Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Central Services reported on the proposed implementation of a number of positive actions aimed at helping the Council to achieve the commitment within its Equality and Diversity in Employment Policy to have a workforce representative of the local community.

The Cabinet Member referred to a number of the proposals and commented that representatives from the black and minority ethnic (BME) and other under-represented group staff networks could be involved in aspects of the recruitment process in the future.  The Chief Executive suggested that the proposals that were set out in the report were a good starting position and that a future report to Cabinet should deal with the Cabinet Member for Central Services’ wider proposals as well as other issues raised at the meeting in relation to targets within the policy and the funding arrangements for the project.

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Agree the following targets as part of the Council’s Equality and Diversity in Employment Policy:

(a)  That recruitment in any one year should reflect the breakdown of the working population in the Borough;

(b)  To achieve an annual 10% increase in 2015/16 to 2017/18 in the proportion of the workforce from the BME community (i.e. a 2.7% increase in 2015/16 on the baseline of 27%);

(c)  To reduce the number of staff who do not declare whether they have a disability or not by 30% in 2015/16, in order for a suitable target to be set for future years to increase the number of people with disabilities working in the organisation.

(ii)  Support a campaign to promote tolerance of all nine groups recognised as “protected characteristics in the Equality Act 2010” equally, to be led by the Divisional Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Central Services; and

(iii)  Agree that officers report further on the issues raised at the meeting relating to recruitment and interviewing, targets within the policy and the funding arrangements for the project.