Covering for the chief executive again

Earlier this week I went along to the Corporate Equalities Steering Group to talk about my role as the Equalities Champion. I gave some practical examples of what I do including:

• chairing the group that is overseeing the implementation of the findings of the review of race equality in employment by our expert advisors Global HPO that was completed last year
• promoting the work the council is doing to support Trans equality, for example I attended the Transgender Day of Remembrance alongside councillors from all parties
• making sure we are clear about the equalities impact of our budget decisions on service users and on staff; and
• participating in the council’s Diversity Mentoring Scheme.

I told the group that one of my personal priorities is to improve the quality of the customer information we hold about groups with protected characteristics. I talked about the work of the team in City Services who are responsible for the council’s discretionary funds for people who need emergency help, for example with housing costs. The team have thought really hard about what information to collect about who is applying for the funds, who we grant awards to and who we find isn’t eligible. As a result when we reviewed the schemes after a year of operation it was straightforward to undertake the Equalities Impact Assessment because the data was readily available. They were then able to suggest well informed changes to our approach to improve the experience for all customers. 

Our new LGBT workers forum logo

I really valued hearing more at that meeting about the equalities work we are doing in schools. Colleagues in the Education and Inclusion service have been working with schools, with support from Global HPO, to understand more about their workforce profile and the experiences of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) staff. I also learned about how quickly our school age population, particularly at primary level, is becoming more diverse, and the work we are doing to improve attainment across all age groups. 

I asked the group for feedback on what they’d like to see me do as Equalities Champion. They said to communicate more frequently about what I am doing and that blogging was a great way to do this. So this blog is part of my response!

Penny will be back on Monday and returning to her weekly blog writing. 

Catherine Vaughan