Issue - meetings

Matter for Decision: The City Council has consulted on a new Single Equality Scheme that sets out how the organisation would challenge discrimination and promote equal opportunity in all aspects of its work over the next three years. The Executive Council is asked to approve the new scheme.

Decision of the Executive Councillor:

The Deputy Leader resolved to:

        i.            Approve the new Single Equality Scheme 2012 – 2015.

Reasons for the Decision: As set out in the officer’s report

Any alternative options considered and rejected: N/A

Scrutiny Considerations

The committee received a report from the Strategy Officer.

The committee made the following comments on the report:

        i.            Congratulated officers on the work around sexual orientation and transgender/gender reassignment. 

In response to member’s questions the Strategy Officer, the Director of Resources and the Chief Executive confirmed the following:

        i.            The percentage of the City Council’s workforce from Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities currently stood at just over 7% (after a recent rise to 7.5%). The percentage of the workforce that had a disability currently stood at 4.1%. Work would continue through the Single Equalities Scheme Action Plan to meet the proposed targets of 8.5% and 4.5% respectively.

      ii.            Work continued with the Papworth Trust to identify potential job opportunities for disabled people and encourage the Trust’s disabled clients to apply for suitable positions at the City Council.

    iii.            The Council’s policy is to prioritise staff in the redevelopment pool for vacancies. This would impact on the number of new employees who come into the organisation and how quickly representation from target groups changes.

   iv.            As a result of the revised Accommodation Strategy council buildings would be more accessible for disabled people.

     v.            The City Council would undertake a recruitment survey with BAME community groups in Cambridge, and was considering the most effective options for doing this.

   vi.            Regular workforce monitoring was undertaken to monitor the proportion of minority employees at the different pay bands, including the proportion of candidates from minority communities progressing through the various stages of the recruitment process.

 vii.            Officers recognised that the Chinese community was underrepresented and the recruitment survey would aim to specifically capture this data.

viii.            The City Council organises open evenings for prospective Councillors and has a dedicated ‘Would you like to be a Councillor?’ page on its website. Political groups also played an important role in encouraging more BAME and disabled people to stand as Councillors.

The Scrutiny Committee considered and approved the recommendations by 5 votes to 0.

The Deputy Leader approved the recommendations.