Issue - meetings

Councillor Drake proposed that the recommendations in the Executive report be supported. Councillor Curtis seconded the recommendations.

Councillor Curtis said that a lot of work had gone into the strategy and Members had had the opportunity to feed into it through a Members briefing session and a report was presented to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Councillor Goldspink confirmed that the Liberal Democrat group were in support of the recommendation. She said that the group were delighted to see the strategy as it was important that all residents were treated equally and was pleased to see clear recommendations for action.

The motion to support the recommendation having been proposed and seconded, was put to the meeting and upon a vote being taken, it was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – that the Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy be adopted.

To recommend to Council that the Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy be adopted.

The Executive Member for Communities submitted a report on the Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy for East Herts. Councillor Kaye said that there had been engagement with voluntary organisations, a presentation to elected members and the report was presented to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 8 June 2021. The strategy would champion equality and diversity in a way that would give residents confidence that the Council was taking the issue seriously. Councillor Kaye highlighted dates in the East Herts calendar to be more mindful of such us the International Day of Rememberance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition in August and LGBT+ Awareness Month in February. There were many communities the Council shoud reach out to and the published results of the Census may show a change in the District’s demographics. He thanked Corinne Crosbourne and Ben Wood for their work on the strategy and further engagement would continue over the next few weeks before it is adopted at Council on 28 July 2021.

Councillor Kaye proposed and Councillor Cutting seconded a motion supporting the recommendation in the report. On being put to the meeting and a vote taken, the motion was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – To recommend to Council that the Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy be adopted.

The Leader of the Council submitted a report that invited Members to review the draft strategy and provide comments before formal consultation with key partners was undertaken in June and the draft strategy was considered by the Executive on 6 July before being proposed for adoption by Council on 28July.

The Head of Communication, Strategy and Policy gave a background presentation in respect of East and Equal, a strategy for equalities, diversity and inclusion. He said that the newly appointed Equality and Diversity Officer had joined the Council in November 2020 for 2 days a week.

Members were advised that the first task for the new Officer was the creation of an equalities, diversity and inclusions strategy. The Head of Communications, Strategy and Policy said that the new strategy was to ensure that the Council could evidence that it was meeting the requirements set out in the Equality Act 2010 in terms of making reasonable adjustments in service delivery.

Members were advised of a number of moral and ethical considerations including the recent Black Lives Matter activity and the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on communities with protected characteristics such as people from ethnic groups who were particularly vulnerable.

The Head of Communications Strategy and Policy talked about the work that the Equality and Diversity Officer had carried out to establish where the Council was before drafting a set of priorities and actions. He said that once feedback had been received from Members, a formal consultation or generic survey would be carried out and the issue would be submitted to the Executive on 6 July and then to Council for adoption on the 28 July 2021.

The Equality and Diversity Officer explained why the strategy was needed by the Council. She referred to the public sector equality duty need and the opportunity for the Council to demonstrate its vision and challenges.

Members were provided with an overview of the timeline and were given an explanation of the strategy that was to be known as “East and Equal”. The Equality and Diversity Officer said that she had combined the “SEED” priorities in the Council’s Corporate Plan with the Local Government Association framework to produce the acronym of respond, relate and reach out.

Members were presented with an overview of the demographics of East Herts and the Officer touched on work that had been carried out such as focussed workshops on engaging with young people. She said that East Herts Council did not know enough about the issues facing some hard to reach groups and more consultation was needed.

Members were advised that a key priority was to improve the methods by which the Council gathered and analysed data in order to improve decision making. The Officer said another priority was to strengthen the equality impact assessment process.

The Officer explained that the relate value was a combination of leadership and organisational development to ensure that the Senior Members and the Executive could embed equality initiatives within East Hertfordshire District Council in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 69