community and partnerships scrutiny committee 7th …€¦ · community, staff and stakeholder...

COMMUNITY AND PARTNERSHIPS SCRUTINY COMMITTEE 7th MARCH 2007

Report of the Director of Change Management

ITEM 6 EQUALITY STANDARDS UPDATE Purpose of the Report To brief the scrutiny panel on the Council’s progress against the Equality Standard for Local Government. Background The Equality Standard for Local Government is a method of mainstreaming equality and diversity into service delivery and employment and is a means to combat institutional processes that lead to discrimination. It provides a comprehensive and systematic approach to dealing with equalities placing considerable emphasis on the establishment of key processes within local authorities. These are set out in the Standard as five levels of achievement:

Level 1: commitment to a Comprehensive Equality policy (CEP); Level 2: assessment and consultation; Level 3: setting equality objectives and targets; Level 4: information systems and monitoring against targets; Level 5: achieving and reviewing outcomes.

Actions or initiatives within each of the levels are grouped under four categories, these are:

• Leadership and corporate commitment • Consultation and community development and scrutiny • Service delivery and customer care • Employment and training

Attached at appendix A is an overview of actions that are required under each level. Authorities must be validated at levels 3 and 5 of the Standard by IDeA. The Council is currently at level 2 of the Standard and have applied for validation at level 3 of the Standard by September 2007. As part of this validation process we have requested a pre-inspection on 5th March 2007. The Committee will be verbally updated on the feedback from this inspection at its meeting on the 7th March 2007. Attached at appendix B is the self-assessment document that was sent as part of the pre-inspection paper work. This document outlines the Councils achievements to date and the areas that it needs to improve on to progress to level 3. Background Papers: None Officer to Contact: Sarah Cromie 01509 634504 [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

the equality standardframework

LEVEL1: COMMITMENTTOA COMPREHENSIVEEQUALITYPOLICY

Toachieve Level1 of the Standardan authority must haveadopted aComprehensiveEqualityPolicythat commits it to achievingequality in race,genderand disability through:

. improving equality practiceat both corporate and departmental level;

. earmarkingspecific resourcesfor improving equality practice;

. equality action planning and equality target setting within all departmentsand serviceareas;

. systematicconsultation;

. a fair employmentand equal pay policy;

. an impact and needs/requirementsassessment;

. progressmonitoring;

. audit and scrutiny.

Thesegeneralcommitmentstranslate into action in the four substantive areasof the Standard:

Leadershipand corporatecommitment. formulateandadopta comprehensiveequalitypolicyfor the authoritycoveringrace,

genderanddisability;. ensurethat thewritten policiesarein linewith currentlegislation(RaceRelationsAct

andRaceRelations(Amendment)Act,SexDiscriminationAct, EqualPayAct, DisabilityDiscriminationAct)andCodesof Practiceissuedbythe threeequalityCommissions;

. makea corporatecommitmentto developinga CorporateEqualityPlan(CEP)indicatinghowequalitypolicywill be implemented.TheCEPshouldincorporateor beconsistentwith the authority'sstatutoryRaceEqualityScheme;

. makea corporatecommitmentto carryingout a processof equalityimpactandneeds/requirementsassessmentincludingthoseassessmentsof organisationalandindividualrequirementsrequiredfor compliancewith the DDA;

. makea corporatecommitmentto a fair employmentandequalpaypolicy;

. makea corporatecommitmentto earmarkspecificresourcesfor improvingequalitypractice;

Consultation and communitydevelopment and scrutiny. corporatecommitmentto consultwith designatedcommunity,staffandstakeholder

groupson all aspectsof equalitypolicy;. eachdepartmentandserviceareato makea commitmentto contributeto the

consultationandscrutinysectionof the CEP;. makea corporatecommitmentto equalityself-assessment,scrutinyandaudit;. eachdepartmentandserviceareato committo engagein consultationwith

designatedcommunity,staffandstakeholdergroupson itsservicedelivery;

30 diversityin actionin localgovernment

E:

LEVEL1: COMMITMENTTOA COMPREHENSIVEEQUALITYPOLICY(CONTINUED)

. makea corporatecommitmentto consultdepartmentsandserviceareason equalityobjectives;

. eachdepartmentandserviceareato committo processesof equalityself-assessment,scrutinyandauditon itsservicedelivery;

. incorporateequalitypolicyasa keythemewithin the 'CommunityStrategy'drawnup bythe localauthorityandits partners;

. makea commitmentto establishmechanismsfor respondingto discriminationandharassmenton the groundsof race,disabilityandgender.

Servicedeliveryandcustomercare. departmentalandserviceareacommitmentto a comprehensiveequalitypolicy

appropriateto itsservicedelivery;. departmentandserviceareacommitmentto implementingthe equalityimpact

'needs/requirements'assessmentfor itsservicedeliveryincludingthoseassessmentsof organisationalandindividualrequirementsrequiredfor compliancewith the DDA; ,

. departmentandserviceareacommitmentto developingequalaccessserviceplanelementof CEp,andto settargetswithin eachdepartmentandserviceareaaspartof theirbusinessplans;

. departmentandserviceareacommitmentto equalityactionplanningandequalitytargetsettingwithin all departmentsandserviceareas;

. departmentandserviceareacommitmentto allocatespecificresourcesfor improvingequalitypractice.

Employmentandtraining. adoptrecruitmentprocedureswhichusenon-discriminatorypractices;. commitmentto anemploymentequalityassessmentof the locallabourmarketarea,

workforceprofilingandequalpayreview;. commitmentto establisha fair employmentandequalpaypolicy;. commitmentto establishanequalemploymentsectionof the CEPincorporatingthe

employmentrelatedissuesfromthe RaceEqualitySchemeandincludingthoseassessmentsof organisationalandindividualrequirementsrequiredfor compliancewith the DDA;

. commitmentto adoptproceduresto ensurethat publicityfor vacanciesdoesnotunfairlyrestrictthe rangeof applicants;

. commitmentto producea standardrangeof applicationformsandjob descriptionsthat areclearandexplicit;

. commitmentto reviewpersonnelinformationsystemfor monitoringsuitabilityincludingunderpinningthe Council'sstatutoryethnicmonitoringduties;

. commitmentto makeproceduresconsistentwith EmploymentCodesof Practice;

. commitmentto developa programmeof stafftrainingin equalityissues.

TheEqualityStandard@TheEmployers'Organisationfor LocalGovernment.Copyingwithout permissionnot permitted 31

LEVEL2: ASSESSMENTANDCONSULTATION

ToachieveLevel2 of the Standardan authoritywill needto demonstrate:

. that it hasengagedin an impactandneeds/requirementsassessment;. that it hasengagedin consultationwith designatedcommunity,staffandstakeholder groups;. that it hasengagedinthe developmentof informationandmonitoringsystems;. that it hasengagedinan equalityactionplanningprocessfor employment,payandservicedelivery;. that it isdevelopinga systemof self-assessment,scrutinyandaudit.

Thesegeneralactivitiesanddevelopmentstranslateintoactionin the foursubstantiveareasof the Standard:

Leadershipandcorporatecommitment

. publishdraftCorporateEqualityActionPlan;

. demonstratecorporateengagementin an impactandneeds/requirementsassessmentprocess;

. developcorporatemechanismfor assessingdevelopmentof servicelevelequalityobjectivesandtargets;

. createcorporatestructurefor overseeingdevelopmentof informationandmonitoringsystems;

. ensurethat mechanismsfor respondingto harassmenton the groundsof race,disabilityandgenderarein place.

Consultation and communitydevelopmentand scrutiny. ensurethat draftCorporateEqualityActionPlanhasbeencirculatedto designated

community,staffandstakeholdergroupswith consultationtimetableand ispublishedin anappropriaterangeof languagesandformats;

. reviewequalitycontentof 'CommunityStrategy';

. engagein consultationwith designatedcommunity,staffandstakeholdergroupsandthe widercommunityon all aspectsof equalitypolicy;

. engagein consultationwith members,employeerepresentatives,departmentsandserviceareason impactandneeds/requirementsassessmentsandallaspectsof the CEP;

. eachdepartmentandserviceareato engagein consultationwith designatedcommunity,staffandstakeholdergroupson its impactandneeds/requirementsassessmentsand itsservicedelivery;

. eachdepartmentandserviceareato engagewith equalityself-assessment,scrutinyandauditon itsservicedelivery;

. seekto ensurethat the equalitypolicyandobjectivesareincorporatedin 'partnership'arrangementsengagedin bythe authority.


LEVel2: ASSESSMENTANDCONSULTATION(CONTINUED)

Servicedeliveryandcustomercare

. engagein departmentandserviceareaimpactandneeds/requirementsassessment;

. engagein developmentof departmenVservicelevelequalityobjectivesandtargets;

. reviewof servicesshouldincludethe procurementfunctionandall contractedservicesandpartnershiparrangements;

. eachdepartmentandserviceareato establishplanninggroupsfor monitoringandinformationsystems.

Employmentandtraining

. developandadoptfairemploymentandequalpaypolicyelementof CEP;

. engagein employmentequalityassessmentof the locallabourmarketarea

. engagein anequalpayreview;

. adoptproceduresto ensurethat publicityfor vacanciesdoesnot unfairlyrestricttherangeof applicants;

. producea standardrangeof applicationformsandjob descriptionsthat areclearandexplicit;

. reviewpersonnelinformationsystemfor monitoringsuitabilityincludingsupportingthecouncil'sstatutoryethnicmonitoringduties;

. developa programmeof equalitytrainingto supportthe CEPanddepartmentalserviceobjectives;

. ensurethat the trainingprogrammeisconsistentwith the trainingarrangementsinthe council'sRaceEqualityScheme;

. makeallemploymentproceduresconsistentwith currentlegislationandEmploymentCodesof Practice.


LEVEL3: SETTINGEQUALITYOBJECTIVESANDTARGETS

ToachieveLevel3 of the Standardan authoritywill haveto demonstrate:

. that it hascompleteda full and systematicconsultationprocesswith designatedcommunity,staff and stakeholdergroups;. that it hasset equalityobjectivesfor employment,pay and servicedeliverybasedon impactand needs/requirementsassessmentand consultation;. that equalityobjectiveshavebeentranslatedinto actionplanswith specifictargets;. that it is developinginformationand monitoringsystemsthat allow it to assessprogressin achievingtargets;. that actionon achievingtargets hasstarted.

Thesegeneralactivitiesand developmentstranslate into actionin the four substantiveareasof the Standard:

Leadershipandcorporatecommitment. ensurethat all departmentsandserviceareassettargetsbasedon equalityobjectives;. establishcorporateguidelines/prescriptionsfor informationgatheringandequalitymonitoring;. seekagreementon equalitytargetswith partnersin local'partnerships';. establishmechanismsfor ensuringthat equalitytargetsaremet bycontractorsthrough

contractmanagement;. ensurecompletionof equalityactionplansat departmentandservicelevelincorporating

performanceindicators;. adoptwhereappropriatenationaltargets/performanceindicatorsasprescribedby

Governmentdepartmentsor bythe Audit Commission;. implementsystemsfor reviewingprogressandrevisingthe CEPanddepartmentalaction

plans;. membersandseniorofficersto endorseactionplansasappropriate;. link actionplanningto BestValueprocess;. ensurethat actionon achievingtargetshasstarted.

Consultationandcommunitydevelopmentandscrutiny. makepublicallservicelevelandemploymentobjectivesandtargetsthat areavailablefor

consultationandscrutiny;. makeprovisionof languageservicesappropriateto designatedconsultationandscrutinygroups;. completionof a full andsystematicconsultationprocesswith designatedcommunity,staffand

stakeholdergroups;. consulton involvingdesignatedcommunity,staffandstakeholdergroupswith scrutiny

procedures;. consultationon equalityto belinkedwith the continuingdevelopmentof the 'Community

Strategy';. publicisehow,whereandwhenactionon targetswill start.


LEVEL3: SETTINGEQUALITYOBJECTIVESANDTARGETS(CONTINUED)

Servicedeliveryandcustomercare. completeserviceelementof the (EPandensureconsistencywith RaceEqualityScheme;. equalityobjectivesandtargetsdevelopedwithin eachdepartmenVservicearea;. serviceplansto specificallyaddressthe importanceof barriers,accessibilityand

reasonableadjustmentin the provisionof services;. allocationof appropriateresourcesto achievetargets;. establishstructuresof responsibilityat departmentalandservicelevelto progress

actionplans;. settimetablewithin actionplansfor creating/adaptinginformationandmonitoring

systemswithinserviceareas;. for agenciesdeliveringserviceson behalfof the localauthority,includewithin

contractsa requirementto deliveraneffectiveandappropriateservice,fairlyandwithout unlawfuldiscrimination;

. establishmonitoringof contractsto secureequalemploymentandequalservicedeliverytargets;

. startactionon departmentalandserviceareatargets.

Employmentandtraining. completeemploymentsectionof the (EPandensureconsistencywith the

RaceEqualityScheme;. setemploymentequalitytargetsfor recruitment,staff retention,workforceprofiles. conductanequalpayreviewandplanfor equalpayadjustment;. establishthat policiesandproceduresassociatedwith equalityarepartof staff

handbookandareunderstoodbystaff;. ensurethat staffandmembersareawareof actionplansandthe implicationsfor

servicesandemployment;. providetrainingfor managerson the implementationof the standardwith contractors

andpartners;. trainingfor all staff involvedin recruitmenton the EqualityStandard,settingservice

objectives,actionplanning,andmonitoring,consistentwith the trainingarrangementssetout in the RaceEqualityScheme;

. providetrainingfor all staffon the detailedimplementationof the EqualityStandardincludingactionplansandupdateson legalandotherdevelopments;

. buildequalityobjectivesandtargetsinto managementappraisalmechanisms;

. provideinformationandappropriatetrainingonactionplansto supportscrutinyprocess;

. establisha systemof guidanceandtrainingon relevantequalityissuesto short-listingpanelsandinterviewers;

. startactionon allemploymentandpaytargets.


LEVEL4: INFORMATIONSYSTEMSANDMONITORINGAGAINSTTARGETS

ToachieveLevel4 of the Standardan authoritywill haveto demonstratethat:

. it hasdevelopedinformationandmonitoringsystemsthat allow it to assessprogressin achievingtargets;. it ismeasuringprogressagainsttargetsandeffectivelyusingits informationandmonitoringsystems;. monitoringreportsare beingproducedat specifiedintervalsandcirculatedto designatedconsultationandscrutinygroups;. monitoringsystemsareprovidingusefulinformationaboutprogresstowardsspecifictargets.

Thesegeneralactivitiesanddevelopmentstranslateintoactionin the foursubstantiveareasof the Standard:

Leadershipandcorporatecommitment. usecorporateinformationsystemto assessadequacyof departmentalinformation'

andmonitoringsystems;. setupsystemfor reviewof serviceandemploymentmonitoringreportsby

designatedconsultationandscrutinygroups;. reviewtargetsagainstmonitoringinformationandproducereportsfor corporate

managementteam;. preparereportson progressagainstpolicyobjectivesfor councilexecutive/cabinet,

scrutinybodiesandaudit;. takeon boardresponsesfrom designatedconsultationandscrutinygroupsfor

revisingpolicyobjectivesandtargets;. the authorityhasmadearrangementsfor the externalscrutinyof the progress

of actionplans.

Consultationand communitydevelopmentandscrutiny. consultwith designatedcommunity,staffandstakeholdergroupsaboutwhat kind

of informationwill becollectedandthe reasonsfor it;. circulatemonitoringreportsto designatedconsultationandscrutinygroups;. undertakea consultationprocessthat demonstrablyengagesdesignatedconsultation

andscrutinygroupsin reviewprocess;. reviewbydesignatedconsultationandscrutinygroupsof progressagainsttargets;. feedbackresponseon monitoringreportsto corporateanddepartmentalteams,

to directorate,councilcommittees,employeerepresentativesandmembersandto 'CommunityStrategy'partners;

. requirecontractorsto supplymonitoringreportson servicedeliveryandtake-up.


LEVEL4: INFORMATIONSYSTEMSANDMONITORINGAGAINSTTARGETS(CONTINUED)

Servicedeliveryandcustomercare. alldepartmentalandservicelevelunitsareusinginformationsystemsandeffective

andadequateequalitymonitoringprocedures;. proceduresareappliedacrosscontractsandpartnerships;. servicedeliverymonitoringreportsareproducedat specificandregularintervals;. servicedeliverymonitoringreportsarecirculatedto all designatedconsultationand

scrutinygroups;. reportprogresson employmenttargetsto directoratemembers,councilcommittees,

membersandconsultationandscrutinygroups;. usemonitoringto assessachievementsagainsttargetssetin actionplansandfeed

backresultsinto policyreview,targetingandrevisedactionplans;. establishinter-departmentalscrutinyprocess.

Employmentandtraining. useexistingor adaptedpersonnelinformationsystemsto provideequalitydata

relatingto humanresourcetargets(recruitment,promotion,training,grievances,disciplinaryaction,appraisal,dismissalandotherreasonsfor leaving,retention,andequalpay);

. producemonitoringreportsat regularandspecifiedintervalsandcirculatetodesignatedconsultationandscrutinygroups;

. useequalitydatato monitoruseof all personnelprocedures;

. useequalitydatato monitorthe numberof staff leavingemploymentandtheirreasonsfor leaving;

. usemonitoringreportsto assesswhetherauthorityemploymentprofilesmorecloselyfit the profileof locallabourmarketarea;

. reportprogresson employmenttargetsto directoratemembers,councilcommittees,membersandconsultationandscrutinygroups;

. reporton implementationof payreviewrecommendations;

. meetthe trainingneedsof staffappropriately.


LEVEL5: ACHIEVINGANDREVIEWINGOUTCOMES

Toachieve Level5 of the Standardan authority will haveto demonstratethatit hasmadeconsiderableprogressin achievingequal employment and serviceprovisionwith regardto race,gender and disability. It will needto show that:

. it hasachievedprogresstowards the targets that it set at Level3;

. it hasreviewedand revisedtargets, monitoring and consultation systemswith designatedcommunity,staff and stakeholder groups;

. it has initiated a new round of action planning and target setting;

. through its achievementsit can be seenas an exampleof good practice forother local authorities and agencies.

Thisgeneralassessmentand review processtranslates into action in the foursubstantiveareasof the Standard:

leadershipandcorporatecommitment. ableto demonstratesuccessin meetinga rangeof targetsacrossthe authority

andfor reviewingthosetargetsfor futureactionplanning;. corporatereviewof targetsfor futureactionplanningcompleted;. the authority'sperformanceisbenchmarkedagainstcomparableothersandits

experiencesharedwith othersin developinggoodpractice;. reviewtheCorporateEqualityPlan.

Consultationand communitydevelopment and scrutiny. thereisincreasedinvolvementof communityandscrutinybodiesandincreased

satisfactionwith servicesandprogressin meetingtargets;. positiveresultsfromconsultationwith designatedcommunity,staffandstakeholder

groupsin assessinghowfar theythink targetshavebeenmetandwererelevanttotheirneeds/requirementsandconcerns;

. demonstratethat thereistrustandconfidenceamongall stakeholdersin the authority'sconsultationandscrutinymechanisms;

. assessmethodsof consultationandinvolvementwith community,staffandstakeholders;

. reviewtheconsultation,assessmentandscrutinyelementsof the CEP.Theauthority'sconsultationandscrutinypracticeisbenchmarkedagainstcomparableothersanditsexperiencesharedwith othersin developinggoodpractice.


LEVEL5:ACHIEVINGANDREVIEWINGOUTCOMES(CONTINUED)

Servicedeliveryandcustomercare. completedepartmentandservicelevelreviewsof targetachievement;. accurateserviceuserprofilesarebeingusedto informservicechangesand

improvements;. initiateinter-departmentalscrutinyprocess;. managershavebeenappraisedagainstserviceequalitytargets;. demonstrationby managersthat a full rangeof equalityobjectivesaremainstreamed

aspartof theirprofessionalpractice;. effectivesystemsarein placefor managingequalityacrosscontractsandpartnerships;. benchmarkingof full rangeof equalityachievementsagainstotherauthoritiesin a

similarposition;. reviewequalaccessserviceobjectivesandtargets.

Employment and training

. demonstratemovementtowardsgreaterequalityin theworkforceprofileandotheremploymenttargets;

. the authoritycanshowthat it ispayingitsstaffequallyfor work of equalvalue

. completehumanresourceassessmentof resultsof equalemploymentandequalpaytargetachievement;

. completeassessmentof targetrelevancein termsof full rangeof equalitytargetachievementandchangingcircumstances;

. demonstratethat staffarefully trainedin the systemsfor deliveringfull rangeoffair employmentandequalpayobjectives;

. managersat all levelscandemonstratethat full rangeof fair employmentandequalpayobjectivesaremainstreamedaspartof theirprofessionalpractice;

. managershavebeenappraisedagainstemploymentequalitytargets;

. benchmarkingof full rangeof equalityachievementsagainstotherauthorities.


Equality Standard for Local Government Self Assessment February 2007

Version: Version 0.1 Date: 24/1/07 Author: Sarah Cromie

Charnwood Borough Council Equality Standard for Local Government Self Assessment Version 0.1

2

Contents 1. Document Control ..................................................................................................... 3

1.1 Amendment History.......................................................................................................... 3

1.2 Authorisation..................................................................................................................... 3

1.3 Associated Documents...................................................................................................... 3

2. Introduction and Background ................................................................................... 4

2.1 Setting the Scene ................................................................................................................ 4

2.2 Diversity in Charnwood..................................................................................................... 4

2.3 Local Strategic Partnership................................................................................................. 6

2.4 Council Structure ............................................................................................................... 6

3. Implementing the Equality Standard for Local Government................................ 9

3.1 Dialog Baseline Assessment ............................................................................................... 9

3.2 Embedding Equality and Diversity .................................................................................... 10

3.3 Summary of Corporate Achievements ............................................................................ 10

3.4 Summary of Directorate Achievements .......................................................................... 12

4. Overall assessment of the Strengths and Weaknesses ........................................ 16

4.1Leadership and Corporate Commitment ......................................................................... 16

4.2 Consultation and Community Involvement and Scrutiny................................................ 16

4.3Service Delivery and Customer Care ............................................................................... 17

4.4 Employment and Training ................................................................................................ 17

5. Summary ................................................................................................................... 18


3

1. Document Control 1.1 Amendment History

Version Description Changed By Date 0.1 First draft Sarah Cromie 24/1/07 1.2 Authorisation

Name Position Signed Date

Brian Hayes (Chief Executive)

Project Executive

Cllr Betty Newton (Lead Member)

Project Board

Eileen Mallon (Director of Housing and Health)

Project Board

Richard Chester (Director of Change Management)

Project Board

1.3 Associated Documents

Reference Title Version Date 1 Community Strategy Final December 2006 2 Corporate Plan Final December 2006 3 Final Dialog Report Final August 2005 4 Equality and Diversity Strategy Final March 2006

December 2006 5 Race Equality Scheme Final March 2006 6 Equal Opportunities Policy Final March 2006 7 Disability Equality Scheme Final February 2007 8 Equality Impact Assessment Toolkit Final April 2006 9 Directorate Self Assessment Template Final – to be

revised 07 August 2006


4

2. Introduction and Background 2.1 Setting the Scene Charnwood sits centrally in the triangle formed by Nottingham, Leicester and Derby. Just over one third of the 155,000+ population live in the thriving university town of Loughborough. Of the remaining two thirds, many live in larger villages/small towns of the Soar and Wreake valleys and on the edge of Leicester.

Charnwood experiences the second highest levels of deprivation of the Districts in Leicestershire (Indices of Deprivation 2004, ODPM) but is ranked as the 262nd most deprived district in England (out of 354) reflecting the general wealth of the area. The majority of Super Output Areas (SOAs) in Charnwood are ranked within the 50% least deprived in England. However, this conceals pockets of more severe deprivation. Five of the ten most deprived SOAs in the County are located in Charnwood. Three of those SOAs are ranked in the 20% most deprived in England and are located in Loughborough Hastings, Loughborough Storer and Loughborough Shelthorpe wards. 2.2 Diversity in Charnwood The Black and minority ethnic population of Charnwood has grown slightly since the 1991 census from 6.2% of the population to form 10.8% of the population (Charnwood Community Profile, 2005 LCC), which compares to the Leicestershire County average of 7.35%. Loughborough Hastings and Thurmaston Wards have the highest BME populations in the Borough (29.7% and 20.6% respectively). The largest BME communities are Indian communities in Thurmaston, Syston West and Loughborough Lemyngton wards and the Bangladeshi communities in Loughborough Hastings and Lemyngton wards.

Loughborough

Leicester City


5

Currently the composition of the Black and minority ethnic population is 55% Asian, 23% Irish and white other, 10% Chinese and other, 8% mixed ethnicity, and 4% Black. The largest communities are Indian and Bangladeshi. Among the white minority groups there are significant communities of Irish and Eastern European origin, as well as groups of Gypsies and Travellers, refugees and asylum seekers. This year has seen increase in migrant workers from Eastern European countries particularly Poland. Charnwood already has a large Polish community supported by the Polish Community Centre. There are approximately 200 asylum seekers the majority of whom are from Iran and Iraq. 15% of the population of Charnwood stated they had a limiting long-term illness with 7.3% of the population having not good health. 10% of people provide some kind of unpaid care. Of those 10%, 75% provide 1 to 19 hours per week, 8.8% provide 20 to 49 hours and 15.5% provide 50+ hours. The age breakdown of the population is as follows: 0-15yrs 19%, 16-29yrs 20%, 30-44yrs 21%, 45-59yrs 20% and 60yrs & over 20%. This shows an equal spread of the population across the age ranges. The presence of Loughborough University alongside Loughborough College and the RNIB Vocational College is significant. 9.7 % of the population of the Borough are full-time students, aged 16+, against an average for England and Wales of 5.1% (2001 Census, ONS). Nearly 70% of Charnwood’s population are Christian, with Hindus and Muslims forming the second and third largest faith groups (4% and 2%). There are also a small number of Sikh, Buddhist, Jewish and Pagan people. Around 24 % of Charnwood residents regard themselves as having no religion. There is little information on the Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) make-up of the community as this information is not currently gathered in surveys of customer feedback.


6

2.3 Local Strategic Partnership

The Strategy is further broken down in to action areas. The Stronger Communities action area is chaired by the Chief Executive of the Charnwood Voluntary Service. The Council has recently appoint three officers to support the implementation of the Strategy’s action plan and some of the sub-groups associated with the Strategy’s Action Areas. This work sits along side the Local Area Agreements and is the framework to develop our Neighbourhood Management Programme. 2.4 Council Structure The Council’s constitution is based on a Cabinet with Leader model, with a Cabinet of currently nine Councillors (seven Labour and two Liberal Democrat) usually meeting twice monthly. The Council of all 52 Councillors normally meets once every six weeks. The Cabinet has a lead member Champion for Equality and Diversity who is currently on the Deputy Leader. There is a Scrutiny Commission and three Scrutiny Committees, which also meet once every six weeks. All three political parties are represented in the role of chairing the Scrutiny Committees. The Council employs approximately 600 staff (full time equivalents), organised into 8 directorates, the majority of whom are based in Loughborough. These are:

• Deputy Chief Executive • Change Management • Risk Management • Housing and Health • Leisure and Environment • Development • Regeneration • Partnership and Customer Services

The Council’s Corporate Plan(2) to 2013/14 is closely aligned to the Community Strategy; the Council’s Mission is the same as the Vision in the Community Strategy:

“to improve the quality of life for everyone living and working in Charnwood. In doing this we aim to be accessible and understandable to all our service users”.

The Charnwood Together(1) Community Strategy seeks to further a number of collective improvement actions focusing on people, places, prosperity and partnership. The Strategy was developed in tandem with and aligns to the Leicestershire Local Area Agreement (LAA), delivery of that Agreement being supported by Charnwood Together.


7

Delivery of the Corporate Plan is supported by five aligned enabling strategies covering finance, diversity, property, workforce and t-government plus integrated performance management and risk management frameworks. This is monitored through the corporate and directorate scorecards

Our 8 Values, which describe the ethos of the Council, support achievement of our mission and define that ethos as: “Accountable, Adds Value, Ambitious, Customer Focused, Develops Talent, Diverse, Innovative, Open.” Five of the top 10 areas that are priorities for improvement in our Corporate Plan relate to customers and partners – reflecting customer and partner expectations and feedback and the Council’s intention of becoming an excellent authority.


8

Below is an excerpt from our recently revised Corporate Plan. It demonstrates the Council’s commitment to equality and diversity and community cohesion within the Corporate Plan.

What we want to achieve

Why do we want to do this

What we will do to achieve this Performance Measures

Theme 1: Customers and Partners

3. Promote community cohesion through a common vision and a sense of belonging for all our communities, the elimination of unlawful discrimination and the promotion of equal opportunities.

In a comparison of 16 ‘nearest neighbourhoods’ from the 2004/05 Best Value Survey, Charnwood features in the worst quartile of areas where people fear attack on ethnic grounds and is the lowest ranking of areas where people feel community relations had improved over the previous three years. Council employment of ethnic minorities is also below target. Creating Stronger Communities and Reducing Inequalities are two key action areas of the Community Strategy

- Implement Charnwood’s Equality and Diversity Strategy. - Support the delivery of the Community Strategy Community Cohesion Sub-group Action Plan. - Ensure accessible services and information designed to meet the needs of all sections of our community. - Work with the LSP and community to develop an annual Diversity Week. - Delivery of improvements to customer access in line with the Customer Service Improvement Plan. Carry out Equality Impact Assessments on all relevant policies, procedures and functions by 2008. - Achieve Level 4 of the Equality Standard for Local Government by 2008. - Continue implementation of Licensing Act 2003, which ensures the effective and responsible provision of 24-hour drinking laws.

- Achieve Level 4 for the Equality Standard for local Government by 2008. - Carry out Equality Impact Assessments for 100% of relevant policies, procedures and functions by 2008.


9

3. Implementing the Equality Standard for Local Government 3.1 Dialog Baseline Assessment The Council commissioned Dialog to carryout a baseline assessment of the Councils progress against the Equality Standard for Local Government in May 2005, when the current Equality Officer came into post. Above is a snap shot of the report highlighting the Councils lack of performance against the Standard. The findings from the report were presented to the Council’s Senior Management Team. The report outlined 15 recommendations for improvement that fall broadly in to the areas below: • Revising the internal structure to deliver Equality and Diversity

Up until this point equality and diversity issues were being driven and monitored through the Corporate Equalities Working Party. However, there was little evidence that this working party was delivering results. It also sat outside the project and performance management framework of the Council. • Documentation Review

The majority of corporate documents were outdated and gave an inaccurate picture of how the Council was performing. • Appropriate Training

The baseline assessment identified confusion over the previous Race Equality Standard and the Equality Standard for Local Government.

“At this preliminary stage, it can be said that the Council ….. has not achieved the necessary steps to even Level 1 of the Standard. That said a number of factors have had to be taken into account for the reasons why this is the case. The whole organization has recently undergone both structural and resource changes. Also over several years the organizations Equalities Lead Officer post has remained vacant for long periods after people have left this position. This has created a lack of consistency in the way that equality and diversity issues particularly around the Equality Standard have been addressed…. Although the Council has not yet achieved Level 1 interestingly on observation through the interviews and documentary review it can be seen that the steps necessary to do so are within the foundations of the organization. There are examples of good practice in relation to equality and diversity generally, but overall there is a lack of vision in that it is not understood how these examples contribute towards the development and progression of the equality standard.”

Source Final Dialog report August 2005, Asha Pawar(3)


10

• Self Assessment and Equality Impact Assessment Although there was an annual corporate review of the Corporate Equality Plan which lined up with the Equality Standard, there was no directorate self assessment process. At that stage the Council had not commenced its EIA process. 3.2 Embedding Equality and Diversity The establishment of the ‘Achievement of Level 3 of the Equality Standard’ project has been one of the keys to driving up the Council’s performance against the Standard. The project is run using PRINCE 2 project management methodology with a Project Board made up of the Chief Executive, Cabinet Lead Member, Director of Change Management and the Director of Housing and Health. The project team is made up of representatives from across the Council’s directorates. The initial action was to review and redrafted all the written documentation to bring it into line with legislation and the requirements of the Equality Standard. All manager training was carried out to bring them up to speed on the requirements of the Standard and help them identify areas they needed to improve on and contribute to. The induction training and refresher training have also been revamped to ensure staff are aware of the current issues. Processes have now been put in place for annual self assessment and the equality impact assessments and are underway. Impact assessment training has been delivered to over 50 members of staff and we are half way through our 2 year program of EIA’s. The Equality and Diversity Strategy is now an appendix to the Service Delivery Plan with individual directorate service plans identifying significant equality actions. 3.3 Summary of Corporate Achievements Over the last 18 months the Council has consistently improved it’s performance in equality and diversity. The BVPI’s are now monitored through the project board with all of them improving or having an action plan in place to deliver improvements. 3.3.1 Summary of Achievements for level 1of the Standard The Council has had a Corporate Equality Plan in place since 2000 which included it’s Race Equality Scheme and the Equal Opportunities Policy. The Dialog review highlighted significant weaknesses with the Plan including; not addressing current legislation, confusing action plan, actions not being achieved against the action plan. However, even at this stage there was a corporate commitment to improve the work of the Council against the Equality Standard.

• The redrafted Equality and Diversity Strategy 06-09 and related documents (4-7)was endorsed by Cabinet on the 16th March 2006 and adopted by Full Council on 24th April 2006.

• Establishment of Lead Member and Director from the Senior Management Team as Diversity Champions.

• Rolling out managers training on the Equality Standard • Establishment of the key corporate project ‘Achieving level 3 of the Equality Standard’

Project Board and Project Team. • Equality and Diversity Strategy included as an appendix to the Service Delivery Plan

linked to service specific actions.


11

• Expansion of the Communications, Consultation and Partnerships Team with the aim of widening involvement of the local community in March 2005.

• ‘Performance Through People Strategy’ adopted in June 2004 covering increasing representation within the workforce, training needs and ensuring we have a positive working environment.

Summary of achievements against level 2 of the Standard

• Awareness raising of the Council’s equality documents – published on web, folder and fact sheets developed.

• Development of Equality Impact Assessment Process(8) accompanied by manager and officer training for over 50 members of staff.

• year programme of equality impact assessments drawn up and published. • Monitoring procedure developed through the Access to Service project as part of the

CRM system implementation. • Working with the County Council on a Racist Incident Reporting process, CDRP

funding to the CREC to establish racist incident reporting centres and deliver training. • Development of the Equality and Diversity web pages and intranet site to disseminate

information to customers and staff. Intranet pages were presented at the Council Staff Day in July 2006.

• Re-launch of the Charnwood Together Community Strategy which includes a theme on Stronger Communities to pick up on the work of the Community Cohesion Pathfinder project.

• Financial Support for local cultural events including; the Loughborough Mela, Streets Alive and Picnic in the Park.

• Financial support for community groups and centres including; Shree Ram Krishna Centre, Charnwood Race Equality Council, Charnwood Voluntary Service, youth arts and culture projects etc.

Summary of achievements against level 3 of the Standard

• Annual self assessment(9) as part of the Service Delivery Planning process. • Review of Corporate Equality and Diversity Plan to become the Equality and Diversity

Strategy. • Development of guidance for equality monitoring as part of the CRM project. • Development of draft Procurement Toolkit being trialled through the Decent Homes

Contract. • Equality and Diversity Strategy 06-10 in line with other Council documents. • Establishment of Community Strategy Support Officers in September 2006 to support

the development of the Neighbourhood Management Programme and lead on Community Cohesion through the Stronger Communities theme of the Community Strategy.

• Community Talk Back Sessions - the Chief Executive and Lead Member visit different areas of the community on a monthly basis to let people know what we are doing and find out what the current issues are.

• Development of specific equality training for departments according to their needs. • Establishment of service specific customer groups e.g. Planning Services, Environmental

Health Services. • Completion of 50% of retrospective Equality Impact Assessments.


12

3.4 Summary of Directorate Achievements The Council is divided in to 8 directorates that group similar areas or functions they are: Housing and Health, Leisure and Environment, Development, Partnerships and Customer Services, Regeneration, Risk Management, Change Management and Deputy Chief Executive’s (Financial, Property and ICS). Below is a summary of the directorate achievements. 3.4.1 Housing and Health Housing Services Our Housing Services under went an indicative ALMO inspection into its landlord function in January 2006. This inspection highlighted weaknesses in the equality and diversity aspects of service. These mainly focused on lack of equality impact assessments, staff training and information on the specific needs our their customers. As a result a diversity sub-project has been set up under the ‘Becoming a 3 Star ALMO’ project to address the recommendations within the report and any actions resulting from the equality impact assessment process. Progress in this area includes; completion of 90% of the service impact assessments, all staff training, procurement of an upgraded Housing Management System to capture information on customer needs and development of the Black and Minority Ethnic Housing Strategy. The Housing Needs service actively refers clients to specific supported accommodation e.g. Asian elders sheltered accommodation in Loughborough (also investigating further provision), Advance Housing providing supported housing for people with mental health issues, specific accommodation for 18-25 year olds with floating support and extensive sheltered housing provision for the elderly and disabled. Housing Needs is also piloting an Easy Read application form. We have a dedicated Tenant Participation Officer who actively supports tenant associations and groups. The ‘Housing News’ tenants magazine is sent to every home 3 times a year and is used for updates, changes to service and consultation work. Housing Services have their own staff forum for staff to raise any issues that concern them. Environmental Health The environmental health team has a variety of customers. The food hygiene section works with a large number of non-English speaking restaurant owners. The service therefore uses the translation and interpretation service extensively and ensures translators are in place for any Council supported training. Both Food Hygiene and Health and Safety Teams produce their own News Letters which promote our translation and interpretation service. The Food Hygiene Team has a Business Forum where changes to service are tested and consulted on. 3.4.2 Leisure and Environment Environmental Services and Street Management We have developed a Zero Waste Strategy and Action Plan around Waste minimisation initiatives and access to services to support this. Our current waste collection service includes an assisted collection service for people with disabilities. Staff are identifying easier and simpler ways for partially sighted customers to easily identify different recycling bags. A new Education Officer post has been introduced to work with young people and slow adopters of the service. This will involve targeted awareness raising campaigns aimed at minority communities and student population/transient communities around litter, waste and


13

access to recycling. Other initiatives include; Community Skip schemes, “grot spot”, 100 day campaign, subsidy schemes for low income households, free food digesters and shedders Leisure and Culture We are working towards the Charter Mark for both our Culture and Leisure Service’s. Our Green Spaces Strategy supports an ethos of the widest access to open space for all communities. As part of preparation for Green Flag status, our destination park, Queen’s Park, has had improvements to disabled access for wheelchair users, and to reduce access for vehicles to ensure it is safer for families and young children. Our Play Strategy focuses on open access to play opportunities and mobile opportunities to support a range of play provision. We have 3 Sports Development Officers dedicated to increasing participation with low income and BME families. The Holiday Activity Programme has activities specifically for young people with disabilities. Our Wild Card leisure pass is specifically targeted at young people and people with disabilities. In addition there are concessionary charges targeted at the elderly, students, and those in receipt of benefit. Community sports coaches and support to healthy lifestyles programmes are provided for those recovering from long term illness or coronary problems. Both services have promoted a heightened campaign to access hard to reach groups:-

• National Play Day events targeted at the most deprived and excluded communities in the Borough, this included for example asylum seeker communities

• Provision of promotional free passes to events such as Loughborough Fair and concessionary schemes for schools for the Town Hall Pantomime.

• Museum services provide a range of interactive displays that offer service improvements that are both DDA compliant and accessible for a range of communities.

• All cultural venues and leisure facilities are DDA compliant. • “Mystery Shopper” exercises to test and improve upon signage, customer care and

interaction and access to services across a range of excluded groups. • Flexible facilities and programming of events at leisure centres to target families and

minority communities • Development of a diverse programme for our Town Hall programme

3.4.3 Development and Regeneration Development have produced two SPD’s, ‘Leading in Design’ and ‘Making it Easy’, aimed at addressing access issues for people with disabilities. They go beyond Building Control regulation and encourage developers to look at the wider neighbourhood and special issues. A Development Service Improvement Forum has been established to engage customers in service enhancements. Service development sessions have been piloted in Development Control. These are designed to look at how accessible services are and drawn up action plans to address issues. Regeneration led on major regeneration schemes. They have used a wide range of inclusive consultation venues and events including; Loughborough Mela, summer festivals, Town Centre Stalls, specific location stalls, community groups etc. Regeneration hosts the ‘Charnwood Business’ website. This holds information for businesses on equality and diversity best practice.


14

3.4.4 Partnerships and Customer Services Customer Services In 2005 the Council rationalised all of its customer service points into a one stop Customer Service Centre. Previously there had been several reception points with the main building, some of which did not meet requirements of the DDA 1995. In November the Council adopted it’s revised Customer Service Strategy and Customer Service Standards. This has been developed through the ‘Customer Access’ project which is aiming to improve the customer experience and ease of contacting the Council. We have recently procured a new CRM system to build up a better customer profile and improve links between different departments and the Customer Contact Centre. We are investigating the use of Parish Council’s as hosts for remote access to Council services. Communication and Consultation We have operated an interpretation and translation service for approximately 10 years. The service has been growing year on year and includes; Brailling, large print, audiotape, language line, face to face interpretation and translation. All Council information includes alternative language strap lines. We are continuing to raise awareness of the services we provide through ongoing and specific campaigns. For example Charnwood News, the Councils Website, branded fact sheets, the AtoZ campaign etc. The team have drawn up communication and consultation planners to prompt lead officers to address how they are going to engage with hard to reach groups. Partnership Management We have set up a network of Partnership Managers made up of Council Officers to help partner organisations have a port of call if finding it difficult to contact us or have problems resolved. We have also developed partnership agreements for the different levels of partnership we are involved in. 3.4.5 Risk Management Risk Management provide the performance management function for equality and diversity. They also provide legal and monitoring officer support. 3.4.6 Change Management Community Safety We have supported the Racial Harassment Contact Group for a number of years with a combination of administration support, establishment of reporting centres and funding for training events. We are part of a County Wide partnership coordinated by the County Council on racist incident reporting. This is to be updated on the 22nd of February to a more generic Hate Crime project. Human Resources

• Employment Up to date employment policies are in place including; Equal Opportunities, Harassment and Bullying, Religion and Belief, Sexual Orientation etc. Our Recruitment and Selection training includes an extensive section on equality legislation requirements. A variety of methods of flexible working are actively promoted including; job sharing, compressed hours, annualised hours, working from home etc. Our employment BVPI’s are regularly reported to Performance and Audit Scrutiny.


15

We have procured a new personnel management system (TRENT) which enables quicker and simpler reporting of monitoring information. We have commissioned a project to improve our recruitment of people from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds and are currently using ethnic minority and disability specific websites to advertise key jobs.

• Training Training needs are picked up through the PDR process. All training events are monitored for equality and this is looked at on an annual basis to ensure there is no under-representation in any area of training. Training programmes with limited numbers have weighting criteria for people who are traditionally under-represented in those particular areas/fields. Service Development Workshops are being held in departments across the authority to encourage staff to think about their own service delivery and how it can be improved. We are currently IIP accredited. Equality and Diversity This directorate takes the lead for coordination for the Councils equality and diversity work. For example; policy and strategy development, the Equality Standard, Self-Assessment and equality impact assessment process. 3.4.8 Deputy Chief Executive Financial Services To date our procurement practices have followed minimum requirements on equality i.e. asking the 6 approved questions with little performance management of the contract once in place. The DCX department has set up an ‘Improving Contract Management’ project to raise the standard of all aspects of our procurement. In March 07 we will be linking up to the East Midlands Centre of Excellence for Procurement Toolkit. This has a robust equality section with a set of equality questions that provides more information than the 6 approved questions list. Across the services we operate various concession discount schemes. These are often targeted at people with low incomes but can include people with disabilities. ICS There has been an increased focus on flexible working through increased use of technology. To date approximately 12% of staff are enabled to work from home. We have also been looking at how technology can improve the coordination of equality monitoring. Our two most significant IT projects this year have been the procurement of a new CRM and Housing Management System. These have both included, within the specification, the collection of equality monitoring and personal data. The inclusion of equality aspects in technology solutions has been included in the T-gov Strategy. Asset Management We are performing strongly on access to public buildings (BVPI 155 97%) this is due to a centralisation of our customer service points into one main reception point that is fully DDA compliant. The next stage of work is to audit and complete works on our office accommodation, this has been picked up in Phase 3 of the Office Accommodation Strategy. The Office Accommodation Strategy highlights the physical needs of staff with disabilities.


16

4. Overall assessment of the Strengths and Weaknesses Below is an assessment of the Council’s overall position against the Equality Standard for Local Government. Some of the evidence or commentary is a repeat of sections above. 4.1 Leadership and Corporate Commitment Strengths There is considerable corporate commitment to equality and diversity and achievement against the Equality Standard, this includes; Cabinet Member and Senior Management Team Diversity Champion, key corporate project for Achievement of level 3 of the Equality Standard, Member Reference Group on Equality made up of cross party representation. Both the Corporate Plan and Community Strategy have specific commitments and actions on equality and diversity. In September 2006 we ran our first Diversity Week to raise awareness of the issues across the Council. Areas for Improvement Although there is strong corporate commitment this needs to be increased across all the directorates. The Directorates that have the biggest impact on the community have equality and diversity firmly embedded, however, those that provide a back office function have been slower to progress the work in their areas. A corporate equality monitoring guidance is in place and monitoring is happening in pockets across the authority. This will be improved with the introduction of the CRM system which will bring much greater coordination and reduce the need for repeat asking of information. More work needs to be done to increase awareness of the equality and diversity agenda both internally and externally. 4.2 Consultation and Community Involvement and Scrutiny Strengths In 2005 we developed a hard to reach toolkit to provide advice and guidance on inclusive consultation, this is now part of the consultation and communication planners to ensure managers are taking issues into account when carrying out communication and consultation campaigns. Talk Back Sessions have been a monthly feature for the last 12 months. Lead Members and Senior Officers go out to different locations across the Borough to hear directly what peoples issues and concerns are. There have been targeted events in rural locations and with BME and young persons groups We are also using our own media as much as possible to encourage participation. This includes our E-Jury for online voting, features in Charnwood News, local media, Housing News and Staff Matters. In September 2006 we appointed 3 Community Strategy Support Officers to help deliver the Community Strategy and establish our Neighbourhood Management and Area Forums programme to help promote local decision making. We are working to improve the representation on our Citizen Panel. Traditional BME groups and young people have been under-representation. Over the last 18 months we have improved the proportion of people from BME backgrounds. The Charnwood area has strong community and voluntary groups. The Council supports several groups through it’s Community Grants Scheme including; the Charnwood Race Equality Council, the Shree Ram Krishna Community Centre, the Charnwood Voluntary Service, Charnwood Youth Forum and many smaller after schools and recreational projects.


17

The Council’s Community and Partnership Scrutiny Committee will be scrutinising the equality and diversity work on the 7th March 07. There have also been Investigation and Review Panels looking into tenant participation and our consultation processes. Areas for Improvement Although there have been significant improvements in our consultation and community involvement work more needs to be done to improve the consistency and quality of all of the consultation work we carry out. We also recognise the considerable strain on community and voluntary groups to get involved in consultation and involvement work fully. More work needs to be do to support existing groups and support the establishment of new groups where representation is lacking. We are currently working with the Charnwood Voluntary Service and the Charnwood Race Equality Council to develop a local Equality Partnership. One of their proposed functions would be to scrutinise the work of public bodies in the area. 4.3 Service Delivery and Customer Care Strengths Considerable work has been done over the last 2 years to improve how customers access the Council. These have included; rationalisation of customer service points to one fully DDA compliant Customer Service Centre, establishment of the Customer Contact Centre and increase functionality of the Council’s website. The Cabinet adopted the Customer Service Strategy in November 2006 outlining our vision for improved customer service and access to service. This has been developed through the ‘Improved Access to Services’ project. The follow on project next year is ‘Bringing Services to Hard to Reach Groups’. We are performing strongly on BVPI 156, the percentage of authority buildings open to the public in which all public areas are suitable for, and accessible to, disabled people, is at 97% with a capital bid to increase this to 100% by 2008. We also have a well established translation and interpretation service which is advertised on all the Council’s literature. The Equality Impact Assessment process has enabled services to identify areas for improved access to service. Areas for Improvement Although there has been considerable progress in a number of areas in recent months, this needs to be bedded in to ensure we are able to deliver on our commitments. Many of our services are well established and will take time to change. In order to progress beyond level 3 we will need to be able to clearly identify the improvements changes to service have resulted in. 4.4 Employment and Training Strengths The Council has well established equality and diversity policies, recruitment and selection process and workforce monitoring. We are currently working on a project to address under-representation of BME managers and applicants for jobs. Our Workforce Plan and Performance Through People Strategy highlight the work we are doing to increase workforce representation. All new employees undergo a 3 hour induction session on equality and diversity.


18

Areas for Improvement To date there has not been a coordinated approach to equality training, it has been more on a request or issues bases. This has been addressed through an agreed service pressure for training in 07/08. We are not performing well on some of our employment BVPI’s including women and black and minority ethnic groups in the top 5% of earners, part of this will be addressed through the BME recruitment project. We have a workforce profile of 1.91% disabled people against the local working population of 15.1%. We are aware however, that there is an under reporting of disability amongst Council staff and are looking at methods of increasing reporting. We are currently implementing job evaluation using the Hay Scheme which has been equality proofed. A full equal pay review will be carried out once the Scheme has been fully implemented in April 2007. 5. Summary There have been significant improvements in equality and diversity work at Charnwood Borough Council over the last 18 months. Many of the systems required to deliver the Equality Standard and embed equality and diversity have now been put in place. There are, as always, areas for improvement. Some departments are stronger than others and more aware of the issues. We feel confident that with the current structures in place the standards will raise throughout the organisation and that we are in a strong position to keep improving.