“About you”

Monitoring templates and guidance for Kent County Councilstaff and partners

About this document

If you are responsible for managing a service, function, major project, work stream or consultation process, this guidance is for you. It explains how to consider if equality data collection is necessary and/or appropriate, how to collect it and what to do with the information when it is collected. If information is already being collected, this guide gives you the opportunity to review the scope and effectiveness of it.

Why do I need to ask ‘About You’ questions?

Kent County Council employs and provides services to people who have a variety of different needs. Equality is not about treating everyone the same, instead we need to make sure that we respond appropriately to different needs. We need to make sure that we understand and have taken account of the needs of people’s protected characteristics. In order todo this, we need to gather information regarding the impact of our services and functions on the different protected groups. We also need to make sure that we are usingthe information to inform service planning and improvement.

Where possible and appropriate, under the Equality Act 2010 the Council, is required toanalyse the impact of services and policies on different groups, specifically in relation to:

  • Race
  • Sex
  • Gender identity/Transgender
  • Disability
  • Age
  • Sexual Orientation
  • Pregnancy and Maternity
  • Religion and Belief

It is not enough to assume that equality of opportunity is being provided for protected groups, even if complaints are not received. KCC needs to be able to demonstrate that it has fully considered the impact of services, and the way they are being delivered, todifferentprotected groups and, to do this, it needs to collect appropriate data and have monitoring arrangements in place.

Monitoring employment, service usage and satisfaction by protected groups is important to help KCC to show that the services it delivers are meeting the needs of all service users and potential service users and that its employment practices arefair.

Equality monitoring is key to the effective performance management of the organisation and contributes to improvements in services and theway they are delivered.

How do I collect this information?

Monitoring can be undertaken in different ways and at different points. This may include:

Written surveys- An anonymous survey, sent to someone to understandtheir satisfaction after receiving a service is one of the most effective ways of capturing monitoring information. It can often have the highest rate of completion and return, as it gives people the opportunity to express their views on the service received.

Face to face-Confidentiality is often an issue when asking equality monitoring questions in public offices. Customers should never be asked monitoring questions if they are in an environment where their responses will be overheard by other people or staff. It may be more suitable to ask someone to fill in a form themselves and place the completed form in a sealed envelope or response box and if the survey can be anonymous this increases completion rates.

Over the phone - If this information is being stored against personal details it is important that staff can explain why the information is being requested, how it will be stored and what it will be used for. You must also have the express consent of the person. Any data should be collected in a way that causes the least amount of inconvenience or delay and in a way that respects a person’s right to keep personal information private. Ideally it would be incorporated within other service related information being collected at the time, or when you are engaging with customers.

Questions could be added to the back of any forms or questionnaires already being completed, or included in any questions already being asked face to face, over the phone, or via the internet. In most cases the completion of equality questions should be very easy and take the customer no longer than a few moments to answer.

However, common sense needs to be applied here, as there will be some circumstances where this is not practical or sensible. For example, if you are only producing a small half page feedback card with only two or three quick questions relating to a service, it would not be sensible to then include a page of equality questions.

How does this information help?

By understanding more about the make-up of the communities in the county:

  • We can decide how best to provide accessible information and appropriate services to everyone, and see where there may be gaps.
  • Assist inservice planning – monitoring is vital for planning, targeting and measuring development in service provision. It can show inefficiencies in the way we organiseservices and indicate new opportunities to meet people’s needs.
  • Is a way of identifying if any policies or services are adversely affecting people and isan important requirement of the Council’s Equality Impact Assessment process –(details can be found on the County Council website).
  • It helps us make sure that we are seeking the views of everyone in society.
  • Meets the criteria for accessing financial and other resources from external sources,many funding organisations now require assurance from bidders that they meet equalities and diversity requirements.
  • We also have a statutory duty to show that we are eliminating unlawful discrimination and promoting equality of opportunity. As an organisation, we need to consider the impact that race, gender, transgender, disability, age, sexual orientation and religion or belief may have on the life chances of members of our communities.

The business itself needs to check that monitoring is relevant to what is being done, and that information collected will be used:

  • to provide the right services
  • as part of the analysis of the impact/ satisfaction of services
  • as part of the performance management framework

The template can be amended to include only the questions you need to ask. The data that you collect should be relevant to what you are doing and done in a proportionate way.

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What questions do I need to ask?

There are 10 ‘About You’ questions, which are based on the protected characteristics of the participants. They are standard questions that have been agreed by a number of different partners and authorities, which include the national census 2011.

When asking the question about age, you have the option to ask for an absolute age, or to give a range of ages from which the respondent can choose. Both options have their advantages and disadvantages. The one you choose will depend on your target audience and the aim of your project. If you want to ask an absolute question about age, delete the age-range question, cut and paste the question and change the wording to read: “How old are you?”

Gender Identity/ Transgender monitoring

Many transgender people are extremely protective about the privacy of their gender identity and gender reassignment history, however it is important that we understand the presence and experiences of the transgender community in all we do.

Under the Data Protection Act 1998, data relating to an individual’s gender reassignment (which includes a change of gender status and name) is classed as ‘sensitive information’, and therefore attracts a higher degree of protection than usual, especially when a Gender Recognition Certificate is held.

It is important that if you do monitor and collect this information, monitoring data about transgender people must not be linked to named service users. Instead it should be anonymous and only the aggregated data results, not the raw data, should be shared across your organisation. Confidentiality must be in place and be seen to be in place.

Respondents under the age of 16 are not asked about their gender identity or sexual orientation. However, if the activity you are undertaking requires you to find out this information,please readthe following guidance:

Kent’s Trans Inclusion Guidance to Schools and Settings.

Supporting transgender users of our services.

Or seek advice from .

Do respondents have to answer the questions?

Respondents do not have to answer any of the questions that you are asking. They can choose either the “I prefer nottosay” option, or leave it blank.

How do I use these templates?

There are five versions of the About You templates at the end of this document:

  • Respondents over the age of 16 – covers one side of A4
  • Respondents over the age of 16 – covers two sides of A4
  • Children and young people under the age of 16 - covers one side of A4
  • Children and young people under the age of 16 - covers two sides of A4 with graphics
  • Easy-read version for people with learning difficulties.

Once you have decided which template you need to use, make a copy of the file, and add your own questions before the ‘About You’ questions.

Don’t forget to remove the questions that you are not going to ask and update the question numbers in the template, then delete the instruction pages and the About You templates you won’t be using. Please think about your audience and adjust the font size to suit.

You may find when copying from one document to another that word will put black borders around the tables. These borders should not be there. You can take them out by highlighting the tables and selecting format, borders and shading, then remove the borders. You may also find that the page margins need adjusting to fit the tables to the page. Adjust the margins by selecting the margins tab under page setup, and set them to top 1.6, bottom 1.6, left 2.0 and right 1.3.

Procurement (Monitoring voluntary and community groups, businesses and other organisations)

Equality monitoring in relation to procurement enables you to ensure that contracts are delivered in a way which promotes equality of opportunity. As the number of contracts with private and voluntary organisations for goods, works and services increasesequality and diversity must be considered as an integral part of each contract.

At the tender and project initiation stages you should be clear about equalityconsiderations and ensure that these are included. They can be formally consideredwithin the contract management process. You need to develop and agree monitoringinformation at the start of any relationship with the organisation, whether that is afunding agreement or a contract.

You will need to decide what you actually want to monitor. For example, how useful willinformation solely about the organisation be? Would more detailed information about thebeneficiaries of the service be more useful? It is important to recognise that, dependanton how representative the organisation is, this may impact on its ability to deliverservices. In respect of this you should understand the make up of their workforce andensure they have equality policies in place and are aware of our policies.

Where can I find out more?

Visit the equality and diversity areas of our website and intranet::

Other useful websites include:

Contact the Equality and Diversity Team

How do I analyse ‘About You’ information?

The point of equality monitoring is to take action where the information shows it is necessary. It is important that the data collected is analysed and ensure that any issues areaddressed. The outcome of any monitoring exercise needs to be compared to

any actual targets set and baseline data. It will also need to form part of the service/business planning process.

When analysing the information, you are looking for signs of positive or negative differences between different groups. For example, if you are looking at take-up rates, look to see how the rates compare for different groups. Look for any trends or differences linked with other factors i.e. greater take up at different times of year for particular groups, low representation of people who live in a particular area etc.

You should also look for links between different categories, for example more younger Asian people using a service or older disabled people showing lower satisfaction rates etc. By doing this you will get an indication of how your service is being received by different groups and if there are any possible issues that need further investigation.

As a minimum, you need to compare your results to the demographic profile of Kent, to determine how representative your sample is. KCC’s Research and Evaluation Team hold a number of data sets that you could use to add another dimension to your analysis.

Most of the data that you need is available on the KCC website via the following link:

We suggest that you look at the Area profiles which provide a range of statistics, including 2011 Census, Mid-year population estimates and benefits data for Kent and the individual local authority districts and comparisons to the South East and England.

Age and gender of total population are updated annually from the mid-year population estimates. They are always one year behind and are released at the end of June each year. For example,the 2015 figures will be available in June 2016.

The latest ethnicity and religion figures are from the 2011 Census and will not be updated until the next national census in 2021.

There is no single measure of disability.The definitions of disability vary, and often rely on an individual's perception of their own health. A condition that one person considers to be disabling is not necessarily considered in the same way by another person with the same condition. The Disability in Kent bulletin presents three different sources of data which can be used to measure a number of people with a disability or disabling health condition.

Currently, there is no data set on gender re-assignment orpregnancy and maternityat a local level. For this reason information on these twocharacteristics is not presented.There is limited information available on sexual orientation and civil partnershipswithin Kent.

If you have any questions please e-mail for assistance.

Differences need to be considered in any conclusions that you draw.You may also need to undertake further research to find out the views of those who have not taken part in your consultation or engagement exercise.

You should also carry out some cross-tabulation analysis, where you compare the results of one question with another. For example, do men and women have the same views about a particular issue, or do older people think differently from younger people? By carrying out this type of analysis, you can find out more about how the Kent community feels about different issues, identify any gaps and make sure that the right people are getting access to the right services.

Proportion

Remember that some groups are small and this may affect or distort the results of any analysis. That does not mean that the findings from minority groups should be ignored, but it may mean that further thought must be given to the next steps if there appears to be a difference between the views of a minority group and others.

In presenting data, it is best practice to:

  • Concentrate on key indicators and highlight key findings.
  • Present a mix of statistics, tables, and graphics
  • Provide relevant explanations andinclude clear recommendations for action
  • Produce equality reports on a regular basis together with other managementinformation(If an individual can be traced to the monitoring figures care must be taken to anonymise the data)
  • Consider the audience and ensure that the information presented is accessible and fit for purpose.

Establishing the reasons for differences

If you notice any differences, trends or gaps, you will need to identify if there are anyknown or obvious reasons for this. It is important not to jump to conclusions at thisstage, if you are not certain of the cause, further investigation will be needed. This is necessary to find out the true cause of the differences, as it may be linked to an equality issue that you are not aware of. Your first point of investigation could be to look at any other relevant information that may give you more insight about the issues for example, complaints, monitoring information from other related services, staff views etc.

Gender Recognition Act 2004, Data Protection and Information Governance

Gender Recognition Act 2004

Under Section 22 of the Gender recognition Act 2004, data relating to an individual’s gender reassignment (which includes a change of gender status and name) is classed as ‘sensitive information’, and therefore attracts a higher degree of protection than usual, especially where a Gender Recognition Certificate is held. This is designed to protect a persons’ right to privacy and makes it a criminal offence to disclose information relating to a persons’ gender history where this information has been gained in an official capacity.

Data Protection Act 1998

The following section provides some general guidance on the data protection implications for equality monitoring. Equality monitoring can involve asking for and recording sensitive personal data about individuals.