CALDERDALE MBC
WARDS AFFECTED: ALL
REGENERATION & DEVELOPMENT SCRUTINY
6 FEBRUARY 2008
PROGRESS REPORT ON EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY ISSUES WITHIN
REGENERATION AND DEVELOPMENT
REPORT OF THE GROUP DIRECTOR REGENERATION AND DEVELOPMENT
1
ISSUE
To provide an update on progress made in the delivery of equality and
diversity priorities within the Regeneration & Development.
2
RECOMMENDATIONS
Members are asked to consider and comment on the actions and initiatives
detailed in the report.
3
BACKGROUND
3.1
Equality and Community Cohesion Impact Assessments
(a) Impact assessments for Year 1 have been completed and published on
the Intranet on the policies shown below:
Building Consultancy: Corporate Property Policy
Engineering: Local Transport Plan
Planning & Regeneration: Affordable Housing -Supplementary Document
(b) The following policies have been identified as a priority for Year 2 and
impact assessments are in progress.
Building Consultancy: Access Policy and Strategy
Engineering:
(i) Safer Routes to School (ii) Casualty Reduction
Planning: Disability Employment Initiative: Back2Work Initiative
An additional assessment has been undertaken and completed in Year 2
by Planning Services “Statement of Community Involvement”. The
outcome is published on the Intranet.
3.2
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Level 3 of Equality Standard for Local Government
Level 2 of the Equality Standard for Local Government has been achieved.
The Directorate has undertaken a gap analysis to identify areas of
development to be addressed in order to move the Directorate from level 2 to
level 3 of the Standard. Changes required to ensure progress are being
considered and remedial actions identified and these actions will be
introduced into future service plans.
3.3
Equality monitoring
All recruitment and selection is subject to equality monitoring. Managers, as
part of the gap analysis process, are reviewing and considering the
introduction of equality/diversity monitoring as a component of continuous
improvement measures.
3.4
Training and Development
The number of employees who have attended equality and diversity courses
for the period 1 October 2006 to 30 September 2007 and a comparison for the
same period for the previous is shown below:
Regeneration and Development
2006
2007
Building Consultancy Services
33
1
Engineering Services
4
17
Planning and Regeneration
4
4
Business Support Services
20
8
Total
61
30
The availability of equality & diversity training courses run internally by
Calderdale Council has been reduced over the period under consideration.
3.5
Employee Profile
The Directorate Improvement Plan targets for 2007/2008 for diversity in the
workforce and the actual outcomes as at 30 September 2007 are shown
below:
Description of Target
% Of BME employees in the top 5 %
ACTUAL
@
30.9.07
B.V.
Ref.
3.85%
0%
BV.11b
2.39%
10.7%
BV.11c
%Of employees who meet the DDA disability
definition
2.67%
6.8%
BV.16a
% Of L.A. employees from ethnic minority
communities
5.42%
4.2%
BV.17a
% Of disabled employees in Top 5%
-
TARGET
FOR
2007/08
(ii) Profile of employees employed in the Directorate by salary grade.
SCP
4-17
18-28
29-34 35-38 39-44 45-49
50+
C.O.
YR
A
06
07
06
07
06 07 06 07 06 07 06 07 06 07 06 07
278 254 124 142 65 68 39 37 34 36 18 19 10 11
4
3
B
2
2
1
2
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
C
10
11
0
2
0
0
0
1
1
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
D
0
1
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
E
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Total 292 270 125 146 66 69 40 39 35 36 19 20 10 11 4
3
KEY
White
Mixed
Asian or Asian British
Black or Black British
Chinese or Other
3.6
A
B
C
D
E
Calderdale Equality and Diversity Scheme (CEDS)
The Directorate is responsible under CEDS “to increase the percentage of
buildings open to the public in which all public areas are suitable and
accessible to disabled people”.
The progress made is shown below.
Target in 2006/2007
Actual outcome 2006/2007
Target 2007/2008
Actual as at 30 September 2007
47%
60.2%
64%
62.24%
A programme of works in place will continue to improve percentage for the
next and subsequent quarters although the pace of improvement may slow
when more challenging and complex premises are addressed. Any further
disposals of inaccessible premises will improve the position.
4
FINANCIAL/CORPORATE IMPLICATIONS
The initiatives and actions detailed in this report are contained within existing
budget provisions.
5
CONCLUSION
The Directorate is committed to undertake all action required to ensure the
delivery of the Council’s equality agenda.
Ian Thompson
Group Director Regeneration & Development
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FOR INFORMATION ON THIS REPORT CONTACT:Robert Gledhill, Head of Business Support Services, extension 2119
DOCUMENTS USED IN PREPERATION OF THIS REPORT:Regeneration & Development Directorate Improvement Plan 2006-2009
Calderdale Equality and Diversity Scheme 2007
DOCUMENTS ARE AVAILABLE FOR INSPECTION AT:Regeneration & Development, Northgate House, Northgate, Halifax, HX1 1UN
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