Suffolk Coastal is working closely with Waveney District Council to
effectively promote access to services for all its communities and
support community cohesion to improve the quality of lives of its
residents.
Recognising our diverse communities, Suffolk Coastal works
closely with partners to ensure that our residents are treated
equally and fairly through the delivery of our services and in our
community leadership role.
Both Councils are working to meet their obligations under the
Equalities Act 2010 and three specific duties:
- Eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation
- Advance equality of opportunity across equality groups
- Foster good relations between different equality
groups
Policies and key actions and decisions are taken in
consideration of the wider community (nine protected characteristic
groups) which include the following:
- Age
- Disability
- Gender reassignment
- Marriage and civil partnership
- Pregnancy and maternity
- Race (including ethnic or national origins, colour or
nationality)
- Religion or belief
- Sex (gender)
- Sexual orientation
- Socially excluded
Suffolk Coastal and Waveney have added a tenth equality group
(socially excluded) based on the socio-demographics and pockets of
deprivation that exist, particularly in rural communities.
The Councils' joint approach
Suffolk Coastal and Waveney have adopted a broad approach to
meeting their equality duty and to promote access to services for
all of their communities, as follows:
Services for All Group - a single Equality and
Diversity group represented by service areas and councillors
working across both Councils to drive equality improvements through
a progressive action plan and provision of training and
development.
Human Resources - the aim of the Human
Resources and Payroll (HR) Team is to drive the transformation and
organisational development of both Councils, while at the same time
ensuring the Councils are meeting their ethical and legal
responsibilities in respect of all employment and workforce matters
including the equality duty.
The HR & Payroll team ensures that both Councils have the
right number of people, with the right skills, in the right place
at the right time to deliver our vision and objectives. They do
this by providing services, advice and guidance on people
management matters and by leading on organisational development and
the workforce development strategy. This work ensures
that both Councils have a productive and skilled workforce,
enables the Corporate Management Team to plan in the medium to long
term what staff it will need, engages and supports staff in
organisational change and has effective policies in place which
support diversity and good people management.
Training and development provision - regular
training workshops are provided across both Councils to councillors
and officers including equality and diversity duties and
responsibilities, equality impact analysis, safeguarding children,
community mapping. Staff maintain up-to-date awareness through
attendance at equality and diversity training, seminars and
workshops and working closely with minority groups, voluntary
sector and community organisations and with partners.
Equality impact analysis (EqIA) - both
Councils carry out equality impact analysis where appropriate to
promote access to services for their wider communities, eliminate
discrimination and advance equality in the actions, policies and
decisions that both Councils take. The EqIA form serves as a useful
prompt when considering the wider community and to record the
positive actions, decisions and outcomes taken through the analysis
process.
Single equality scheme - the Councils have
drafted its single equality scheme which is currently out for
consultation with the Councils' Services for All Group, partners,
voluntary sector and community organisations. You can view the
draft document by following the link below and the final document
will be uploaded onto this website in the near future.
Community mapping - councillors and officers
are informed and updated of their community make-up, demographic
changes and key community issues on an annual basis, through
workshops, state of the district reports and through links to other
data sources, Suffolk Observatory, for example. This information
and knowledge is used to inform the EqIA process, prioritising and
key decisions.
Consultation and engagement in Suffolk Coastal
Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) - LSPs bring
together local councils, other public sector agencies, the business
sector, and the third sector (voluntary and community
organisations) to agree a vision for the area and put in place
actions to deliver that vision.
The Suffolk Coastal LSP has built a track record of making a
difference on the ground through collaborative, outcome-focused
working. The partnership board has a clear vision and set of
priorities and the LSP working groups bring together practitioners
and experts in their fields to shape action plans and ensure that
the priorities for Suffolk Coastal are delivered. These
arrangements have enabled the LSP board to successfully oversee
delivery at a comparatively local level, whilst operating in a
strategic setting. For further information visit
www.sclsp.org.uk
Suffolk Coastal Resource Network (SCRN) -
Suffolk Coastal is a member of the SCRN steering group. SCRN is a
network of voluntary and public sector organisations that provide
services for front-line voluntary, community and faith
organisations.
The key objectives for SCRN are to:
- Facilitate and support community led planning
- Develop the community and voluntary sector to deliver key
services
- Co-ordinate the support for the community and voluntary sector
from key agencies
Increase the participation of Suffolk Coastal citizens in informal
and formal volunteering
For further information visit www.scrn.co.uk
Further direct engagement
Suffolk Coastal is working to ensure that communities have a
‘voice’ and a say in service provision and Council issues. This is
achieved through the engagement and close working and support of
the Safer Neighbourhood Teams, older people groups, Optua and the
Local Access Forum.
We recently consulted communities regarding our medium
term financial strategy to inform the prioritisation of the
budgeting process. This consultation was open to all stakeholders,
and also used Suffolk Speaks (new window), an online
consultation tool developed in partnership with other Suffolk
authorities to increase public involvement.
We are working closely with partners in the Suffolk Coastal
Resource Network (including Suffolk Acre) to promote community led
planning in the district’s towns and parishes to facilitate wider
community engagement and responsibility.
Use of existing consultation feedback
Consultation reports and other reliable sources of information
are also used to inform service design, prioritising and decision
making, reducing ‘consultation overload’ and promoting efficiency.
Sources include the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transsexual
(LGB&T) survey, Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA),
Suffolk Needs Assessment and the Suffolk Observatory.
Equality monitoring
Suffolk Coastal will continue to conduct internal and external
equality monitoring to inform its policies and ensure that it is
meeting its commitment to equal opportunity for all staff and its
communities.
To meet this commitment, we will on occasions request
information relating to the ‘protected characteristics’. We
understand that some people will be reluctant to provide personal
information relating for example to their age or sexuality and we
will respect their decision. We will treat the information that is
provided with discretion and appropriate confidentiality and data
controls. The information will be used to ensure that we are
providing employment and services in a fair, accessible and
equitable manner.
A number of our front facing services are in regular
contact, engagement and discussion with customers and use the
feedback and information received from them to inform their
particular service.
Equality objectives
Suffolk Coastal will publish its equality objectives in Spring
2012 and these will be informed by the business plan objectives,
which are currently being drafted and will supersede the
Corporate Plan (new window PDF 1.03MB).
Objectives will be further informed through the district mapping
exercise, state of the district report and feedback received
from our customers and communities.
Review
We will continually review and update our equality
information and this website as we continue to make progress
in meeting our equality
duty.