Report of the City Solicitor

This report sets out the Council’s proposed equality objectives for the period 2020 - 2024.  It outlines the approach that the Council has taken to setting these in the past and describes the process that has been undertaken to ensure that the most recent set of objectives represent the priorities of Manchester residents and other stakeholders, as well as those of the Council. The report sets out the objectives in draft form and provides an opportunity for the committee to comment on these to influence further refinement of them before they are published by no later than 6 April 2020.

The Committee received a report of the City Solicitor which set out the Council’s proposed equality objectives for the period 2020 - 2024. It outlined the approach that the Councilhad taken to setting these in the past and described the processthat had been undertaken to ensure that the most recent set ofobjectives represented the priorities of Manchester residents andother stakeholders, as well as those of the Council. The reportset out the objectives in draft form and provided an opportunityfor the Committee to comment on these to influence furtherrefinement of them before they were published by no later than 6April 2020.

The report noted that, whilst the process of setting equality objectives did not directly demonstrate an impact on the achievement of the Council’s zero-carbon target, the refresh of the draft objectives did take the opportunity to commit to more fully understanding the interaction of equality issues and environmental issues. It stated that the Council would complete EIAs against relevant aspects of its environmental programme, which would support this undertaking.

The main points and themes within the report included:

• Engagement on the Equality Objectives 2020 – 2024;

·         Draft Equality Objectives 2020 – 2024;

·         Monitoring and reporting progress; and

·         Publicising the Equality Objectives.

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

• How progress would be monitored;
• That deprivation and poverty should be included in this work, in addition to the protected characteristics listed in the Equality Act 2010; and
• What work would be done to increase the proportion of Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people in the Council’s workforce and to improve representation in the Council’s senior leadership.

The Director of Policy, Performance and Reform drew Members’ attention to section 4 of the report, which outlined how progress would be monitored.  He proposed that the Committee receive a report on an annual basis, which would provide both qualitative and quantitative evidence on progress made.  A Member suggested that the Committee receive a progress report sooner than this, in order to check that the work was on track.  The Chair advised that he would be happy for this item to be considered sooner.

The Executive Member for Neighbourhoods confirmed that the Council’s work on equality and diversity went beyond the protected characteristics listed in the Equality Act 2010 and did include deprived communities. The Director of Policy, Performance and Reform drew Members’ attention to the Council’s Inclusive Growth Strategy and Family Poverty Strategy, which aimed to address issues of deprivation and poverty.  He reported that there were actions which the Council was able to take to improve the life chances of people in more deprived communities but that some factors, such as the impact of welfare reform, were not fully within the Council’s control, although the Council would try to mitigate their impact.

The Executive Member for Neighbourhoods informed Members about an Independent Race Review of the Council, reporting that this work was currently being finalised.  He advised the Committee that the Council would need an action plan with short, medium and long-term actions to improve representation of both BAME people and disabled people at all levels.  He stated that a report on this would be submitted to the relevant committee, which was likely to be either the Audit Committee or the Resources and Governance Scrutiny Committee.

Decision

To request a further report on how the Council was achieving these objectives.