Revised equalities narrative for Suffolk
Narrative for Suffolk as an Excellent Authority
‘The Future’
Knowing our Communities
Visitors and residents alike agree that Suffolk is a place that’s socially, culturally and economically diverse. Whether you like sports, heritage, food and drink, theatre, music and events or just relaxing along the coast or in a country park, there’s something for everyone here.
Thanks to routine surveys and conversations with partners and communities across the county, Suffolk County Council is aware of the needs of people from different backgrounds as well as the pockets of deprivation which still exist in rural and urban areas. The good news is that even though many household incomes in the county are still below the national average, the situation is improving. For instance, household incomes are rising and inequalities narrowing, and the proportion of people living below the poverty line is decreasing.
The Council continues to make important decisions to address the needs of the people of Suffolk; and democracy remains at the heart of the Council’s emphasis on local solutions for local needs, and places an added importance on the role of all elected members as community leaders.
Suffolk’s ‘Our Place’ initiative helps communities determine and articulate their own local ambitions. This is brought to fruition with support from responsive, reliable and joined-up public and voluntary sector partners.
Councillors work closely with their communities to facilitate solutions to local problems and mobilise community involvement. In turn officers support local councillors to respond flexibly to communities ensuring that we provide a joined up response. This involves bringing together all relevant parts of the County Council, and where appropriate our partner organisations, to help individual communities find solutions to the challenges they face.
Making the best use of research and information is much easier now, as a result of partners collaborating to bring all community data and information into one place on the Suffolk Observatory. Benefits include the shaping of services to reflect the greatest need as highlighted by the data; as well as the prevention of ‘consultation fatigue’ by not constantly asking the same people the same questions.
The Council inspires and supports communities to take the lead themselves, without continuous intervention from the County Council or wider public sector. It continues to promote volunteering and active communities to support services that are being provided on a much more local level; better suited to local needs.
Place Shaping, Leadership, Partnership and Organisational Commitment
One of the County Council’s key priorities is to ‘support vulnerable people’. To deliver the necessary changes to meet this priority, senior staff and Councillors have worked with partners in the voluntary and community sector and the business sector. Efforts have also been made to make sure that messages to tackle the ‘root cause’ of inequalities are communicated through the organisation and throughout the wider community.
Issues associated with equalities and inclusion are not confined to this priority; in consultation with our communities and staff, we are embedding the following equality objectives to reflect our commitment to equality which match those of central Government:
• Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation.
• Advance equality between everybody.
• Foster good relations between communities, tackling prejudice and
promoting understanding.
These objectives are spread across all five categories in this paper.
The role of County Councillors has become even more important as they work closely with their communities to facilitate solutions to local problems. They act as ‘community champions’ working with constituents in their respective areas to address issues as they arise. By doing this they help to build the capacity of their communities to resolve community issues and make other changes themselves.
Overall, the vast majority of people in Suffolk have an excellent relationship with their Councillors and officer capacity has been refocused to support Councillors in this community leadership role.
This work by County Councillors, staff and partners means that communities in Suffolk are now empowered to tackle inequalities themselves, rather than simply relying on the County Council or other public sector organisations to do this work for them.
Community Engagement & Satisfaction
On-going informal consultation with residents (community conversations) and a bank of ‘community activists’ has enabled a two way flow of community engagement that helps to shape service delivery.
Overall satisfaction in the organisation’s performance is judged on a quarterly basis, using a mix of results from internet surveys, community conversations and questionnaires. A simple equality monitoring survey is included with every questionnaire we send out. The benefits for this are to:
• Encourage Engagement and Communication within an environment in which people are given an opportunity to contribute to improvements to services.
• Improve Products and Services by providing effective services that meet the needs of the diverse citizens of Suffolk. Understanding the barriers faced by different communities in accessing services allows the Council to adapt provision to reflect the range of needs of all residents, staff and stakeholders.
• Increase Awareness through understanding and routinely discussing all protected characteristics, which ensures we address unfairness or disadvantage.
• Boost Recruitment and Retention by attracting and retaining the best people from the widest pool of talent.
• Build a Positive Reputation for valuing diversity and protecting all individuals.
• Increasing Productivity through motivated staff.
• Avoid Risks through complying with legislation.
Through our work with representative groups, we receive feedback on the Council’s performance within these headings and respond as appropriate.
As well as being an important issue on legal and ethical grounds, the Council recognises that equalities monitoring is an important element of delivering services. The Council makes every effort to ensure that customers who are entitled to access services are able to do so, which also happens to contribute to meeting our equalities duties.
Now and in the future, local government will provide fewer services directly. Many services are being delivered by different organisations - including the voluntary sector, private sector and community groups. In Suffolk, we focus on making sure that services, whoever they are provided by, are delivered efficiently and effectively for all.
Residents enthusiastically take part in organising many community-led events across Suffolk. Citizen Panels are convened across the county through the annual budget consultation programme; enabling people to be involved in decision-making, and to have their say on how resources are allocated.
As the way Council services are delivered has evolved, we have reduced costs and reduced the size of the organisation, through cutting out waste and bureaucracy. This has been shaped by feedback from the people of Suffolk who now have a better say on how they access and receive services.
Responsive Services and Customer Care
As the council continues to change the way it operates, it still provides strong political leadership, determines strategic priorities, funds new models of service delivery and informs people about how services are performing so that they can make informed choices.
Increased community capacity allows communities and citizens more say and choice over services. This has resulted in the County Council delegating budgets and transferring assets to communities where appropriate, further supporting and strengthening local democracy.
As a result of these organisational changes services are more responsive, based on actual need rather than an assumption of need. This is made more effective through the County Council’s work as an enabler or commissioner of services. There is now a ‘commissioning contract’ in place between the County Council and the range of social enterprises and community groups which are flourishing throughout the county. For customers the council is agile, responsive and proactive to change; and in this way meeting the differing needs of service users.
All staff recognise their community ambassador role as the face of the County Council, responding to the principles of the ‘no wrong door’ approach to local government.
Improvements in technology has saved costs and reduced the environmental impact of travel, with staff increasingly able to work from home. Improvements in Broadband provision in Suffolk have made this transition possible and facilitated more efficient delivery of services, taking into account each of the protected characteristics.
Both County Council provision and the services it commissions others to deliver are accessible through a range of easy-to-use channels, ranging from online services to face-to-face support offered through volunteers in the community. There is also one easy-to-use website that makes online services more accessible, with information on any topic and in any language or format now easy to find.
Staff are clear about the need to consider the equality and inclusion implications within all major strategies and to ensure that they include specific and measurable outcomes.
Data sharing protocols both internally and externally ensure that key data is used to inform customer care/ service delivery now and in the future.
A Modern and Diverse Workforce
The County Council is seen as an exemplary employer in Suffolk and seeks to attract, develop and retain the best talent available, enabling us to provide premier quality services to our customers. The Council has created an environment which embraces fairness and equality through its core business principles. It runs positive action campaigns. As a result, the workforce is becoming increasingly representative of the communities it serves, which has increased public confidence in the organisation and enhanced its reputation.
Corporate staff training ensures that the Council’s ‘ASPIRE’ values and the core principles of equality are embedded throughout the organisation. Staff at every level of the organisation helped to develop the ASPIRE values and now staff are demonstrating their commitment to reflect these values in everything they do:
Achieve
Support
Pride
Inspire
Respect
Empower
Along with the new personal objectives process, the ASPIRE values ensure that staff keep the needs of customers and communities at the forefront of their work. A commitment to equality is a key competence that all staff must demonstrate.
Equality is demonstrated throughout the Council which means that all staff feel they are respected by colleagues and managers and do not face barriers to equality, development or opportunity.
Sue Ling – November 2012 v2