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ITEM EX9 - ANNEX

EXECUTIVE - 19 MARCH 2002

SOCIAL INCLUSION AND EQUALITIES

A New Focus for Equalities within Oxfordshire County Council

Derek Bishop, Head of Democratic Services
Hilary Simpson, Adviser to the Chief Executive

  1. Background to Equalities within Oxfordshire County Council

    1. The "Old" Member Structure

      1. Under the previous political management arrangements the Council’s performance in equalities (both in employment and service delivery, and across all dimensions of equalities) was monitored by Equal Opportunities Working Party. This was set up in 1986 and consisted of one member from each of the three main political groups. It had a direct reporting line to Strategy and Resources Committee.

      2. Consultation with representatives of the ethnic minority communities was undertaken through the Ethnic Minorities Consultative Committee, which consisted of nine elected members and 20 community representatives.

    2. The "Old" Officer Structure

      1. Until recently, corporate work on equalities issues was shared between Derek Bishop, formerly Head of Corporate Services, and Hilary Simpson, formerly Head of Organisational Development.

      2. Derek’s focus was on race equality, and in particular on liaison with representatives of the ethnic minority communities through his role as the lead officer for the Ethnic Minorities Consultative Committee. He has also been the main point of contact with the county’s two Racial Equality Councils.

      3. Hilary’s focus was more internal, including lead responsibility for equalities in employment. Her brief encompassed all the equality dimensions (including race, gender, disability, age and sexuality) and with the introduction of the CRE Standard she increasingly assumed responsibility for service delivery as well as employment issues. She was the lead officer for Equal Opportunities Working Party.

      4. Both officers now have new roles within the reconfiguration of the central directorates that has taken place over the last few months, Derek as Head of Democratic Services and Hilary as Adviser to the Chief Executive. Neither role includes responsibility for equalities.

    3. The Council’s Track Record

      1. The Council has an excellent track record in equalities. During the 1980s it was among the first authorities to introduce recruitment monitoring and compulsory training in fair recruitment and selection. It was also a pioneer in extending its Equal Opportunities Policy to include "non-statutory" areas such as age and sexuality as early as 1986.

      2. During the late 1980s and early 1990s the Council had a high profile as an innovator in the area of family-friendly employment practices and flexible working. In 1990 it was named Employer of the Year by the Working Mothers Association and in 1992 it was named as one of "Fifty Best Companies for Women". In the same year the Council won an award for Innovation in Local Government Personnel Practice and in 1994 it was featured in a BBC television series, "Breaking Glass", and in a training film, "New Ways to Work". The long-term benefits of this approach can be seen in the fact that the Council now has a higher proportion of women in senior management positions (40%) than any other shire county.

      3. The Council formally adopted the CRE Standard for Racial Equality in 1996 and initiated a system of annual reporting to Strategy and Resources Committee against its targets. The Standard is now a statutory Performance Indicator and when performance figures for 2001-02 are published, Oxfordshire is expected to be one of only a handful of counties to have reached Level 3 of the Standard.

      4. Again, the long-term commitment to equalities within the authority means that ethnic minorities are well represented among the Council’s workforce (over 5%, compared with a population figure of less than 4%). Among shire counties, only Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire have higher proportions of ethnic minority staff.

  1. Additional Pressures from 2002 onwards

    1. The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000

      1. The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 requires the Council to have a Race Equality Scheme in place by 31 May 2002 which will enable it to meet the duties placed on it by the new legislation. The Scheme must contain properly timetabled and realistic plans for meeting the new duties across policy, employment and service delivery. There are particular implications for increased levels of consultation, monitoring, impact assessment, public access to information, and staff training.

      2. It is hoped to meet this deadline through the part-time secondment of a suitably experienced officer to undertake the preparation of the Council’s Scheme between March and May 2002.

    2. The Equality Standard for Local Government

      1. The new Equality Standard for Local Government was launched in October 2001. It provides a common approach to dealing with race, gender and disability and is expected to replace the CRE Race Equality Standard as a statutory Performance Indicator in 2002-03.

      2. Although the Council is well placed in terms of its practice to meet the additional challenges of the new Equality Standard, the wider remit will result in an increased workload in the monitoring and reviewing of performance, as this will now be measured across three dimensions (race, gender and disability) instead of simply in relation to race.

    3. Implications

      1. Historically the Council’s performance on the employment aspects of equalities has been strong and there is no reason why this cannot be maintained following the appointment of a well qualified and experienced Principal Personnel Officer.

      2. Our performance in service delivery (including consultation, impact assessment and monitoring) has been more patchy and has not had a natural "home" or focus of accountability within the organisation. There is a network of officers with equalities responsibilities within service directorates, but in most cases this is in addition to their existing workload. These officers are not experts but act as contact points for the dissemination of information and the implementation of decisions, and they still look to "the centre" for guidance, information on best practice and benchmarking. An obvious locus for this work is as part of the larger social inclusion agenda addressed by the Partnerships Unit.

  2. Proposals for a new Officer Structure

    3. The pressures outlined above and the changed structure of the central directorates means that there is an urgent need to establish a new officer structure to ensure that the Council meets its statutory duties and continues to be a top performer in the equalities field. The following structure is proposed:

    Overall responsibility for Equalities

      1. Equalities is designated as a responsibility of the Strategy Directorate.

        2. Equalities in Employment

      2. Equalities in employment is designated as a responsibility of the County Personnel Unit and specifically as a responsibility of the new Principal Personnel Officer who has recently been appointed.

        3. Equalities in Service Delivery and Community Relations

      3. Equalities in service delivery and community relations is designated as a responsibility of the Partnerships Unit.

      4. The County Personnel Unit and the Partnerships Unit will need to work closely together in order to (a) ensure an integrated and consistent approach to equalities and (b) maximise limited resources.

      5. A new post of Equalities Officer, responsible for all non-employment aspects of equalities, is established within the Partnerships Unit, reporting to the Social Policy Manager.

      6. Key tasks for this post will include

    • advising services on best practice in relation to consultation, service planning, service delivery and monitoring;

    • liaising with local ethnic minority communities and other relevant groups;

    • being the first point of contact for the Racial Equality Councils;

    • ensuring the effective implementation and delivery of the Council’s statutory Racial Equality Scheme;

    • monitoring the authority’s performance against the new generic Equality Standard and taking responsibility for the associated performance indicators.

      1. Given the introduction of the new generic Equality Standard the post would need to cover all aspects of equality, but the primary focus in the initial stages would need to be race equality in order to ensure that the Council meets its obligations under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act.

      2. This post could be funded from "carry forwards" during 2002-03 if a commitment to long-term funding were made in the budget for 2003-04.

  1. Equalities within the new Member Structures

    2. Executive

      1. On the Executive, equalities is included within the portfolio of the Deputy Leader.

        2. Scrutiny

      2. Within the Scrutiny system, equalities falls within the remit of the Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee.

        3. Consultation

      3. A general review of consultation arrangements is currently being carried out which includes arrangements for consultation with ethnic minority communities and service users.

Derek Bishop
Hilary Simpson

March 2002

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