Decision details

To approve actions for 2016/17 to promote equality of opportunity and meet the Council's duties under the Equality Act 2010.

Matter for Decision

This report provided an update on the progress in delivering key actions set out in the Single Equality Scheme for 2015/16. It also proposed some new actions for delivery during 2016/17.

Decision of the Leader

     i.        Noted the progress in delivering equalities actions during 2015/16.

    ii.        Approved the actions proposed in Appendix A for delivery during 2016/17.

Reason for the Decision

As set out in the Officer’s report.

Any Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

Not applicable.

Scrutiny Considerations

The Committee received a report from the Strategy and Partnerships Manager.

The Committee made the following comments in response to the report:

     i.        Thanked the Officer for the work that had been put into the Strategy.

    ii.        Referred to objective 5 and commented that they were concerned how representative the City Council’s workforce was particularly with regard to BAME employees where representation in the Council’s workforce was below the current target and lower than in the Cambridge population as a whole.

The Strategy and Partnerships Manager and the Chief Executive said the following in response to Members’ questions:

     i.        The Head of Human Resources leads on recruitment and reviews the targets for BAME employees on an annual basis and whether there were any steps that could be taken to increase the BAME representation within the Council. The Council recently carried out a recruitment survey, but the analysis of the responses to the survey did not identify any specific barriers to recruitment of BAME employees.

    ii.        The Head of Human Resources produces an annual ‘Equality in Employment’ report, which provides detailed data and analysis of trends relating to the Council’s workforce. The report had been seriously discussed at the Equalities Panel on the 14 June.  It revealed a number of issues, including that there were a limited number of BAME applicants for many of the technical roles required by the Council. A number of existing BAME employees were also in posts which had been transferred under TUPE to shared services and other new arrangements, which had an impact on BAME representation in the workforce.

Councillor Bick requested that action 5.1 in the Single Equality Scheme Action Plan be amended to include a specific reference to taking forward work to address BAME representation in the workforce, which was agreed.

The Committee unanimously resolved to endorse the recommendations.

The Leader approved the recommendation.

Conflicts of Interest Declared by the Executive Councillor (and any Dispensations Granted)

No conflicts of interest were declared by the Executive Councillor.