Appendix A
Rother District Council
Single Equality Scheme
2010 - 2016
Contents
Foreword
1. Introduction 4
1.1 Vision for the Rother District over the next 10 years 5
1.2 Structure of the Council 5
1.3 The District 5
2. Current Good Practice and Achievements in Rother District Council Equalities……………………………………………………………………………..7
2.1 Housing……………………………………………………………………..7
2.2 Customer Service………………………………………………………….8
2.3 Benefits Service……………………………………………………………8
2.4 Events……………………………………………………………………….8
2.5 Hate Crime Service………………………………………………………..9
2.6 Contractors…………………………………………………………………9
2.7 Complaints………………………………………………………………….9
2.8 Training……………………………………………………………………..9
2.9. Employment………………………………………………………………10
3. Our EqualityPriorities…………………………………………………………...10
3.1 Community engagement………………………………………………...10
3.2 Our service delivery ……………………………………………………..11
3.3 Employment……………………………………………………………....11
3.4 Local knowledge and communication………………………………….12
3.5 Our partnership working..………………………………………………..12
4. Monitoring and Evaluating Equality: Meeting our Duties……………………13
4.1 Equality and Diversity Steering Group…………………………………13
4.2 Equality and Diversity Working Group…………………………………14
4.3 Reviewing the Equality scheme………………………………………...14
4.4 Equality Impact Assessment…………………………………………....14
4.5 Consultation………………………………………………………………14
5. Access to Information and Services…………………………………………..16
APPENDIX 1: Action Plan
APPENDIX 2: Summary of Relevant Legislation
APPENDIX 3: What is an Equality Scheme?
APPENDIX 4: Data Profile of Rother District
Foreword
Welcome to Rother District Council’s Single Equality Scheme. The Council, as a democratically elected body representing all the people who live and work in the District of Rother, is committed to the importance of equality of opportunity.
Rother District Council will endeavour to carry out its functions and provide civic leadership with full regard to the diversity of its residents. This Council is fully committed to fulfilling its statutory duties under equalities legislation and this policy sets out how it proposes to do so.
The leadership of Rother District Council recognises its role in the community to represent the needs of all minority groups in its work, including those with multiple needs.
I will ensure that all Elected Members and employees of the Council are aware of our equalities duties and I will take the lead within the Council in ensuring its effective implementation.
Councillor Jonathan Johnson
Portfolio Holder for Equalities Issues
Rother District Council
April 2010
1. Introduction
The Council has a duty to promote Equality and Diversity through service delivery and its employment. This Equality Scheme will set out our ongoing commitment to recognising the diversity of all the people that live, visit and work in Rother, as well as demonstrating how the Council will meet its legislative requirements.
Equality of opportunity is central to the Council’s objectives and values as stated in the Rother Corporate Plan. The aim of the Rother District Scheme is to set out how we will ensure all our services and employment opportunities are provided with equality and fairness to everyone.
The purpose of this Equality Scheme is to make sure our vision and actions are what our communities need.
The new scheme will help us to:
· meet the requirements of the various equality duties
· show you our plans to improve access to our services
· make sure we are taking the needs and views of all our customers into account when we design or deliver services
· continuously monitor and improve the ways in which we deliver services
Rother District Council aims to be a reliable, well-run, customer-focussed organisation, working hard to achieve the improvements set out in the Vision for the District.
The Council’s Aims are:
Putting Customers First
§ As a service provider, putting customers first is our highest priority and achieving high levels of customer satisfaction will drive the organisation.
Delivering Value for Money
§ We know that our customers value reliable, responsive and efficient service delivery. We will deliver value for money, actively balancing economy, efficiency, and effectiveness.
Building Stronger, Safer Communities
§ As community leaders, we place considerable importance on our part in creating stronger, safer communities in the District.
Working in Partnership
§ We know that achieving our organisational goals will depend on working in partnership with a range of appropriate, well-defined partner organisations.
1.1 Vision for the Rother District over the next 10 years
· We want to see greater economic prosperity with a skilled workforce gaining greater access to well paid employment
· We want to see our local communities building greater capacity to identify and resolve their own challenges
· We want Rother to be a place of greater vibrancy with a more youthful demographic profile, supporting economically active lifestyles
· We want to see greater tolerance and understanding of diversity in our communities
· We want to see inequalities, isolation and deprivation tackled, with an increase in respect and a decrease in crime and anti-social behaviour
· We want our residents to be housed in decent homes
· We want to see more leisure and cultural opportunities as a basis for healthy community life
· We want to see the outstanding assets of countryside and coastline valued more highly for their contribution to our quality of life
1.2 Structure of the Council
Thirty-eight Councillors represent twenty wards within the District. The Leader of the Council is appointed by the Council and is Chairman of the Cabinet, the Council's decision making body. The Cabinet comprises a further 7 Members each of whom has an individual portfolio of responsibility. Councillor Jonathan Johnson is the Portfolio Holder for Equalities Issues.
1.3 The District
Rother District Council is one of five District Councils, which together with East Sussex County Council serve the needs of the communities of East Sussex. It is situated at the eastern end of the County.
The Rother District covers an area of 200 square miles with a coastline of some 25 miles and has a population of approximately 88,840. It is predominantly a rural district embracing the vast majority of the historic 1066 countryside. There are three main towns within the district, Bexhill (population 42,940), Battle (population 4,930) and Rye (population 4,400).
The Census returns for 2001 have provided the following information for the Rother District. The Office of National Statistics has produced some experimental estimates of the ethnicity of our population at 2007.
Please see table below:
Ethnicity / % of population 2001 Census / Experimental Estimate for 2007White (British, Irish and Other) / 98% / 96%
Mixed Ethnic Group (White and Black Caribbean, White and Black African, White and Asian and Other Mixed) / 0.06%; / 0.9%
Asian or Asian Black / 0.45%; / 1.2%
Black or Black British / 0.19% / 1.1%
Chinese / 0.16% / 0.7%
Other Ethnic Group / 0.48%.
Analysis of the local population by age shows that the area has a large percentage of people over retirement age in comparison to the County, the South East of England and the country as a whole.
The chart below shows the proportion of each age group in the district.
The next chart shows the comparison of Rother’s age groups against East Sussex, the South East and Great Britain. Rother’s results are the pale bar on the right and the national average is the blue bar on the left of each age grouping. The chart demonstrates that Rother has below average levels of children and young adults aged 16 to 44. The age group 45-64 is larger than average and so are all following age groups.
For more analysis on the population relating to the equalities strands, please see Appendix 4 at the end of this document.
2. Current Good Practice and Achievements in
Rother District Council Equalities
2.1 Housing Services
· Ensuring access to services is available to all sections of the community is important to the Housing Service Team. Monitoring of the Housing Register identified the need for a proportion of new houses to be built as wheelchair adapted and this year (2009-10) the target of 10% has been exceeded.
· The Housing Options Team sends out Equalities Monitoring Forms with all applications they receive. These can then be used to see that all communities within Rother are able to access the same level of service. The monitoring form being used is part of a pilot scheme and this will be rolled out across the Council in 2010.
· Rother District Council’s Housing Services Team is working alongside Hasting Borough Council, Eastbourne Borough Council, and other external agencies on a Migrant Community Housing Project. Work has begun with the aim to improve access to housing services and the condition of accommodation.
2.2 Customer Service
· The Community Help Point in Bexhill was re-designed with direction and guidance from the Hastings and Rother Disability Access Group for better access for all the local community.
· The Contact Centre was launched in September 2009, and this is a 'one number' (01424 787000) for the Council. The Contact Centre is currently equipped to deal with Housing Needs and Homemove, Planning and Development, Pest Control and Pollution, Bus Passes, Energy Efficiency, Leisure and Recreation, Waste and Recycling, East Sussex County Council and Rother District Council general enquiries and signposting to other agencies and the third sector. Elections, Street Naming and Numbering and Council Tax are all planned to be introduced to this number during 2010. This Council is investigating a Public Sector Village, where pubic services such as Police and Library services work together to give customers one location where they can access multi agency services.
· We are carrying out a phased programme of website improvements to increase access for speakers of languages other than English and for disabled people, including signposting in other languages, clearer layout, better colour contrasts and Readspeaker.
2.3 Benefits Service
· Since the launch of the Fast Track Scheme at the Community Help Point in Bexhill, on 20th April 2009, we have received 330 applications for fast track and 307 of these claims have been processed within the 2 working days pledge. This Scheme is being considered for the other Community Help Points in Rye and Battle in the 2012.
· Benefit application forms are being made clearer and more accessible for customers.
2.4 Events
· In 2009 the Council supported two events for the Rother Race Action Forum within 2009 to engage more with the Black Ethnic Minority community within Rother.
· The Council has hosted in Bexhill Town Hall two Children and Families Events, aimed at giving support and information about services across Rother. This was in partnership with Rother Children’s Centre.
2.5 Hate Crime Service
· The Council is committed to the reporting of Hate Crime in all its forms and has worked with Victim Support to develop training in order to ensure that all staff are able to indentify and report incidents of hate crime. This service is currently delivered County-wide by Victim Support. The reporting form is available on the Council’s website and we welcome people to come into our Community Help Points who may need help with this process.
· The Council also operates a sanctuary scheme for domestic violence through the Housing Service. This project allows those who are escaping domestic violence to remain safely in their homes.
2.6 Contractors
· In line with Procurement Policy we will operate contracting, commissioning and procurement policies that monitor compliance with equality requirements and we will encourage and support contractors and partners to develop best practice in equality.
2.7 Complaints
· In line with its Complaints Policy, the Council welcomes feedback from members of the public who feel that they have experienced discrimination in the way they have been treated. The Council undertakes to take all complaints seriously and will not tolerate any form of discriminatory behaviour. The Council will monitor complaints to ensure we are meeting our equality duties.
2.8 Training
· We will undertake training for Staff and Members, ensuring that the Council maintains a high level of awareness of diversity and Equality issues at all levels.
· More detailed training needs will be put forward in the Action Plan, as a deeper understanding of specific Equality issues is required by some services/staff.
· All new employees will receive general Equality training as part of their induction. Managers will need to develop their understanding of legislation and application, and front line officers need more specific training in relation to dealing with customers. The Action Plan will include developing a programme of specialist training in Equality and Diversity.
2.9 Employment
· In January 2009 we were awarded the “two-tick” symbol from Jobcentre Plus, in recognition of our work in removing barriers for disabled people in the recruitment process. The Council will carry on monitoring and marketing our service to maintain this award.
3. Our Equality Priorities
The Council is committed in making sure that there are equal life chances for all within the District. This may involve thinking creatively to make sure that people are given the chance to ensure that equality can become a reality. In line with the Local Government framework we have chosen to include all six strands within this scheme: race, disability, gender, religion and belief, age and sexuality.
In ensuring that access to services, democracy and employment are available to all we must understand that the barriers people face in different groups. This means that we must identify those barriers and remove them wherever possible. Each year we will draw up an action plan that shows clearly how each of the following priority areas will be delivered.
3.1 Promoting Equality through Community Engagement
· Celebrate the diversity of people within Rother District.
· Work to provide for everyone an environemnt that is free from discrimination, harassment and violence.
· Encourage and support people to be active in community life, volunteering and local decision making.
· Work to build a strong, cohesive community where people from different backgrounds develop positive relationships.
· Encourage other organisations to adopt similar polices on Equality and Diversity, including those that provide goods and services on behalf of the Council.
· Work with our partners’ agencies to reduce inequalities and to improve the social economic well-being of the District through Rother’s Community Plan and other policies.
· Consult and involve representative groups, networks and individuals, covering all equality areas and communities of interest, to help inform our future activities.