General Duty to promote equality 2011

We are publishing a range of information in order to demonstrate how as a Council we have been implementing the duty to promote equality since 2002.

We first published a Race Equality Scheme in May 2002 which outlined how we planned to implement the first Race Equality duty. In April 2007 we then published a combined single Equalities Scheme, which outlined progress in our work to implement the Race Equality Duty ( 2002 ) and Disability Equality duty ( 2006 ) as well as our plans to implement the new Gender Equality duty ( 2007 ).

The new Public sector equality duty 2011 came into force in April 2011 and we are now publishing our progress to date, especially since 2010 and also our plans to implement the new duty which covers the following protected groups:

Age
Disability
Race
Religion or Belief
Sex ( previously known as Gender )
Sexual Orientation
Gender Re-assignment
Pregnancy and maternity
Marriage and Civil Partnership ( first part of the duty only )

We have undertaken the following, which are outlined in documents and links to information below:

We have undertaken an initial screening for relevance of all our functions and services in relation to the three parts of the duty and protected groups. This has helped us to inform our schedule of Equality Impact and Needs Analysis, which are outlined in reports on this page
We will revisit our initial screening periodically as new information is collected and analysed. These are live documents.
We will publish an overall EINA schedule for 2012-2013 by April 6 2012.
We have published EINAs
We have undertaken an overall equality data mapping exercise using national and local data sources(pdf, 3464KB) . This will help inform our equality analysis and decision making.
We have also produced annual workforce monitoring analysis reports; and bi-annual staff surveys. Information from these have informed equality objectives and actions in business plans.
Each directorate report contains progress and links to equality information and analysis which have informed EINAs, equality objectives and actions.
We are currently producing action plans to address gaps in local data collection systems and analysis bearing in mind the twin principles of proportionality and relevance.
We will also aim to draw upon both national and local research studies to inform our equality information and analysis.
We will produce a question and answer sheet to answer questions you may have about why we need to collect equality monitoring information about users of our services.
An Equality Impact and Needs Analysis ( EINA ) will inform all commissioning in areas assessed as relevant to the new duty. These will then become translated into specifications as part of procurement processes.
We are also currently finalising some draft equality objectives as part of our corporate and business planning processes:

Corporate Plan: 'Fairness For All' is an underlying principle for the way in which we work

This is your opportunity to look at all the equality information we have published and provide your feedback to us.
Equality objectives are included in the draft Corporate Plan(pdf, 23KB) under the section Fairness For All. We also welcome feedback on these.
This will be part of on going consultations with local communities and groups as we further develop detail of our equality objectives and actions. We will publish a detailed plan of these by May 2012.
We will not be able to deliver everything in one cycle, but will review outcomes achieved and information and feedback from communities as part of annual review and action planning cycles.
We will produce and publish annual progress reports on our equality objectives and actions.
The prime aim is to make a difference for all sections of our communities in our role as community leader, provider and commissioner of services and as employer.

Equality Data Mapping Audit 2011 report

Download the Equality Data Mapping Audit 2011 Report here(pdf, 3464KB).

Using Social Marketing Data to Identify/Target Equality Strands

As a Council we are also currently working in conjunction with Richmond and Twickenham PCT to utilise Mosaic social marketing data to help identify areas where we could engage more proactively with minority groups. Mosaic classifies households in the Borough based on analysis of the latest trends in UK society and a wealth of high quality and comprehensive demographic data sources and categorises into household types and groups. This allows us to look at small level areas within the Borough and view a classification of the likely attributes of the people living within that household for example, how likely they are to be a certain age, gender or ethnicity, their likely income and profession and some of their key social attitudes. Mosaic is a modelling tool and thus should not be viewed as giving a complete and accurate profile of an area but it can be used to aide our understanding of areas within the Borough. In particular, it can be used to identify for example, the most suitable households to which to advertise services for older people. We are currently using Mosaic to support community engagement activities across the council and in future will help to further inform our equality action planning processes.

More information