Agenda item

Report of the Chief Executive

The Head of Economic Growth and Property presented the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Scheme Update and Diversity Annual Report 2024 to 2025 to the Group and provided an overview of the key aspects of the report.

The Head of Economic Growth and Property confirmed that this report was brought to the Group on an annual basis and as such some statistical data, for example about ethnicity and age had not significantly changed since it was last presented to the Group. She noted that applications for vacancies were higher than they had been historically and that some posts had received a high number of applications, but it was expected that Local Government Reform would have some impact on staffing in the future.

In relation to EDI Maturity Assessment, the Head of Economic Growth and Property explained that the Council had asked BDO, the Council’s Internal Auditors, to carry out this assessment to review the Council’s approach and governance arrangements and training schedule and she highlighted some of the strengths and recommendations made by them. She informed that Group that the Council’s EDI Steering Group met on a quarterly basis, that the Council had introduced a new Equality Impact Assessment process, that its website was Shaw Trust accredited, that it had achieved Carer Friendly Accreditation and that it coordinated the joint membership for partners within the primary care network to the Sunflower Hidden Disabilities campaign.

The Head of Economic Growth and Property provided an overview of projects completed through the previous year, including adopting a Rushcliffe Borough Council Play Strategy, with a focus on disability and inclusion and space for girls, making inclusive play improvements at a number of the parks within the Borough, providing UKSPF grants to parish councils to provide inclusive play equipment in their local parks, making public realm improvements in West Bridgford, providing grant funding to the Framework Knitters, holding a number of events, such as the Lunar New Year event, and providing support for local residents to improve their employment skills and help them get back into work.

Looking forward to 2025/26, the Head of Economic Growth and Property said that the Council would carry out a refresh of its EDI scheme, would work with Nottinghamshire County Council regarding Community Cohesion Networks, deliver a women and girls golf and cricket programme, establish links with various community groups such as Hong Kong Notts, deliver another Lunar New Year event, continue to enhance play areas within the Borough and support businesses with a focus on accessibility and benchmark its application process and employment offer.

Councillor Simms asked how much of the work being out by the Council was legislative and how much of it was gold standard and whether it was possible to define how much the Council spent on EDI work. The Head of Economic Growth and Property said that the Council had an equality duty to assess how its policies and procedures affected people protected under the Equality Act but that the Council did not have a specific equality and inclusion Officer and rather incorporated this consideration into its work across the Council as an enhancement rather than at a significant cost.

Councillor Simms asked whether it would be possible to identify the cost of extra time spent time, including attendance at meetings, by Officers on EDI focussed work. The Head of Economic Growth and Property said that it would be possible to make an estimate of Officer time but said that much was work which Officers would be carrying out anyway and much work carried out by Officers and the Council had been funded through grants.

Councillor Gaunt asked about grants for businesses and the Head of Economic Growth and Property said that high street grants were currently available with  a focus on enhancing accessibility and how to better communicate what your business offered in terms of accessibility. The Council also funded a business advisor and linked in with the Careers and Enterprise Company.

Councillor Parekh asked about UKSPF funding for events for ethnic minority groups and asked whether there was any benchmarking or criteria that was used to determine allocation. The Head of Economic Growth and Property said that there weren’t any criteria and whilst there was often a target community group for events such as for the Lunar festival, they were open to everyone. She said that a focus had been on new groups coming to the local area and supporting them establishing a community and making connections within the area, but that the Council was thinking about future resourcing and if there were other groups that wished to hold events, linking into community cohesion networks and working with other colleagues.

The Chair commented how well attended the Lunar festival had been and asked if there were any other resources available to support the Hong Kong community and other ethnic groups. The Head of Economic Growth said East Midlands Council had received some funding to support Hong Kong Notts activities with engagement and access to services and the Council would look to work with them. The Communications and Customer Services Manager added that the Council had circulated recycling leaflets translated into Mandarin to primary schools and local centres to meet a specific need and was also listening to try to meet the wider community needs.

The Chair asked about the Council’s support for women and girls in sport, noting that women’s participation in sport had greatly increased. The Head of Head of Economic Growth and Property said that she would take this away and provide an update to the Group.

Itwas RESOLVEDthat theCorporate OverviewGroup:

a)              considered and endorsed the information provided for the diversity annual report

b)              reviewed the action taken so far as a part of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Scheme action plan and made suggestions for future action or areas of focus.