The Head of Business Improvement has submitted a report to seek approval for the publication of the Annual Workforce Equalities Report and the resulting Action Plan to improve the diversity of the Council’s workforce and make it more representative.

Recommendations: That the City Executive Board resolves to

1. Approve the Workforce Equalities Report 2018/19;

2. Delegate authority to the Head of Business Improvement to publish the Workforce Equalities Report 2018/19 and to make any typographical changes as may be required before publication; and

3. Approve the Action Plan at Appendix 4 of this report for submission as part of the 2019/20 budget setting process.

The Head of Business Improvement had submitted a report to seek approval for the publication of the Annual Workforce Equalities Report and the resulting Action Plan to improve the diversity of the Council’s workforce and make it more representative.

Councillor Chapman, as portfolio holder, introduced the report. He was thankful to the Scrutiny Committee for a constructive conversation about something which, in his view,  was a matter of social justice. To ensure that the service provided by the Council meets the needs of the community, the workforce should reflect the makeup of the community; at the moment it does not.  Once  members of  under-represented  groups were recruited they needed to be nurtured and given opportunities to build their careers over time.  He commended the action plan attached to the report to the Board. The plan would not transform the position overnight but represented an important start.

The Head of Business Improvement said the report and associated action plan had been built on a more thorough understanding of local demography than previously. A more representative workforce had many benefits for the organisation, making it more creative, relevant and better placed to respond to the community’s needs. It would enable the Council to tap into parts of the labour market which currently it did not. Areas of particular weakness were the small number of colleagues from the BAME community, particularly at higher grades and the low number of women in senior positions.

The Chair noted the importance of unconscious bias training for officers and members.  The Head of Business Improvement said that the principal method of delivery of this for officers would be online. It was acknowledged that this might not always be the most effective method given the nature of the subject but there would be other opportunities for staff to discuss and thoroughly engage with this important matter. This was something which had already been considered and an Equalities Week in early January has been scheduled.   The first event would be “Let’s Talk Equalities” a briefing available to all staff and  during the week training for all staff and managers will be launched. There will also be presentations on diversity and interactive workshops, all designed to engage staff on a face to face basis. It was suggested that there was merit in offering this training to Fusion Lifestyle for their employees too.

The shortfall and gaps in data about the current workforce’s protected characteristics were being addressed by reminding staff about the value of this data and encouraging them to respond if they had not already done so. The trade unions were also supportive of  this.

The Head of Business Improvement said she would return with a further report in a year’s time.

The City Executive Board resolved to:

1. Approve the Workforce Equalities Report 2018/19;

2. Delegate authority to the Head of Business Improvement to publish the Workforce Equalities Report 2018/19 and to make any typographical changes as may be required before publication; and

3. Approve the Action Plan at Appendix 4 of this report for submission as part of the 2019/20 budget setting process.