Agenda item

The Committee noted that, under the Equality Act 2010 there were statutory obligations for organisations to have equality objectives and to adhere to the general and specific duties within the Act.

The Committee considered an update report on the revised joint Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy and associated action plan, the key objectives of which were:

·        To demonstrate how the Council would meet its legal obligations set out in the Equality Act 2010

·        To provide a structured and easy to understand equality framework

·        To ensure that the Council’s workforce encouraged equality, diversity and inclusion to help prevent legal challenges arising from bullying, harassment, and discrimination.

The policy itself had been updated in June 2023 in collaboration with Waverley Borough Council and was now a shared policy (albeit with a separate action plan for each Council).  The policy was reviewed annually and updated every three years.  The action plan, which had been updated to be more accessible and easier to use, was an organic document reviewed by the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Group every quarter and progress reported annually to this Committee.

During the debate, the following points were raised:

·      Since the previous report to the Committee, the vice-chairman remained of the view that it lacked ambition, particularly in respect of making a difference for people with disabilities, and requested the opportunity, once again, to discuss it further with officers and work with the Lead Councillor. It was suggested that there were no proactive actions within the action plan, for example there was no policy to make adaptations or indeed to attract applicants with disabilities to work for the Council, or to consult with staff and others with disabilities, including groups and organisations representing disabled people, about what they think and want from the Council.  There were also no targets in respect of what the Council was seeking to achieve in terms of improvements.  The action plan made no reference to improvements for disabled people elsewhere in the borough, for example in the town centre, and the North Street development.

·      In response, the Strategic Director for Community Wellbeing explained that the policy before the Committee was an internal policy for the Council’s staff and how the Council operated as a business.  However, the points raised regarding the external environment and the impact that had on those with disabilities was still valid.  The Strategic Director indicated that she would take those comments back to the Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion Group and make sure that they were passed on to the people who were looking at the wider environment and the place-shaping around Guildford.

·       It was suggested that action 2.2 of the action plan “Upgrade our Disability Confident Committed” status to level 2 Disability Confident Employer via the government scheme would address many of the points raised by the vice-chairman in respect of the Council as an employer.  However, it was noted that the deadline for that action to be completed was 18 January 2024, and an update on this via the Action Tracker was requested. 

·      The Strategic Director indicated that she would pass on these comments to the Strategic Director for Transformation and Governance and that officers would be happy to meet with the vice-chairman as requested. 

Having considered the report, the Committee

RESOLVED: That, subject to the comments raised at the meeting, the updated Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy and its associated action plan as set out in Appendices 1 and 2 to the report submitted to the Committee, be approved.

Reasons:

To assist the Council in meeting its obligations under the Equality Act 2010 and to provide a way to measure and evidence our work in this area.