Report of the City Solicitor

This report provides an update on the Council’s progress against its equality objectives for 2016-20. It also sets out a high level indication of the proposed process for developing a new set of objectives covering the period 2020-2024 to support the Council to continue to deliver equality outcomes as an essential component of Our Manchester.  The report also provides an overview of the themes emerging from the Council’s Equality Delivery Plans (EDP) 2019-20, produced as part of the annual business planning process.

The Committee received a report of the City Solicitor which provided an update on the Council’s Equalities Performance Management.

Officers referred to the main points and themes within the report, which included:

• Progress against the Council’s equality objectives for 2016-20, with examples across a range of service areas;
• The proposed process for developing a new set of objectives covering the period 2020-2024; and
• An overview of the themes emerging from the Council’s Equality Delivery Plans (EDP) 2019-20, produced as part of the annual business planning process.        

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• To welcome the report and the breadth of work taking place and to emphasise the importance of this becoming embedded into the regular work of the Council;
• That equality should be embedded into the induction process for new staff;
• How the Directorate Equality Champions’ role fitted in with their regular jobs;
• The importance of good education, training and employment opportunities in improving life chances;
• When undertaking an equality analysis of major commercial developments, what would a good commercial development look like;
• The importance of prioritising repairs to pavements and highways as an equality issue;
• The importance of timely Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) in relation to proposed new cycling and walking routes;
• How far the Council’s workforce reflected the diversity of the local population, particularly at a senior level; and
• Request for more information on the work group which had been established to develop the Black and Minority Ethic (BAME) Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS).

The Lead for Homelessness informed Members how equalities work was being embedded into her service’s work, including listening to the views of people who had experienced homelessness and working to help people improve their life chances.  The Director of Housing and Residential Growth informed Members about work to develop the LGBT Extra Care housing project, reporting that he was currently in discussions with the LGBT Foundation to try to secure funding for them to provide a member of their staff to advise on the project.  Officers provided examples of work taking place within the Neighbourhoods Directorate, including improving the accessibility of leisure facilities for disabled people, capturing data on who was using the Council’s leisure facilities and working with school children and their families on healthy eating, taking into account cultural backgrounds and languages.

The Statutory Deputy Leader reported that most Manchester schools were judged as “good” or better by Ofsted but that issues with particular schools needed to be addressed.  She also reported on how the Council would use its procurement process to encourage companies to employ Manchester residents and to pay the Manchester Living Wage.  She informed Members about the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter, which, she advised, would also make a difference.

The Director of Housing and Residential Growth reported that he would refer the question on commercial developments to the Strategic Director (Development) and ask him to provide a response.  A Member who was also the Lead Member for Disabled People emphasised the importance of ensuring that commercial premises were accessible for disabled people.

The Strategic Lead for Neighbourhoods (South), who was also a Directorate Equality Champion, reported that he had requested timescales for the programme of repair work to pavements and highways and for the proposed new cycling and walking routes so that EIAs could be embedded into the process.  The Chair emphasised the Committee’s support for this information to be provided so that this work could be progressed as a matter of urgency.

The Head of Workforce Strategy reported that people with protected characteristics, particularly disabled people and BAME staff, were under-represented at a senior level within the Council.  He informed Members that the Council had developed an action plan on workforce equality which was based on feedback from the Equality Framework for Local Government (EFLG) assessment and a piece of independent research on staff experiences.  He outlined the main areas of this action plan, which related to workforce engagement, learning and development and representation at a senior level.  The City Solicitor reported that, as the new Equalities Lead for the Senior Management Team (SMT), she would take forward the request that equality be embedded into the induction process for new staff.

The Programme Lead outlined the work which had started to take place to develop and support BAME voluntary and community organisations, including undertaking EIAs following the first funding round of the Our Manchester VCS Fund and meeting with BAME groups and other stakeholders to discuss issues and identify a way forward.  The Statutory Deputy Leader reported that this work had to be sector-led but facilitated by the Council and she offered to provide further information to a future meeting.

Decision

To thank officers and guests for their contribution and to request that the points raised by Members be taken forward.