Idea Transcript
Report
meeting
SOCIAL SERVICES SELECT COMMITTEE
date
10th January 2006
agenda item number
REPORT OF THE HEAD OF PARTNERSHIPS EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY IN THE SOCIAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT- THE ANNUAL REVIEW 2005 1.
Purpose of the Report
1.1
The purpose of the report is to inform Members of the progress being made in implementing the department’s Equality and Diversity framework over the past year as is required by the framework policy listed as a background paper to this report.
2.
Information and Advice
2.1
The Social Services Department’s Equality and Diversity framework has been in operation since Local Government Reorganisation (LGR). It was developed to ensure the promotion, monitoring and support of equality of opportunity in all aspects of our activities. It was approved by the Social Services Committee on 22nd July 1998, and continues to form the backbone of all our equality and diversity activity. Members have received copies of the framework, which is listed as a background paper to this report.
2.2
While it is the job of every member of staff to implement the framework as appropriate in their day-to-day work, the responsibility for monitoring the departments’ progress as a department rests with the Partnerships Unit of Adult Commissioning. The head of the unit is obliged to provide this annual report to Members as part of the overall monitoring process.
3.
Developments
3.1
The Equalities Steering Group
3.1.1 The Equalities framework requires the identification and implementation of specific targets within each locality’s Implementation Plan, which is reviewed annually through the Business Planning process. 3.1.2 In order to ensure that the department maintains and develops good cooperation and high standards between its many units in all aspects of /
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implementation, the department’s Equalities Steering Group was formed in July 1998. It comprises representatives from all parts of the department, including each locality, and has met at two monthly intervals ever since. It enables both strategic and practical perspectives to be identified in the analysis of all relevant equality issues, and provides a forum for both employment and service delivery equality issues to be discussed. It produces a staff-oriented version of the Equalities framework, which ensures that each employee is aware of the department’s commitment to equality of opportunity and how to obtain further information, help and support as required in their work. An update of this booklet has recently been produced and is available on the intranet. 3.1.3 The steering group played the central role in carrying out the Local Government Association’s (LGA) Equality Audit for the department, which serves as the benchmark for progress against national standards of performance. They have also recently formally assessed the department’s progress against the benchmark for reaching Level 3 of the LGA Equality Standards. The group has helped analyse and evaluate the recruitment and selection monitoring system data, all relevant sections of the employee survey, black staff seminar action plans, service user surveys, and any other departmental data relevant to equalities issues. The department’s capacity to carry out this work is significantly enhanced by the support of the performance review managers for adults, children and families and support services, who are permanent members of the group. 3.1.4 The Equalities Steering Group will continue to play a central role in monitoring the achievement of equality targets within localities and through the supervisory process. It will also oversee the implementation of the human resources equality objectives that are developed corporately, but delivered through each department. 3.1.5 Another event this year was the holding of a Directorate Equality and Diversity Strategy Day. The Director of Social Services wanted to ensure that the entire department had clear plans and targets for meeting both the department’s own and the corporately-set equality objectives. These were formulated and later checked at Directorate for priority and accuracy, along with the formal assessment mentioned above. The Assistant Director Development and Support Services was named as departmental representative on the newlyformed Corporate Equality and Diversity Strategy Group, with overall departmental responsibility for delivery of the whole equalities agenda. This has significantly strengthened the fundamental role of equality in everything that the department does and has focused attention on what is most important for the department to achieve. 3.2
The Corporate Equalities Group (CEG)
3.2.1 The Corporate Equalities Group continues to be chaired by the Social Services Department’s Head of Partnerships. This is in recognition of the leading role the department has played in championing equalities issues over many years across the authority. Directly accountable to the Corporate
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Equality and Diversity Strategy Group, CEG is currently implementing its 2005/06 work plan, which will enable the whole authority to move to Level 3 of the LGA Equality Standards. The Corporate Equalities Group is responsible for overseeing the progress and performance of the whole authority in its programme of steady improvement against these national standards. It also provides a support mechanism to address problems and barriers that occur within particular departments, and ensures that good practice is recognised and shared effectively across the authority. 3.2.2 Its most significant achievements over the past year have been: •
the overview and implementation of the Equality Audit process for the County conducted on our behalf by Dialog Consultants. This has led to a number of necessary developments to enable us to be better prepared for achieving verification at Level 3 of the LGA Equality Standards. The most significant of these is the establishment of a Corporate Equality and Diversity Strategy Group, chaired by the chief executive and involving assistant directors from every department of the County Council who now have clear individual responsibility for delivering the equalities agenda
•
the development of the eighteen month 2005/06 Corporate Equalities Action Plan to ensure continued progress through to Level 3 of the LGA Equality Standards by April 2006
•
the maintenance of a comprehensive equalities section on the County Council website, describing policies, practices, contact points, complaints procedures, etc
•
the updating and ongoing maintenance of the Corporate Race Equality Scheme, also placed on the website, as required by the Race Relations Amendment Act (2000), including monitoring and reviewing the completed Equality Impact Assessments for relevant departmental policies and procedures
•
the updating of the Corporate Equalities ‘checklist’, designed as a tool to help managers who are new to assessing equality in performance, especially in relation to Best Value Reviews, Business Planning and Equality Action Planning
•
a continuing contribution to the design and delivery of the Corporate Equalities Learning and Development Strategy, which will provide appropriate, tailored training to over 15,000 staff across all departments of the County Council over the next four years, as required by both the CPA (Comprehensive Performance Assessment) and the LGA Equality Standards
•
the design, distribution and analysis of the second comprehensive Corporate Equalities Survey, which was sent to every member of staff of the Council and will define the baseline for all future (biennial) surveys of
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our progress as an authority in meeting our staff equality targets, as perceived by the departments’ employees •
the development a specific Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) Project to provide a corporate electronic format with comprehensive guidance for all managers to enable the consistent, ongoing evaluation of all our policies, functions and procedures as required by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, and provide automatic evidence of our compliance
•
the establishment of a second corporate equality officer post to assist in the full compliance with equality legislation, standards and timescales and enhance our ability to support departmental staff and improve quality.
3.2.3 The County Equality Officer continues to be directly managed by the Social Services Head of Partnerships, in his role of Chair of CEG. Virtually all of the expectations for progress around corporate work continue to be met because of the support and monitoring role performed by the post holder. 3.3
The Black Families and Children’s’ Steering Group
3.3.1 In January 2001 a steering group was established to oversee the implementation of an action plan to improve services to black & ethnic minority children. The steering group has broad representation from children’s services and has evolved its remit and structure in response to the progress in this area. Achievements over the past 12 months have included: •
quality assurance processes arrangements are in place in localities/service areas and the processes and systems are now well established and are consistently applied. There is a lead manager in each area who oversees this process and who is also a member of the steering group which aids communication and consistency
•
locality/service area auditing and tracking of cases is taking place on a regular basis and direct feedback is given to staff about their practice, which is achieving gradual improvement
•
local steering groups are in place and effectively engage frontline staff and encourage a greater ownership of the need to improve practice standards - these groups are led by managers and they ensure staff understand their relevance – management time and commitment on an on-going basis has been an essential ingredient to their success
•
training - A two day mandatory training course for frontline staff has been on-going for 3 years which most front line staff have attended. The lead service managers maintain a local database which identifies those staff who have attended training and those waiting to access it. Externally commissioned training for managers was delivered in October 2004, March 2005 and October 2005. This will ensure that almost all children’s managers have received the training
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•
the steering group has changed its structure and format which means the full group meets on a six monthly basis and has four working groups as follows:
• o o o o
training service developments operational progress/developments overview
Each working group is chaired by a member of the steering group and has key priorities identified for the next 12 months. Each group reports back to the full Steering Group every six months.
3.4
•
The Service Level Agreement with the African Caribbean Families and Friends Association provides a consultancy service for staff and carers, a library facility for parents, children and carers, and a play scheme held during the school holidays. There is currently a formal review of this service. It offers the identification of culturally appropriate services across the county which can be delivered to black and minority ethnic children. They also contribute to the revision of departmental policy and procedures guidance on working with black and ethnic children and their families.
•
-a plan and process has been developed for improving practice and services for asylum seeking young people.
Black and Ethnic Minority Adult Services Audit Group (BEMAS)
3.4.1 Last year, following the success of the Black Families and Children’s Group, a similar body was established to provide the same overview and audit function for adult services. The BEMAS group consists of representatives from all adult services areas and it began its work by conducting an audit of its black and asian adult service users. The department was greatly assisted in this by the performance review manager (adults), who produced a statistical profile of black and asian service users for the department to consider. 3.4.2 After analysing the available information, the department decided to run a series of detailed consultations with these service users, beginning with Indian elders who attend the Indian Centre and proceeding through each ethnic group and service area. The purpose of these consultations was to identify the detailed services most appreciated by the elders, the gaps in provision which they would most like filled and the overall quality of their experience in being supported by us. The consultation took the form of a survey, conducted in a one-to-one format by the social care staff of the Indian Centre in each elder’s first language. The survey was successfully completed and the resultant analysis was fed into the business planning process for priority action. 3.4.3 To further strengthen the department’s capacity to respond to the surveys findings at the operational level, a locality manager was named chair of the group, and representatives from Mental Health, Learning Disabilities, Learning and Development Unit, Black Workers Support Group and Adult Direct /
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Services were added to the membership. Specific adult black services action plans were developed, assisted by the Black Staff Seminar event (described below), which now form the core activities of the Group. Regular reports of the group’s progress are made available to the three adult management teams and Directorate. 3.4.5 An additional positive development has been the continued funding of a dedicated Black and Ethnic Minority link worker post in North Nottinghamshire. The department has provided the majority of on-going costs for this post, which supports the development of specific social care services to ethnic groups and individuals in the four northern Districts. While managed through NAVO (Nottinghamshire Association of Voluntary Organisations), the post holder works closely with the two locality managers to ensure that the development work which is undertaken is backed up by the resources required to provide the necessary services. 3.4.6 Two additional service initiatives concern the Supporting People (SP) Project and the Nottinghamshire Committee for the Protection of Vulnerable Adults (NCPVA). A special conference was organised in 2004 to directly address the social care housing needs of black and ethnic minority people, which has been given a higher priority following the recent successful Commission for Social Care Inspectorate (CSCI) inspection of the Project. The Nottinghamshire Committee for the Protection of Vulnerable Adults (NCPVA) has likewise organised a specific seminar of black and asian social care professionals to identify the key issues and cultural sensitivities around adult protection so that the department can systematically address their communities’ problems. A second successful event was held in October 2005. The outcomes of these initiatives will directly affect policy and provision for both projects in the future. 3.5
Workforce Planning
3.5.1 The department has had a Human Resources Strategy and a Workforce Plan since April 1999. A significant part of workforce planning is concerned with equality and diversity and has a sub-group working specifically on these issues. Called the Diversity Sub-Group, its initial action plan was developed in response to issues raised through previous staff surveys, seminars, conferences and workshops. Implementation and monitoring of the action plan is undertaken by members of the group and other officers across the department. The group is one of eight sub-groups which, taken together, progress the department’s Workforce Plan. 3.5.2 Several key actions from the initial action plan had been implemented at the point at which the action plan was reviewed and updated in July 2005. A specific policy on Age Diversity was developed in January 2005, following research by the department’s equality champion and the department’s 2005 staff conferences. A revised ‘exit interview’ process was launched in November 2004. Dyslexia Awareness seminars have now been incorporated into the department’s training and development programme.
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3.5.3 The group’s updated action plan has also been informed by research undertaken by the Race Equalities Unit. 3.5.4 A key objective of the group is to monitor the department’s overall performance in terms of supporting and promoting diversity within its workforce. Given the monitoring role of the group it is reliant on the provision of timely and accurate management information on the department’s workforce profile, recruitment and selection activity and levels of disciplinary and grievance casework. Some of the key action points of the group are focused on ensuring the provision of such information. The information will enable the performance improvement manager, who is a member of the group, to publish an analysis of the department’s monitoring. The analysis includes, by reference to disadvantaged groups, the numbers of: • • • •
staff in post applicants for employment, training and promotion staff involved in grievance, harassment or disciplinary procedures staff who leave the employment of the department.
3.5.5 Analysis of the information enables the group to see if there are any differences between the specific groups, and makes recommendations to the department’s Directorate on how to deal with any unfairness or possible discrimination. 3.5.6 The group also has some responsibility to develop and implement policies which promote diversity at all levels across the department. Initiatives in the revised action plan for 2005/06 include:
3.6
h
ensuring that recruitment and selection policies promote diversity and equality in employment
h
ensuring that the department/authority gives consideration to becoming a disability symbol user
h
facilitating a review and expansion of the current Racial Harassment Policy to include harassment on other grounds ie disability, gender, religion or belief and sexual orientation
h
revising, as appropriate, departmental information eg leaflets to ensure that they reflect the department’s stand on diversity and equality
h
undertaking a review of the content of diversity courses currently offered by the department.
Local Government Association (LGA) Equality Standards Progress
3.6.1 Over the past three years, the department and the authority have been working to nationally set equality standards. Initially, Members of the County Council adopted the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) Standards and officers conducted a thorough corporate audit to benchmark against the /
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standards. The CRE inspected and verified this work. In the last two years, a new set of national standards emerged under the auspices of the LGA, incorporating all previous national standards. Entitled “The LGA Equality Standards”, the Council formally adopted these in 2003, and all our equality work is now benchmarked against them. 3.6.2 The Council has also agreed a corporate timescale for rising to the highest level (Level 5) of the LGA Equality Standards. The authority is trying to achieve Level 3 by 31st March, 2006. The department however, has worked to a more ambitious schedule, and has virtually reached Level 3 and has begun planning for Level 4. In Social Services, several of the Level 4 and 5 standards have already been achieved, and we intend to continue to try to keep well ahead of the corporate timescale. 3.6.3 In order to achieve this, we produce an annual Equalities Action Plan which identifies the specific targets that must be met in the coming year for both employment and service delivery. This departmental plan is then incorporated into the Corporate Equality Plan, which is presented to Corporate Management Board and Cabinet for approval. 3.6.4 The leader of the County Council and the chief executive are our official equality champions and they play a very active, high profile role in the promotion of our work. Their continued support and that of every other Member of the Council is an essential prerequisite to continued progress. 3.7
Black Workers Support Group (BWSG)
3.7.1 This departmental staff group continues to go from strength to strength. The regular meetings between the BWSG Executive and the Director have continued throughout the year and are extremely productive. Two illustrations of this are the establishment of a permanent Mediation Service, following a successful pilot and the action plan which followed on from the last Black Staff seminar held in December 2004. 3.7.2 The seminar was very well attended and was considered successful, providing a great deal of raw material for further work. This was collated into a detailed Action Plan, service area by service area, which the department is presently implementing. A great deal of effort goes into monitoring the plan. The director maintains an overview with BWSG through their meetings, ensuring that any bottlenecks are removed. Each service area, led by the relevant assistant director, has identified the specific actions required from them, and meetings between them, their lead officers and representatives from BWSG ensure that progress is made. Each task has an identified target date for completion, and we report the outcomes to Directorate. As a result of this, it is fair to say that our working relationships with our black staff have never been better. 3.7.3 The initial Mediation Pilot Project explored crisis-resolution between white managers and black staff whose working relationship had become dysfunctional. The intention was to decrease grievances, disciplines and
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absence from work, and is seen as an investment in more effective crosscultural supervision. After its pilot phase it became clear that the concept worked well in practice and Directorate, with the support of BWSG agreed to extend the service to all staff and managers. The department’s experience of this type of mediation is unique for the Council, so the department is trying to share the learning as widely as possible. The support and co-operation of BWSG has been invaluable in making the experiment a success, and special recognition should go to the Project Manager. 3.7.4 The group, with full Directorate support, has also recently (19th October) organised formal celebrations for its 25th anniversary. The event was well planned and attended by many of those past and present who contributed to BWSG’s development, senior managers across the authority, and those many white and black staff who wish the group continued success. There is, to our knowledge, no other such staff group anywhere in the country which has lasted so long and achieved so much for both themselves and their employers. 3.8
Disabled Workers Group
3.8.1 The Disabled Workers Group is authority-wide, rather than just a departmental staff group, and it relates to the Corporate Equalities Group in the first instance. However, many staff play an active and often leading role in the group, which we encourage. The good working relationship which has been established over the past few years continues both corporately and departmentally, and representatives of the group take regular part in all Corporate Equality Group meetings. The group has made particularly useful contributions to the implementation of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), to the higher priority being given to training staff in the use of British Sign Language (BSL), which has recently been given the status of a full language, and to the general raising of disability awareness throughout the authority. 3.9
Learning and Development Unit
3.9.1 The department’s learning and development unit continues to play a leading role in the promotion and understanding of equality issues. Raising the awareness of diversity issues, and why diversity is a strength and an asset to the department and the community, continues to be a central theme of our training programmes. Equality and quality are closely related threads which are woven into each training event as underlying principles. So even if the course topic focuses on specific aspects of managerial performance, planning or skill development, the inherent equality issues are made explicit and explored whenever relevant. 3.9.3 In addition, some courses are designed to look specifically at equality issues. These include: • • •
Recruitment and Selection Recruitment and Selection Refresher Courses Disability Equality
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• • • • • • • •
User/Carer Involvement Supervision Skills: Policy and Practice Becoming Culturally Competent Valuing Diversity for Non-Managers Managing Grievances and Disciplines Quality and Equality for the Customer Managing Diversity Working with Black and Ethnic Minority Children and Their Families (for staff and managers).
Evaluation forms from these courses continue to be positive. 3.9.4 Officers of the Learning and Development Unit continue to make an important contribution to the work of the Equalities Steering Group, the Black Workers Seminar Action Plan and the Work/Life Balance Project (described below). 3.10
Work/Life Balance Project
3.10.1 This was a specific project initiated over four years ago, and intended to address the issue of under-representation of women managers at higher managerial levels in the department. However, it rapidly became apparent that a majority of the issues applied equally to male staff, so the project went on to identify a range of actions and policies which would enable the entire department’s staff, throughout the organisation, to achieve a more effective balance between work and their private lives. It is the department’s expectation that such actions significantly improve staff retention and decrease sickness absences as well. 3.10.2 The project undertook an audit of all existing departmental personnel policies and measured them against a national good practice benchmark. A questionnaire was sent to 400 staff asking more qualitative questions about what would improve their personal work/life balance. The recommendations of this work were shared with the Director, who agreed to a series of pilots across the department to test out the feasibility of different working practices. 3.10.3 A seminar was held in February 2003 to launch the pilots and assure that a system was in place to properly monitor the progress of each. The pilots have been extended across all service areas and a detailed evaluation will take place in December 2005. 3.10.4 In addition, attention has been drawn to flexible working practices as part of the department’s recruitment and retention strategy. 3.11
Monitoring Progress
3.11.1 As already mentioned, the Equalities Framework is largely delivered through the business planning process. As such, every year, a detailed analysis of District and Unit Implementation Plans is carried out to assess the specific targets appearing in the previous year’s plans. For each area of service the
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analysis is then fed back to locality teams to inform them of the coming year’s plans. 3.11.2 The department regularly review the range of statistical data that is available to monitor progress in improving our service delivery to ethnic minorities and vulnerable people, both as staff and in the community. These sources include: (i) (ii)
the Recruitment and Selection Monitoring System recording disability, sexual orientation and religion on the Framework system (iii) recording ethnicity on all client systems (iv) comprehensive workforce profiling (v) the Quality Assurance themed audit/review of Black Children (vi) the inclusion of ethnic origin in the Complaints Procedure (vii) the monitoring of referrals and demands by people from ethnic minorities on Framework (which the new census data will enable us to benchmark more accurately) (viii) measuring the number of adults from ethnic minorities who have been assessed against overall numbers being referred (ix) Mental Health Act monitoring of admissions and diversions (x) monitoring the use of Home Care Services by ethnic minorities (xi) recording ethnicity on both the Looked After System and the Child Protection System, which enables the department to judge over or under-representation at different stages of the processes (xii) monitoring the outcomes of assessments for adults and assessing whether black clients are as likely to receive as good services as white clients (xiii) a system for assessing the number of women managers as a proportion of the overall workforce (xiv) identifying and profiling ethnicity among service users enabling the department to ensure better equity and relevance of provision and to monitor continued effectiveness (data warehousing) (xv) meeting central government expectations around ethnic monitoring as part of the ‘Quality Protects’ initiative and reporting on relevant indicators to appropriate Member Forums (xvi) better use of additional information to inform the Business Planning and Commissioning processes through the information arising from Black Families and Children Audit (xvii) compiling information on asylum seekers and travellers as part of the 2nd national census of Children in Need. 3.11.3 The department will continue to work to introduce new ideas and good practice from external bodies into our analysis and the Performance Assessment framework will continue to assist us in this in future. 3.12
Performance Review
3.12.1 The department’s performance improvement managers for Adults, Children and Support Services provide quarterly monitoring reports on performance in all areas of service. These reports enable managers to evaluate existing
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processes and practices to ensure that the department is delivering on all our performance targets, including those for equality and diversity. This information is also fed into three specialised departmental equality groups, discussed above, for analysis and action. Some key data from these reports are compiled below for information: Adults Services 3.12.2 The present population of Nottinghamshire is 759,000. Of these, 2.25% of people aged 18+ have a black or ethnic minority (BEM) background. 28% of BME adults are Indian, 15.2% are Black Caribbean and 12.5% are Chinese. The number of contacts from new BEM clients increased in 2004/05 to 323 compared with 285 during the previous year. However, the proportion of BEM contacts (0.99%) compared with the general population of BEM people (2.25%) is low. 3.12.3 The number of BEM clients receiving assessments has increased from 124 in 2001 to 257 in 2005. This increase is reflected in both the 18-64 and 65+ age groups. However, the number of assessments of adults below the age of 65 exceeded those of 65+ for the first time. An analysis of BEM clients receiving reviews/assessments shows that the largest categories are asian (23% of BME clients), and black caribbean (23%), with the next largest being mixed white and black caribbean (11%), Pakistani (9%) and any other asian (9%). Therefore the number of BEM clients assessed/receiving reviews is showing a year on year increase but still represents only 1.26% (257/20414) of all assessments/reviews for 2004 to 2005. 3.12.4 Following an assessment or review, the proportion of BEM clients receiving new/intended services was slightly lower in most years than for white clients. Families and Children 3.12.5 Overall the percentage of BEM children who had initial assessments carried out during the quarter ending 30th September was higher than in the previous quarter with 4.5% of assessments compared to 4.2%. Slight over representation occurred in all districts except Mansfield. This continues the trend of increasing numbers over the last nine quarters since the low point in the December 2004 quarter. 3.12.6 For children on the Child Protection Register (CPR) there is currently an over representation of BEM children with 6.3% compared with 4.0% for the general population. All of these children are of dual heritage, the largest groups being mixed black caribbean/white (11 children) and mixed other background (10). There were 4 mixed asian/white children. At the end of this quarter there were no Pakistani, Indian or Bangladeshi children on the register. 3.12.7 The trend in Looked After Children from BEM backgrounds, which had been downward for the last two years, has this quarter reversed and increased by five from 32 to 37. As with children on the register, there is an over
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representation of BEM children with 7.4% looked after compared with 4.0% of the general population. 3.12.8 Plans to address these issues are already in hand and are discussed in more detail in paragraph 3.3. Social Services Workforce 3.12.8 The Race Relations Act requires that we publish equalities monitoring information on an annual basis. As part of the monitoring, the department must ensure that the recruitment and selection process is not discriminatory based on ethnic background. We therefore monitor the ethnic origin of applicants and then track the numbers of applicants by ethnic code that are short-listed and ultimately appointed. As with previous assessments, data for 2004/05 shows that appropriate numbers of applicants from BEM communities were short-listed and appointed (9%) compared to the number of BEM applicants (9%). 3.12.9 In addition to assessing the success rates of BEM applicants the department also monitors the staff profile during the course of the year. This shows that 4.6% of our staff are from BEM communities compared to a benchmark of 2.6% of the economically active BEM population. 3.12.10The department also monitors the promotion of BEM staff. This indicates that the number of BME staff promoted during the year was proportionate to the make-up of the overall staff group in the department. 4.
Conclusion
4.1
It has been an effective year in terms of both the profile of equality issues and the initiatives taken to address them. The department is confident that relevant processes have been put in place to deal with any deficiencies that have been identified, and that the structures and framework for pursuing equality of opportunity, valuing diversity and improving access to services enables the department to continue to improve.
4.2
The department is pleased with the continuing progress through the levels of the LGA Equality Standards, which keeps the department right at the top of the authority’s performance. As mentioned in the last Annual Report, it is an invaluable tool for identifying and filling gaps in the department’s organisational processes and services.
4.3
The improvements to both the Action Planning and Monitoring processes, led by Directorate, are particularly noteworthy and have enabled the department to respond more quickly and effectively to any deficiencies in performance.
4.4
It will be essential for the department to extend the use of the Equality Impact Assessment (Service Diversity Review) tool in analysing the effects of our policies, procedures and practices on all sections of the community. The
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department will ensure that staff will be adequately supported in this as required. 4.5
As a final note, Directorate took particular pleasure in sharing in the celebrations marking the 25th anniversary of the Black Workers Support Group. This is a unique achievement both for the staff and the department, whose relationship and partnership goes from strength to strength.
5.
Recommendations
5.1
It is recommended that Members consider and note the information in the report.
6.
Director of Resources Financial Comments (DW 16/12/05)
6.1
At this stage there are no financial implications to this report as the activities referred to are funded from existing budgets.
7.
Background Papers Available for Inspection
7.1
A Framework for Equity and Diversity in Social Services.
AL KESTENBAUM HEAD OF PARTNERSHIPS (comm.-select)SCSS200
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