Agenda item

Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion - Principles, Objectives and Action Plan

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report of the Leader of the Council requesting pre-decision scrutiny of a draft Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Principles, Objectives and Action Plan for Staffordshire County Council to be considered by Cabinet at their meeting on 15 December 2021 (schedule 2 to the signed minutes).

 

The County Council had made a commitment that tackling inequalities was at the core of everything they did. In order to strengthen this commitment across the organisation and County as a whole, the following three draft Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Principles had been identified:- (i) “Staffordshire is a place where there is equality of opportunity for all, regardless of circumstances”; (ii) “Staffordshire County Council is an inclusive and diverse employer, where our people feel they have the opportunity to succeed and progress”; (iii) “Staffordshire County Council develops and delivers services that are inclusive and accessible to all”.

 

In addition, the following four draft objectives had been identified to help the Authority deliver against the above-mentioned principles:- (i) “Review and strengthen our recruitment and retention processes and Practices”; (ii) “Review and strengthen our diversity and inclusion training offer to employees”; (iii) Strengthen our approach to engaging and collaborating with our workforce and communities on diversity and inclusion issues” and; (iv) Raise awareness of, and celebrate diversity.

 

An initial Action Plan had been developed to take forward the proposed Objectives attached at Appendix 1 to the report. Members noted that it was intended the Action Plan would continue to evolve and develop over time following engagement and collaboration with stakeholders. Progress against the Principles and Objectives was to be overseen by the Director of Corporate Services and Leader of the Council with an evidence based annual monitoring report being brought to the Committee for Scrutiny.

 

During the full and wide-ranging discussion which ensued, Members gave detailed scrutiny to the Principles, Objectives and Action Plan, asking questions and seeking clarification where necessary, including:- (i) the application of the County Council’s Principles and Objectives by Partners eg contractors, schools etc; (ii) the impact of home-working on productivity and the equalities agenda; (iii) the importance of monitoring progress against the Principles and Objectives; (iv) the need for evidence based monitoring and the importance of staff engagement; (v) the need to identify key performance indicators (KPIs) and; (vi) implementation of the Principles and objectives through organisational recruitment and selection processes.        

In response to request from the Chairman, the Leader agreed to delay finalising the draft report to Cabinet by one week in order to give Members of the Committee an opportunity to submit further comments etc, having regard to the late publication of the Agenda and papers for the meeting. In addition, the Leader undertook to:- (i) investigate the feasibility of promoting the Authority’s Principles and Objectives through their external commissioning processes and careers advise role and; (ii) include relevant KPIs for Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion in the performance monitoring process and future update reports to the Committee.

 

RESOLVED – (a) That the report be received and noted;

 

(b) That owing to the late publication of the Report, any further questions, comments and suggestions on the Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion – Principles, Objectives and Action Plan be forwarded to the Leader (or Director of Corporate Services) by no later than 23 November 2021 to enable consideration of the matter by Cabinet at their meeting on 15 December 2021.

 

(c) That consideration be given to the feasibility of promoting the Authority’s Principles and Objectives through their external commissioning processes and careers advise role.

 

(d) That relevant KPIs for Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion be included in the performance monitoring process and future update reports to the Committee.

Supporting documents: