North Yorkshire County Council

Executive

22 June 2021

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy Statement

Report of the Chief Executive

1.0

Purpose of Report

1.1

The purpose of the report is to:

a) Inform Executive Members of the responses to the recent consultation on the draft refreshed equality, diversity and inclusion policy statement

b) Ask Executive Members to propose to the Chief Executive Officer that using his emergency delegated powers he recommend the revised draft Statement to full Council for approval.

2.0 Background

2.1 Under his delegated decision making powers in the Officers’ Delegation Scheme in the Council’s Constitution, the Chief Executive Officer has power, in cases of emergency, to take any decision which could be taken by the Council, the Executive or a committee. Following on from the expiry of the Local Authorities and Police and Crime Panels (Coronavirus) (Flexibility of Local Authority and Police and Crime Panel Meetings) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020, which allowed for committee meetings to be held remotely, the County Council resolved at its meeting on 5 May 2021 that, for the present time, in light of the continuing Covid-19 pandemic circumstances, remote live-broadcast committee meetings should continue (as informal meetings of the Committee Members), with any formal decisions required being taken by the Chief Executive Officer under his emergency decision making powers and after consultation with other Officers and Members as appropriate and after taking into account any views of the relevant Committee Members. This approach will be reviewed by full Council at its July meeting.

2.2 The equality and diversity policy statement is part of the Council’s policy framework and was approved by full Council in 2012.

2.3 The statement is undergoing a refresh to:

· remove references to out-of-date Council Plan vision and wording about service delivery

· link more clearly to the current Council Plan

· more accurately reflect the wording of the Equality Act 2010

· more accurately reflect the additional characteristics considered by the Council in terms of equality

· more accurately reflect the aspirations of the Council in terms of inclusion and diversity

2.4 The draft statement is due to be considered for approval at Full Council on 21 July 2021.

3.0 Consultation on draft statement and responses received

3.1 Consultation on a draft statement has been undertaken with staff, disability forums and the wider public. An online survey ran on the website from 7 April to 21 May 2021. Consultation was also undertaken with people with learning disabilities on an Easy Read version of the draft statement.

3.2 The majority of the 102 respondents agreed with the aims and commitments in the draft statement.

Elements of statement	Percentage of respondents who strongly agreed or somewhat agreed
Aims	79%
Commitments	81%

3.3 Respondents were asked if there was anything else they would like to tell us about our draft equality and diversity policy statement. The comments, and those received in other ways, are summarised under thematic headings below:

Response theme	No received
Need to ensure statement is embedded with staff/managers/councillors and training takes place	9
Clarification of terminology/wording and typos	6
Support for statement	4
Requirement for regular monitoring	4
Need to be clear about equality of opportunity and getting the best person for the job, not positive discrimination	4
Need additional emphasis on race	3
Specific comments about instances when the respondent feels NYCC has not met the standards it should	3
Poor attitude to disabled employees	2
Support for protecting rights of natal women	2
No mention of gender	1
Support networks for LGBT groups	1
Not enough women working part time in senior positions with younger children	1
How does this link to unitarisation?	1
Can we link in lived experience?	1
More resources needed to ensure commitments met	1
Support for ex-military job applicants	1
Equality practices/procedures – school governors	1

3.4 A full report on the responses to the consultation is attached at Appendix 1.

4.0 Revised draft equality, diversity and inclusion policy statement

4.1 A revised draft equality, diversity and inclusion statement, amended following the consultation and discussion at Management Board, is attached at Appendix 2.

4.2 A revised draft Easy Read equality, diversity and inclusion policy statement, amended following the consultation, is attached at Appendix 3.

5.0 Financial Implications

5.1 There are no new financial implications of adoption of the revised policy statement.

6.0 Legal Implications

6.1 The equality, diversity and inclusion policy statement and the commitments within it will assist the Council in meeting its legal obligations under the Equality Act 2010 and the Public Sector Equality Duty.

7.0 Equalities Implications

7.1 The policy statement articulates the Council’s high-level vision and commitments to equality, diversity and inclusion and as such is anticipated to have positive impacts on equality.

8.0

Recommendation

That, subject to any comments Members may have, the revised draft equality, diversity and inclusion policy statement at Appendix 3 be proposed to the Chief Executive Officer for his consideration, and using his emergency delegated powers for his recommendation for approval to Full Council on 21 July 2021.

Richard Flinton
Chief Executive
County Hall

Northallerton

11 June 2021

Report Author – Deborah Hugill, Senior Strategy and Performance Officer

Presenter of Report – Neil Irving, Assistant Director, Policy, Partnerships and Communities

Background Documents: None

Appendices:

Appendix 1 – Report on consultation responses

Appendix 2 – Revised draft equality, diversity and inclusion policy statement

Appendix 3 – Revised draft Easy Read equality, diversity and inclusion policy statement