Agenda item

Board Members will hear from the Officers outlining priorities including an update on the Fairer Enfield Policy.

Harriet Potemkin, Head of Strategy & Policy and Lucy Nasby, Strategy & Policy Manager delivered a presentation on the Fairer Enfield: Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy 2021-2025, highlighting the following:

·         The Public Sector Equality Duty requires one or more specific and measurable equalities objectives to be published every four years that demonstrate areas where we are tackling inequality.

·         In Fairer Enfield 2021-25, eight objectives were identified to reduce inequality, which affect specific groups in Enfield.

·         To identify these objectives, we analysed local data on the experiences of different groups in our community, analysed national research on inequality and considered, discussed and responded to the views and experience of staff, voluntary and community sector groups and partners.

·         The presentation set out the equality’s principles and eight objectives and a summary was provided of the key activities and projects that the Council has focused on over the last year to deliver them.

·         Members were encouraged to use the information provided to set and agree the Equalities Board Work Programme for 2022/23.

·         The Draft Equalities Annual Report 2021/22 would be circulated to members within the next couple of days. Members were advised that they would then have two weeks to provide their comments before it became a public report and therefore their feedback was welcomed.

Following the presentation discussions took place and the following points were highlighted:

(i)            The presentation included the number of staff from ethnic minorities backgrounds in comparison to the borough’s population. This can be broken down by grade and this is documented in the Ethnicity Pay Gap report.

(ii)          Has there been any feedback as to why the uptake of the Covid-19 vaccine has been low in certain community groups? It was confirmed that a lot of engagement and outreach work, led by Enfield’s Public Health Team had taken place to find out the reasons and understand the hesitancy of certain communities. During the pandemic extensive work took place within community centres and grass root organisations and there were many reasons for different communities not taking up the vaccine, so it was important not to generalise. The Annual Equalities Report does include a case study that Public Health carried out with the Bulgarian and Roma community and provides more detail on this matter.

(iii)         With regards to the Enfield Town Schools Community Patrol, are there any plans to promote this model across the borough and with other community groups? Officers noted that this could be discussed with relevant officers in a future Board meeting, if this is something Board members would like to explore further.

Action: Harriet Potemkin/Lucy Nasby

(iv)         What can be done to raise awareness of hate crime and what it constitutes? It was confirmed that communications work is already taking place around this objective to promote safer and stronger communities by encouraging the reporting of hate crime and reducing repeat incidents. Members agreed that this issue should be included on the Board’s agenda for the coming year.

Action: Harriet Potemkin/Lucy Nasby

(v)          There was a discussion on why the goal of ‘equal outcomes’ was agreed upon in our Fairer Enfield policy rather than ‘equal opportunities’. The process for developing the policy through community engagement was noted.

(vi)         How is success being measured? Officers noted that outcomes and proxy measures are being identified for tracking delivery of the year two action plan. However, it was noted that the outcomes being sought are long term, sometimes generational outcomes, so proxy measures and outputs are being used as well as outcome measures.

(vii)        Why are people with disabilities still struggling to obtain employment? What is happening within Enfield Council regarding this issue and how is it being measured? As a Council, we record data on all staff who have declared a disability. However, we know that there are staff who haven’t declared a disability. HR and the staff Disability Working Group are working to address the concerns that staff may have which is preventing them from declaring a disability.

(viii)       How are we influencing organisations we procure goods and services from? Colleagues within the Council’s Procurement Team have launched an Ethical Procurement Policy, which is closely linked with the equalities agenda and this was recently ratified by Full Council. This can be discussed at a future Board meeting, if Board members would like to explore this further.

Action: Harriet Potemkin/Lucy Nasby

(ix)         The Chair, Cllr Erbil, made the following points:

o   He welcomed the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) History Month 2022 and asked whether in future, we can look at raising the GRT history month flag during June at the Civic Centre. Tinu Olowe, Director of HR & OD agreed to look into this.

Action: Tinu Olowe

o   He also welcomed LGBT+ Pride Month and was pleased to see that the flag had been raised in front of the Civic Centre. Additionally, he welcomed the numerous festival celebrations during Summer 2022 which included festivals of ethnic, faith minorities and diverse cultures throughout Enfield.