Agenda item

A report requesting that the Committee:

1.    Provide feedback on the new Equality Objectives 2021-2025; and

2.    Provide feedback on the proposed Equality Strategy for 2021-2025.

A report was submitted summarising how the Council currently meets duties in respect of equality in Oldham and proposing the adoption of new Draft Equality Objectives and an Equality Strategy covering 2021-2025 which was attached to the report at appendix 1.

The Committee was reminded that, at a meeting of the Full Council in June 2020, a commitment had been made to develop a new Equality Strategy for Oldham Council, including the adoption of new Equality Objectives and an Equality Strategy covering 2021-2025.

The duties of the Local Authority in respect of equality were outlined to the Committee.  How the duties were being met via five main elements to the approach of Oldham were also outlined within the report.  Also outlined in the report were the two Equality Objectives that had been adopted and set for four years in April 2015 under the duties of the Equality Act (2010).

The Committee was advised that the objectives now needed to be refreshed to outline Team Oldham’s Equality focus for the next four years from 2021-2025.  Following consultation with services, portfolio holders and equality leads from across the partnership, it was proposed to adopt four new Equality Objectives that would set out Oldham’s commitment for progressing equality, diversity and human rights across the borough as follows:

1.    We will identify and mitigate the potential equality impacts caused by Covid-19, informing our response through research, best practice and lived experience.

2.    We will provide services that put the citizens’ voice at the heart of decision making, advancing equality of opportunity and celebrating diversity and inclusion for all.

3.    We will lead the way in championing inclusivity across the borough, working with our partners and communities to make Oldham a fairer place for everyone.

4.    We will encourage and enable a skilled and diverse workforce to build a culture of equality and inclusion in everything we do.

Further details of the above objectives were outlined within the report.  It was reported that the above objectives would be supported by Oldham’s Equality Strategy, which showed how Oldham would achieve these objectives. 

The Committee was advised that the proposed strategy sets out the Council’s commitment to progressing equality, diversity and human rights across the borough.  It also outlined how Oldham would eliminate unlawful discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and promote good relations between all people regardless of age, disability, race, sex, gender identity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, pregnancy or maternity, socio-economic and marital or civil partnership status.  The purpose and aims of the Equality Strategy were outlined within the report.

The Committee was further advised that the strategy builds on the four Equality Objectives proposed as above, ensuring that Oldham Council meets the general and specific requirements of the equality legislation in everything we do so that equality is fully embedded within the organisation culture and reflected in our values and principles. 

A discussion took place around the Objectives and Strategy in which the following points were made:

·         How the new objectives and strategy were going to work in each portfolio area through the Covid Recovery Strategy was queried, it being known that Covid had impacted on services as well as equality implications.  The Committee was advised that a comprehensive equality assessment was undertaken at the beginning of the pandemic and that it was now likely appropriate to undertake a similar exercise.  It was accepted that there was a lot of work to unpick in bringing together the Covid Recovery Strategy and the equality strategy.

·         Clarification was requested around the whistleblowing process and the need for a robust system of reporting to  ensure that there is confidence in the policy and that concerns will be listened to and taken seriously.  It was recognised that there was a need to increased transparency and for a proper action plan to be formed.  The Committee was advised that operation of the Whistleblowing Policy was the responsibility of the Head of Legal Services. 

·         Information was requested on how the Strategy would be promoted and there was a need to make sure the community understood the intentions of the Council and its partners.  The Committee was advised that when the Strategy had been through the formal process, there would be a communications push to promote. There was a suggestion of a formal launch of the strategy involving the community and partners across the public and private sectors. 

·         Clarification was sought around how progress would be monitored.  The Committee was advised that this would sit within or alongside the Covid-19 delivery plan.   Further clarification on targets, how monitoring would be progressed was sought, with a suggestion that poverty, as considered previously by the Committee, should be one of the cross-cutting themes.

·         Clarification was also sought around engaging with partners.  The Committee was advised that external engagement had included the private and voluntary sector, and next steps would include linkage with the GM Inequalities Commission.

·         Information was requested in relation to funding, revenue or grants to support the Strategy.  The Committee was advised that there was no specific funding allocated to supporting the strategy but that there were pockets of funding within each of the services.

RESOLVED – That a report including programme would be submitted to a future meeting of the Committee