Equality Needs Analysis2013-14

Contents1. Introduction

2. Diversity profile of Cumbria

3. The Equality Act and the Public Sector Equality Duty

4. Equality Information on County Council Services

5. Equality Information on County Council Workforce

6. Next steps and conclusion

7. Supporting Information and Links

Equality Needs Analysis 2013-14

Equality Needs Analysis April 2013-14

1. Introduction and Executive SummaryOverviewThis document sets out the 2013-14 annual refresh of the Council’s analysis of information on the effects of services and employment on people who are protected under the Equality Act (2010). This provides an update on the first annual Equality Needs Analysis that was published in 2012.

The document demonstrates how the Council is meeting the specific requirements of the Public Sector Equality Duty, and has informed the Council’s Equality Objectives.

The document provides an: Analysis of effects of key services Analysis of effects of key employment

The information is based upon preparatory work undertaken by the Cumbria Observatory in consultation with staff in directorates, and has been crossed checked against current Equality Impact Assessments.

Links to Equality for All and Equality ObjectivesThe legislative background to the production of this annual document is explained in Equality for All, the County Council’s Equality Strategy for 2012-16. The strategy sets out how the Council plans to meet its duties under the Equality Act (2010), and in particular sets the Council’s strategy in the light of:

The social context for Equality in the UK and Cumbria Key changes in policy and legislation and Equality implications How Equality fits with the Council’s Priorities How Equality will be embedded within programmes of work

A key part of the Council’s legislative requirements includes the setting of four year Equality objectives. The aim of the Equality objectives is to set medium-long term priorities for addressing Equality, and in 2012 the Council agreed the following objectives.

Diffuse community tensions and promote tolerance and understanding Continue progress in collection of diversity data in relation to workforce

and services Continue to roll out training programme introduced following the Equality

Act (2010) Continue progress on narrowing the attainment gap between boys and

girls Continue positive action scheme to increase numbers of women in the Fire

Service Improve support for victims of domestic violence Improve disability access to Council premises Increase personalisation of services to ensure that people have choice and

control Work with Gypsy Roma and Traveller families to improve access to

education

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Continue to monitor school racial incidents as part of anti-bullying activities

Ensure that migrants can access information about the Council in multi-lingual formats

Increase opportunities for young people to work for the Council Include addressing homophobia in school anti-bullying work

A fuller analysis of progress against objectives including case studies will form part of the 2014 refresh of the Equality Needs Analysis.

Summary of findings Overall the information assessed shows continuing progress in embedding Equality across a number of areas, with some areas, such as educational support for Gypsy Roma and Traveller pupils, showing significant progress.

The evidence also shows that where the Council identifies equality issues through its Equality Impact Assessment process, that action is undertaken and monitored. There has also been a steady improvement in the use of data to inform EIAs.

Although this document does not detail specifically progress against Equality objectives, the overall findings show that there is no need for the Council to revise the objectives set in 2012. The focus for 2013-14 will be upon continuous monitoring of services and reporting on progress against the objectives.

While section 3 provides details of the results of the analysis of data on services the following bullet points summarise the key findings:

Adult Social Care: The service is increasingly reflecting the diversity of Cumbria’s population, and has demonstrated capacity to support people from all protected characteristics to live independently. Areas for further work include working with older males, and following up on engagement with Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual people from 2011.

Libraries: The library service has demonstrated good links with the county’s Black and Minority Ethnic population, and has made significant improvements in relation to disability equality. A further area for development is around gender and membership rates, where females still outnumber males as new joiners – though the gap has narrowed in 2012 compared to 2011.

Local Services (Archives and Registration): Archives have engaged with innovative projects in 2012 including one project as part of Black History month. Data on service usage shows that the age profile for archives is older than the national average, and that school engagement has been an effective way to address this. Registrations are continuing to make changes to ensure that the service can meet the needs of people who share a protected characteristic.

Children’s Services: Information on educational attainment shows an improvement in relation to gender and ethnicity, with specific improvements in work with Cumbria’s Gypsy Roma and Traveller pupils. Additionally Equality is being addressed as part of the Children’s Services

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Equality Needs Analysis April 2013-14

Improvement Plan, and has continued to provide effective interpretation support to the county’s growing migrant population.

Highways and Transportation: Highways have continued to make improvements in terms of disability access and engagement when developing schemes. The integrated transport team have successfully implemented the NoW Card extension scheme to provide 24 hour free transport to disabled people accessing work and training.

Waste Management: Disability access has been a priority for reviewing household waste recycling provision, and improvements are continuously being applied.

Fire and Rescue: Data collection on fire related injuries has highlighted the importance of targeting migrants and vulnerable households for home safety visits. Additionally work has progressed on recruiting more female and Black and Minority Ethnic fire fighters as a result of the service’s positive action scheme.

Workforce: Staff perceptions of equality in terms of their understanding of the Council’s policy and its application to their role has continued to show marked improvement. Analysis of Single Status has demonstrated a reduction in the gender pay gap, and no adverse impact on any of the protected characteristics. Improvements to data collection and continuous roll of out of electronic Equality training remain priorities.

2. Diversity profile of CumbriaPopulationCumbria is the second least densely populated county in England with a population of 499,900. The county has an ‘ageing’ population which is driven by in-migration of people aged 45 and over and out-migration of younger adults. The ethnic profile of Cumbria is changing to become more representative of the rest of the UK.

The table below summarises the diversity profile of Cumbria.Allerdale

Barrow

Carlisle

Copeland

Eden S.Lakes

Cumbria

England and Wales

Population 96,422 69,087

107,524

70,603 52,564

103,658

499,858

56.07M

% Males 49.1 49.5 48.8 50.2 49.5 48.7 50.8 50.8% Females 50.9 50.5 51.2 49.8 50.5 51.3 50.8 50.8% BME 2.4 2.9 5.0 2.7 3.0 4.4 3.5 19.5% Christian

75.4 70.7 69.1 78.9 70.7 68.1 71.9 59.3

% non-Christian

0.7 0.89 1.21 0.88 0.92 1.15 0.97 8.38

% No Religion

17.3 22.1 22.9 14.4 20.7 23.1 20.3 25.1

% Lesbian Gay Bisexual

5 3 3 3 2 1 3 n/a

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% Disabled

20.8 24.7 19.2 21.4 18 18.8 20.3 17.9

% Disabled - working age

27.1 30.4 15 21.5 19.5 20 21.9 n/a

% 65+ 20.8 18.8 18.5 18.9 21.9 24.2 20.6 16.4

More population and information briefings on the diversity profile of Cumbria following the 2011 Census can be found on the Cumbria Intelligence Observatory: http://www.cumbriaobservatory.org.uk/Population/equality.asp

3. The Equality Act and the Public Sector Equality DutyThe Equality Act (2010) and Protected CharacteristicsThe Equality Act replaces existing anti-discrimination laws with a single act. The Act includes the concept of a protected characteristic. This is a characteristic of a person that protects them from discrimination, unfair treatment, harassment or victimisation. There are nine protected characteristics recognised by the Equality Act:

Age Disability Gender reassignment Marriage and civil partnership Pregnancy and maternity Ethnicity Religion and belief Gender Sexual orientation

The Public Sector Equality DutySection 149 of the Equality Act places an additional set of requirements upon public bodies, known as the Public Sector Equality Duty. This is made up of a general equality duty which is supported by specific duties.

The general equality duty requires public authorities, in the exercise of their functions, to have due regard to the need to:

Eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under the Act.

Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and people who do not share it.

Foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not share it.

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Equality Needs Analysis April 2013-14The specific duty requires public authorities to publish annually information on the effects of their services and employment on people who share a protected characteristic. The public sector Equality Duty also requires public authorities to have set Equality objectives in 2012, and to report on progress by 2016.

What the general equality duty requires on informationAlthough there is no explicit legal requirement to collect and use equality information across the protected characteristics, in order to have due regard to the aims of the general equality duty, public authorities must understand the impact of their policies and practices on people with protected characteristics.

What the specific duties require on informationPublic authorities covered by the specific duties must publish information relating to people who share a relevant protected characteristic who are:

its employees (for authorities with more than 150 staff) people affected by its policies and practices (for example, service users).

4. Equality Information on County Council ServicesThe County Council provides a range of services to the public. These have been screened to see:

Which services are relevant to the Duty Information collected by services mapped against protected

characteristics

The information set out below presents a summary of the Equality issues for each service based on the analysis of user data and findings from Equality Impact Assessments.

The following services have been identified as being relevant to the Equality Duty:

Adult Social Care Libraries Archives Registration Service Children’s Services Highways Passenger Transport Waste Fire and Rescue Service Trading Standards Procurement

The rest of this section sets out the findings for each of these services.

Adult Social Care

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About Adult Social Care: Adult Social Care services have the responsibility for meeting the social care needs of adults in Cumbria. They provide a range of support to adults aged 18+ who may, for example, have a physical disability, learning disability, sensory impairment, mental health needs or substance misuse problems as well as carers of individuals. They also support the transition of young people who may be transferring from Children’s Services to Adult Social Care.

Practitioners from Adult Social Care will undertake an assessment with an individual and their carer(s) offering professional support to produce an outcome based support plan aimed at retaining or regaining an individual’s independence. To ensure customers have choice and control, support may be managed via a direct payment, an individual service fund, care managed support or a combination of these. Adult Social Care also provides advice and information, as well as contact with relevant preventative support. Customers of Adult Social Care are financially assessed and may need to contribute towards the cost of support.

Community support includes all local assets such as activities, groups, community centres, day opportunities, links to supported employment and venue based day care. Support at home includes reablement, assistive technology, equipment, extra care housing and domiciliary care provision. Accommodation based support includes residential and nursing care which offers full board accommodation and carer/nursing assistance throughout a 24 hour period. Policy Priorities for Adult Social Care: Government policy focus is on the personalisation of public services in health and social care. The aim being to shift to a position where as many people as possible are enabled to stay healthy and active in their communities for longer, delaying or avoiding the need for targeted services – and when people do need help to give them as much control as possible over their services. This underlines the necessary connection between preventative, community based approaches and personalised care and support.

Data collection and Equality: The department utilises the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) which brings together information on the current and future needs of local populations. This information is used, alongside national/local best practice and government policy, to ensure effective planning and outcome based commissioning of services. Data is also available on users of Adult Social Care by age, disability, gender, ethnicity, religion and belief and sexual orientation. Analysis of the data and information held by the Adult Social Care suggests a number of trends.

Effects of services upon people who share a protected characteristicAge: The data relating to Adult Social Care shows that three quarters of people receiving support are aged 65+ (75%), which is significantly higher than the overall population of people aged 65+ in Cumbria (21%). People are more likely to access Adult Social Care support as they get older due to increasing health

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Equality Needs Analysis April 2013-14and social care needs, combined with an increased risk of isolation. There is a slightly lower take-up of direct payments amongst older people than younger people aged 18-64. Offering people personalised support and promoting preventative services is a priority for the Directorate and is a key objective in the service plan for 2013/14.

Ethnicity: Black and Minority Ethnic people make up approximately (1.8%) of people receiving support, which is proportionally less than the Black and Minority Ethnic population across Cumbria (3.5%). This will continue to be monitored.

Equality Impact Assessments have previously raised the issue of service users making racist comments towards Black and Minority Ethnic staff and service users. This was addressed through bespoke training for the Cumbria Care workforce that dealt explicitly with scenarios relating to racism. Equality Impact Assessments are reviewed annually and further issues will be highlighted as part of this process. Monitoring is carried out to ensure employees receive equality and diversity training in line with the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Gender: For people in Cumbria aged 18-64 there is an even split between males and females. This balance is maintained when looking at people aged 18-64 receiving services. The gender breakdown of service users begins to widen is amongst the 65-74 age group, were females receiving support start to outweigh males. This is also apparent in the 75+ age group. Proportionately this is to be expected due to females having a longer life expectancy. A targeted community engagement exercise was carried out in 2009 focusing on males aged 65+ in the community around accessing services. The main findings from this engagement exercise were that males are more likely to seek support from relatives and health professionals before considering social care support. This gap is reported to be closing. Services are monitored on a quarterly basis for any gender gaps and will be raised in Equality Impact Assessments.

Sexual Orientation: In 2011 a survey was completed to find out about the experience of LGB&T adults in using public services. The key finding for Adult Social care was in relation to the following question: Are you out/open about your sexual orientation with GP/healthcare professionals (61% yes) and social worker/care professionals (40% yes). 59% of respondents felt confident in disclosing their sexual orientation to a professional. Adult Social Care are implementing activities to improve staff awareness of sexual orientation in monitoring, carrying out care assessments and service delivery.

LibrariesAbout libraries in Cumbria: Cumbria County Council provides library services out of 60 locations, including standing libraries, book drops and reading rooms. There are six main libraries in Carlisle, Penrith, Kendal, Barrow, Whitehaven and Workington.

Policy priorities for libraries: A review of library services took place in 2011 to gain a better understanding of the options for future development of libraries

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in Cumbria. In September 2011 Cabinet decided that the best approach would be a series of different but related projects that focused on meeting local needs and circumstances. Approaches to delivering improvements include:

Libraries Extras: Large libraries which act as community hubs and are situated in main towns, providing a comprehensive service across the county.

Library Links which provide facilities to borrow and return books in isolated communities

Community Libraries:  book stocks in places like village halls, shops or schools.

A Community Librarian: a member of staff who can make the service more proactive by taking it out to hard to reach areas and people. 

Data collection and Equality: Data is available on the diversity profile of new joiners since 2007. This collects information by age, disability, gender, ethnicity, religion, gender and belief and sexual orientation. Analysis of the data and information held by the Library service suggests a number of trends.

Effects of services upon people who share a protected characteristicAge: When compared against the age profile of Cumbria the data shows that new joiners aged below 11 years of age are well represented, while the figure for people aged 12-18 drops, before rising for people aged 19-59, and then dropping again for people aged 60+. To address these issues and increase accessibility the library offers a home delivery service, as well as area based Special Services Staff, whose role is to provide additional support.

Disability: In 2009 community engagement with visually impaired people suggested that many people with visual impairments used alternative providers such as the RNIB to access books and audio information. Since then the library service has developed the Bee Aware service that works to access RNIB products to attract people with visual impairment. They have also formed a partnership with the British Wireless for the Blind project to access wider products for visually impaired users.

Ethnicity: 9.1% of new library services are from a BME background, compared to 3.5% of the Cumbrian population. Feedback suggests that this has been informed by a number of positive features of libraries including – multi-cultural activities taking place in libraries, access to internet which enables people to communicate with people overseas, multi-lingual books and the growth in the BME population in key services centres near to major libraries.

Gender: Females have historically been more likely to join libraries than males (approximately 60% new joiners being female compared to 40% male), though the gap has narrowed in the past year.

Archives

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Equality Needs Analysis April 2013-14About archives in Cumbria: There are four main archives in Cumbria, these are located in Carlisle, Whitehaven, Barrow and Kendal. The archive service contains collections of historic documents, and continues to be developed as people add documents. The main county archive is located in a purpose built centre at the Lady Gifford House in Carlisle that was opened in 2011. This provides better physical access to the materials, and better temperature controlled conditions to preserve the materials.

Archives data: Data is available on users of Archives by age, disability, gender and ethnicity. Analysis of the data and information held by the Adult Social Care suggests a number of trends.

Age: National evidence shows that Archives Services are more likely to attract an older demographic, particularly among people aged 65-74 and 75+. The evidence for Cumbria confirms this trend, with the number of people aged 65+ using archives being higher than the national average. People aged 45-64 are as likely to use archives in Cumbria as nationally, while people aged below 45 are significantly less likely to use archives than the national average. Recent scrutiny work has shown that some interventions engaging schools have made positive inroads to increasing the participation of younger people in the service.

Ethnicity: Although the ethnicity data involves small numbers there is evidence of some engagement with South Asians in the South Lakeland area. Meanwhile in October 2013 the county archive in Carlisle engaged with AWAZ1 to stage an exhibition about the slave trade that attracted positive media attention.

RegistrationAbout the registration service: The Cumbria Registration Service is responsible for the registration of births and deaths within Cumbria.  It also deals with the legal preliminaries to getting married or forming a civil partnership, and conduct marriage and civil partnership ceremonies in registration offices and approved premises throughout the county. In addition the service provides naming ceremonies, UK Citizenship ceremonies and nationality checks as well as changes of name deeds.

Effects of services upon people who share a protected characteristicEquality Impact Assessments have highlighted work around the UK citizenship ceremony, civil partnership ceremonies, and improvements in access to interpreters including British Sign Language for ceremonies. Following community feedback work is underway to establish a protocol for dealing with Muslim burials, so that registration processes better meet specific religious and cultural requirements.

Children’s Services

1 AWAZ are a Black and Minority Ethnic infrastructure organisation operating across Cumbria. They are an independent Community of Interest Company.

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About Children’s Service: Children’s Services ambition is set out in the directorate’s 2012-13 Service Plan:

We want Cumbria to be a great place to be a child and grow up in; a place of opportunity where young people are able to live happy and productive lives; a place where young people will want to live and work in the future.

As a Directorate Children’s Services have four values that inform everything we do

We put the child first We take responsibility We value, respect and take care of ourselves and each other We work best in partnership

The directorate consists of three key functional areas

Children and Families - This service area includes early intervention and targeted support for children and families; child protection, safeguarding, fostering and adoption services, and services for children looked after.

Partnership and Prevention – This service area encompasses the strategic planning, commissioning, performance, quality assurance, workforce development and youth offending service.  

Schools and Learning – This service area includes all services directly connected with meeting statutory duties in ensuring fair admissions, providing support for SEN and permanently excluded pupils and championing educational excellence in all schools through its school improvement function.

The three priorities as set out in the directorate’s 2012-13 Service Plan are: Targeting resources to support the most vulnerable and keep children safe Maximising opportunities and raising aspirations Strengthening services and improving partnerships

Data on children in Cumbria: The 2012-13 Children’s Services states the following about the profile of children in Cumbria:

There are 109,625 children and young people aged 0-19 living in Cumbria They go to 327 schools and 28 Children’s Centres (271 Primary, 21 LA

Secondary, 19 Academies, 6 Nursery Schools, 5 Specials and 3 Pupil Referral Units (PRUs))

354 of our children are subject to a child protection plan and 600 are looked after.

1,909 have a statement of Special Educational Needs, 1,139 have English as an additional language, 2,387 are of black or minority ethnic heritage and 91 are Gypsy Roma Travellers.

15,000 of our children are living in poverty and 1,174 were NEET (not in employment, education or training) in November 2011.

Effects of services upon people who share a protected characteristicSchools and learning: Data is available on school pupils of by age, Special Educational Needs, gender and ethnicity (including first language). Analysis of

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Equality Needs Analysis April 2013-14the data and information held by the Children’s Services suggests a number of trends.

Ethnicity: 4% of all pupils are from a BME background and there are 65 languages spoken in Cumbria’s schools. Carlisle has the largest proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language (3% of all pupils). In terms of educational attainment BME pupils and pupils who speak English as a Second Language compare well with White British pupils. BME pupils at Key Stage 2 and at GCSE levels perform above the county average.

In the figures for last year there was a gap noted in the KS2 English at L4 and above between pupils with English as an additional language (EAL) and the county average. This has now closed (now 92.9%) above the county average (87.8%). The performance for EAL learners at Key Stage continues to be a key priority area for focus. Analysis has also shown that additional support is required for new arrivals to the UK who are EAL learners in Years 10-11. Children’s Services is in close contact with schools to discuss the support which is in place for these learners and to offer advice.

The results appear to remain the same in Educational Attainment compared to 2011 whereby GCSE 5 A*-C (including English and Maths) results for pupils with English as an additional language are significantly lower (46.1%) than the county average (55.4%) and BME pupils at (58.5%). It is clear that pupils with English as an additional language are exceeding the county average and BME pupils at GCSE 5 A*- C (any subject).

The data shows that Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) pupils have lower levels of achievement than other ethnic groups at all key stages. This may be due to a complex range of factors. National research indicates that the migratory way of life for some Gypsy Roma and Traveller people can lead to educational disruption, and may contribute to the statistic that only 40% of GRT have Key Stage 2 Sats results. Of those with results, GRT pupils are nationally in the lowest quintile (fifth) in terms of attainment.

In Cumbria, an Equality Learning Officer for GRT supports schools and GRT families with issues including: attendance; disrupted learning patterns; support with contracting and liaising with parents; Special Educational Needs issues; exclusions; bullying and resources for GRT learning. Ensuring access to schools for primary aged GRT pupils, new or returning is a priority as is improving secondary transitions and retention in the secondary phase. The results for KS2 indicate a significant improvement in 2012 when compared to the previous two years. At level 4 in English and Maths there has been an increase from 12.5% in 2011 to 47% in 2012. Of the 5 in the cohort, two achieved 5+ A*-C including English and Maths (20%) and 3 achieved 5+ A*-C (60%). All achieved at least 1+ A*-C.

Racial incidents and bullying: Schools started reporting on racial incidents since 2005. These have provided valuable information on the effects of addressing race relations in school settings. Evidence has shown that racial incidents increased during 2006-8 as reporting became more reliable and has declined

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since. Over 90% of schools routinely submit reports including some Academies who have been invited to join the scheme. Cases show that schools have increased their understanding of how to address racism. Currently, Learning Improvement Services - Children’s Services is reviewing the present reporting system in line with current Equality legislation.

In order to tackle racial incidents and bullying, a number of schools in Cumbria are using restorative justice practices to work with children and young people on raising self-esteem, building resilience and building positive relationships with others.

Special Educational Needs: Schools monitor pupils by category of Special Educational Need rather than disability. The population of children with different Special Educational Needs is monitored to help ensure we have the provision as well as the policies to meet these needs, thus improving equality of opportunity.

Gender: In line with national data trends is an attainment gap between girls and boys at KS1, KS2 and KS4. At county level girls outperform boys in almost every area at KS1, KS2 and GCSE; the exception being KS2 maths, where attainment for girls and boys is similar.

At Key Stage 1 the national expectation and measure of attainment for pupils of this age is National Curriculum Level 2 and above in reading, writing and mathematics. Progress has been made in narrowing the gender attainment gap at this level.

Reading: In 2012, the percentage of boys achieving Level 2 and above increased from 81% to 83% over the previous year, whilst the same figure for girls was 90%. This means that the attainment gap between boys and girls at Level 2 and above has reduced by 2% from 9% to 7% over the last year. Nationally the gap between boys and girls was 6%, so Cumbria has reduced the gap for attainment in reading, but it remains slightly greater than the national average.

Writing: In 2012, the percentage of boys achieving Level 2 and above increased from 77% to 80%, compared with 89% for girls. The girl’s level of attainment remains the same as last year, which means that the gap between the boys and the girls in writing has decreased from 12% to 9%.  Cumbria now has a lower gap than the national average which is 10%.

Maths: 90% of boys attained Level 2 and above, the same as last year, whilst the average attainment of girls has reduced slightly from 93% to 92%. The gap between the attainment of boys and girls has therefore also reduced this year and stands at 2%, which is in line with the national gap.

Narrowing the gender attainment gap at KS1 is in a positive position and will continue to be monitored closely with schools annually in relation to the performance of specific pupil groups,Within districts schools will be supported to identify and address any issues relating to the underperformance of any vulnerable groups, this is focused at

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Equality Needs Analysis April 2013-14school level. Each school has an assigned General Adviser who undertakes at least one monitoring and evaluation visit each year. The school’s performance data is analysed, and its development priorities identified. This includes any attainment gaps identified from gender or free school meal take-up if they are identified through performance data. The GA provides an analysis of the school’s planning, and the schools collaboration with others who provide support. This is entirely consistent with central government policy which is very much geared towards school to school support.

Children and Families: The Children’s Social Care service collects data on age, gender, ethnicity and disability. In relation to adoption Cumbria reflects the national issue around matching adoptive families to the ethnic heritage of the child. Work has been underway over a number of years in partnership with the Cumbria Multi-Cultural Service and AWAZ to promote the benefits of becoming an adopter to BME people. This work will remain ongoing. Work is also underway as part of the Ofsted improvement plan to address cultural sensitivity in working with BME children and families.

With the increasing diversity of the population demand for interpreters and translators has increased. To ensure that there is a pool of trained local interpreters action was been taken in 2009 to train a body of local interpreters, and negotiate with the Council’s supplier of interpreters to ensure that they source and train interpreters from Cumbria. This action continues to ensure the responsiveness of the service and the Council is reviewing its prevision of interpretation services to ensure that there is a choice of provision. Over 90% of all paid interpreting services in the council relate to children’s social care.

Highways and transportationAbout Cumbria highways and transportation: Highways and transportation are responsible for the maintenance of the Cumbria highways network, and for the commissioning of public transport in the county. Highways and transportation’s 2012-13 priorities are to:

Improve sustainable access to services and facilities Provide a better quality road network

In addition, they have a key role in improving road safety and cutting the number of people killed or seriously injured on roads in Cumbria through our work as part of the Cumbria Road Safety Partnership. The four key areas of service are:

Transport Policy: To develop, promote and implement the county’s transport policy through the Local Transport Plan and help to ensure that other plans and strategies are aligned with it; co-ordinate road safety activities. 

Integrated Transport: To manage, develop and promote buses, trains, community transport, school & college transport, active travel, bus stops, care transport and concessionary travel. 

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Countryside Access: To manage and maintain public rights of way and open access land; improve access to the countryside through the rights of way improvement plan; input and influence access policies both locally and nationally; and promote the use and enjoyment of the countryside. 

Highways: To deliver highways management and maintenance service in conjunction with Capita and Amey as part of Cumbria Highways. Manage the Carlisle Northern Development Route (CNDR) project which includes Connect Roads maintaining a number of roads from October 2009

Effects of services upon people who share a protected characteristicEquality Impact Assessments have identified a number of effects upon people who share a protected characteristic and actions to address them. A number of lessons have been learnt from disability related complaints including – better consultation with local disability groups when schemes are proposed and training for all highways staff when designing schemes to consider equality implications. There is also a greater awareness of age and religion when planning works near to schools, old people’s homes and places of worship. Highways have taken part in an interagency review of protocols for dealing with unauthorised encampments relating to Gypsy Roma and Travellers. This is to ensure that there is a consistent and fair approach to enforcement.

Passenger Transport The main source of information for passenger transport is based on Equality Impact Assessments and surveys carried out to capture feedback from some of the protected characteristics. This has highlighted some issues in relation to age and disability.

English National Concessionary Transport Scheme: Free 24 hour access to bus services has been made available for disabled people who use a bus to travel to work or training. This was based on a study of the effects of the national scheme which only enabled free transport after 9.30 am.

Rural Access to transport: An issue which has affected a number of people has been the availability of scheduled bus services for people in remote rural locations. Rural Wheels enables people across Cumbria to travel where they are unable locally to get to a bus service.

Young people’s access to positive activities: Following feedback about the ability of young people to access facilities set up for their specific use in remote rural areas, a pilot project has been set up with a youth centre in Alston to help young people with transport.

Work with the main bus operators: The Integrated Transport Team has worked with the bus operators to increase the number of routes that are serviced with buses that are accessible for wheelchairs and pushchairs. This will help the council to meet the statutory deadline of ensuring that all routes will be accessible by 2017.

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Equality Needs Analysis April 2013-14Waste ManagementAbout Waste Management: Cumbria County Council, as the waste disposal authority, is responsible for the disposal of household rubbish and for providing a network of fourteen Household Waste Recycling Centres for householders to recycle and dispose of their rubbish.Cumbria's district councils are responsible for waste collection services, including weekly collections of household waste, special collections for bulky household items and the recycling of rubbish. 

Effects of services upon people who share a protected characteristicThe service has previously collected equality information linked to Household Waste Recycling Centre monitoring visits. Plans are in place to develop more thematic and innovative EIAs to cover the intricate requirements of the service. Previous EIAs have considered the effects of policies on Household Waste Recycling Centres.

Customer service: Changes in customer services towards more proactive support for people who visit the sites has improved perceptions of service among disabled people, women and older people.

Accessibility of sites: A review of existing sites is looking at disability access to ensure that the future provision of sites increases accessibility to the site.

Fire and Rescue ServicesAbout Fire and Rescue Services: Cumbria Fire & Rescue Service is based on 39 fire stations located across the county. Barrow and Carlisle are staffed 24 hours a day by regular firefighters. Workington and Whitehaven are also staffed by regular firefighters 24 hours a day but their second fire engine staffed by firefighters who are on call.  Kendal is staffed for 12 hours each day by regular firefighters, with an on-call crew providing cover during the other 12 hours. Penrith is staffed by regular Firefighters for 8 hours a day.  The remaining 33 stations are solely staffed by on-call (part-time) firefighters who live and/or work in the community they serve. The types of incidents attended by the service are varied, from fires to floods and from road traffic collisions to animal rescues.

In addition to operational responses to fires and incidents, the service includes preventative activity such as home safety visits, and awareness raising.

Effects of services upon people who share a protected characteristic:Data is available on fire incidents and home safety visits by age, gender and ethnicity. Analysis of the data and information suggests a number of trends. Information on home visits is collected and collated periodically, the data in this report is from 2011-12.

Age: Data collected on casualties in dwelling fires shows that there is an even spread in age and gender. Of the 24 casualties over the past year there was an equal split between males and females. In the 0-39 age group there were four

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females to five males. In the 64+ age range there were two females and three males. Despite the relatively low figures, the service continues to focus on ensuring that vulnerable people are reached through fire prevention activities.

Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service provide free Home Safety Checks to try to reduce the risk of fire which target households with a high fire risk. Of all the residents living in households visited in 2011- 2012: 45% were aged 0-40 (Cumbria population: 44%); 19% were aged 41-60 (Cumbria population: 29%); and 36% were aged 61+ (Cumbria population: 27%).

Younger people are significantly more likely to be killed or seriously injured on Cumbria’s roads. The Fire and Rescue Service has completed Road Awareness Training sessions that are targeted at young people.

Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service deliver an annual Junior Citizens project for year 6 pupils. Working with partners they provide information on fire safety, road safety, smoking, drugs, alcohol and stranger danger. This year AWAZ are supporting the fire service by running a community cohesion project alongside this work using grant funding from the Co-op.

Disability: 12% of households receiving a free Home and Fire Safety Check in 2011-12 contained at least one resident who considered themselves disabled.

Gender: Numbers of fire casualties in a dwelling fire 2011/12 in Cumbria are the same for male and female occupants:

50% are male compared to 49.2% of the county’s population. 50% are female compared to 50.8% of the county’s population.

In the figures recorded since April 2009, total fatalities in Cumbria are slightly more likely to be female. Out of the eight recorded five were female and three were male.

The Fire and Rescue Service continues to use positive action to address the gender gap within the Service. Currently there are 633 male and 26 female fire fighters. This information is collected on the Council’s Midland Trent system and reported on quarterly.  Each time there is a recruitment campaign positive action is undertaken to target underrepresented communities and groups within the workforce. The intention is to recruit a more diverse range of employees by helping communities to understand that there are a variety of roles within the service. . In 2012-13, as a result of the campaign, 15% of new entrants were from currently under-represented groups. Maintaining this drive is a key service performance indicator. 

Ethnicity: Of those receiving home fire safety visits: 94.4% were White British compared to 96.5% of the county’s population 1.6% were from BME groups compared to 3.5% of the county’s population.

In order to ensure BME groups and Migrants have equitable access to services provided by Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service, Dual Language Advocates

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Equality Needs Analysis April 2013-14(DLABS) have been trained to undertake home safety visits in their communities on behalf of the Service.

Trading StandardsAbout Trading Standards: The Trading Standards Service promotes a fair, healthy and safe trading environment in Cumbria by ensuring compliance with regulatory legislation, protecting consumers, supporting local businesses and developing an effective and efficient Trading Standards Service.

Trading Standards has a statutory responsibility to enforce regulatory legislation aimed at protecting consumers and preventing businesses from engaging in unfair, illegal or unsafe practices. Trading Standards aim to prevent businesses from gaining an unfair advantage over competitors, therefore, supporting a fair and economic trading environment in Cumbria.The legislation concentrates on the following areas:

Protection of consumers from unfair trading practices Protection of businesses from misleading advertising and unfair practices Ensuring the safety of consumer goods Ensuring the composition, labelling, marketing and nutritional values of

foods Ensuring goods sold by quantity are accurately weighed and measured Ensure the health, welfare and feeding of farmed livestock Controlling access by young people to products subject to age of purchase

restrictions Tackling traders who operate in the informal economy (counterfeiting,

illicit tobacco, loan sharks)

The service is delivered through advice, education, inspection and enforcement

Effects of services upon people who share a protected characteristic:Equality Impact Assessments have looked at the effects of Trading Standards service delivery. This has been primarily focused upon enforcement activities and consumer advice.

Age: 80% of victims of doorstep crime are older people and the service has been establishing No Cold Calling Zones to provide protection against doorstep crime. Targeted enforcement activities against businesses that are selling cigarettes and alcohol to people who are under age is designed to provide age specific protection. Citizens Advice Consumer Service in Cumbria provides advice to 20,000 people and trend analysis could potentially be used to inform EIAs.

Corporate and Strategic ProcurementThe Council’s procurement function manages a number of category contracts with providers of agency staff. With the main agency staffing providers, the contracts contain a Key Performance Indicator on the reporting of the diversity profile of agency staff. The Council is using these contracts to ensure that staff working for agencies is reflective of the profile of the population.

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5. Equality Information on the Council’s WorkforceThis section presents the findings of information about the workforce diversity breakdown and the impacts of policies upon the workforce.

The figures for this analysis cover all County Council staff subject to the Council’s Single Status review, as this group has the same terms and conditions of employment. Information on teaching staff employed by the Council is held by schools and not included in this analysis.

Single StatusThe effects of Single Status have been to improve equality in relation to gender and disability, and the process has been neutral in relation to other protected characteristics.

Overall staff awareness of EqualityThe staff survey asks employees about their awareness and understanding of equality and diversity in the workplace. In every successive staff survey levels of understanding and awareness of equality and diversity have risen. In the 2011 staff survey:

91% of staff were aware of the Equality and Diversity policy (up 21% since 2005) 86% of staff understood how Equality and Diversity issues applied to their job (up

21% since 2005) 90% of staff said they personally understand the importance and value of Equality and Diversity (up 12% since 2005)

This suggests a progressive improvement in awareness of Equality since the Council published its first Equality Scheme in 2006.

The council is working to ensure that all staff have received at least one form of up to date equality and diversity training whether it is in the form of the council’s bespoke E-Learning programme or through face to face training. Currently nearly 40% of the workforce have had training that is based on the Equality Act, and this will continue over the next year.

Data collection and workforce: Data on the profile of the Council’s workforce is collected on the Midland Trent System. This enables the Council to monitor the diversity profile of its workforce by all 9 protected characteristics, and across directorates, teams and pay grades. The information in this document is taken from a snapshot taken in November 2012.

Effects of services upon people who share a protected characteristic:Age: Local Government across England employs a workforce that is older than the average workforce. 66% of employees in Local Government in England are aged 40 and above. In Cumbria County Council this figure is 75.8%.

Recruitment and retention

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Equality Needs Analysis April 2013-14Recruitment data is showing a change in the age profile of the county council workforce. In 2012 602 employees started at the council and 1,617 left the council. 4.2% of new starters were aged 20 or younger and a further 17.3% of new starters were aged 20-29. This compared to 42.8% of leavers being aged 50-64. This will result in the longer term in a workforce age profile that matches more closely the Cumbrian working age population’s age profile.

In terms of staff perceptions, the most recent staff survey showed that staff aged 25 and under are more likely to be satisfied by their job than other age groups.

Disability: Overall the numbers of council employees declaring a disability is low compared to the Cumbrian population of disabled people who are working age. There are two measures of disability in the workforce, the % who declare a disability on their personnel file, and the % of people who complete the annual staff survey who declare a disability.

The table below presents the comparative data.% Disabled staff on personal records

% Staff Survey declaring disability

% Disabled people of working age (in Cumbria)

2.1% 7.8% 20.2%

We do not know the precise reasons for the lower rate of staff declaring a disability. Feedback from disabled staff suggests the following areas to focus on as part of workforce development:

Job satisfaction Line manager understanding of managing people with long term

conditions Best use made of disabled people’s skills and abilities

Data on recruitment and retention for 2011 shows no adverse trends in relation to disability. Between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2012, 637 people joined the County Council and of these 6 declared a disability or 0.94%.

Gender: 76.1% of all staff working for the Council are female. This is similar to Local Government generally. There are a number of gender equality issues that affect all sectors of employment: gender segregation, equal pay and the glass ceiling. These are historical in nature and will take years to resolve, however the County Council has made improvements in all three areas, as detailed below.

Gender segregation: Males continue to be overrepresented in the workforce make up of fire and rescue, highways and planning, while females are overrepresented in care, education and social work. The gender profiles across the organisation have improved recently due to:

Positive action schemes in the Fire Services which have increased the number of female fire fighters (as mentioned earlier).

Apprenticeship schemes that have changed the gender profile of new starters – with nearly 75% of new starters in 2011 being male.

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Equal Pay: In 2011 the Council implemented Single Status, which has established consistent terms and conditions for staff working for the Council. Women saw an average increase in salary following Single Status of 8% compared to males at 4%. This has narrowed the gap between males and females in line with the Equal Pay Act.

Glass Ceiling: According to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, women are underrepresented in top management positions throughout the UK economy. The County Council has improved female representation at a senior level. Half of top tier managers are women. This fits with an improving picture nationally where the percentage of female Local Authority Chief Executives has risen from 13.1% in 2003 to 21.3% in 2012.

Female middle managers and senior manager level representation accounts for 44.21% of staff earning 50-59k and 48.28% of staff earning 60-69k. For Assistant Directors the pattern is for males to make up 53.33% of posts and marks an improvement in gender balance compared to previous years. The evidence supports the view that a longer term trend towards gender equality in managerial representation is continuing.

Sexual Orientation: In the 2011 Staff Survey 2.7% of respondents declared that they were Lesbian, Gay or Bi-sexual. This compares to 3% for Cumbria, suggesting that the proportion of Gay, Lesbian and Bi-sexual staff working for the Council is proportionate to the population. The numbers are too small to make statistical comparisons with heterosexual staff around issues of satisfaction. However engagement with Gay, Lesbian and Bi-sexual staff suggests that continuing work to promote Equality throughout the organisation creates a more open working environment.

Ethnicity: Black and Minority Ethnic People account for 2.8% of Council staff. This is close to the total county Black and Minority Ethnic population (3.5%). The data shows that there is little sense of BME people being underrepresented in the Council. There are two main factors to consider:

The percentage of Black and Minority Ethnic staff has increased since monitoring began in 2002, and the increase has close in proportion to the increase in the ethnic diversity of the Cumbrian population.

Comparing the total percentage of staff who are BME to the Cumbrian population does not take into account that the biggest area of growth among BME population in Cumbria is among people aged 40 and under. Meanwhile over 70% of Council employees are aged over 40. Once this has been factored in the gap is even narrower.

Monitoring of the ethnicity profile of staff at different pay grades and recruitment and selection shows no adverse trends.

Ethnic monitoring of employment tribunal cases has been in place since 2006. This shows no successful cases taken against the Council.

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Equality Needs Analysis April 2013-14Religion and Belief: The Council collects data on the Religion and Belief as part of the staff monitoring process, as well as through the staff survey. The data suggests that the Council has a higher proportion of people who do not have a religion than the county as a whole, and that, in line with the population, there are few people who have a faith other than Christianity.

6. Next steps and conclusionThe 2013 Equality Needs Analysis demonstrates that progress in embedding Equality since 2006 has continued in relation to service delivery and the workforce. Over 2013-14 the Council will continue to ensure that progress is maintained by:

Ensuring that decisions made by the Council pay due regard to the Equality Duty, and that actions from Equality Impact Assessments are being embedded within plans and activities.

Improving the reliability of the data the council holds on the diversity profile of its workforce, and service users for services deemed relevant to the Equality Duty.

Ensuring that staff continue to access Equality training through a combination of on-line and face to face provision.

Inclusion of the Public Health function that transferred to the Council from the NHS on 1 April 2013, in the next Equality Needs Analysis.

Work is underway to review progress against Equality Objectives. The evidence presented in this report shows progress on a number of objectives, however because the objectives were set for 2012-14, many are at an early stage of development and are designed to track progress in relation to long term equality issues such as gender representation in the fire service, homophobic bullying in schools, Gypsy Roma and Traveller educational attainment, and improvements in disability access to council premises.

A further report will be produced in 2014, which will provide case studies to demonstrate the council’s progress in implementing its Equality Objectives.

7. Supporting information and linksNational Information and GuidanceEquality and Human Rights Commission Guidance on Equality Informationhttp://www.equalityhumanrights.com/uploaded_files/EqualityAct/PSED/information_guidance_rev.docThis document provides national guidance on the publication of information to meet the Specific Equality Duty.

Equality and Human Rights Commission Report – Sex and Powerhttp://www.equalityhumanrights.com/key-projects/sexandpower/This report documents representation of women across the UK economy since 2003 and includes Local Authorities.

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Local Government Demographic Report 2010http://www.lga.gov.uk/lga/core/page.do?pageId=3760494This report provides a breakdown of the Local Government workforce by age, gender, ethnicity and disability.

County Council Service InformationEquality for Allhttp://www.intouch.ccc/eLibrary/Content/Internet/535/609/41025134225.docCumbria County Council’s Equality Strategy for 2012-16

Published Equality Impact Assessments http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/equalities/equalityimpact/departmentaleia.asp

Adult Social Care Equality Impact Assessmentshttp://www.cumbria.gov.uk/adultsocialcare/equalities/eia.asp

Children’s Services Equality Impact Assessmentshttp://www.intouch.ccc/equalities/equalityimpact/childrensserveia.asp

Cumbria Intelligence ObservatoryDistrict Equality Profiles and Equality Briefing on 2011 Censushttp://www.cumbriaobservatory.org.uk/Population/equality.asp

County Council Consultation and ReportsPlace Survey Equality Report 2009http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/elibrary/Content/Internet/535/609/5999/40366162352.docThis document provides an analysis of Equality gaps in people’s perceptions about their local area based on gender, age, disability and ethnicity.

Listening to Lesbian, Gay and Bi-Sexual People 2011 http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/adultsocialcare/equalities/LGBTsurvey.aspThis is a specific research exercise to explore the perceptions of LGBT people living in Cumbria.

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