMU) will play an important role in the consultation/engagement of community contracts in the delivery of services;

The Equality Leadership Group is a key driver for organisational change whose members have a strong commitment to equalities;

The Fairness Commission has a strong reputation amongst other statutory partners in York and has set a strong agenda for change. The initial report highlights a number of key findings and challenges for all statutory bodies in York;

The Equality Advisory Group (EAG) plays an important role in ensuring scrutiny of the Council’s equality agenda;

The Staff Equality Reference Group (SERG) is making good progress in consulting and engaging with employees on equality issues;

The proposed Workforce Strategy has a strong equality theme with specific action to develop and maintain a diverse and inclusive workforce and is due to be implemented.

3. Mainstreaming Equalities Findings

3a. Implications from the Fairness Commission Report

The interim Fairness Commission Report sets out the inequalities faced by the people of York. Approximately 40% of the population live in areas that are in the best 20% in England, eight of the areas of the city are in the most deprived 20%, which house under 7% of York’s population, where there is shorter life expectancy, a higher crime rate, less material wealth and lower levels of aspiration and of life chances. The report states that it not the scale of the deprivation but the clear demarcation of deprivation between the more affluent and not so affluent, which it calls the ‘affluent’ York and ‘excluded’ York.

There is a need to ensure the recommendations made by the Fairness Commission are implemented and that they are further supported by the Council’s equality structures. The current Single Equality Scheme for the Council or Equality Impact Assessment mechanisms does not fully include social deprivation as an assessment theme.

It is therefore recommended that the Single Equality Scheme and EIA mechanisms are reviewed to include social deprivation as an assessment theme.

3b. Development of a Fairness Agenda

As the Council has now reached ‘Achieving’ status as defined by the Equality Framework for Local Government (EFLG), there is a recognised view within the Council of the need to refresh the agenda so that the Council can gain more ownership and understanding of the Council’s equalities agenda.

It needs to be noted that there is significant evidence of leadership on equality issues. The Leader of the Council, the Cabinet Member for Equalities and the Chief Executive have a clear commitment in ensuring that equality and diversity remains a key priority for the Council. The Council’s Equality Leadership Group (ELG) is chaired and led by the Director of Communities. Membership includes the Chair of EAG, who is also the Member Champion for Equalities,a range of other Assistant Directors, senior managers. SERG and equalities staff support the group.

Our assessment has found that although there is an understanding of equalities, this is not fully understood by most staff members and is generally seen as a bolt-on theme. The new Equality Act 2010 has not helped in supporting workforces to embrace equality and diversity issues with the term ‘protected characteristics’. This has further supported the stereotype that “equality and diversity is about protecting certain groups not all groups”. Although we have legal responsibilities, there is a general acceptance within the Council that we need to take more positive steps to mainstream equality and diversity practice and move away from a compliance position to one where we look to developing a more needs based approach.

It is therefore recommended that the Council develop an agenda based upon the principles of Fairness. We need to make clear that the agenda around Fairness should not be based on a ‘one model fits all approach’ but based upon Fairness by outcome and not process. The Fairness Model must support the principle that:

-everyone is an individual and therefore their needs will be different;

-services are designed to meet the needs of all communities through engagement and business intelligence;

-we work to identify those who are ‘hard to reach’ and the most vulnerable;

-we don’t stereotype people’s needs;

-we develop and maintain a workforce which is reflective of our communities at different levels within the organisation, and

-our partners and those to who we commission our services to continue to deliver to our expectations listed above;

-our equality agenda is based upon life chances of those who are most disadvantaged.

Our policies and procedures, when revised, should not refer to communities as ‘protected characteristics’ and should use themes such as ‘communities of interest’, ‘communities’, equality strands or themes. There is no legal requirement that suggests that any group is referred to as a ‘protected characteristic’.

It is recommended that Communications with the leadership of ELG should look to develop an internal campaign with Human Resources to raise awareness of our Fairness agenda. It needs to promote the vision that everyone has a role to play, it’s not about the few, but it is about everyone, equalities is part of the day job, it’s fundamentally about customer care and good employment practices. This could also include celebrating events e.g. International women’s Day, Disability Week, Gay Pride, Chinese New Year with staff members and the communities.

It would also be useful to develop an internal marketing campaign which is visibly led by the councillors and members of CLG. The equality promotion needs to be ‘branded’ so that it can be recognised by staff and external stakeholders. It should be based upon principles of knowing and meeting the needs of our customers and implementation of good talent recruitment and development. It should not be based upon our legal obligations. The marketing of the Council’s agenda should not be over resourced and needs to bear in mind the current financial climate.

3c. Single Equality Scheme

The Council understands the need to embark on a new equalities agenda where the planned achievement of the Excellent status makes a positive impact on City of York Council’s equalities/fairness agenda, its workforce, communities, residents and partners.

A Single Equality Scheme should include elements that identify disadvantage, tackles inequalities and sets out priorities that are highlighted by communities through active engagement. It is advised that a new Scheme should be developed to have a new definition of Fairness. One example that could be used is:

Fairness is about creating a fairer and equal society, where everyone can participate and has the opportunity to fulfill their potential. It is about identifying patterns of experience based on group identity, and challenging the processes that limit the life chances of individuals and communities. It is also about developing services that meet the diverse needs of all our communities, developing an inclusive workforce which is reflective of York and where our partners and other stakeholders share our vision for a Fairer York.

The new Single Equality Scheme should include our new public equality duties and importantly needs to involve communities of interest at an early stage of the development process. It is advised the communities should identify short and medium term priorities that are meaningful and achievable over a three year term and include the recommendations from the Fairness Commission.

The Scheme will also need to be linked to the Council’s Plan, One Strategy and other key initiatives and focus on tackling socio-economic deprivation, which under the current economic climate will have a detrimental effect on the most vulnerable in York.

The 3 year Action Plan should be monitored by the Equality Leadership Group (ELG) on a quarterly or six monthly basis and scrutinised by the Equality Advisory Group (EAG) on an annual basis. It would also be useful to include new priorities and actions during the monitoring and reviewing process.

The current equalities agenda is mainly disability orientated and has produced good outcomes, for example the use of Ariel font 14 on documents and other actions that are beginning to make a positive impact on the disability agenda. However, there is a need to develop a more inclusive equalities agenda that includes an ‘Agenda for Gender’, priorities outlined by and for BAME communities, faith communities, LGBT communities and people of different ages in York.

These priorities should be shaped by ‘communities of interest’ and agreed by the authority. An annual report should be developed and presented to communities outlining the Council’s successes and areas for further development.

3d. Equality Impact Assessments

The Council continues to conduct a wide range of equality impact assessments (EIAs) of services, policies and procedures. The EIAs process has been revised over the years to try and ensure that the process becomes less cumbersome and more objective. The quality of the EIAs in respect to objective setting varies from very good to not fully adequate.

There is a general consensus within CYC that EIAs can be seen as bureaucratic and do not lead to improvements. However, there is evidence of improvements in service delivery employment practices. The consultation of EIAs, through EIA surgeries, have also lead to more tailored EIAs and more target orientated actions.

However, the assessment has identified that there is need for further embedding of EIAs, to look at more focused outcomes for communities and the need for EIA mechanisms to be tailored towards projects and functions, as well as strategies and policies.

It is therefore recommended that the City of York Council looks to develop two different bespoke EIA toolkits. This should include a Customer Impact Assessment (CIA) Toolkit which is aimed at service delivery anda Workforce Impact Assessment (WIA) Toolkit which assess workforce strategies, policies and functions.

It is also advised that the Council uses a wider range of data to identify gaps which could include more business intelligence, public health data or where this fails to identify gaps, to consult with users. The two approaches can be blended depending upon the ‘likely impact’ or relevance of the policy/service or project on those communities of interest. This process will reduce likely levels of consultation and develop a more targeted range of outcomes and objectives. There is also a need to develop take up of services monitoring systems which aim to identify which groups use CYC’s services and which groups do not. This will enable the Council to identify gaps and take action to narrow the gap.

The Council needs to develop an annual plan of EIAs which focuses on ‘relevance’ or ‘likely impact’ on communities of interest. These should be divided into types of consultation events, with the most important projects being consulted with EAG. The Council should also look at how other EIAs that do not fit into this category are consulted. It is proposed that the some of the EIAs should be consulted through a web forum or any other system which is be less time and resource intensive.

Currently, the EIA consultation process has been led by the Equalities team. As the Neighbourhood Management Unit will be involved in detailed consultation/engagement with communities and will lead in the development of services and will have access to information from the Business Intelligence Hub and Public Health data, it is therefore proposed that consultation of EIA function should sit in NMU.

3e. Equality & Diversity Structure and the Neighbourhood Management Function

Equality & Diversity Structure and the Neighbourhood Management Function

The Council has an Equality and Diversity Unit, based in CANS which is resourced by a Corporate Equality & Inclusion Manager and a Corporate Equalities Officer. There is also a vacant Equalities and Engagement Officer post, which is Housing Revenue Account (HRA) funded. The total staffing budget is: £129,145.20p (with on costs) per annum.

The Equalities structure is supported by:

-Members of the Equality Leadership Group (ELG), meets on a monthly basis;

-Equality Advisory Group (EAG), meets on a bi-monthly basis;

-Directorate Equality Leads (DEL), currently not active;

-Staff Engagement Reference Group (SERG) meets on a monthly/six week basis.

The main focus of the occupied equality posts consisted of themes that supported the Council to reach Achieving status by June 2011. The identified main actual functions consist of:

-Support to managers on the development of EIAs;

-Supporting the consultation process of EIAs;

-Overview of the Council’s Single Equality Scheme;

-Providing support and guidance to EAG ;

-Providing guidance to ELG on equality issues.

There is little evidence of strategic advice on key strategies, future proofing, strategic planning or developing an inclusive equalities agenda and most of the activities relate to the disability equality theme.

There are two key developments that we believe will have a significant impact on how we can target our resources to tackle disadvantage in York. As we are aware the Public Health function will be transferred from the PCT to the Council. This function will provide detailed information in respect to health inequalities across York, which will therefore illustrate social inequalities, as these are closely linked.

The proposed development of the Neighbourhood Management Unit will support the Council to consult and engage with a range of communities, identify specific service needs and using the data from the business intelligence hub develop service or community contracts. The Neighbourhood Management Unit will be central to the development and design of services and understand the gaps in service provision.

There is a need to ensure that when we are consulting with communities or designing services to meet the needs of our service users and residents we are able to develop solutions to sometimes complex issues that can arise in the design of services. The quantitative data from the Business Intelligence Hub and Public Health will also support the Council to work with those who are most disadvantaged and vulnerable.

It is therefore recommended that the two posts within the Equality and Diversity Unit and the vacant HRA funded Equality & Engagement post are transferred to the Neighbourhood Management Unit. This will enable the authority to ensure equalities sits at the heart of consultation, engagement and development of services.

There are also options to reduce staff numbers and use the resources to bring in outside expertise as and when required, which will allow greater flexibility in the delivery of its fairness/equality agenda.

Equality Support Structures

As discussed earlier, the Equality & Diversity function is supported by:

-Members of the Equality Leadership Group (ELG), meets on a monthly basis;