To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 5 and 14 June 2024.

Decision

The Committee approves the minutes of the meetings held on 5 and 14 June 2024

Report of the Director of Human Resources, Organisational Development and Transformation attached

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Human Resources, Organisational Development and Transformation, which outlined a revised Equal Opportunities in Employment Policy Statement, which was to be renamed ‘Workforce Equalities Statement’ for the Committee’s consideration

The current Equal Opportunities in Employment Policy Statement was developed in 2011 and the 2019 Race Review had recommended that the Council reviewed the policy.  Because of the time that had elapsed since the statement was last reviewed, the content of the new statement required a significant overhaul to bring it in line with current workforce equality activity, trends and strategy.

The content of the statement had been completely overhauled. The Race Review recommendation was that the workforce’s ethnic profile should be taken into account and a proactive stance should be taken on positive action measures.  The statement placed at its centre the Council’s vision of a workforce which represents the diverse community that it served, at all levels.  The statement also set out the activity underway to achieve the vision, including the positive action measures such as the Leadership and LeadHERship pathways, as well as training and new initiatives like the Workplace Adjustments Hub.

All staff network groups have been given opportunity to comment on the revised statement.  A specific engagement exercise was carried out with staff networks and directorate equality leads aimed at making the language and tone of the document as engaging as possible with all staff.  In addition, formal and informal Trade Union consultation had taken place.  Feedback from all these groups has been fed into the statement.

Once the statement had been approved, it would be launched to the workforce via the Council’s usual communications channels.

There was unanimous support from Members in relation to the changes that had been made to improve and bolster the statement and the steps that had been taken, and would be taken, to continue to engage with staff.

Decision

The Committee approve the Workforce Equalities Statement.