Issue - meetings

Further to Minute 99 (16 February 2015), the Cabinet Member for Finance and Central Services presented an update report on the implementation of the Council’s Equalities and Diversity in Employment Policy, the associated costs and the proposals to establish a workforce that was properly reflective of the community that it served.

A number of observations were made regarding the proposed Action Plan and the positive steps already made and it was suggested that as well as regular monitoring by the Cabinet, the information should be shared more widely with the workforce as a whole.  Cabinet Members spoke on their commitment to and the importance of maintaining momentum on the project.  The Chief Executive referred to the key components of attracting candidates from the local community who were from the protected groups as defined by equality law, the need to tackle the fall-out rate of people from the black and minority ethnic (BME) community during the recruitment process and the need to ensure that there was a higher percentage of BME staff and women in more senior positions in the Council.  Following on from that point, officers undertook to provide Cabinet Members with an equalities breakdown by grade for each department within the Council.

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Note the progress to date in respect of the implementation of the Equalities and Diversity in Employment Policy;

(ii)  Agree the Action Plan at Appendix B to the report; and

(iii)  Agree that performance data be presented to Cabinet on a quarterly basis.