Equality
As a council, we’re 'improving well' and were awarded a three star CPA rating in 2008. We’re also committed to becoming an equal opportunities employer. We’ve achieved level 3 of the Equality Standard for Local Government and are currently working towards achieving ‘Excellence’ under the new Equality Framework for Local Government by 2012.
We believe that our workforce should reflect the diversity of our local population and are committed to recruiting the best candidate for the job – regardless of their background. We’re currently looking to recruit under-represented groups, such as people who have a disability, men, more women in senior management positions, and people from black and minority ethnic communities.
The council embraces freedom of expression and encourages a culture of openness and tolerance. We expect everybody to treat others with dignity, trust and respect at all times. As such, we’ve made the following commitment to promote equality:
The council recognises that all individuals have fundamental human rights and welcomes the diversity of the community living, working and learning in the borough. As a service provider and major employer, the council is committed to promoting equality and tackling social exclusion and, as such, will integrate equality into all activities, having due regard to the need to:
- Eliminate unlawful discrimination
- Promote equality of opportunity
- Promote good relations between all groups, irrespective of their disability, race, sex, religion or belief, sexual orientation, trans-gender status, age or marital status (this list isn’t exhaustive and there are other forms of discrimination that won’t be tolerated.)
Equality groups
We actively drive forward our commitment to equality through a number of employee and project groups:
People and equalities group
The People and Equality Group meets on a monthly basis and has a representative at Assistant Director Level from each directorate. The group has responsibility for ensuring that the Workforce Development Plan is progressed and implemented, and that its outcomes are assessed.
Employee groups
We’ve a number of employee groups, which have been set up to help identify ways to make the council more welcoming and inclusive, and offer everyone the same opportunities to develop and progress at work.
The groups have an opportunity to discuss what the council could do to improve its policies and procedures and the support offered to these groups of employees. They meet on a regular basis, working closely with a member of the Management Team to ensure that the issues and ideas they come up with are listened to.
Employees are encouraged to attend and can do so in their work time where the demands of their service permit.
The current employee groups are:
- Disabled employee group
- Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) employee group
- Women into Management employee group
- Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) employee group
For a more thorough look at our commitment to equality, you can read more detail regarding the following areas:
