Bath & North East Somerset Council - Equality Structures in the Council

Equality Structures in the Council

Corporate Equalities Group

1. Aim:

The main aim of the Corporate Equalities Group (CEG) is to drive the implementation of the Council’s Corporate Equality Commitment and Equal Opportunities Policy and to aspire to equalities best practice.

2. The purpose of the Corporate Equalities Group is

To monitor the implementation of the Corporate Equality Commitment and Equal Opportunities Policy across the whole Council, and make recommendations for improvement where necessary.
To monitor the implementation of the Council’s Race Equality Scheme, Disability Equality Scheme and Gender Equality Scheme
To advise the Strategic Directors Group and elected members on the implementation of equality legislation and best practice, and ensure the Council meets the legal duties placed upon it.
To lead and facilitate the achievement of equality related performance indicators.
To act as a focal point for equality issues and to actively promote equality issues throughout the Council, challenging where appropriate.

4. Chairing
Andrew Pate, Strategic Director for Resources and Support Services (and Director with responsibility for Equalities) chairs the Corporate Equalities Group.

5. Membership

Membership of the CEG includes a Directorate Equalities Champion from each of the Directorates:

Resourcersand Support Services (Andrew Pate, Strategic Director and chair of CEG)
Health and WEllbeing Partnership (Amanda Phillips)
Children’s Services (Ashley Ayre, Strategic Director)
Improvement and Performance (William Harding, Head of HR)
Customer Services (Mathew Smith, Divisional Director, Environmental Services)
Major Projects (David Langman, Manager)
Legal and Democratic Services (Rebecca Jones, Principal Solicitor)

Each member above has a named substitute. Members should make every effort to attend meetings; however, where absence is unavoidable, the named (and fully briefed) substitute can attend.

Membership also includes the Chairs from each of the three Workers Challenge Groups:

LGBT Workers Group Chair
Black Workers Group Chair
Disabled Workers Group Chair

The following attend meetings in an advisory capacity

Equalities Team (Samantha Jones, Cordelia Johnney, Louise Murphy)

6. Reporting arrangements

All six Directorate Level Equalities Groups (see below) report regulary to CEG.

Reports are also received from the three workers Challenge Groups (the Black Workers group, the Disabled Workers Group and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Workers Group) through their representatives.

7. Links to External bodies/organisations
The Council, through the Equalities Team, is represented on external bodies (Bath and NES Primary Care Trust and Avon and Somerset Constabulary). On occasion, representatives from these external organisations may be invited to attend CEG meetings.

Directorate Level Equalities Groups

1. Role of Directorate Level Equalities Groups

There are six Directorate Level Equality Groups within the Council. Their role is to promote and mainstream equality work within their own area, and also identify issues of concern for the Corporate Equalities Group. Each DLEG will be tasked with:

ensuring their directorate has an equalities action plan which fits with and supports the Corporate Equality Action Plan and also the Council's Single Equality Scheme along with other legislative requirements as they are issued;
helping to promote equality in all aspects of the Council's employment practice and service delivery within their own directorate;
monitoring and reporting back to CEG each of their services performance against local and corporate targets.

Support in carrying out the above tasks will be provided by the Corporate Equalities Team

2. Frequency of meetings

DLEGs usually meet on a 6-8 weekly basis.

3. Reporting arrangements

All six Directorate Level Equalities Groups report regulary to CEG, through their CEG members.

Equality Impact Assessment 'Quality Control Group'

1. Role and Purpose

The aim of the group is to bring members equalities experience to bear on the Council’s Equality Impact Assessments and Equality Analysis reports to ensure they are thorough, that all ’protected characteristics’ are considered and that they stand up to scrutiny.

2. Membership

Invited members of the EIA Quality Assurance Group include representatives from the Voluntary sector as ‘critical friends’:

Bath and NES People First/Equality B&NES (Disability)
Bath and NES Racial Equality Council (Race),
Action 4 Pensioners (Older people)
Bath Islamic Society (Faith)
Educational Action Challenging Homophobia (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender)

Council staff:

Black Workers Group - Chair
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and transgender Workers Group - Chair
Disabled Worker Group – Chair

Officers from the Councils Equalities Team and Officers from across the Council - depending upon which EIAs are being discussed.

3. Agenda

Two completed EIAs are discussed at each meeting. Members are invited to nominate published EIAs from the Council’s EIA web pages that are of particular interest to them.

4. Duration and frequency of meetings

EIA Quality Assurance Group meetings are held quarterly and last two hours.