The aim of this policy is to review and develop improvements in services and to progress the Gershon/ODPM agenda and provide excellent services.
In future, resources permitting, there could be increased use of specific monitoring and targets could be developed through the Customer Service Centre.
Human Resourses
1. WorkLife Balence
The aim of this policy is to meet European Directives and
Employment Legislation; to help and support employees manage a work-life balance in both their job and home responsibilities; to act as a recruitment and retention incentive and to promote positive action and counteract past discrimination.
Employees’ take up is recorded and will be analysed for any differential impact. Also need to examine outcomes after annual review and results of employee survey.
2. Child-Care Assistance
The aim of this policy is to meet European Directives on work-life balance initiatives and make full use of changes in tax and national insurance legislation; to assist employees with childcare costs and to form a recruitment and retention incentive.
Outcomes after an annual review and the results of the employee survey will be analysed.
3. Trade Union Support
The aim of this policy is to provide arrangements for time off and other facilities to accredited trade union representatives and to enable trade union representatives to fully participate in the
development and conduct of good industrial relations between the Council and its employees. The policy meets the ACAS Code of Practice under ‘Time Off for Trade Union Duties and Activities’.
The policy is important for promoting race equality in allowing time off for trade union representatives to attend training on race equality matters. Trade union representatives can then provide strong support for the Council's equality policies. It is proposed to organise a joint working party to further develop the policy.
4. Managing Attendance
The aim of this policy is to maintain high levels of attendance which lead to higher levels of service provision and heightened morale and to provide a fair and consistent framework for managing employee absence related to sickness or a disability.
Implementation of the policy could be improved with further training for managers.
5. Confidential Reporting Policy
The aim of this policy is to enable employees, and others that the Council deals with, who have serious concerns about any aspect of the Council’s work, to come forward and voice those concerns on a confidential basis and to eliminate fear of victimisation, any
subsequent discrimination or disadvantage when raising concerns. This Policy encourages and enables employees to raise concerns within the Council rather than ‘blow the whistle’ outside.
Further work is required on whether the policy is meeting its desired outcomes, user satisfaction and whether is promoting race equality. It is proposed to have feedback forms and training for managers.
Housing Services
1. Repairs and Maintenance
The aim of this policy is to carry out repairs and maintenance to customers properties within specified time scales, efficiently,
effectively and fairly with high customer satisfaction; to reduce costs and environmental impacts and to appoint more work to meet
customer requirements.
Service is committed to investigating lower satisfaction rate for Black and ethnic minority customers, but this may be due to low base statistical base (significantly fewer Black and ethnic minority tenants). Other methods of assessing satisfaction need to be found and the proposed new BME tenants forum may assist in this. None of the local BME groups have ever raised concerns about this service. 2. Homelessness
The aim of this policy is to provide the framework for emergency and preventative services to people who are, or at risk of being,
homeless or threatened with homelessness. The Council produces a Homelessness Strategy. Key objectives from strategy:
1. Provide quality services to homeless people. 2. Preventing homelessness.
3. Reducing use of temporary accommodation.
4. Multi-agency working to tackle exclusion and develop sustainable solutions to homelessness.
Improvements identified:
1. Further awareness training for staff and operatives on minority group requirements is currently being arranged within the
department.
2. Working with partners to improve availability of suitable accommodation.
3. Monitoring needs improving. 3. Adaptations
The aim of the policy is to provide an adaptations service to Council Tenants that will meet the long term needs of the disabled person, either through adapting their property or looking at alternative housing solutions. The policy also aims to
1. enable tenants to be independent, or more independent, and safe in their home;
2. to reduce the risk of falls;
3. to reduce the need for long term residential care and reduce bed blocking time;
4. to offer alternative housing solutions to tenants to meet their long term needs;
5. to make good use of the Housing Stock.
Service has good monitoring in place and reported satisfaction from all groups is high.
4. Tenancy Enforcement
The aim of the policy is to:
1. ensure that everyone maintain the right to the quiet enjoyment of their home, free from crime and unreasonable disturbance;
2. Where CBC tenants are causing, or are the victims of ASB, to respond to stop the ASB using any appropriate legal and other remedies at our disposal;
3. Respond proportionately;
4. Work in partnership with the CSP and other stakeholder agencies; 5. To ensure accessibility to all members of the community and to
take any reasonable steps to aid communication with those who have difficulty;
6. Support witnesses and victims; 7. Increase the reporting of ASB; 8. Reduce ASB across the Borough;
9. Raise awareness of ASB to help perpetrators modify their ASB and victims to respond appropriately.
The implementation of the policy has excellent monitoring systems in place and the service has a high awareness of race equality
issues. The new data base and also the new satisfaction
questionnaire are important for recording and monitoring outcomes. 5. Tenancy Support
The aim of the policy is to:
1. Co-ordinate, facilitate and link the provision of integrated services to vulnerable tenants and their carers from appropriate service providers through a client centred approach.
2. Provide direct support, advice and assistance to vulnerable tenants for an agreed period to enable them to:
- Move successfully into accommodation suitable for their needs; - Secure and maintain long term housing by identifying and addressing needs;
- Provide additional support to enable vulnerable tenants to maintain their tenancies.
3. Ensure that the Tenancy Support Service is equally available to all vulnerable tenants, that all service users have confidence in the service & the Borough Council & that service user
monitoring shows no significant difference in confidence between different groups.
4. Take positive action to counteract discrimination and break
down the barriers which may prevent some groups from using the Tenancy Support Service.
The policy is very well monitored and there is a high awareness of race equality issues. It is hoped to build on a successful meeting with the African Caribbean Community Association and have meetings with other community groups to raise their awareness of the service. The extra Tenancy Support Worker will enable more focus on reaching hard to reach groups through targeting of
Environmental Services
1. Food Hygiene and Safety
The aim of the policy is to protect the health of residents and
visitors who consume food produced and sold within the Borough; to enforce food safety legislation and provide advice/guidance to
businesses and individuals; to contribute to the healthy community and well being objectives of the community strategy and to contribute to the Council’s vision through the promotion of safe and healthy communities.
A significant proportion of local food businesses are ethnic minority run so this policy can have a significant impact and the availability of interpreters and translations is very important. Data on the ethnicity of food business proprietors is currently being collated, once this information has been gathered if will be possible to monitor the level of enforcement action taken against ethnic minority food business proprietors. This will show whether there are any differences in impact between different groups.
Leisure Services
1. Indoor Sport/Queens Park Sports Centre
The aim of the policy is to provide a balanced programme of Leisure activities for the interest, well being, and enjoyment for all members of the community and individuals resident in, or visiting the town and to provide a high quality facility available to all users in all socio-economic groups.
Examining ways of promoting service to Black and ethnic minority communities. Taking action on to provide reassurance about
welcoming all communities and action being taken against any abuse or harassment.
2. Tapton Park Golf
The aim of the policy is to providea balanced programme, including golf, of leisure activities for the interest, well being, and enjoyment of all communities and individuals resident in, or visiting the town and to provide a high quality golf facility available to all users in all socio-economic groups
There are difficulties with monitoring the comparatively small black and ethnic minority communities and need to find other imaginative ways to reach BME communities & promote service to them.
Planning Services
1. Development Control
The aim of the policy is to enable customers of the Development Management Service to obtain the appropriate and necessary advice on planning issues.
No improvements identified. 2. Building Control
The aim of the policy is to ensure the health and safety of people in and around buildings and to provide an equitable, accessible and responsive building control service.
Service works to high standard of equalities implementation and no improvements identified.
Economic Promotion
1. Business Development
The aim of the policy is to providedirection to the Council’s corporate approach to the development of a diverse, vibrant economic base and to provide a land and property information service to those companies seeking to locate to, or expand in, the area and ensure a seamless response to investor enquiries.
CBC keeps copies of all enquiries received. After examination of CRE Guidance it was decided that the potential data base is too small to record ethnic monitoring date for businesses. However, anecodatal review of existing premises let by CBC suggests that between 3 and 5% of the Council’s property portfolio is let to BME owned businesses. This exceeds the population mix of the area as the 2001 Census shows that 1.9% of the Chesterfield population consider themselves to be from a ethnic minority. Other forms of monitoring being examined.
2. Grants to Voluntary Organisations
The aim of the policy is to give overall direction to the Council’s corporate approach to awarding grants to community and voluntary organisations that operate within the Borough; to ensure that the Council can, through the proper funding of the voluntary and community sector, support the Council’s aim of empowering local people and communities and achieving the Council’s vision for the area.
The grants process is designed so that the assistance given can contribute to the overall vision for the Borough including tackling deprivation and poverty and eliminating discrimination and inequality.
The issue of Black and ethnic minority groups' perception of under- funding is serious and requires addressing. Groups point to degree of under spend by the Community Forums in the context of CFs being unrepresentative. These issues can be taken up in the current grants review.
Tourism
1. Tourism
The aim of the policy is to operate a Tourist Information Centre in accordance with the English Tourist Board’s networking procedures.
The service has good monitoring procedures in place and high levels of satisfaction across all groups.
Revenues
1. Rate Relief
The aim of the policy is to ensure the consistent treatment of applications for rate relief from charities and other non-profit making organisations within the Borough, to meet statutory guidelines and to deal with applications equitably.
The new additional criteria (to ensure groups are including all relevant sections of the local community in their work) are bemusing to many applicants but are having the effect of raising awareness. As they become better understood actions will follow. The new criteria were introduced both to implement race equality but also to assist with breaking down the insularity of many groups.
2. Recovery
The aim of the policy is to ensure debts owed to the Council are recovered in a prompt, efficient and cost effective manner whilst affording appropriate and consistent treatment to any debtor taking into account their circumstances and all relevant factors with
Recovery Officers being firm but fair in repayment arrangements. The most important aspect of the recovery process from the equalities perspective is its accessibility and discussions have
already been had on this and proposals implemented eg, calling card with access statement.
3. Benefits
The aim of the policy is to ensure that both public and private sector tenants and Council Tax payers take maximum advantage of all rebates and allowances available under the housing benefits and Council Tax benefits schemes, and to promote all types of Social Security benefits.
Integral to the aims is recognising that equality is not about treating everyone the same; it is about realising that some people need to be treated differently in order to have the same outcomes. The benefits policies put mechanisms in place to achieve this so that people from varying ethnic backgrounds receive the same
opportunities and the same resultant service as any other applicant. Although the benefits scheme is a statutory one with little scope for discretion, the manner in which the service is operated is largely determined locally, providing we work within the Government’s
Performance Standards framework. In addition we work closely with the DWP and the local Job Centre office to maximise awareness and take-up of all available assistance.
4. Anti-Fraud
The aim of the policy is to comply with the statutory requirement placed on Local Authorities to have arrangements for the proper administration of their financial affairs. This includes a duty to have effective controls and procedures for the prevention, detection and investigation of fraud and error in Housing and Council Tax Benefit. Action against fraud is also a key part of the DWP’s Performance Standards which form a component of the Council’s CPA.
No improvements identified - service ensures action is taken to ensure service is accessible.
Legal and Associated Services
1. Advice
The aim of the policy is to advise officers and members on the law generally in order to help promote the council's legal duties -
including on equalities law and to achieve justice and fairness in the council's doings.
No improvements identified. 2. Eviction Protection
The aim of the policy is to, in partnership with the Chesterfield Law Centre, to take criminal proceedings to punish and deter private sector landlords from harassing or unlawfully evicting private residential occupiers.
Need to get statistics from the Law Centre and analyse and report annually.
3. Community Forums
The aim of the policy is to providea framework for local people to become involved in the democratic process and decision making for their local areas.
Need to make Community Forums more representative. Need to ensure concerns of excluded groups are included (Black and ethnic minority, young people etc.).
4. Member Development
The aim of the policy is to provideall Cllr.s and co-opted members with individual and collective support, training and development opportunities to enable to perform their role to the maximum of their ability. This includes development on equalities and race equality issues.
Proposal to survey of members' knowledge and understanding of equalities.
5. Twinning
The aim of the policy is to promote cultural diversity by promoting international twinning links.
6. Monitoring Officer
The aim of the policy is to promote and assist in enforcing the provisions and general principles of the members' code of conduct on anti-discrimination and equalities amongst elected and co-opted members of CBC and elected members of Staveley and Brimington parish councils.
The code is well enforced, but it is proposed to provide further training and a members survey.