Equality and Diversity Policy - No Matter Who

Our vision for equality and diversity is of the Council representing, serving and employing people as equals, valuing the diversity of their contributions and aspirations, no matter who they are or what their circumstances.

Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council believes that all citizens have a right to equal access to life opportunities, including representation, services and employment by the Council. This right places responsibilities on us all that we must carry out.

We will promote equal opportunity and good community relations respecting and valuing the diversity of people in the Borough. Our public statements, services and employment practices will reflect this commitment.

We will promote this policy and expect respect for it from citizens, users of Council services, partner agencies, Councillors, Council employees and our contractors.

Context

The need and aspirations of people in the Borough set the context for this policy. But the Government and other organisations also influence our pursuit of objectives and our choice of solutions.

Rochdale Borough Local Strategic Partnership has developed a vision and aims for the Borough in consultation with local people and organisations. Its vision for the Borough in 2021 is of:

• A thriving place where people want to live, work, visit and do business, a place in which we can all take pride.

Two of the Partnership's twelve aims that flesh out this vision are particularly relevant to No Matter Who: They propose that by 2021 the Borough will be a place where:

• We celebrate our ethnic and cultural diversity, and have good race relations and positive links with other parts of the world. We will respect and maintain our heritage.
• Local people are active citizens and shape their future. We are seen as a national model for partnerships between local people and organisations.

The Council's own Statement of Purpose reflects these priorities. The Council exists to:

• Create the best possible quality of life for all local people;
• Support local people by speaking up for their interests;
• Always keep the things that matter most to local people as our priorities;
• Provide services that create high public satisfaction locally
• Rank as a high performing council nationally

Our corporate strategic plan Aiming High shows what we will do to achieve these purposes. It includes several projects that relate directly to No Matter Who, for instance:

• Increasing how well the composition of the Council reflects the borough's population
• Celebrating ethnic diversity and promote community cohesion
• Implementing the Inclusive Workforce Strategy
• Promoting "Excellence for Everyone" in education

The following current and impending legislation also influences our policy:

• Equal Pay Act 1970 (as amended)
• Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (as amended)
• Race Relations Act 1976 (as amended in 2000)
• Disability Discrimination Act 1995
• Human Rights Act 1998
• The Employment Equality Regulations (Religion or Belief) 2003
• The Employment Equality Regulations (Sexual Orientation) 2003

We are committed to meeting our obligations under these laws, but we regard them as minimum requirements. Our policy goes beyond them to include some groups of people whom the law does not currently protect, such as older and younger people, bisexual people, lesbians and gay men. We will update our policy as and when necessary to meet new legislation and to follow codes of practice. In this context we welcome the repeal of Section 28 of Local Government Act.1988, which has been a barrier placing unnecessary restrictions on the Council's ability to work with lesbian and gay men.

The role of the Council in increasing equality and diversity

The Council's many functions fit into three main roles of representing, serving and employing people.
Representing people

In representing local people's interests, we will seek to promote equality and diversity. We will:

• Equip Councillors with the skills and support to engage in and represent the different sections of the community
• Use our influence in partnerships and with partner agencies
• Continue to improve our approach to community consultation so that we achieve results that reflect local people's priorities.

Serving people

The Council is committed to providing high quality services through understanding and meeting individual customer needs and aspirations. We know that these differ from customer to customer, so we will adjust our services accordingly to ensure that they all have a fair and open chance to use and benefit from our services.

So, our commitment means understanding and meeting the needs of customers regardless of race, ethnic origin, nationality, religion, cultural background, sex, sexuality, disability, domestic circumstances, illness (such as HIV or AIDS status), age, membership of trade unions or political beliefs.

We deliver a wide range of services directly to customers and through contracts with other organisations. We will improve their contribution to equality and diversity by:

• Linking policies and service delivery
• Giving a clear account of our performance through service monitoring

Employing people

The Council's workforce of 10,500 people makes it the largest employer in the Borough. These people are our largest resource in improving equality and diversity so we want to ensure that they understand its importance and have the confidence and capacity to do so. This includes:

• developing a workforce profile reflects that community profile;
• giving staff the knowledge and confidence to tackle equality and diversity issues.

Trade Union activities

The Council employs about of 8,000 people, not including teachers.

In 2003, nearly 4,000 of these people paid trade union subscriptions through the Council's payroll system, again not including members of teachers' associations and craft trade unions

We will not discriminate against anyone because of his or her trade union activities or membership. We encourage our employees to join relevant trade unions, but recognise that this is a personal choice, which cannot be a basis for any form of discrimination.

Tackling discrimination

It is our policy not to discriminate unlawfully or unfairly against anybody. Sometimes we have to discriminate between people, for instance in selecting candidates for jobs or deciding on people's eligibility for services. In these cases, it is our policy to discriminate lawfully and fairly, only taking into account relevant factors, and explaining our decisions on that basis.

We do know, however, that unlawful and unfair discrimination is common in society. It is based on stereotypes and false assumptions, and the belief that some groups of people have more or fewer rights than others. We oppose unfair discrimination as an abuse of advantage and power.

We also know that institutions as well as individuals can unlawfully and unfairly discriminate. We define institutional discrimination as:

• The collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of who they are;
• Processes, attitudes and behaviour, which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness and stereotyping;
• Not just actions taken by a person or organisation, but also actions not taken, neglect, or services provided which do not meet the needs of members of different social groups.

Institutional discrimination can be unwitting, and it can exist no matter how good the intentions of the individual or the organisation. This is a challenge which all organisations, including ourselves, need to face honestly and openly.
We will examine our policies and practices and their outcomes to guard against disadvantaging any section of local communities.

What we will do

Disability

Disabled people form approximately 19 per cent of the working age population of the Borough. It is estimated that some 67 per cent of disabled people of working age are unemployed.

Rochdale Borough Joint Investment Plan Welfare to Work for Disabled People (second draft 16 May 2001)

The percentage of people permanently sick or disabled was 8.3per cent (11,982), higher than the England and Wales average of 5.5 per cent.

(Census 2001, Rochdale Borough Profile)

We deplore unlawful and unfair discrimination that denies disabled people equal access to democratic representation, services, employment, information and resources. Disability occurs because barriers hinder disabled people from taking a full part in the community. This is the social model of disability. Disability occurs because stereotypes, assumptions, exclusion, segregation and physical barriers deny disabled people equality of access in the above areas. We will:

• Challenge discriminatory assumptions about disabled people;
• Consult with disabled people to ensure that services from us and other providers meet their specific needs;
• Ensure that we comply with the Disability Discrimination Act.

Race

There are 181,891 white people in the Borough (88.6 per cent of the total population). Of these 176,800 described themselves as White British.

The largest minority ethnic groups were Pakistani with 7.7 per cent of the population, White Irish (1.5 per cent) and Bangladeshi (1.3 per cent).

(Census 2001, Rochdale Borough Profile)

We recognise racism as any unfair discrimination on the grounds of people's skin colour, accent, religious beliefs, dress, culture or ethnic origin. We are determined to challenge racism and to create an environment that is free from discrimination.

We know that racism is widespread within society. And we know that we must confront it to reduce its damaging effects on everybody in the Borough. Racist assumptions create the barriers which can hinder appropriate democratic representation, services and employment opportunities.

We also recognise that the seriousness and effects of racial incidents demand swift but sensitive responses. We have adopted the Lawrence Inquiry definition that:

a racist incident is any incident perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person.

We will:

• Implement our Race Equality Scheme, integrated in our corporate equality plan;
• Ensure equality of opportunity for members of the white majority ethnic communities and minority
• Ethnic communities, including (as far as the law permits) gypsies, travellers, refugees and asylum seekers;
• Ensure equality of opportunity for all employees from minority ethnic communities and from majority ethnic communities;
• Identify, challenge and act on racist attitudes, remarks and behaviour.

Women

There are more females than males in the Borough: 105,652 (51.4 per cent) compared with 99,705 males (48.6 per cent)
9,400 people (6.5 per cent, the same as the national average) look after home or family in 2001, of which 8,547 are women.

(Census 2001, Rochdale Borough Profile)

We recognise that sexism is deep-rooted within society, and that it often undermines women's significant contributions. They are a large and diverse group of people who may experience various forms of discrimination.

Women are still expected to take the major responsibility for the family. Most work in low paid and low status jobs. They are under-represented in the organisations that take major decisions affecting people's lives. Many face domestic violence in the form of physical, emotional, economic and sexual abuse in the family, as well as violence in public.

We will:

• Challenge discriminatory assumptions about women;
• Take positive action to redress the effects of past discrimination against women;
• Offer equal access for women to representation, services and employment and encourage other organisations to do the same.

Caring responsibility

One in 10 people in Rochdale provide unpaid care (similar to the national average), helping family, friends or neighbours with long-term physical or mental ill-health or disability or problems relating to old age.
4,802 of these people, 2.3 per cent of the total population, provide unpaid care for 50 hours a week or more.

(Census 2001, Rochdale Borough Profile)

We recognise that people with caring responsibilities for others may face discrimination. We will:

• Adopt flexible employment practices;
• Provide maternity, paternity, partner or support leave for birth, adoptive and foster parents.

Sexuality

The National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles 2000 estimates that there are between 1.3 million to 1.9 million lesbian, gay and bisexual people in employment.

We recognise that lesbians, gay men and bisexuals may face discrimination and hostility through intolerance and ignorance. As a result, they may experience harassment, and some live in fear of being "outed". We welcome the repeal of Section 28 of Local Government Act.1988, which has been a barrier placing unnecessary restrictions on the Council's ability to work with lesbian and gay me. We will:

• Consult with lesbians, gay men and bisexuals within our workforce and the wider community, in appropriate ways.
• Ensure that our services take account of the needs of lesbians and gay men;
• Promote positive images of lesbians, gay men and bisexuals.

Age

The ageing population is one of the major structural changes facing the UK over the next two or three decades. By 2031, 41 per cent of the population will be over 50 - compared to 27 per cent currently.
(Better Government for Older People Interdepartmental Working Team 2001)

77,832 (38 per cent) of the people in the Borough are aged 45 years old and over.

(Census 2001, Rochdale Profile)

We recognise that people are discriminated against because of their age. We will:

• Ensure that people of all ages are treated with respect and dignity;
• Challenge discriminatory assumptions about younger and older people.

HIV or AIDS

In 2002, 61 people living in the borough of Rochdale were diagnosed as HIV positive. Of these, 20 had developed AIDS.

(HIV & AIDS in the North West of England 2002 - North West Public Health Observatory)

We recognise that people face discrimination due to being HIV positive or having AIDS. We will:

• Ensure that services meet the specific needs of people living with HIV or AIDS;
• Support people who are HIV positive or have AIDS;
• Challenge false information about the nature of HIV or AIDS.

Religion or belief

Christians form the main religious group in Rochdale with 148,059 (72 per cent of the total population) people. The next largest religious group was Muslims with 19,248 (9.4 per cent) people in the Borough. 1 in 10 people in the borough described themselves as having no religion.

(Census 2001, Rochdale Borough Profile)

We will not discriminate against anyone because of his or her religion or belief, which is any religion, religious belief, or similar philosophical belief.

We will respect and accommodate people's religious observances in both serving and employing them, and we will expect others to do the same.

We realise that at times some people's beliefs may conflict with other aspects of this policy. We will try to resolve any such conflicts, but we will treat the aims of this policy as overriding and expect others to comply with it.

How we will consult

We are committed to taking account of how our policy affects different groups through consultation. This safeguards fairness, and helps us to understand how the policy works from the point of view of constituents, customers and employees. We will involve a range of stakeholders, from within the Council as well as from outside.
We will consult them during the following stages of the policy process:

• Development
• Implementation
• Monitoring
• Review and revision.

We will use different methods of consultation to reach different groups of people. We will adopt a flexible approach to meet various and changing needs.

How we will implement and monitor the policy

We will learn what works and what does not work from our own experience and that of others. Our policy has a built-in evaluation system. We will review No Matter Who in 2006-2007 to ensure that we are still delivering our desired outcomes and learning from evaluation.

We have adopted the Equality Standard for Local Government as the framework for our work on equality and diversity. The Standard is a way to continuously improve our performance on equality and diversity issues. It provides a system for evidence based policy making. In line with that Standard, we will develop a comprehensive equality plan. The plan will detail how we will implement our policy and progress to Level 5 of the Standard.

We will achieve our objectives in equality and diversity at corporate and service levels. We will monitor local communities and our workforce as well as our services. We will use national and locally developed performance indicators as part of our audit and scrutiny of our progress in increasing equality and diversity in the Borough.

We require every Councillor and member of staff to recognise and carry out their own responsibility to contribute to the success of this policy. We have earmarked money and staff times to improve our performance on equalities and diversity.

Councillors take the lead in promoting equality and diversity, ensuring that these issues are given due consideration in Council policy, and in the monitoring of the services provided by the Council.

Executive Directors of the Council actively support and assist the equalities work by overseeing the strategic implementation of equalities and diversity. A named Executive Director will act as the champion for leading this work within the organisation.

Service Managers supported by staff have an essential role in delivering this policy by:

• Actively developing their services' approach to equality and diversity;
• Ensure that staff are adequately trained to meet the requirements of this policy;
• Establish and maintain appropriate consultation with community and key stakeholder groups.

Corporate Equality and Diversity Plan 2003-06

This plan will show how we will implement our equality and diversity policy, No Matter Who. The policy details the principles and aspirations behind our vision for equality and diversity.

This plan will include our Race Equality Scheme and covers our three main roles:

• Representing people
• Serving people
• Employing people

Representing people

This section will show our proposals for:

• Promoting equality and diversity in our work with partnerships
• Distributing the plan, and reporting and publicising the results of consultation
• Which community, staff and stakeholder groups we consult
• How we will consult stakeholder groups, and what resources we will provide, such as information in accessible formats, interpreters
• How we will use our consultation findings
• How and when we will produce monitoring information
• Scrutiny by stakeholders

Providing services

This section will show proposals for:

• Checking the impact of our services against the aspirations and needs of local people
• Monitoring the outputs and outcomes of our services
• Setting equality criteria for contractors
• Developing corporate quality self-assessment and audit procedures
• Letting up a self-assessment and audit steering group

Employing people

This section will show our proposals for increasing equality and diversity in our workforce by:

• Assessing the local labour market;
• Checking the impact of our employment functions on equality and diversity
• Setting equal employment objectives and targets
• Conducting an equal pay review
• Continuing our fair employment policy
• Monitoring and reporting on employment and pay
• Setting equality criteria for external contractors.

March 2004

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