Agenda item

The Committee will receive a presentation on the proposed approach to the development of the Equalities Policy for the new Buckinghamshire Council. Members will have the opportunity to ask questions and provide their views at the early stages of the policy development to help inform the Shadow Executive decision later in the year.

The Committee welcomed Ms M Domigos, Solicitor, Aylesbury Vale District Council (AVDC), Ms N Donhou-Morley, Senior Strategy and Partnership Officer (AVDC) and Ms L Wright, Policy Officer, Buckinghamshire County Council (BCC). Ms Domigos explained that she was a member of the Equalities Working Group which consisted of seven officers from the five councils and was a sub-group of the Policy and Partnership Group in the Legal and Governance work stream.  The new Equalities Policy was in the draft stage.  Ms Domigos provided a presentation and the following points were highlighted:

• The legal implications - decisions could be overturned if Buckinghamshire Council did not comply with the required reporting.  The new council would have to fulfil its public sector equality duty to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people.
• Decisions which were challenged would normally relate to closure or reduction of services and usually included an equalities related item.
• A challenge would made by judicial review; if successful the decision was normally overturned with the legal effect that the decision was never made and would have to be re-done.  A judicial review could be extremely expensive and there was no guarantee that costs would be refunded if the council were successful in defending the review.
• The current approach across the councils was broadly similar; but there were different memberships and accreditations.
• All the councils carried out Equality Impact Assessments (EIA), monitoring reports and publications.
• The sub-group was looking at the Local Government Association (LGA) framework which had an emphasis on self-assessment and peer challenge.
• The LGA framework helped local councils to meet their obligations under the Equalities Act and included the public sector equality duty common performance framework for compliance.
• There were five performance areas and three levels of achievement; the best practice would be used from each of the councils to create a policy which worked for the new Buckinghamshire Council.
• There was a high level road map of what the team aimed to do in order to provide an ongoing requirement and commitment to equalities; some areas would have to be filled after 1 April 2020.
• There were long term aspirations under the LGA framework and eventually the Buckinghamshire Council could consider a peer review into the LGA framework.
• Ms Domigos asked for support for the suggested approach and asked for thoughts and ideas going forward. 

In response to members’ questions the following points were noted:

• In response to being asked whether there was an Equalities Policy in place at the moment, Ms Domigos confirmed that the Shadow Authority did not have an Equalities Policy.
• A member of the committee queried whether the LGA framework was a policy which could be adopted or whether it was a skeleton which needed to be ‘fleshed out’.  Ms Domigos advised it was a skeleton of five performance areas to be completed.
• Members asked about the approach being taken to the development of the new policy; Ms Domigos explained that a great deal of the material from the policies in the existing councils would be incorporated but as there would be a larger number of councillors they needed to ensure that an easy to follow policy was in place and that the new templates were created. The new policy would be an amalgamation of the existing policies, using best practice, but would contain equalities objectives for the Buckinghamshire Council from day one to be embedded at the start of every project.
• A committee member asked for clarification on the analysis that had been undertaken on the demographics across the authority as there could be areas where more focus was required.  Ms Donhou-Morley stated that they were looking at the overall policy and the demographic analysis would be carried out during an EIA.  The EIA would include the data and the demographics in relation to the project and how it might impact on the protected characteristics and would be reviewed to ensure the demographics had been taken into consideration before it went through the public consultation process. 
• In response to being asked whether there had been an analysis of the gender pay gap by district, Ms Wright explained the Human Resources team would be analysing the data from the year 2019-2020, separately across the five councils, at the end March 2020. The following year, in March 2021, the first consolidated view for the new authority would be due.
• A member of the committee requested consideration of employment opportunities, which needed to be agreed with trade unions and employee representatives and for it to be included in any future paper.  The committee member suggested that the policy should respect the fact that Buckinghamshire was the home of the Paralympics.  It was agreed that the new Buckinghamshire Council needed to be inclusive of everyone.
• In response to whether any areas of learning had been identified; Ms Domigos explained that the policy would be quite high level.  There were five performance areas which would be expanded to take account of the current policies throughout the councils and implement an effective policy for the new council.  The team would be looking at procurement practices, cumulative equality impact assessments, resource allocation, external forums and councillor involvement by having a councillor champion.  Report writing would also be included in order to build up the equalities culture.  The ideas would be subject to a further decision operationally, possibly by councillors.  It may be that they would only be able to just meet the legal requirements but they wanted to go as far as they could, as early as possible, and see how the new policy embedded.  It was an important area and the reason for referring to the legal challenges was to highlight the importance and resource implications for the council. 
• Mr S Lambert declared an interest as Cabinet Member for People Equalities, Diversity Inclusion and Assurance for the Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service and welcomed the work the sub-team were carrying out but also mentioned that it would be helpful to obtain input from other organisations such as the Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion (ENEI) as BCC and Bucks Fire and Rescue Service were members of the ENEI.    Mr Lambert supported the idea of a member champion as he felt it would add value to the new policy/culture.  There were diverse communities in High Wycombe and Aylesbury and it would be useful to include external partners.  Mr Lambert also recommended asking the ENEI for a peer review in the first year as it would be free as part of the membership. 
• A member of committee was concerned about the amount of work that would be involved for officers as training would be needed for new members and officers and questioned whether it would be better to keep to the basics.  It was felt the new equalities policy should be thoroughly debated by the new councillors in the new authority. Some of the points may be open to challenge e.g. would the submission of comments via online resources pass the equalities act as some people were unable to gain access to the internet?  His preference would be for a two-stage approach, with the minimum being worked on now followed by a debate in the new council.   Ms Donhou-Morley explained that the draft strategy would be ready in November 2019; it may be a three year policy with the option to review after the first year and review objectives annually.  It would be legal on day one and there were some basics which needed to be embedded from day one.
• The Chairman agreed the ‘culture’ should start from now and set the tone as well as being safe and legal and stated that the feedback was two pronged; there would be a three year plan and the need to challenge after the first year.  The Leader and the Chief Executive should be the equalities champions along with every Member as Members would be taking on much more of a community lead.  The Chairman offered the officers the opportunity to return to the committee and/or task and finish groups for support as this was a developing process.
• The Chairman agreed all the points would be put forward to the officers and the Committee would support them through the process.
• A member of the forum stated she felt there was a good base to work from and would be building on good practice.

The Chairman summarised that the Committee wanted the policy to be safe and legal, to build on a good base and good practice and offered to help officers through the process; they could bring the draft policy back to the Committee before it went to the Chief Executive if they wished.