Content

5.1

The Director of
Policy and Democratic Engagement submitted a report updating the
Strategy and Resources Committee on progress against the
Council’s December 2022 response to the Race Equality
Commission and setting out recommendations to increase the pace and
monitoring of change. This is important if we are to meet our goal
to become an anti-racist organisation and implement all aspects of
the Race Equality Commission report.
 
The recommended
actions should empower senior leaders to take an active role in
monitoring performance and outcomes across their teams, and ensure
action plans are fit for purpose to achieve our goals. By doing
this we will be working towards addressing racial disparity and
seeing equality, diversity and inclusion being integrated into
service plans and becoming part of the way we do things within the
Council. We will also be able to monitor progress more accurately
and be ready to report into the final legacy
arrangements.
 
These
recommendations will support us to build an organisation that
anyone can feel welcome in and proud to work for and help us to see
the services we deliver for every resident improved to tackle the
inequalities and racial disparity set out so starkly by the
Commission.
 
In addition, in
September we will work with anchor organisations and others to
jointly hold an event for community representatives and anchor
representatives. This event will enable reflection on the work that
has been done and challenge us all to go further and faster over
the coming year.

 

 

5.2

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That Strategy and Resources Policy
Committee:-
 

 

(a) notes the
progress made against the Council’s response to the Race
Equality Commission agreed at their meeting on 5 December 2022 and
agrees the need to increase the pace and monitoring of
change;
 
(b) compile and
analyse the learning from the activity to date and set out to the
Chief Executive during September a plan to further define priority
actions, identify gaps and target support and
challenge;
 
(c) use that
plan to support senior leaders to challenge their services,
including corporate functions, to set out timebound actions which
are realistic and for which impact is measurable;
 
(d) build on
work under our three underpinning areas: learning and development,
awareness raising; de-biasing; and data, particularly improving how
we gather employee views;
 
(e) support the
work of the legacy working group so that it leads to proposals
which enable us to work with anchor organisations, partners and the
community to support, learn from, and challenge each other as we
seek to make progress; and
 
(f) agrees that
the Strategic Equality Inclusion Board monitors this work and that
a further progress report is brought to this Committee in December
2023.

 

 

5.3

Reasons for Decision

 

 

5.3.1

To learn from
early experiences in our response to the Race Equality Commission
and refine our approach to increase the pace of change and
monitoring.

 

 

5.4

Alternatives Considered and Rejected

 

 

5.4.1

This Committee
agreed that the Council should pursue a specific response to the
Race Equality Commission. This report does not recommend a change
to that approach.