London Borough of Lambeth
Race Equality Scheme
Contents
Foreword – Councillor Peter Truesdale Chief Executive Faith Boardman
-1 Introduction
2 Overview
3 The Corporate Approach
• The Equalities Agenda
• Meeting the General and Specific Duties
• Identifying functions and policies relevant to the duty • Monitoring policies
• Assessing and consulting on proposed policies • Publishing the results
• Access to information and services • Training staff
• Specific duties: Employment 4 Corporate Action Plan
Appendices:
1. Departmental Focus
Foreword
Equality & diversity is not about special privileges for some, it’s about excellence for all. That’s the nature of Lambeth Council’s mission, to ensure that every resident receives the same high quality treatment from every service that the Council provides.
That doesn’t mean, a one size fits all mentality, in Lambeth we know that different people have different needs, and the services must reflect that, we know that they must respond to the different priorities of the many communities that make up Lambeth’s people.
For far too long, government both local and national have paid lip service to equality without understanding that it is not something that can be bolted on as a policy afterthought when the “real” decisions have already been made. Racial equality and diversity is not just about identifying, challenging and eradicating overt racial discrimination, though that is clearly needed, it is about ensuring everyone gets a service that respects their cultural and individual needs.
Today, providing customer-focused services must mean understanding who our customers are as individuals. We can’t go on making assumptions based on colour or community, but we have to be aware that people are in part shaped by their background even though they cannot be defined by it.
Lambeth is dynamic because it is diverse, we don’t just tolerate that diversity we celebrate it. Now, through this strategy the Council will at last begin to reflect that diversity, not just through paper policies but in its every day polices and priorities.
Foreword
Lambeth council is delighted by the advent of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000. It provides Lambeth with a framework from which to investigate and develop our policies and practices. In addition, we’ve already undertaken work using the Commission for Racial Equality – Race Equality Standards and we’re pleased with the progress made against these.
Lambeth has long since had the reputation of being a highly diverse borough. The issues we face here are often complex and the needs of the borough are continuously evolving. We’ve set ourselves the task of becoming a high performing borough particularly in the area of equality and diversity.
More specifically, Lambeth sees diversity as a commodity to be maximised for local residents and businesses. We feel that Lambeth has yet to unleash the full potential of its residents and needs to find news ways of promoting innovation in terms of race equality, and strengthening the work of community driven initiatives.
We are committed to ensuring that we build our capacity to deliver effective and sustainable solutions to address racial inequality and promote race relations. It is imperative that we spend sufficient time identifying and removing potential, current and historical barriers; as well as work closely with communities to ensure that we are delivering services effectively and meet the diversity of needs.
We hope that this Race Equality Scheme provides a foundation for this work, and we look forward to receiving your observations and feedback.
Introduction
The Purpose
Lambeth’s Race Equality Scheme has a two-fold purpose, firstly to comply with the statutory obligations outlined in the general duty but also to take this a step further and use it as a framework to manage the Council’s wider equalities work.
Our Heritage
The London Borough of Lambeth is in the multi-racial heartland of London. During the 1980s Brixton became a ‘symbolic location’ for black communities and policy makers. The wave of inner city riots, the Scarman Inquiry and subsequent Report highlighted the growing social and economic problems in the borough. These events demonstrated the need to introduce police training around community and race issues and the corresponding need to set up community consultative committees to provide public bodies such as the police with a mechanism to consult with the local community. Despite subsequent urban initiatives such as Inner City Task Force, City Action Teams and New Deal for communities, which have served to keep Lambeth at the nexus of race and community relations, racial disadvantage has prevailed for a significant proportion of the population. As a consequence of this poverty and social exclusion are prevalent amongst certain sectors of the black and white community.
The London Borough of Lambeth is one of the largest of thirteen inner London boroughs. It has a population of approximately 269,500 people (Source: ONS 1998, mid-year estimates), 40 per cent of which are members of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME), communities. The Council has gained the reputation for being one of the most socially and culturally rich boroughs in the UK, for example, in Lambeth more people are employed by the cultural and creative industries than in the retail sector. In terms of its relative socio-economic position, Lambeth occupies 12th place out of a total of 354 on the level of deprivation scale for England, and 7th amongst the other London authorities. Unemployment is a major barrier to economic prosperity, with the borough experiencing nearly double the rate for London as a whole.
life-The Council’s commitment is further demonstrated by choosing equality as one of the seven mission critical cross-cutting issues it will champion as part of its overall strategy, they are as follows:
1) Equality
2) Customer Care
3) Performance Management
4) Best Value
5) Human Resources
6) Contract Management
7) Financial Management
Equality is a journey and not a destination. Lambeth Council recognises it has challenges ahead in seeking to eliminate racial discrimination and better meeting the needs of its diverse residents and business community. The Race Equality Scheme is welcomed as an opportunity to develop a systemic approach to meeting the challenge of making Lambeth a ‘symbolic location’ synonymous with best practice.
Vision and Values
The new Council will be guided by four principles, which will underpin all that it does. These principles are:
• Quality local services
• Value for money from the Council Tax
• Empowering local communities
• Openness and transparency in all the Council's work
Overview
The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000: Origins and Implications
The death of Stephen Lawrence in 1993 marked a major sea change in British race relations. For the first time public institutions in Britain such as the police force, were brought face to face with their inherent failings, towards a significant proportion of the population. Central government responded by appointing Sir William Macpherson to chair an inquiry into the Lawrence police investigation.
The resultant Macpherson report adopted the terminology of the American Black activist, Stokely Carmichael, to sum up the failings and so the term institutional racism entered mainstream political and media circles. The report referred to institutional racism as ‘the collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture, or ethnic origin. It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness and racist stereotyping which disadvantage minority ethnic people’ (Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report, 1999).
Since these findings were first published, central government has been working towards introducing legislation that would address the significant loopholes in terms of direct and indirect discrimination by public authorities in carrying out their general duties. It was thought that this action would ultimately strengthen the race relations legislation and hence the Race Relations (Amendment) Act, herein referred to as ‘the Act’, was born. In its broadest sense the Act provides a legal framework from which organisations can mainstream their race equality work.
The Home Office paper ‘New Laws for a Successful Multiracial Britain’, outlines what a model organisation engaged in promoting race equality should be doing:
• Assesses policies and programmes for their effect on ethnic minorities, highlighting any potential for adverse impact, and engages in remedial action where necessary;
• Monitors the introduction of its policies and programmes as a mechanism to ensure that Black and minority ethnic groups’ needs are met; and
The Act gained royal assent on November 30th 2000, and the main provisions came into force on 2nd April 2001. Under the terms of the general duty, public authorities such as Lambeth Council must give due regard to the need to achieve the following:
• eliminate unlawful racial discrimination,
• promote equal opportunities; and
• promote good relations between people from different racial groups.
A range of specific duties, has been produced to support the implementation of the general duty, they are as follows:
• identifying relevant functions and policies (including proposed policies), that are relevant to their performance of the general duty.
• the arrangements for assessing, and consulting on, the likely impact of proposed policies on the promotion of race equality.
• the arrangements for monitoring policies for adverse impact.
• the arrangements for publishing assessment, consultation and monitoring reports.
• the arrangements for making sure the public have access to information and public services.
• the arrangements for training staff in connection with the general duty.
Local authorities are also required to comply with a set of specific employment duties, which record and monitor a range of data including:
• the numbers of staff in post, applicants for employment training and promotion; and
• patterns of inequality.
Where such data is shown to highlight gaps in service, public bodies should:
• take action to remove barriers and promote equality of opportunity; and
The Corporate Approach
Corporate Equalities Agenda
The Business Case
Lambeth Council intends to pursue a cutting edge strategy of maximising the diversity of the borough as the means through which it will satisfy the existing customer needs. The Council wishes to build-in a customer orientation that places the challenge of meeting the diversity of experience at its centre.
The vast number of strategies in place to address social exclusion are critical to achieve base line equity in relation to health, employment, housing, education, and so on. The Council intends that the driving force behind these strategies will focus on maximising the huge diversity capital that Lambeth has at its disposal.
With this at its core Lambeth will be able to:
• Understand and appreciate the different realities and experiences of the local population.
• Define social and economic solutions that view the complexity as a source of opportunity, rather than a cause for containment.
• Seek to advance the local population and build a vision beyond the current debilitating circumstances. The Council is well aware that low expectation breed poor results.
• Lead the way in pre-empting shifts in the labour market and taking proactive steps to cultivate resources to reflect this.
• Attract a greater diversity of customers within its current population base, who are satisfied that Lambeth is able to respond to the dynamism of diversity.
• Ensure loyalty with customers and staff, who feel that they are valued, through the sensitivity and responsiveness of solutions.
• Capitalise on the borough’s diversity to maintain and attract longer-term social and economic investment.
Internally, it will enable us to:
• Recruit and retain staff.
• Have greater workforce flexibility by having different working patterns and thereby encouraging those who have been traditionally excluded from work, e.g. mothers and parents generally, carers, disabled people, newer communities, etc.
• Gain access to a wider pool of skills and talents.
• Strengthen relationships with partners, because of our ability to respond in a way that adds value to partnership objectives.
• Have increased creativity with which to solve problems.
• Increase productivity through better problem solving and decision taking.
• Attain significantly greater level of commitment and participation by all staff at all levels.
Meeting the General and Specific Duty
Lambeth Council is committed to meeting all the requirements of the general and specific duty under section 71(1) of the Race Relations Act 1976 as amended by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 in the following way:
• Developing a corporate wide race equality scheme, which is guided by the vision, values and principles of the new strategic agenda.
• Using the corporate approach as the lead, develop individual departmental schemes designed around the distinct service delivery requirements of each one. This will be balanced with a new cross-departmental approach, which takes advantage of the growing trend towards cross-cutting themes, which are not confined to one single department and which actually require a joined-up approach.
• The Best Value Review process will provide a useful opportunity to take a much more holistic approach to fulfilling Council duties.
The Process
Race Relations (Amendment) Act Steering Committee
Emphasising the importance of ensuring that the requirements of the Act are mainstreamed throughout the Council, a steering committee was formed comprising key representatives from the Chief Executive’s department. Chaired by Carole Litchmore, Head of the Equalities and Diversity Division, the committee’s primary task was to design a process by which the Council’s race equality scheme could be drawn up and implemented.
External Assistance
To assist this process, the committee elicited the help of management consultants, Diversity International Ltd. who were tasked to carry out the detailed work of:
• examining existing systems and structures in order to obtain an accurate picture of the Council’s current position;
• working with individual departments to communicate and disseminate the key requirements of the duty;
• assisting the steering committee in designing the most appropriate scheme for the Council; and
• advising on the best way to implement the action plans and review the overall scheme.
Departmental Reference Groups
Five reference groups representing the five service delivery departments of the Council, were set up with the express aim of:
• Identifying the functions and policies and proposed policies relevant to the duty.
• Identifying priority action areas, which would then be embedded in the department’s wider equality action plan.
Communication and Consultation
Recognising the Council’s public service obligations and overall commitment to communicate and consult on important matters affecting the lives of staff and the local community, an extensive communication and consultation process has been put in place to achieve the following:
Internal level
Communication and consultation with staff
Information about the Act and its subsequent requirements has been made available to staff via various information points including the Intranet and Newscast. Following the publication of the Council-wide scheme, a representative selection of staff will be chosen to join a staff consultation group to directly feedback their comments, which will be used to review and where necessary upgrade the Council’s race equality scheme.
Presentations to Departmental Management Teams (DMTs), Senior Management Board (SMB), and the Corporate Equalities Board.
The Head of Equalities & Diversity made presentations to all the senior management forums to ensure there was Council-wide understanding and commitment for the new race equality legislation.
External Level
Arrangements have been put in place to receive feedback on the Council’s first race equality scheme. Utilising existing consultation mechanisms, such as the Citizens Panel, local community and voluntary organisation forums, views will be sought on an ongoing basis.
Scrutiny
Identifying functions and policies relevant to the duty
The Council is legally obliged to set out in its race equality scheme
those functions and policies, or proposed policies which are relevant to the general duty.
The concept of identifying functions and policies, which are relevant to particular strategies, legal requirements or initiatives. It is a relatively new and welcomed concept within the Council; to assess the relevance of functions and new policies on identified groups. In some areas the current approach is fairly ad hoc. In others, such as the Community Renewal Division of the Chief Executive’s Department, all policies, plans, bids and strategies are targeted towards reducing inequalities. This applies to European funding, assistance for business start-ups, grants to the voluntary sector and community capacity building. It was therefore appropriate to categorise all functions and policies as relevant to the general duty.
The Council utilised the CRE suggested approach to identifying relevant functions and policies. The CRE guidance refers to functions as ‘the full range of your authority’s duties and powers. This includes internal and external functions [i.e.] policy development (among other activities) as well as, service delivery such as regulation and enforcement’. In terms of policy, the Act and general duty defines it as ‘the full range of formal and informal decisions that your authority makes in carrying out its duties, and all the ways in which it exercises its powers, or decides not to do so’. (Statutory Code of Guidance: A Guide for Public Authorities, CRE, 2001)
Departmental Reference Groups were tasked with the responsibility of recording all functions and policies, as well as identifying those that were relevant to the duty. The prioritisation process took place after wider consultation with departmental Service Managers and Business Unit managers. Those functions and policies which have the highest priority ie Priority 1 have been placed in year one activities, those recorded as being medium priority were given priority rating 2 and consequently placed in year 2 activities and finally those assessed as being of lower priority were given the rating of 3 to be placed in year 3 activities. (See Appendix 2).
The Council recognises that this new approach of assessing and prioritising functions and policies requires a systematic approach of:
• Using a corporate wide set of criteria to identify and assess relevance and consequently prioritisation.
• Having access to documentary evidence to support the assessment made.
Monitoring policies for adverse impact
The Council is obliged to monitor the content and execution of policies for any adverse impact on the promotion of race equality with the express aim of amending policies where they are found to be inconsistent with the general duty.
The Council currently monitors policies associated with ensuring racial equality in a number of key areas either as a statutory requirement as in the case of social services, housing and education or as a corporate initiative to ensure good practice.
It is recognised that the Council has some way to go in terms of developing a comprehensive consistent monitoring system based on the census classification. Developing a robust system will enable the Council to assess whether a policy or procedure is working effectively and equally not adversely impacting on the requirements of the general duty. The corporate action plan will thus seek to:
• Review existing monitoring systems and methods, amending and updating where necessary to produce a single overarching monitoring system capable of analysing a range of equality measures such as gender, age, disability etc.
• Develop a system for identifying policies, which have or may potentially have an adverse impact on the promotion of race equality.
• Make recommendations to policy planners where amendments need to be made to particular functions and policies.
• In time, develop a corporate wide higher level of sophistication in the way data is analysed and used i.e. have greater coordination between the various research and statistical functions within the Council. For example, the under-achievement of certain Black and ethnic minority (BME), work has already begun in the education department to identify the reasons why some schools are achieving better results from under-achieving BME children in the borough. The results from this monitoring exercise will be used to spread best practice throughout all Lambeth’s schools.
Assessing and consulting on the likely impact of proposed
policies on the promotion of race equality
The Council must outline its arrangements for assessing and consulting on the likely impact of its proposed policies on the promotion of race equality.
The Council does not currently formally undertake impact assessments of existing and proposed policies. The Council recognises that the most appropriate and effective way of carrying out this duty rests within the specific departments themselves. Each will be tasked to develop an impact assessment programme using the following list of criteria:
• Using existing documented evidence, which shows higher or lower participation or uptake of services by various groups.
• Using existing documented evidence to show that groups have differing interests, objectives, experiences and priorities vis a vis current and planned policies. ‘Testing the Mix’, is a particular piece of research work which was carried out by the Environment Department in conjunction with the neighbouring boroughs of Southwark, Greenwich and Hammersmith and Fulham.
• Using existing untapped avenues to promote equal opportunities or good relations between differing groups by amending certain policies or developing greater links with key stakeholders such as local BME communities and hard to reach groups through the borough’s local strategic partnership, voluntary organisations and other community groups.
• where certain policies have been known to have had an adverse impact on certain groups, seek out and consult those who have been affected in order to obtain an appreciation and clear understanding of the effect and consequent need. Organisations such as the Citizens Advice Bureau, Local Voluntary Action Council ( LVAC), law and advice centres will be approached to obtain their opinions.
Policy planners will use new and existing mechanisms to carry out the above i.e. :
• historical research data,
• existing reports and surveys; and
When the above process is completed, policy planners will be charged with the responsibility to consult widely. The Council through existing statutory requirements regularly consults with key stakeholders on a range of matters. A series of consultation exercises have taken place both internally and externally. In the case of the latter a recent MORI survey measured the level of satisfaction amongst Lambeth residents. The results showed that people’s level of satisfaction had in fact dropped from 49% in 1999 to 43% in 2000. The Council had set itself the target of 55%, it’s not clear what the reasons are for the decline although the comment was made that a decline reflected a nationwide trend. The local authority has responded by introducing new customer care standards, which are designed to ensure that customers:
• are informed of any delays in responding to their queries.
• are treated with respect by Council employees; and
• feel that they are being properly listened to.
On a departmental level the Housing department consults extensively with local residents on matters of service delivery and service planning. It also consults other service providers in the borough who serve the same client groups in order to develop consistent strategies through direct service provision and through partnering arrangements.
Groups of volunteer residents provide valuable feedback on policies and on their impact on communities. Wider consultation is carried out on how residents rate the services that they receive. Local Residents' Associations engage in a regular dialogue with local offices and receive information about the business of the Housing department. They vote on capital expenditure, prioritise local services through Tenant Compacts and they are consulted on rent increases.
The Housing department will develop a strategy to reach the diverse groups resident in the borough. It has started to develop a housing equalities agenda in partnership with resident groups and other partners through consultation on the housing equalities statement. It intends to continue this process further and to actively consider how to promote the equalities principles in furtherance of the regeneration of housing estates.
The Planning Department has recently screened its policies as part of the Unitary Development Plan (UDP) review process. The outcome of this led to targeted consultation meetings with particular ethnic groups (e.g. the Portuguese speaking community). The results of the review are now being analysed. They will be widely disseminated and fed back to all participants.
As part of the wider corporate arrangements for implementing the duty, steps will be taken to review all consultation mechanisms relevant to the general duty to assess the extent to which they:
• are effective in eliciting high quality relevant data.
• statistically represent an accurate picture of the client group.
• remain relevant and in proportion to whatever policy the Council wishes to consult on.
• accessible to all sections of the community in language and content terms.
• anti-discriminatory.
• involve excluded groups in planning and evaluation.
• prioritise actions and resources to those in greatest need.
Dealing with Complaints
In the case of specific complaints made against the Council’s race equality scheme and wider equalities programme, use will be made of the existing complaints procedure, with a view to logging and actioning complaints under a separate but linked process. The Council will seek to monitor complaints about service delivery on equalities lines.
In the first instance the complainant will be asked to formally submit the complaint verbally or in writing. Interpretation facilities are available should the complainant wish to use them. The Council operates a 3 stage complaints procedure, which operates at a service (Stage 1), departmental (Stage 2), and corporate (Stage 3) level. The complaint is passed up the levels, if the complainant is not happy with the response. If after stage 3 the complainant is still not happy he/she can contact the local government ombudsman.
A new customer satisfaction and equalities form is in the process of being drafted and will be sent out to people who have requested a response to their complaint. The Corporate Complaints Team are also currently engaged in:
• examining the system to see if there are any implications for their work and the procedures for reporting racist incidents.
• setting up on-line translation facilities for those wishing to make complaints via the Intranet (all customers are given the option of using language line, which is the Council’s translation service).
• monitoring responses on an ethnic, racist, gender, age and disability level. The statistics are reported in the Council’s quarterly Complaints Digest.
The Council is working with advisory groups such as Centre 70, LVAC and the Citizen Advice Bureau to run a series of focus groups in order to consult excluded groups on their use of the complaints process. The Council will use the information to assess the level of service delivery. Under the new arrangements where a complaint about a specific policy or service has been made, it will be investigated and if found to be failing in any or all aspects of the general duty, remedial action will be taken.
Publishing the Results
The Council is required to publish the results of assessments, consultations and monitoring in service provision and the employment of staff. In keeping with the Council’s duty to ensure transparency, appropriate action will be taken to ensure that Council publications are:
• Widely available to all who require it.
• Accessible, in terms of being available in various formats across a range of appropriate methods and mechanisms.
• Adaptable, where a gap exists or changes need to be made, develop the mechanisms to achieve this in line with budgetary requirements.
• Reviewed on a regular basis.
On a corporate level, the Council has in the past published a wide cross-section of information ranging from information leaflets on a range of subjects such as harassment to the highly commended ‘Challenging Racism’ advisory report to schools, produced by the Education department.
Ensuring public access to information and services
Local authorities have a duty to ensure that members of the public have access to Council information and services.
Access to Information
All departments have responsibility for producing their own literature. There is Council wide commitment to ensuring that publications are made available in all the main languages used in the borough.
Access to Services
In terms of access to services, the Council has five departmental service delivery functions, which directly interface with the public. The Chief Executive’s Department ensures cross-cutting issues are addressed corporately.
The Council also delivers various aspects of its services using sub-contractors and partnership working. A corporate commissioning board oversees all the contracting and partnership arrangements in the Council. The Board has been briefed on the requirements of the Act and will have a role in ensuring external contractors and partners comply with the legislation.
To ensure compliance with the general duty, all aspects of the public access element of the Council’s work will be reviewed to assess the level of accessibility. Where there are gaps in service or barriers to access, changes will be made based on the level of need. This process has already begun as the Council is undertaking qualitative research to establish the underlying structural reasons for unequal outcomes as part of the Community Renewal Strategy. A range of quantitative data reveals the disproportionate impact of poor indicators on BME communities (e.g. low educational attainment, long term unemployment, and reduced life expectancy). This will involve looking at access from a resident’s perspective and identifying the reasons and barriers that contributed to the poor outcome.
Training Staff
The duty requires that all staff are trained in connection with the duty.
The Council is committed to ensuring that all staff receive equality and diversity training by December 2003. The Council currently provides equal opportunities training for all staff involved in the recruitment and selection process. Specific training for the Act will be designed around the need to:
• Equip staff with the necessary awareness and understanding of the new legislation, its implications in their everyday work and its relative position in relation to wider race equality matters.
• Equip staff with the skills to develop and implement elements of the race equality scheme and general duty as it relates to their specific work programmes.
• Educate and inform new staff members, who on joining will receive equal opportunities training around the requirements of the duty as part of their induction programme.
The Council’s clear commitment to training will raise awareness for the scheme and greatly assist the embedding of the requirements of the Act. The Education department provides training for governors in a range of subject areas including the requirements of the Race Relations (Amendments) Act and equal opportunities in general. The Council is also working towards IiP accreditation to further staff development. Specific training for policy planners and staff involved in the implementation of the race equality scheme will include:
• developing skills to monitor systems centred on the service delivery and employment functions of the Council’s work.
• carrying out impact assessments of functions and policies.
The Employment Duty
The Council is obliged and will seek to follow the requirements using best practice, monitor by ethnicity, disability and gender:
• numbers of staff in post and their corresponding grade.
• applicants for jobs and the results of recruitment processes to ensure fairness and encourage applicants to view the Council as the ‘best place to work’. Where recruitment agencies are used, take steps to ensure they understand and comply with the Council’s wider recruitment policy specifically as it relates to the general duty.
• numbers of applicants for promotion, relative progression patterns based on existing and new promotion strategies.
• the numbers of applicants attending voluntary training courses.
• the outcomes of performance appraisals particularly in relation to race equality issues.
• numbers of people put through grievance and disciplinary procedures and actions as well as the ensuing results of these actions.
• numbers of dismissals and resignations.
Level of compliance with duty requirements *Monitoring Requirement Current Status
Staff in post Yes this information is monitored through the payroll system on a quarterly basis and is reported on in the Performance Digest
Applications for employment
Yes a monitoring system has been introduced which monitors all aspects of the R&S process
Applications for training Yes, this information is requested at the nomination stage
Applications for promotion This is not currently monitored Those who receive training Yes
Those who benefit or suffer detriment as a result of its performance assessment procedures
N/A
Those involved in grievance procedures
YES
Those subject to disciplinary procedures
YES
Those who cease employment
YES
*General Duty requirements – arrangements to be in place by 31st May 2002
Corporate Human Resource
• Under the current system there are issues about staff development and access to training. Specific targets have been identified:
i. All posts up to PO2 will be first advertised internally. Additionally, the organisation will recognise potential to try to assist promotion and a target will be to not increase the number of BME staff in the lower grades.
ii. Although the Performance Assessment process is applicable to the borough there is a commitment to ensure that the proportion for whom the Council have appraisal information will remain at 100 per cent. Appraisal scores will remain at a high level. If lower scores are achieved it will be necessary to build an action plan in the section.
proportion exceeds the proportion within the grade by more than 2 per cent; direct action will be taken to enable corrective action to be taken.
v. The ration of applicants for training is to reflect the diversity of the community. Where the number of staff is disproportion with the grade banding, action plans are to be devised within the grade banding to reflect the community.
• Basic monitoring mechanisms exist, and the priority for year one is to ensure that the full monitoring areas identified by the CRE Code of Practice are adopted as in the case of monitoring promotion/acting-up, secondments and grievance and disciplinary by ethnicity.
• No impact assessments are conducted at departmental level, however they are on the corporate agenda. It is unclear the extent to which this is looking at issues in relation to ethnicity.
At present it is not possible to identify clear patterns of inequality based on the general duty requirements, it is envisaged that the impending restructuring of the HR function will address these issues.
The new HR structure will consist of a:
• Dedicated Recruitment and Selection Centre.
• Policy and Strategy Centre.
• Employment Advice Centre.
• Learning and Development.
• Employment Services.
• Schools Service.
The Council will analyse all ethnic monitoring data and take remedial action to address inequalities, including positive action to address significant and persistent inequality, which cannot be explained by justifiable reasons.
Council staff will also be consulted on employment matters through the annual staff conference and staff survey and the soon to be established BME staff network. In addition to this, other monitoring mechanisms such as the CRE Race Equality Standard and Best Value will also be used to identify gaps and areas for improvement. Where gaps exist further work will be done to make the necessary changes. As part of the Council’s obligations under the general duty, the above information will be published annually as part of the wider equality and diversity performance plan and Council annual report.
staff with BME backgrounds in senior management levels (PO5-SMG). The majority (65%) of BME staff are located in junior administrative and manual employment. In response to this the department has identified the need to develop career progression opportunities for BME staff.
Nationally, Social Service authorities face particular challenges in respect of the recruitment and retention of social work professionals. In order to address these issues locally, consideration of equalities issues forms a major part of the development of the department’s recruitment and retention strategy.
Further priority areas for action within Social Services include:
• developing and increasing access to training.
• involving staff in planning and decision-making processes.
LONDON BOROUGH OF LAMBETH
CORPORATE RACE EQUALITY SCHEME ACTION PLAN
(May 2002 - March 2005)Function Aim / Objective Key Actions Performance
Indicator
Time Frame
Responsibility
Managing Change Communication to all stakeholders on the Race Equality Scheme
Provide general information on the Race Equality Scheme and the key processes and projects that have been agreed to :
• Members
• Managers and Staff • Unions
• Corporate Governance Boards • Scrutiny Committees
Information produced and communicated to all
stakeholders
Ongoing from July 2002
E&D Unit and the Directorates through Lead Officers,
Refining and implementing Action Plans
Ensure that Directorates develop Race Equality Scheme Action Plans.
Support the directorates in developing Race Equality Scheme Action Plans by integrating the Race Equality Scheme requirements with the CRE Standard on Race Equality (Level 3) requirements where possible.
Race Equality Scheme Action Plans developed and agreed by DMTs and annually reviewed
From Sept 2002
Capacity Building Agree key corporate equalities (to include race) priorities and identify priorities for the directorates
Arrange half- day workshop for members of DMT and members of the Equalities Groups in all directorates to define departmental priorities
Organise Equalities Stock Take Workshops with the Equalities Board and DMT’s to review progress on Equalities and identify corporate priorities that will feed into the Comprehensive Equalities and Diversity Strategy
Organise an Equalities Board Away Day to discuss the priorities identified by departments
and include them in the Comprehensive Equalities and Diversity Strategy.
Workshops organised and action plans developed based on the priorities identified. Workshops organised and priorities agreed
Dec 2002 – March 2003
July – October 2003
E&D Unit and Directorates
E&D Unit and Directorates
Undertake a Best Value Review of equalities (to include race equality)
Use the Equality Standard for Local Government Framework to review to assess the organisation’s capacity to deliver on equalities
Outcomes of the BVR communicated through a report.
An action plan to address gaps identified by the review agreed.
April 2002 – December 2003
Integrate findings of the BVR on equalities into business plans
D Communicate findings of the BVR on equalities to all Managers and
ensure that key actions are included in divisional business plans
Divisional business plans include relevant actions from BVR on equalities that will be monitored to review progress
January -March 2004
E&D Unit and Lead Officers
To achieve Level 3 of CRE Standard for Racial
Equality
D All Directorates to develop an action plan to achieve the CRE Standard level 3 through integration with the Equality Standard for Local Government.
CRE Standard Level 3 action agreed and implemented by all Directorates
From October 2003
E&D Unit and Lead Officers in Directorates
Set up a staff development
programme D
To set up a “Breaking Through” staff development programme
Evidence that development programme is implemented
Sept 2004 onwards
Corporate HR, Learning & Development and E&D Unit D Set up Black and Minority Ethnic
Staff network
NetWork set up and Terms of reference agreed
From April 2004
Corporate HR and E&D Unit DEstablish a Staff Development Panel Proposal for panel
drawn up, agreed and implemented
July 2002 onwards
E&D Unit
Monitoring Policies for adverse impact
Develop standard
methodology, procedures and performance
indicators for equalities monitoring and reporting (including race) across the
D To develop written Equalities Monitoring Guidance for all staff
Guidance produced and communicated to staff From April 2004 E&D Unit, directorates through Lead Officers and Communications Assessing and
consulting on the likely impact of proposed policies on race equality
Develop and agree
procedures and processes for Equality Impact
Assessment
D To set up a Race Equality Impact Assessment Panel to monitor policies and changes that need to be made. Panel to include external representation, members and Officers and to meet at least quarterly
DTo agree process , methodology, and timeframes to carry out Policy Impact Assessment for race equality and communicate them to staff
DTo organise training on the Race Equality Impact Assessment for the Panel and key staff and roll out the process
Policy Impact
Assessment Panel set up and meetings held regularly and reported
Equality Impact Assessment
Methodology approved by Equalities Board and communicated to all Managers
Promoting good relations through improved
Consultation
To ensure that the Council’s consultation approach is in line with the requirements of the RRAA (2000)
D To review existing consultation mechanisms to ensure that traditionally uninvolved and excluded groups are engaged in consultation exercises. The BVR on Equalities will be used for this process. Revised consultation strategy produced March 2003 Onwards Corporate Consultation Manager and the E&D Unit
D Communicate information on the Council’s Consultation Policy and consultation results
All staff to receive copies of the consultation policy September 2003 Consultation Manager and Communicati ons
D To provide training / guidance on consulting with traditionally uninvolved and excluded groups.
Consultation Manager to provide guidance and support to key consultation exercises as requested and when relevant April 2003 onwards Consultation Manager Publishing the results of consultations
To publish the outcomes of consultation events on an annual basis and ensure that the
information is available
D To review progress on consultation annually by producing a digest of monitoring reports for consultation events and ensure that they are discussed at DDT/DMT and
D To publish the outcome of Policy Impact Assessments
Reports of Policy Impact Assessments published and available on the intranet /
internet From April 2004 Equalities Lead Officers and DMT’s Ensure Public Access to information / Services
To co-ordinate the development and communication of a Council wide Accessible Information Policy.
D Review barriers to accessing information and services through the BVR on equalities and ensure that relevant recommendations from the BVR are fed into direcotrates business plans
BVR (Equalities) recommendations communicated to all business unit
Managers and included in business plans
Oct 2003 – April 2004 E&D Unit, Lead Equalities Officers and Business Unit Managers D Collate Council wide facilities for
providing translation and interpretation services and produce Accessible information Guidelines for staff
Accessible Information Guidelines produced and communicated to staff September 2003 –March 2004 E&D Unit, Lead Equalities Officers and Communicati on Managers To communicate the Council’s
commitment to providing Accessible information and services to all customers/service users
Services Users informed of the Council’s arrangements for providing accessible services April 2004 onwards Corporate Communicati ons and E&D Unit
Training Staff To inform staff of the requirements of the RRAA (2000) and their
D To incorporate the specific requirements of the Act into training programmes such as Middle
All training
D Organise equalities awareness
training for Executive Members and SMB on their legal duties and responsibilities under the RRAA (2000)
Training Courses organised January 2004 onwards Training and Development Unit and E&D Unit D Provide equalities impact assessment
training to members of the Assessment Panel, Members and other relevant Staff
Training organised for Panel members and relevant staff September 2003 onwards Training and Development Unit and E&D Unit D Organise training on recording and
reporting racial incidents .
This will initially be incorporated into Customer Care and Complaints training
Training organised for all staff responsible for recording racial
incidents
Jan – April 2003 Policy and Performance E&D Unit and , Customer Care Unit Dealing with Complaints
To review the Corporate Complaints procedures to ensure that the
requirements of the RRAA (2000) met
To ensure that all Service Areas have a system for recording and monitoring the ethnicity of all those who make a complaint about a Council service
Systems in place for ethnic monitoring of complaints and reporting on any significant trends
April 2002 – March 2003 E&D Unit, Customer Care and Complaints Unit
Introduce mechanisms for recording and reporting on racial incidents
D Develop a system for recording of racial incidents and reporting on them
Procedures in place to record racial incidents and report them to the
Nov 2002-March 2003
E&D Unit,
D Develop a partnership with the police and other agencies to ensure that there are standard procedures for recording and reporting of racial incidents in the borough and the sharing of information
Partnership arrangements for dealing with racial incidents in the borough in place and working
From April 2004
Community Safety Unit and E&D Unit
Employment To ensure that the Council meets the requirements of the Employment duties introduced by the RRAA (2000)
D To develop a Monitoring Schedule to collect equalities monitoring data on all HR functions and report on it
Monitoring schedule to include the requirement
to provide absolute, and comparative data on:
• Numbers of staff in post and their grades
• Employment Tribunals lodged on the grounds of race
• Employment Tribunals where there is a finding against the Council on the grounds of race discrimination
• Employment tribunal applications based on race, which are settled in advance of a hearing
Performance indicators for
monitoring agreed and systems in place for monitoring and reporting analysis
From Oct 2002
• Grievances lodged by black and minority staff, and those upheld
• The impact of restructuring on black and minority ethnic staff (e.g. voluntary re-deployed, voluntary severance, and redundancies)
• Workforce by race, grade, service area, and work patterns
• Profile and number of job applications and promotion opportunities
• Results of recruitment process E Attendance at voluntary training
courses
E Dismissals and resignations Patterns of promotion across the council
D To set up an Employment Panel to meet regularly to review existing and proposed HR policies
Panel set up and Terms of reference agreed
From Sept 2003
Corporate HR
D To establish Employment Tribunal Review Panel, to review Tribunal cases and make operational /policy
recommendations
Review Panel set up and Terms of reference agreed.
From Sept 2003
Departmental Focus
Introduction
This section of the scheme outlines the approach individual departments will take to implement the requirements of the general duty. In each case an initial short summary will be given which provides a snapshot of each individual department’s area in relation to race equality as it relates to the three overarching strands of the general duty.
Corporate Services, Office of the Assistant Chief Executive
(OACE) and Finance
With the aim of more effectively delivering the council’s recovery plan, on 1st August 2003, the Chief Executive’s department became three new departments:
• Corporate Services Department
• Office of the Assistant Chief Executive
• Finance
The new structure aims to strengthen:
• Capacity in change management in support of the business improvement programme
• Capacity around equalities particularly in HR, Communication and performance information/management
• Performance information capacity across Corporate Services including HR and Equalities
• Capacity to monitor and manage delivery of the CPA recovery plan
• Capacity in communications/consultation, and to maximise the potential to ensure that complaints management information is incorporated in performance management
The Corporate Services Department is the fifth mainstream department of the council delivers key support to the other departments as well as frontline services (Benefits, Revenues and Debt Management). It is comprised of the following divisions:
• Community Renewal
• Human Resources
• Benefits, Revenues and Debt Management
• Democratic Services
• Organisational Improvement
The Office of the Assistant Chief Executive (OACE) is a new department with a strategic focus on the delivery of the council’s recovery plan, as well as more operational areas (such as communications and consultation. Ace is comprised of the following divisions:
• Corporate Policy/Political Offices
• Programming
• Communications and consultation
• Strategic Organisational Development/Equalities and Diversity
Current position in relation to race equality
The appointment of the Head of Equalities and Diversity in December 2001 marked a turning point in the Council’s approach to equalities and diversity issues. Prior to this appointment there was no ‘dedicated staffing resource’, and in a recent IDeA report it was pointed out that the Council needed to ‘take clear and visible actions to promote race equality’. (IDeA, November 2000). The Council has also established an Equalities Board, which is chaired by the Head of Equality and Diversity. The Best Value Review in equalities will be used to develop baseline data in key equalities issues. The Key outcomes and benefits are envisaged as:
1. Detailed and systematic assessment of corporate and departmental performance in relation to equalities, barriers to improvement and ways of overcoming them
2. Comprehensive improvement action plan setting out strategies and targets for continuous improvement
3. A strategy for achieving consistency across departments in relation to equalities and diversity
4. An on-going programme to shift the culture within the council away from non-compliance
5. Service models which reflect issues and meet needs as perceived by community and customers
6. Mechanisms to collect strategic data
7. Systems which enable the council to be proactive and responsive to change
8. Mechanisms which enable Lambeth's populations to articulate needs
Internal drivers for change:
• The borough has a significantly large number of BME communities approximately 40 per cent of the total population.
• The Council has the second highest number of BME employees in the capital but this is qualified by the fact that a significant number of BME employees are significantly under-represented at management and senior levels in the organisation.
• High level commitment to redress prior lack of strategic focus on race equality.
• Development of the Community Renewal Strategy as a new framework for reducing inequalities and improving services in deprived neighbourhoods.
External drivers for change:
• Legislative requirements.
• The death of Stephen Lawrence and resulting focus on institutional racism and its implications for public bodies.
• Central government strategic focus on social exclusion.
• The findings of the Cantle Report on the Oldham disturbances, which highlight the need for interventions to promote social cohesion between different ethnic groups.
Meeting the general and specific duties
Looking at the three central department’s readiness to implement the requirements of the general and specific duties, the picture is clearly that these departments are at the beginning stages of developing policies around race equality. The challenge will be to ensure that policies and priorities across the Council operate in line with the general and specific duties of the Act.
The OACE department is responsible for developing the overall policy and service improvement framework for the Council. Notably, the central departments are responsible for delivering the CPA recommendations . There now needs to be focus on more outward-looking corporate priorities that address local issues of deprivation and cultural diversity and improve performance in relation to equality issues.
Human Resources has commenced Employment Monitoring and recommending target setting to address the imbalance of BME staff representation at more senior levels. A Staff Panel is currently being piloted in the central departments to find mechanisms to develop staff and provide them with the opportunity for promotion.
Additionally, the development of the Local Strategic Partnership has helped the Council to influence partners to agree shared common objectives around promoting equality of opportunity. The first meeting of the partnership agreed an equality policy that covered:
1) Operation
To prioritise the development of equalities in all aspects of the partnership’s work and use the process of mainstreaming to ensure this occurs.
2) Membership
To set targets to work towards a partnership that reflects the composition of Lambeth’s communities, five places have been set aside for diversity until this is achieved.
3) Delivery
To actively involve all communities in the work of the partnership and develop a strategy for tackling exclusion and promoting equality and diversity. To promote access for all and prioritise actions to benefit those experiencing greatest disadvantage.
4) Cultural Diversity and Difference
Priority action areas to achieve the requirements of the general duty:
Year 1
• Start the process of mainstreaming equalities in service delivery and employment.
• Undertake systematic corporate wide equality monitoring to highlight gaps and areas for improvement.
• Achieve CRE level 3.
Year 2 and 3
• To aim to target Town Planning applicants directly with customer satisfaction questionnaires, containing standard ethnic monitoring questions, rather than via their professional agents.
• To include a brief summary of contents in the main ethnic minority languages in all public documentation.
• To continue to target as wide a section of ethnic groups as possible during the later stages of the Unitary Development Plan adoption.
Education
Introduction
The department has approximately 569 members of staff concentrated in six key service delivery functions; three of which perform an external client-facing role, i.e. School Improvement and Development, Access and Inclusion and Community and Lifelong Learning. The remaining three – HR, Finance and Education Strategic Support, provide internal support to the department as a whole. The Department also provides support to 85 schools, which has included advice and guidance to them about the implications of the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000.
Department aims and objectives to promote race equality
The department has 12 aims and objectives centred on the Council’s corporate objectives. Thus the agenda for promoting race equality within the education authority falls within three very distinct areas:
• achievement of CRE level 2;
• monitoring racist incidents, in schools and the department; and
• raising achievement of under-performing groups of pupils in Lambeth schools.
By March 2002, the Department Management Team (DMT) had agreed a revised race equality action plan, which would incorporate the three priorities and serve as a starting point for the department’s race equality work.
Current position in relation to race equality
Education and race equality has been a closely intertwined feature within the London Borough of Lambeth. The recent achievement of CRE level 2 and commendation in the OFSED/Audit Commission inspection report (December 2000) for making a valuable contribution to promoting social inclusion and racial equality; highlights the extent of the positive work achieved so far. In addition to this, many of the borough’s individual schools have been commended in their own reports for their work to tackle underachievement and promote race equality.
Youth Services have designed a refugee and asylum seekers project, which provides a range of support services for adults and young people in the area of education and integration into schools, benefits advice and information on refugee status.
Governor Services provides a range of support services for schools partly as a statutory obligation and partly on a no fee basis. Each term schools are provided with a model agenda for the governance of schools covering issues of concern for schools governors for the coming year. This year all schools were given the opportunity to take part in a series of seminars outlining the main requirements of the duty as it applies to schools. Governors have also received training around the requirements of the Act and the implications for their role as governors.
However, there is recognition within the department that there is more to do and much of this work stems from a number of key internal and external drivers:
Internal drivers for change:
• Substantial differences in achievement of different ethnic groups, with these differences becoming more marked as children move through the education system;
• Evidence that some Lambeth schools have a poor reputation amongst local parents from the Black and minority ethnic community, and/or that their children are suffering from institutional racism, although no evidence as to whether perception amongst Black and minority ethnic parents is worse than that of other parents.
• Over-representation of Black and minority ethnic groups among young people who are “socially excluded” e.g. those who are excluded from school, teenage mothers, and young offenders.
External drivers for change:
• Lead from central government to improve educational provision which in turn has led to a commitment on the part of the education authority to stretch attainment targets for pupils, the achievement of which will require a closing of the gap in attainment between low and high performing groups.
• Implementation of the recommendations from the Macpherson report into the death of Stephen Lawrence.
• Introduction of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act.
• Use of ethnic monitoring as a driver for improvement.
Meeting the general duty and specific duties
The Education department’s policies are well placed to meet the requirements, due to statutory and non-statutory obligations. In particular the inequality in levels of achievement amongst BME children. A number of additional policy priorities will ensure compliance such as the CRE standard, department race equality action plan and Best Value.
Priority action areas to achieve the requirements of the general duty:
Year 1
Following a presentation on the Act, members of the DMT agreed the priority action areas for year one activities:
• Ethnic Minority Achievement - to raise the achievement of underachieving groups at a rate that is faster than the overall rates within the LEA and to close the attainment gaps between groups.
• Lifelong Learning, principally in the area of youth services.
• Access – providing sources of financial support in the form of student awards and benefits.
• Social Inclusion – provide a more cohesive structure to current provision.
Years 2 and 3
A number of service areas have been identified as priority areas in Year 2, 2003/04. These are: governor services; early years; libraries arts and archives; assessment and intervention; the education psychology service; and the youth offending team. For each service the information collected during 2002/03 about who is using services and strategies to address under-representation will be reviewed, and decisions made about additional action required in 2003/04.
Environment
Introduction
The department has approximately 320 members of staff operating in 11 Business Units. Five units provide support functions for the remaining 6 Business Units who provide services in areas such as: Building Control, Transport and Highways, Sports, Environmental Management and Development (including Parks and Recycling), Street Care and Regulatory Services. The Department has a strong commitment to Sustainable Development. It has a full time Sustainable Development Policy Officer and the department took a strong lead in the Best Value Review for Sustainability. A fundamental element of sustainable development is equality and fairness.
This belief has underpinned many of the department’s approaches to service delivery and research work. One such example of this was the ‘Testing the Mix’ project. This was a research project, which aimed at identifying why people from BME communities are less involved in regeneration, environmental and sustainable development initiatives and to identify some local solutions. A number of interesting conclusions were established and the results have subsequently been disseminated to all other London authorities and other departments in Lambeth Council.
Furthermore, the department has a strong link to street safety and crime prevention, working together with officers on the crime reduction strategy. One of the department’s key priorities for the next three years is ‘streets and safety’ and the department is actively involved in a number of initiatives from installation of CCTV through to the improvement in streetlighting, all of which are aimed at making Lambeth’s streets a safer place.
Department aims and objectives to promote race equality
Current position in relation to race equality
Environment alongside other departments in the Council has recently achieved CRE level 2 status. The department has focused much of its energy on central government’s strategy on social inclusion and neighbourhood renewal to further its race equalities work. In particular, the department is working cross departmentally to deliver on the neighbourhood renewal agenda. In addition to this the department is committed to meeting its legal requirements for addressing equality issues and implementing the Commission for Racial Equalities standard levels 3 – 5 by 2004/5.
Internal drivers for change:
• Strong cohesive culture centred on equity, fairness and respect.
• Best Value Review.
• Attaining CRE level 3.
• Clear management direction.
• Business Planning.
• Business Improvement Strategy.
• IiP.
• Supportive project management approach to driving forward the equalities agenda.
External drivers for change:
• Central government commitment to promoting neighbourhood renewal.
• Legislative and statutory requirements.
Meeting the general and specific duties
The department has a strong commitment to sustainable development. Environment has a full time Sustainable Development Policy Officer and the department took a strong lead in the Best Value Review for Sustainability. A fundamental element of sustainable development is equality and fairness. This belief has underpinned many of the department’s approaches to service delivery and research work. Environment has the systems in place to take on the requirements of the general and specific duties. In particular the department has an equality steering committee made up of a cross-section of staff in varying grades that can comment on policy, strategy and practice.
Priority action areas to achieve the requirements of the general duty:
Year 1
• Achieve CRE Level 2 and start work towards CRE Level 3.
• HR, in particular monitoring, training and staff development.
• Access to services (social inclusion and sustainability).
• Enforcement – looking at the general rights of enforcement and the rights of citizens i.e. recognising cultural differences.
• Street Safety/ Crime Reduction.
• Reorganisation in the department – providing clear management accountability and thus ensuring a better level of service to the customer.
Year 2 and 3
The department has a strong link to streets, safety and crime prevention, working together with officers on the crime reduction strategy. One of the department’s key priorities for the next three years is ‘streets and safety’ and the department is actively involved in a number of initiatives from installation of CCTV through to the improvement in streetlighting, all of which are aimed at making Lambeth’s streets a safer place. Furthermore the department will:
• Continue to develop and improve our systems and procedures on employment and training and development.
Housing
Introduction
The department has approximately 775 members of staff operating in four divisional areas, three of which perform an external client-facing role:
1) Housing Management;
2) Strategy and Partnerships; and 3) Benefits and Revenues.
In addition to this the Housing department is supported by a Finance IT and Anti-Fraud division, which includes functions such as regeneration, quality and equality sub-divisions.
Aims and Objectives to promote race equality
The department’s mission statement is “to ensure that all residents in Lambeth have the opportunity and choice to live in good quality, affordable housing within strong, healthy and secure communities”. In terms of the importance for race equality, housing is one of the key indicators of progress that local authorities have as a measure of how well their race equalities strategies is working, education being the other key indicator. In essence, the housing department’s implementation and delivery of this and other core equalities requirements will be closely watched, not least by local residents. Having said that, the department’s agenda for promoting race equality rests on two key objectives, which form part of the department’s overarching Housing Services Plan:
1) To enable choice, quality and equality including for people with special needs.
2) To strengthen and sustain communities and develop social inclusion.
Current position in relation to race equality
