Report of the Joint Director of Equality, Inclusion and Engagement.

This report sets out the Council’s approach to developing its proposed Equality Objectives (2024-2028) which builds on the existing objectives. The report includes the rationale for the proposed Equality Objectives (2024-2028) as set out in the report.

The committee considered a report of the Joint Director of Equality, Inclusion and Engagement which provided an overview of the approach to developing the Council’s refreshed Equality Objectives for 2024-2028. 

Key points and themes within the report included: 

·        Providing an introduction and background to the Council’s existing Equality Objectives for 2020-2024; 

·        How the Council meets its statutory equality duties;  

·        The approach to refreshing the Equality Objectives through building on and strengthening existing strategies, successes and other work; 

·        Progress made against current objectives; 

·        Rationale and associated actions for each proposed Equality Objectives for 2024-2028, which were: 

o   Promoting inclusive employment and work 

o   Promoting timely and proportionate community involvement and engagement 

o   Delivering inclusive and accessible services. 

·        How these objectives would be delivered and monitored; and 

·        Next steps and timeline for the publication of the 2024-2028 Equality Objectives.  

Some of the key points and queries that arose from the committee’s discussion included: 

·        Welcoming the proposed new equality objectives; 

·        How the Council worked to foster good relations between those who shared protected characteristics and those who did not;  

·        How success would be measured, and requesting that the delivery plan be provided to a future meeting; 

·        Suggesting that the Council only enter into contracts with companies that share similar equality values or who sign up to the Council’s equality objectives;  

·        When the socioeconomic disadvantage duty would be adopted by the Council; 

·        How success in reducing socioeconomic disadvantage would be measured and monitored; 

·        Welcoming plans for community engagement on the draft equality objectives;  

·        How trauma-informed work would be integrated with the objectives;   

·        How social mobility work could be embedded in North Manchester;  

·        Requesting statistics on the percentage of school leavers who were in care and were not in further or higher education, employment, or training 9 months after leaving school; 

·        The need to consider poverty and class, which were not mentioned in the report despite poverty cutting across many different characteristics and restricting access to employment; and 

·        When a further update could be provided to the committee.  

The Head of Equalities stated that a whole-systems approach would be taken to developing the new equality objectives and that these would ensure that equalities were embedded in all strategic drivers across the Council. She stated that an intersectional approach would also be taken as the Council understood the layers of disadvantage within different groups and communities. The new equality objectives would build on the current three objectives to recognise successes and feedback from residents. She advised that the objectives would be strategically aligned and would reflect the commitments of the Making Manchester Fairer (MMF) programme, the Workforce Equality Strategy and the Work and Skills Strategy. Members were advised that the engagement process would expand on previous public engagement and to reach key communities.  

The Head of Equalities explained that the draft equality objectives included inclusive employment and work; timely and proportionate community involvement and engagement; and delivering inclusive and accessible services. She stated that there would be a significant focus on metrics and measurements and a delivery plan was being developed.  

The Head of Equalities advised that work to foster good relations between those with protected characteristics and those without had started under the current equality objectives. An example of this was the Council’s involvement in and support of events which celebrated diversity and built awareness of different cultures in the city, such as Manchester Pride, Holocaust Memorial Day and Walk for Women. She stated that this would be continued under the new equality objectives to continue building good relations between different groups.  

The Deputy Leader also stated that this work could link with the Community Cohesion Strategy to foster good relations and she recognised the need for this work to be cross-cutting across many Council services.  

In response to a query regarding how success would be measured, the committee was advised that this could be undertaken through the equality impact assessment process. The Head of Equalities explained that the delivery plan was expected to be finalised in late March and this could be shared with the committee at a future meeting.  

A member’s suggestion that the Council only enter into contracts with companies that share similar equality values or who sign up to the Council’s equality objectives was noted by officers.  

The Head of Equalities acknowledged a member’s point regarding integrating trauma-informed work into the equality objectives and explained that work was ongoing with the Human Resources and Organisation Development (HROD) team to create a learning and development programme across the wider equalities work and it was important to reference trauma-informed work and cultural humility within this.  

In response to queries regarding socioeconomic disadvantage, the committee was advised that this would be addressed by building a culture of understanding around the disadvantages that different communities faced. Members were also informed that the Council’s equality impact assessment process had been refreshed to have a greater focus on data and those involved in new policies or developments would need to be mindful of the local community and any disparities that residents may experience. The Strategic Lead: Health Equity and Inclusion, Manchester Integrated Care Partnership, stated that socioeconomic disadvantage in Manchester was one of the driving forces behind selecting employment as an equality objective as this was critical to addressing some of the issues caused by poor social mobility. She advised that there was substantial data around employment status and economic inactivity which could be broken down by locality and compared by ethnicity and disability. This was addressed within the Council’s Work and Skills Strategy and provided an example of work with Bangladeshi women in Cheetham, Crumpsall and Longsight.  

Officers acknowledged a point raised by the Chair regarding the need to consider poverty and class as a barrier to employment and social mobility and they would endeavour to incorporate this into the objectives and delivery plan. 

In response to a query regarding how the committee could continue to monitor progress with this work, officers explained that a working group would be established to develop metrics and identify the best way to demonstrate the impact of this work. The City Solicitor suggested that June 2024 would be an appropriate time to provide an update, which the committee welcomed.  

Decision: 

That the committee 

1.     notes the report; 

2.     requests that a progress update be provided to the committee in June 2024, including the delivery plan; information on how success would be monitored; and information on the socioeconomic disadvantage duty; 

3.     requests further updates on a 6-month basis after June 2024; 

4.     requests further information on the percentage of school leavers in Manchester who were in care and were not in further or higher education, employment, or training 9 months after leaving school; and  

5.     recommends that further consideration be given to including poverty as a protected characteristic within the equality objectives.