Agenda item

To receive a presentation on the analysis to date to inform the Annual Report.

Harriet Potemkin, Head of Strategy & Policy and Julie Mimnagh, Head of Human Resource Operations delivered a presentation on the Annual Equality and Diversity Report 2021 which covered the below points:

·         An Equality and Diversity report is published each year to review progress, celebrate successes and identify the further work needed to make Enfield a fairer place.

·         The presentation and feedback from the Board will be used to develop the Council’s Annual Equality and Diversity Report for 2021/22, for publication in May 2022.

·         The Fairer Enfield Policy sets out how Enfield Council will tackle inequality, support an inclusive workplace and communities and create new opportunities for everyone in Enfield.

·         The policy includes eight equality objectives to reduce inequality, which affect specific groups in Enfield, and these were detailed in the report.

·         The presentation set out the objective, why it was selected when formulating the policy during 2020, a summary of the key activities and projects that the Council had focused on over the last year to deliver them, and consideration of the impact, based on analysis so far.

·         The presentation included a workforce review which outlined the makeup of Enfield Council’s workforce by ethnicity, age, disability and gender. It also detailed how these groups are represented across different pay scales and included the annual gender and ethnicity pay gaps.

·         Information was also provided on good practice case studies which provided an overview of how the Council has worked in partnership with its statutory, voluntary and community partners, and engaged with its residents to deliver equality initiatives that support work on improving service outcomes for diverse communities in the borough.

Following the presentation, the following points were highlighted:

(i)            It was acknowledged that Enfield Council did have more of an ageing profile within its workforce. However, in recent years progress had been made in bringing younger people into council careers with great successes also being seen in the Graduate and Apprenticeship Programmes.

(ii)          The Fairer Enfield Policy Equalities Objectives are reviewed every four years and are used to inform the Work Programme for the Equalities Board.

(iii)         In response to a question regarding Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) and how these will be addressed moving forward, it was  advised that in the last twelve months better systems have been put in place with Officers now reviewing EIAs for every report that goes to Cabinet/Council and these should be publicly available for anyone to view.

(iv)         With regards to the Workforce Diversity- Ethnicity Profile chart, it was felt that ‘Turkish speaking’ would be much more inclusive and therefore it was suggested that the wording be changed. Julie confirmed that the design of the Ethnic Groups data was being reviewed and this would be presented slightly differently next time.

Action: Julie Mimnagh, Head of Human Resource Operations

(v)          It was agreed that statistics on victims of Serious Youth Violence (SYV) should be included and not just data on the perpetrators as detailed in the presentation.

Action: Harriet Potemkin, Head of Strategy & Policy

(vi)         In response to a question regarding the numbers of ‘Safe Havens’ in Enfield clarification would be sought on numbers/locations from the Community Safety Team as Officers did not have this information on hand at the meeting.

Action: Harriet Potemkin, Head of Strategy & Policy

(vii)        In conclusion Harriet advised that the aim was to have the final report drafted and published before the next meeting, but this could be circulated to members of the Equalities Board once approved.

Action: Harriet Potemkin, Head of Strategy & Policy/Stacey Gilmour, Governance Officer