Equality and Diversity Strategy
Consultation information and questionnaire
Contents
Introduction........................................................................................... 2
About Barking and Dagenham............................................................. 2
About local people with protected characteristics ............................ 3
About the Strategy................................................................................ 4
Meeting our legal duties ....................................................................... 4
Why are we consulting ......................................................................... 5
How to give your views ........................................................................ 6
Consultation questions ........................................................................ 7
Contact:
Strategy and Programmes Team
Barking Town Hall, Town Square, Barking IG11 7LU
[email protected] | 020 8227 5796
Equality and Diversity Strategy: Consultation information and questionnaire
Introduction
Barking and Dagenham Council recognises, values and welcomes the diversity of people
living, working and visiting our borough. We are committed to promoting equality and
tackling social exclusion and discrimination.
We are a vibrant, diverse and changing borough. These are things of which we should be
proud and celebrate. As London moves east to capitalise on our, and neighbouring
boroughs, growth potential we will experience more change, our population will grow and
the Borough will feel and look different. These are not changes we should fear.
Growth will bring homes, jobs and opportunity, but we should recognise that change can
be unsettling. Anyone who knows the history of our borough knows the challenges we
have faced and the need to take everyone with us. It is our job, and that of partners, to
ensure that the change that happens in the Borough is positive, to the benefit of all and
that no-one is left behind.
We are developing an Equality and Diversity Strategy to demonstrate our commitment and
continue our work to improve the lives of our residents. Our vision is to create a place
where people understand, respect and celebrate each other’s differences. A place where
tolerance, understanding and a sense of responsibility can grow and all people can enjoy
full equality and fulfil their potential.
About Barking and Dagenham
Our population is growing…

The population has grown by 13.4% since 2001. GLA projections estimate that we
now have a population of 201,979; by 2037 this could rise to approximately
275,000.
Our population is diverse…

Since 2001 the proportion of the population from minority ethnic backgrounds has
increased from 15% to 50%; this is predicted to increase to 62% over the next 25
years.
Our population is young…

We have the highest proportion of under 16s of anywhere in the UK (54,912). 10%
of our population is aged 0-4; this is a 50% increase since 2001.
Our population is disadvantaged and outcomes are poor…

The 2015 Indices of Multiple Deprivation ranks the borough as the ninth most
deprived borough nationally and the second most deprived borough in London. The
chart below illustrates the multiple and acute challenges that face our residents.
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Equality and Diversity Strategy: Consultation information and questionnaire
Other sources of information about our population…

See our key population and demographic facts infographic1.

The Joint Strategic Needs Assessment2 provides a comprehensive profile of our
demographics.
About local people with protected characteristics
The borough has the highest population percentage of 0-19 year olds
in the country at 31%. The over 60 population accounts for one of the
Age
smallest percentages of population in England and Wales (Source:
Census 2011).
Disability
Gender
Approximately 9,100 people are claiming disability allowance (Source:
Department of Work and Pensions, 2016).
51.5 % of the borough’s residents are female, and 49.6% are male
(Source: Census 2011).
We estimate that there may be approximately 40 people in the
Gender
borough who have or who will undergo gender reassignment (Source:
reassignment
Gender Identity Research and Education Society advice).
Teenage pregnancy rates are significantly higher than average. The
Pregnancy and
rate of teenage conceptions in 2014 was 32.4 per 1000 population of
maternity
females aged 15-17. This was the second highest rate in London
status
(Source: ONS).
Marriage and 41.9% of the population aged 16 and above are married, 38.8% are
1
2
https://www.lbbd.gov.uk/council/statistics-and-data/census-information/key-population-demographicfacts/
https://www.lbbd.gov.uk/council/statistics-and-data/jsna/overview/
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Equality and Diversity Strategy: Consultation information and questionnaire
civil single and never married, and 0.2% are in a same-sex civil
partnership partnership (Source: Census 2011).
The population ethnicity is 24.6% Black (African, Caribbean and
Ethnicity Black Other) residents; 15.5% Asian (Bangladeshi, Indian and
Pakistani); and 8% from other or mixed ethnic groups (Source: GLA
population projections).
Religion or 56% of the population identify as Christian. 18.9% identify with no
belief religion. 13.7% identify as Muslim (Source: Census 2011).
Sexual Between 10,000 – 14,000 people in Barking and Dagenham are
orientation lesbian, gay and bisexual (Source: Stonewall estimates).
About the Strategy
Getting equalities and diversity right is important to us and it is central to how we move
forward and achieve our vision in terms of transforming the Council and its services to
residents, and ensuring that economic growth and regeneration is inclusive and benefits
everyone. Put simply, success with equality and diversity means that outcomes for
residents improve. Failure means that our services do not meet the needs of residents,
thus they fall further behind and miss opportunities to improve their situation.
The Equalitiy and Diversity Strategy will set a new vision for equality and diversity for the
Council to aspire to, and set priorities for where we want to make an impact over the next
few years. With the Strategy, we will develop an action plan, delivery of which will be
monitored to ensure we are held to account hold for achieving the Strategy’s objectives.
Meeting our legal duties
The Strategy will provide the framework for how we will meet the public sector duty of the
Equality Act 2010. The legal duty requires that we, as a local authority, must consider all
individuals when carrying out our day-to-day work. This includes shaping policy, delivering
services and how we treat our employees. More broadly, under the Equality Act, we must
ensure that we are taking steps to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of
opportunity, and foster good relations between different people when carrying out our
activities. In meeting these duties, the Equality and Diversity Strategy will have regard for
the equal treatment of people based on the Equality Act’s nine protected characteristics:








Age
Disability
Gender
Gender reassignment
Pregnancy and maternity status
Marriage and civil partnership
Ethnicity
Religion or belief
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Equality and Diversity Strategy: Consultation information and questionnaire

Sexual orientation
Why are we consulting
The purpose of this consultation is to seek the views of people who live and work in the
borough about what our priorities and objectives should be with regard to equality and
diversity, and to highlight issues and problems that the Strategy should seek to address.
The objectives and priorities we are proposing and consulting on are outlined below:
Objective 1:
Improve outcomes for all
Raising outcomes for everybody and accelerating the improvement of
outcomes for those that are most disadvantaged.




Objective 2:
Improve education attainment
Reduce hate crime and intervene where hostility surfaces
Tackle health inequalities
Reduce deprivation
No one left behind
Growth is inclusive and sustainable, making the borough a better place
for all our residents.




Objective 3:
Ensure regeneration is sensitive to people who already live here
Help and support residents into employment
Ensure there is provision of affordable housing
Ensure economic growth is inclusive and benefits everyone.
Fair and open service delivery
Service delivery and commissioning is based on sound evidence and
research about the needs of individuals and communities.




Objective 4:
Make best use of insight and intelligence
Ensure that commissioning decisions reflect the needs and
expectation of service users
Ensure equalities impact assessments are carried out, and that
this is done to a high standard
Engage with residents on service design and delivery
Exemplar employer
The Council will be an exemplar employer leading the way in equality
and diversity and ensuring policies and workforce reflect this.



Ensure we have the highest standards of equality in the
application of employment policies
Ensure that employment processes and conditions are free from
discrimination
Maintain status as a ‘Disability Confident’ employer and remove
barriers for people with impairments.
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Equality and Diversity Strategy: Consultation information and questionnaire

Improve diversity in the workforce so that it represents and
reflects the community it serves
How to give your views
To help us gather your views on these objectives we have prepared a short survey on our
online consultation portal which can be accessed via this link:
http://consult.lbbd.gov.uk/public/consultation/equality_and_diversity
The survey can also be downloaded to be printed and returned to us by post. If you require
the consultation material in a different format, then please contact us.
Further to this type of consultation we will be taking a targeted approach to engage with
our strategic partners and key local voluntary and community sector organisations to get
their feedback on the Strategy. If you are a group or organisation that wishes to engage
more directly with us on the development of the Strategy, then please get in touch to
arrange a discussion.
The deadline for sharing your views is 02 January 2017.
Thank you for participating in this consultation. We value your feedback.
Yours Sincerely,
Cllr Sade Bright
Cabinet Member for Equalities and Cohesion
Contact:
Strategy and Programmes Team
Barking Town Hall, Town Square, Barking IG11 7LU
[email protected] | 020 8227 5796
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Equality and Diversity Strategy: Consultation information and questionnaire
Consultation questions
If you have downloaded the questionnaire to complete, then please return it to us by e-mail
([email protected]) or by post3 to: Strategy and Programmes, Barking Town Hall,
Barking, IG11 7LU.
Vision
Our vision is to create a place where people understand, respect and celebrate each
other’s differences. A place where tolerance, understanding and a sense of responsibility
can grow and all people can enjoy full equality and fulfil their potential.
QV: Do you support the vision of the Strategy?
Yes ☐ No ☐
QVa: Please give comments in support of your answer.
Write your comments here.
Objective 1: Improve outcomes for all
Raising outcomes for everybody and accelerating the improvement of outcomes for those
that are most disadvantaged.

Improve education attainment

Reduce hate crime and intervene where hostility surfaces

Tackle health inequalities

Reduce deprivation
Q1a: Do you support the inclusion of this objective into the Strategy?
Yes ☐ No ☐
Q1b: Relevant to this objective, how do you think we could improve in this area?
Write your comments here.
Q1c: What specific actions do you think are necessary to improve in this area?
Write your comments here.
Objective 2: No one left behind
3
You will need to pay postage.
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Equality and Diversity Strategy: Consultation information and questionnaire
Growth is inclusive and sustainable, making the borough a better place for all our
residents.

Ensure regeneration is sensitive to people who already live here

Help and support residents into employment

Ensure there is provision of affordable housing

Ensure economic growth is inclusive and benefits everyone.
Q2a: Do you support the inclusion of this objective into the Strategy?
Yes ☐ No ☐
Q2b: Relevant to this objective, how do you think we could improve in this area?
Write your comments here.
Q2c: What specific actions do you think are necessary to improve in this area?
Write your comments here.
Objective 3: Fair and open service delivery
Service delivery and commissioning is based on sound evidence and research about the
needs of individuals and communities.

Make best use of insight and intelligence

Ensure that commissioning decisions reflect the needs and expectations of service
users

Ensure equalities impact assessments are carried out, and that this is done to a
high standard

Engage with residents on service design and delivery
Q3a: Do you support the inclusion of this objective into the Strategy?
Yes ☐ No ☐
Q3b: Relevant to this objective, how do you think we could improve in this area?
Write your comments here.
Q3c: What specific actions do you think are necessary to improve in this area?
Write your comments here.
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Equality and Diversity Strategy: Consultation information and questionnaire
Objective 4: Exemplar employer
The Council will be an exemplar employer leading the way in equality and diversity and
ensuring policies and workforce reflect this.

Ensure we have the highest standards of equality in the application of employment
policies

Ensure that employment processes and conditions are free from discrimination

Maintain status as a ‘Disability Confident’ employer and remove barriers for people
with impairments.

Improve diversity in the workforce so that it represents and reflects the community it
serves
Q4a: Do you support the inclusion of this objective into the Strategy?
Yes ☐ No ☐
Q4b: Relevant to this objective, how do you think we could improve in this area?
Write your comments here.
Q4c: What specific actions do you think are necessary to improve in this area?
Write your comments here.
General views on objectives...
Q5: Are there objectives or priorities that are missing from the Strategy?
Write your comments here.
Your experiences...
Q6: As a resident, worker, or visitor in the borough are there equalities and
diversity issues or experiences you wish to share with us?
Write your comments here.
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