Finance & Corporate Services Directorate Equality and ...€¦ · Finance & Corporate Services Directorate Equality and Diversity Information Audit _____ Summary report – January

Stuart Black Performance and Equalities Officer Environment Directorate

Finance & Corporate Services Directorate Equality and Diversity Information Audit

_____________________________________________________________________________

Summary report – January 2016

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Contents 1. Introduction page 3 2. Finance and Corporate Services Directorate – What we do and who we are page 4 3. Service User Profiles – information about the residents who use our services page 6 4. Directorate Equality Achievements page 7 5. 2015/16 EINA Schedule page 9 6. FCS Screening for Relevance summary page 10 7. EINA Actions – progress on actions identified in completed EINAs page 11 8. Equality Action Plan – update of the FCS Directorate equality action plan page 13 9. Equality Objectives – the current status of Directorate equality objectives page 15 10. Information Sources – a collection of information sources relevant to the report page 16 11. Appendices page 17

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1. Introduction

On 1st October 2010, the Equality Act 2010 came into force to replace and simplify anti-discrimination laws, making the legal position easier to understand and comply with. As part of this act, the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) was introduced on 5th April 2011, with the aim to embed equality considerations into the everyday work of public bodies to enable them to tackle inequality and discrimination more effectively.

The PSED has three general duties that require public bodies to have due regard to the need to:

Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010;

Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it;

Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not share it.

Expanding upon previous equality duties (for race, gender and disability), the PSED encompasses nine protected characteristics;

Age

Sex or Gender

Race (including ethnic or national origins, colour and nationality)

Disability

Religion and Belief (includes a lack of belief)

Sexual orientation

Gender reassignment

Pregnancy and Maternity

Marriage and Civil Partnership (although only in respect of eliminating unlawful discrimination)

In addition to the general duties, the Government introduced specific duties to assist public bodies, like Richmond upon Thames Council, to achieve the aims of the general duties. These are:

To publish annual information to demonstrate its compliance with the PSED.

To set and publish equality objectives, at least every four years, from the 6th April 2012.

This document has been produced to demonstrate our compliance with the PSED. It provides an update of the equality progress in the Finance and Corporate Services Directorate of Richmond upon Thames Council and aims to represent the actions that have occurred to make equality of opportunity, fair access to services and good relations available to all.

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2. Finance and Corporate Services Directorate – What we do and who we are

The Finance and Corporate Services Directorate (FCS) has responsibility for the management of the Council’s support functions, incorporating the provision of effective financial reporting and accounting control, plus the provision and further development of efficient IT and office management systems and processes. Since 2013, the Arts Service and Library Service have also been part of FCS.

In 2015, FCS consisted of nine services:1

Accountancy

Arts

Customer Services

Electoral Services

ICT (including the Corporate Web Team)

Internal Audit and Investigation

Libraries

Revenues and Benefits

Workforce profile against protected characteristics2 As of 1st October 2015, FCS consists of 286 permanent employees, a reduction of 28% since October 2014.3

Gender: The Directorate workforce is composed of 113 male and 173 female members of permanent staff.

Age: The age profile of FCS remains comparable to that of the overall Richmond Council workforce.

1 On October 1

st 2015, Customer Services transferred to the Adults and Community Services Directorate. On

November 2nd

2015, Arts and Libraries transferred to the Environment Directorate and HR transferred to FCS. 2 Data provided by HR - refers only to staff directly employed by Richmond Council. Staff members who are

employed through an agency are not included. 3 Please see Appendix 1 for a comparison between the FCS workforce breakdown in 2014 and 2015.

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Religion and Belief: Christianity remains the most prevalent religion, accounting for 34% of the FCS workforce, followed by no religion at 22%. Islam (4%) and Sikhism (3%) have the next highest proportions whilst Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist staff members each account for less than 1% of the Directorate workforce. It should also be noted that 77% of FCS staff provided this information in 2015, compared to only 56% in 2014, and the breakdown broadly aligns with the Richmond upon Thames population.

Race and Ethnicity:4 The ethnicity breakdown of FCS staff is broadly in line with the Richmond upon Thames population, for both White Other and BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) representation, although FCS is comparatively less diverse than the overall Richmond Council workforce. Slight under-representation is noted when considering the white British workforce, although this may be mitigated by the six per cent of FCS staff members who did not provide information.

Further breakdown of the data reveals a slightly higher percentage of black African, black Caribbean, Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi staff members than in the Richmond upon Thames population. In contrast, Chinese, other Asian and all mixed ethnicity groups are marginally under-represented.

Disability: Since 2014, there has been a significant increase in the number of staff providing this information (91%, compared to 21% in 2014). Within FCS, 15 staff members (5% of the workforce) have stated that they have a disability.5

Marital Status: Despite an increase of ten percentage points in the proportion of staff providing this information (24% in 2015, from 14% in 2014), current figures remain too small to be representative of the whole Directorate. For the record, 35 staff in FCS are married, 22 are single and a further 11 are either divorced, widowed, co-habiting, have a partner or are in a civil partnership.

Sexual Orientation: As with other categories, 2015 has seen an increase in staff providing this information (64% in 2015, from 54% in 2014). From the data available, 92% of the staff members who provided this information stated they were heterosexual.

4 Ethnicity categories: White other (White Irish, Irish Gypsy/Traveller, all other White backgrounds); Black (Black

African, Black Caribbean and Black other); Asian (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese and other Asian); Mixed (White/Black Caribbean, White/Black African, White/Asian and other mixed heritages) 5 “A physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on normal daily

activities.” (2010 Equality Act - Chapter 15; Part 2, Chapter 1, Section 6)

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3. Service User Profiles

Collecting information on who we provide services to continues to be difficult as, although a number of services are front facing, they do not have a defined customer base as they are relevant to all residents. As such, we are reliant on equality information voluntarily provided in customer monitoring surveys at the point of contact. In 2015, the FCS Directorate collected equality monitoring information in the following areas:

Arts Service

Revenues and Benefits

Arts:

Service user data has been collected and analysed from customer feedback forms at six events held in 2015. In total, over 19,000 people were in attendance, although only 505 feedback forms were received (2.7%) and not all respondents provided equality monitoring information. Data was also collected from schools attending the ‘Joined by the River’ exhibition, although this has somewhat skewed the data, particularly when looking at the age of event visitors. It is noted that the small sample size cannot be extrapolated to represent all service users; however the data can serve as an indication of any particular strengths and weaknesses in accessibility to the service. Full data, broken down by event, can be found in Appendix 2 but, in summary;

Gender: 71% of attendees were women (741 returns).

Age: 41% of visitors were under 16 (705 returns). o If school visits are excluded, 38% of attendees were aged 31-49 whilst the over 50’s

made up 47% of visitors (439 returns).

Ethnicity: 72% of attendees were white British, 15% were BME (736 returns).

Disability: 7% of attendees stated they were disabled (712 returns).

It is hoped that, over the coming years, a greater diversity of residents and visitors to the borough will participate in cultural activities. The Cultural Partnership Strategy 2015-19, published in November 2015, sets out how this is to be achieved and has a stated goal of increasing involvement in cultural activities through partnership with organisations throughout the borough.

Revenues and Benefits:

An analysis of all applications received by the Revenues and Benefits Team was undertaken in May 2015. In total, 10,929 applications were analysed – applicants were required to provide their gender and age as part of their application, whilst 16% of applicants also voluntarily stated their ethnicity. A full breakdown of the data is available in Appendix 3, however the key aspects are:

Gender: 61% of applicants were women.

Age: 22% of applicants were aged 35-44 whilst 18% of applicants were over 65 years of age.

Ethnicity: 62% of applicants were white British and 20% were BME (1,760 returns).

It was hoped that further analysis could be undertaken to consider only ‘successful’ applications, to provide a greater understanding of how the service caters to different equality groups, however this has not been possible due to limitations with the Revenues and Benefits database system.

Library Service:

A planned survey of library users, scheduled for the summer of 2015, is now scheduled to take place in early 2016 due to a delay in an upgrade to Spydus, the Library database system. A survey of non-users (defined as residents who hold a Richmond Card but who have not visited a library) did occur and the monitoring data is detailed in Appendix 4 however, by definition, it did not provide service user data so cannot be used to gain an insight into who uses our services.

The FCS Directorate remains aware that gaps exist in our knowledge of our service users and will continue to look for new avenues to improve this. Greater knowledge of our service users will enable the Directorate to make more informed decisions and ensure the services we provide are appropriate to the needs of our residents. However, it must be highlighted that we are, and will continue to be, reliant upon our service users voluntarily providing information, a factor which limits the quantity and quality of data available to us.

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4. Directorate Equality Achievements

Key achievement 1: Increased intellectual accessibility to Library Services

Existing Library Service initiatives have been maintained and new initiatives have been introduced across the borough to provide increased accessibility.

Reading groups: The Library Service facilitates 26 regular adult reading groups across the borough. These groups include those aimed at specific equality groups, such as:

A weekly reading group for people with Dementia is held at East Sheen Library, with a second group planned to take place at Ham Library from December 2015.

A monthly reading group is held at Hampton library for people aged over 65.

A weekly reading group for isolated adults is held at Twickenham Library

A fortnightly reading group for adults with disability is held at the Access Centre in Whitton, to avoid the requirement for members to travel to a local library.

A range of sessions are also provided to encourage young people to use library facilities, including:

Storytime – weekly groups for the under 5’s held in all borough libraries

Tiny Teddies – monthly sessions for very young children involving songs, rhymes and stories.6

A bi-monthly toy library is held at locations across the borough, with an emphasis given to disabled children and children with additional needs.

Black History Month: As part of Black History Month, the Library Service organised events to celebrate BME culture, including:

Bollywood dancing, henna and candle decorating at Teddington Library to celebrate Diwali; activities were attended by 24 children.

East Sheen and Whitton Libraries hosted a Caribbean story-teller and saw a combined attendance of 94 children.

An Aboriginal story-teller for adults, at Richmond Library, was attended by 61 people.

A talk on Africa in World War One at Hampton Library was attended by 25 people.

ICT improvements: As part of improvements to the PC booking system, PCs can now be booked in person, online or by telephone to ensure they are available at the required time. In addition, a range of accessibility equipment is available at all libraries and can be booked alongside the PC to allow all service users to access the PCs. The available equipment includes:

Supernova Magnifier o Visual highlighting and natural voices for reading documents (ideal for people with partial

hearing or fluctuating sight who require optional speech to read longer documents).

Headphones

Trackball mice - for users with dexterity issues who find using a traditional mouse difficult.

Lower/Upper case keyboards

Impact: Improved accessibility has contributed to an increase of 21,452 visitors to borough libraries between April and September 2015, compared to the same period of 2014. This represents an increase of 3.1% in overall attendance.

Key achievement 2: Improved accessibility of the Richmond Council public website

In 2014, the Richmond Council public website did not achieve an accessibility tick in the annual SOCITM report due to a number of small failings in their assessment areas. Since this time, the whole site has been overhauled and the previous failings have either been addressed or are no longer applicable. Further consultation was also carried out with a number of community groups and any relevant feedback was incorporated into the final site.

6 Sessions are held on a weekly basis at Ham Library and fortnightly at Twickenham Library.

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In particular, the following improvements were made:

Web pages have been given increased clarity, both graphically and semantically in the underlying HTML, which is used by assistive technology, so important information stands out.

The use of hyperlinks has been reduced to make the site more user-friendly for visitors with screen-reading software.

Simplified and improved navigation around the site, with particular consideration of visitors who are using assistive technology.

Ensure the use of plain English and minimise the use of jargon and ‘Council’ terms, which should benefit all site users, but especially those who have English as an additional language.

The site has been made faster and more responsive to enhance the performance across a wide range of devices. This should be of particular benefit for users who are unable to, or choose not to, use a personal computer to access the site.

Impact: In the 2015 Better Connected report, produced by SOCITM, the Richmond Council website achieved the maximum four-star rating;7 one of only four London Boroughs8 and 32 other local authorities to achieve this. This was the first time since 2011 that the Richmond Council website received a four-star rating and specific praise was given for the functionality to report street light faults via a mobile device, particularly the use of an interactive map to indicate exactly which street light was faulty.

Other equality achievements in the FCS Directorate:

Electoral Services have seen an increased number of absent voters registered following a campaign to raise awareness in the build-up to the 2015 General Election.

o 24,074 residents are registered postal voters, a 2.0% increase on 2014, which is particularly beneficial for older or disabled residents who may find travelling to a Polling Station difficult.

o 64 residents who are unable to provide a consistent or distinctive signature are registered for a signature-waived postal vote, a 31.9% decrease on 2014.

o 358 residents registered for a proxy vote, a large proportion of which are residents with a disability or medical problem that prevents them from voting in a traditional manner.9 This figure represents a 411.4% increase on 2014.

All Polling Stations used in the 2015 General Election were DDA compliant and have been contacted again to ensure they remain compliant ahead of the 2016 GLA Elections.

The Arts Service organised events around different religious beliefs and ethnic backgrounds, including Richmond Carnival and the ‘On the Edge’ world music festival. These events were free to attend and the proportion of BME visitors was greater than the borough breakdown.

Consultation activities have taken place with local residents, community groups and interested parties for the on-going ‘Transforming Orleans House’ project. Final designs have now been established that will make the gallery and all exhibition spaces accessible to every visitor.

The Arts Service held “Dad Days” throughout 2015 to provide opportunities for Dads or male carers to take part in creative activities with their children.

Customer Services have ensured all contact streams (in person, post, telephone, email, textphone and text relay) remain available to residents who wish to contact the Council.

The Internal Audit and Investigations Service completed EINAs for the expansion of the service to include the London Boroughs of Merton and Sutton. Newly integrated staff will be able to attend Richmond Council Equality and Diversity training as part of their induction.

The Library Service hosted 12 ‘ITea & Biscuits’ sessions to give older people an opportunity to gain first-hand experience of using computers; in total, 91 people attended.

The Library Service hosted a stall at a MenCap event during Learning Disability Week to publicise the service to potential new users.

The Local Studies Team (Library Service) delivered the borough’s Heritage Festival “Know Your Place”, featuring walks and talks across the borough. In particular, the KYP cache treasure trail was family-focussed and encouraged young people to learn about local history.

7 Based on four factors: Time taken to access/complete tasks; usability criteria; reviewer rating; mobile standard

8 LB Hackney, LB Haringey and LB Wandsworth websites also received a four-star rating

9 The full list of reasons why a proxy vote can be requested is available at: https://www.gov.uk/apply-vote-proxy

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5. 2015/16 EINA schedule Each year, all Richmond Council directorates undertake Equality Impact Needs Assessments (EINAs) to ensure services and policies do not discriminate against our service users, advance equality of opportunity by meeting diverse needs, increasing access to participation and decision-making and ensuring the needs of disabled people are met, and foster good relations. Below is the updated FCS EINA schedule for 2015/16 (all items with a grey background are currently in progress or outstanding).

EINA Title

Description of EINA EINA lead Update/Progress

1

Cultural Partnership Strategy

A new strategy is being developed. Rachel Tranter Completed – published in October 2015.

2

Transforming Orleans House Project

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Renovation and development of Orleans House is planned, including improved accessibility.

Rachel Tranter Draft currently in progress – due for completion in early 2016/17.

3 Library Booking Service

Procurement of new service to allow library users to book a PC session at Borough libraries.

Grace Albury Completed – published in July 2015.

4 Corporate Fraud Shared Service

Alix Wilson

Jill Pain

EINA led by LB Wandsworth (host borough to shared service). No further action.

5 Anti-Fraud Framework Framework may need to be updated in 2015/16.

Alix Wilson Jill Pain

No update to the framework was made in 2015/16. No further action – will be considered again in 2016/17.

6 Library refurbishment

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Public toilets are being refurbished in Castelnau, Hampton and Richmond Libraries.

Steven Liddle

No timeframe is currently in place for work to be completed – EINA to be produced once this has been established.

7 Business Rates (NNDR)

Funding provided by Government to provide a £1,000 discount to retail premises with a rateable value of up to £50,000.

Jacky Warren Kim Anderson

Screening for Relevance completed in July 2015. No further action.

8 Intranet Review

Richmond Intranet to be reviewed to ensure content is up-to-date, clear and accessible.

Chloe Hunter Completed – published in July 2015.

9 Shared Internal Audit Service (LB Merton)

Expansion of Internal Audit Service to include London Borough of Merton.

Alix Wilson Jill Pain

Completed – published in October 2015.

10 Universal Credit

New type of benefit to be rolled out in the borough

Kim Anderson Draft currently in progress – due for publication before April 2016.

11 Shared Internal Audit Service (LB Sutton)

Expansion of Internal Audit Shared Service to include London Borough of Sutton.

Alix Wilson Jill Pain

Draft EINA completed in October 2015 – to be published after report goes to Richmond Council Cabinet meeting in December 2015 and staff consultation in January 2016.

12 Council Tax Reduction Scheme

New CTRS to be introduced from 1st April 2016. Jacky Warren

EINA due to be completed and published in March 2016, following Richmond Council Cabinet approval and public consultation.

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EINA will be published as an Environment Directorate EINA. 11

EINA will be published as an Environment Directorate EINA.

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6. FCS Screening for Relevance summary

A Screening for Relevance is an initial assessment undertaken to assess the impact of a service against the nine protected characteristics and three general duties. The current status of each FCS service is shown below. This summarises the relevance of each protected characteristic and the general duties of the PSED in relation to each service – due to the specific nature of each assessment, it is not possible to directly compare the level of relevance across different services. This is a live document and will be updated based upon the Equality Impact Needs Assessments (EINAs) that are completed within each team – as such, assessments made for individual characteristics may change from year to year as new considerations arise and are assessed.

Service Last

update Age Sex Race Disability

Religion & Belief

SO GR P&M M&CP

Eliminating discrimination, harassment or victimisation

Advancing equality of opportunity between people who share a characteristic and those who do not

Fostering good relations between

people who share a characteristic and those who do not

Accountancy 2012 Low Low Low Low Low Low Low Low Low Low Low Low

Arts 2015 High Medium High High Low Low Low Low Medium Low High High

Customer Services 2014 High Low High High Low Low Low Low Low High High Medium

Electoral Services 2014 High Low Medium High Low Low Low Medium Medium High High Medium

ICT 2014 Medium Medium Low High Low Low Low Low Low High Low Medium

Internal Audit and Investigations

2015 Medium Low Low Medium Low Low Low Low Low Medium Low Medium

Libraries 2015 High Low High High Low Low Low Medium Low High High High

Revenues and Benefits

2015 High Low Medium High Low Low Low Low Medium High High Medium

Corp. Web Team 2015 High Medium High High Low Low Low Low Low High High High

SO: Sexual orientation GR: Gender reassignment P&M: Pregnancy & Maternity M&CP: Marriage & Civil Partnership

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7. EINA actions A key aspect of the EINA process is to highlight actions needed to ensure our service users and staff do not experience discrimination. The table below highlights the actions undertaken as a result of completed FCS EINAs (all items with a grey background are currently in progress or outstanding).

EINA title

Action Lead Officer RAG Due Completed Comments 1

Council Tax Support scheme

The Revenues and Benefits database system is being developed to ensure customer monitoring information is more readily available.

Paul Carter

- July 2015 / on-going

E&D monitoring of service users completed in July 2015 - report provided to R&B Team.

It was hoped that further analysis could be undertaken to consider only ‘successful’ applications; however this has not been possible due to limitations with the R&B database system.

2 Library Management System

LMS User survey Steven Liddle

February 2016

- Library user survey has been delayed due to delays to Spydus 9 upgrade. Survey currently scheduled for February 2016.

3 Library Management System

Non-user survey Steven Liddle

- June 2015 Report completed in June 2015 – E&D provided for age, gender, disability and ethnicity (165 responses).

4 iTrent (HR self-service)

Text on site cannot be enlarged for visually impaired users – consult with HR with a view to ensuring functionality is implemented.

Emma Stracey

- August 2015 Functionality is not available on iTrent – as system is web-based, users are able to manually adjust zoom level to desired size.

5 iTrent (HR Self-service)

No option to change colour contrasts, which may impact accessibility for some visually impaired users – consult with HR with a view to ensuring functionality is implemented.

Emma Stracey

- August 2015

Functionality is not available on iTrent – no complaints have been received re: colour contrast having an impact on visually impaired users.

6 Web review

Further consultation with equalities groups after the site has been running for a year.

Chris McCulloch

- May 2015 Consultation completed in May 2015 – minor changes made to website as a result.

7 Individual Electoral Registration

Arrange Care Home visits to provide specific assistance to residents with completing IER forms.

Stephanie Bishop

- April 2015 All Care Homes visited and all follow-up visits completed prior to General Election in May 2015.

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IT provision to users with special needs

Introduction of Windows 7 and MS Office 2010 improves the range of accessibility adjustments available to the user. These will be highlighted in communications and training to staff.

Adrian Boylan

- August 2015

Windows 7/MS Office 2010 have been rolled out to all staff following mop-up sessions – accessibility adjustments available to the user can continue to be requested on RIO.

9 IT provision to users with special needs

Introduction of tablet PCs. Adrian Boylan

- August 2015 Tablet PCs have been distributed to all designated staff following roll-out of Windows 7/MS Office 2010.

10 Library Public PC Booking Service

Include requirement for customer interface to meet Plain English Standards in procurement documentation.

Steven Liddle

- April 2015 Completed and included in procurement documentation.

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EINA title

Action Lead Officer RAG Due Completed Comments 11

Library Public PC Booking Service

Include requirement for customer interface to include different languages in line with Richmond Council publications and frequent translation requests in procurement documentation.

Steven Liddle

- April 2015 Completed and included in procurement documentation.

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Include requirement for customer interface to be compatible with standard visual impairment software in procurement documentation.

Steven Liddle

- April 2015 Completed and included in procurement documentation.

13 Intranet (RIO) Review

Invite staff to give comments and feedback once the new site goes live.

Chloe Hunter N/A Cancelled Changes to RIO have been put on hold until Shared Staffing Arrangement with Wandsworth is established.

Communication with web editors will take place before any changes are implemented.

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Intranet (RIO) Review

Contact all existing web editors explaining change in procedure for all web editing to be undertaken by staff in the Web Team.

Chloe Hunter N/A Cancelled

15 Cultural Partnership Strategy

Follow-up workshops to be held to consider the draft strategy.

Rachel Tranter

- January 2015 Workshops held – feedback has been incorporated into the final draft of the EINA.

16 Cultural Partnership Strategy

Consider local and national strategies relevant to culture to ensure no major discrepancies.

Rachel Tranter

- January 2015

17 Cultural Partnership Strategy

Goal-setting workshops to be held with the Cultural Partnership.

Rachel Tranter

- March 2015

18 Cultural Partnership Strategy

Consider equalities monitoring data gathered by the Arts Service re: visitors to Orleans House Gallery.

Rachel Tranter

- March 2015 Equalities monitoring data included in final draft of EINA.

19 Cultural Partnership Strategy

External cultural partners are encouraged to ensure they capture sufficient data to ensure E&D issues are picked up.

Rachel Kidd

- March 2015

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Cultural Partnership Strategy

Desktop research into national data. Rachel Kidd

- March 2015

21 Cultural Partnership Strategy

Incorporate feedback from Cultural Partnership Consultation and Scrutiny Panel into EINA.

Emma Cookson

- May 2015 Feedback has been incorporated into the published version of the EINA.

22 Cultural Partnership Strategy

Complete EINA for Transforming Orleans House project.

Rachel Tranter

Q1 2016/17

- EINA is currently in progress – due for completion in early 2016/17.

23 Cultural Partnership Strategy

Update this EINA following results of goal-setting workshop.

Pippa Joiner

- June 2015 Updates have been incorporated into the published version of the EINA.

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8. Equality Action plan The current status of the 2015/16 Equality Action plan.

No Gap identified Action Lead Officers Status Completed Outcome/update 1

No clear guidelines on the monitoring of customers.

Develop standardised monitoring form to use throughout the Directorate. Develop guidelines for staff/customers on why we collect monitoring information.

Corporate Equality Manager / FCS Steering Group

April 2015

Guidance published on the Richmond Council website includes why monitoring information is collected and a standardised form that can be used. Additional support available from the FCS Equality Lead or Corporate Equality Manager.

2 Continue to raise awareness of E&D issues within FCS.

Ensure FCS E&D pages on RIO (Richmond Council intranet) are updated each quarter to provide greater information to staff.

FCS Equality Lead

Completed (on-going)

‘EINA Schedule’ and ‘EINA Actions’ pages are updated on RIO each quarter. Completed EINAs are published on the public website (and can also be accessed through RIO)

3 Continue to strengthen the EINA monitoring process

Continue to have EINA Actions monitoring as standing agenda item at FCS Steering Group.

FCS Equality Lead

Completed (on-going)

Monitoring of EINA Actions is a standing agenda item at all Steering Group meetings.

4

Continue to strengthen the EINA monitoring process.

Introduction of Equality Performance Indicator (PI) to monitor the proportion of EINA Actions that are completed within agreed timescales.

FCS Equality Lead

April 2015

New PI introduced – target set at 75% (2013/14 performance calculated as 70%) As of November 2015, 16 out of 21 actions (76%) had been completed within the agreed timeframes. Of the five other actions, three were completed outside timeframe and two have been delayed.

5 E&D objectives need to be reflective of the work and aims of the Directorate.

FCS Steering Group members to determine E&D objectives for 2015/16

FCS Steering Group

January 2015

Current Equality Action plan agreed by FCS E&D Steering Group in January 2015. 2016/17 Action Plan to be agreed in February 2016.

6

Potential concern identified amongst disabled staff re: confidence in individual issues being dealt with and resolved effectively.

Promote “Code of Practice” and reporting of discrimination, bullying and harassment. Director to liaise with Staff Disability Access Group (SDAG) to address specific issues.

Team Leaders / Service Managers

November 2015

A breakdown of FCS responses to the 2015 survey by disability is unavailable. Of note, across all FCS staff, confidence in individual issues being dealt with efficiently has increased by two percentage points to 76% compared to 2011.

7

Historic staff surveys have highlighted concerns from FSC staff about home- or flexible working arrangements.

Promote opportunities for flexible working and working from home in FCS.

Team Leaders / Service Managers

November 2015

The 2015 staff survey saw the proportion of FCS staff who felt Richmond Council allowed flexible working arrangements decline by two percentage points (to 70%) compared to 2011. It should be noted that the FCS result was the lowest of all Directorates and four percentage points below the overall Council average of 74%

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No Gap identified Action Lead Officers Status Completed Outcome/update 8 There is a lack of

understanding of who uses our services.

Where relevant, services are to collect equality monitoring information on who uses their services.

Service Managers / E&D reps

Completed (on-going)

Monitoring information has been collected by Arts, Revenues & Benefits, Electoral Services and Libraries during 2015 (See section 3).

9 There is a lack of understanding of who uses our services.

Services with equality monitoring information to produce analysis on who uses their service, which can be used to inform future service plans.

Service Managers / E&D reps / FCS Equality Lead

Completed (on-going)

Analysis has been produced by the four services that collected service user information in 2015. Analysis is used to develop an understanding of who are / are not using their service.

10 Increased involvement from Senior Leadership / DMT

Regular, scheduled agenda item at FCS DMT to be introduced to ensure Senior Managers are kept up-to-date with E&D issues.

DMT / FCS Equality Lead

Completed (on-going)

Scheduled attendance at DMT / Wider DMT meetings is now in place to keep Senior Management up-to-date with E&D issues.

11 Increased involvement from Senior Leadership / DMT

All high impact EINAs to be reviewed at FCS DMT for sign-off prior to publication.

DMT / Service Managers / FCS Equality Lead

Completed (on-going)

All EINAs are now available for review at DMT / Wider DMT, following sign-off by the FCS E&D Steering Group and prior to publication.

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9. Equality Objectives As part of the PSED, the Council is required to provide performance indicators that are monitored to demonstrate our consideration of equality issues. These performance indicators are reviewed on an annual basis to ensure they remain relevant to the Directorate.

Indicator Description Owner Target Status Comments

E&D 001 (ICT)

Achieve WCAG 2.0 for the public website.

Maintain the public website to ensure that the website follows the revised WCAG 2.0 accessibility standards to level AA.

Chris McCulloch

WCAG 2.0

Following an extensive overhaul of the public website, Richmond Council received the highest, four-star rating in the SOCITM 2015 Better Connected report that assesses the accessibility of public sector websites.

The Richmond Council website was one of only 35 public sector websites to achieve the highest rating, including only three other London Boroughs.

E&D 004a

(All FCS) Improve satisfaction levels of BME staff

The 2011 staff survey indicated that BME employees had lower levels of satisfaction with appraisals and training and development. FCS DMT will oversee implementation of new corporate appraisal standards to ensure consistent application.

Mark Maidment

Improved staff satisfaction

A breakdown of FCS responses to the 2015 survey by ethnicity is not available.

Of note, the satisfaction level of all FCS staff with the appraisal process has increased by ten percentage points to 82%, compared to 2011. In contrast, training and development satisfaction has fallen in FCS by two percentage points to 50% although it should be noted that, across Richmond Council as a whole, BME staff recorded higher satisfaction levels compared to white staff.

E&D 004b

(All FCS)

Improve satisfaction level of disabled staff in FCS

2011 staff survey indicated that disabled staff had lower levels of satisfaction with appraisals, in particular around performance evaluation and the identification of training needs. FCS DMT will oversee implementation of new corporate appraisal standards to ensure consistent application.

Mark Maidment

Improved staff satisfaction

A breakdown of FCS responses to the 2015 survey by disability is not available. Of note, the satisfaction level of all FCS staff with the appraisal process has increased by ten percentage points to 82%, compared to 2011.

E&D 008 (Arts)

Non-white participation at Arts programmes and events

To target an overall percentage of 15% non-white visitors across all Arts Service programmes and events.

Rachel Tranter

15%

736 returns, collected at six events, indicated that 14.5% of attendees were non-white - this is marginally above the borough demographics (2011 Census) and has come about despite no Holi events taking place in 2015.

E&D 009 (All FCS)

% of EINA actions completed within agreed timescales

To target an increase in EINA Actions completed within agreed timescales

FCS Equality

lead 75%

As of November 2015, 16 out of 21 actions (76%) had been completed within the agreed timeframes. Of the five other actions, three were completed outside timeframe and two have been delayed.

16

10. Information sources The information audit has enabled the services within the FCS Directorate to contribute towards a list of key information sources that have been useful and could be useful when carrying out equalities analysis. This information is provided below.

Name Location

FCS Directorate DataRich http://www.datarich.info/

FCS Directorate EINA reports http://www.richmond.gov.uk/fcs_eina_reports

LB Richmond upon Thames Borough Profile 2014 http://www.richmond.gov.uk/borough_profile

Richmond upon Thames Corporate Plan 2015 http://www.richmond.gov.uk/corporate_plan_2015.pdf

Corporate/FCS Directorate Equality & Diversity pages Richmond Council intranet – not publicly available

Arts Service Arts Events – Evaluation Reports Not published (internal use only)

Cultural Partnership Strategy http://www.richmond.gov.uk/cultural_partnership_strategy_2015_to_2019.pdf

Corporate Web Team & ICT SOCITM http://www.socitm.net/

Webcredible – external body that checks accessibility. http://www.webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-resources/white-papers/council.shtml

Web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG 2.0) http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/

Richmond Council web accessibility policy http://www.richmond.gov.uk/web_accessibility_policy

EHRC general web accessibility guidance http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/footer/accessibility-statement/general-web-accessibility-guidance/

Corporate Contact Centre Contact Centre customer satisfaction survey results http://www.richmond.gov.uk/customer_satisfaction_surveys

Electoral Services Electoral Commission reports http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/

E&D clauses in procurement documents http://www.richmond.gov.uk/richmond_-_building_equalities_into_proc_-_5.06.doc

Electoral Commission translation booklet Not publicly available

Census statistics http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/census/2011/index.html

Combined Local & EU Election Voter Surveys Not published (internal use only)

Feedback from combined Local & EU Election staff Not published (internal use only)

Internal Audit and Investigations The Accounts and Audit (England) Regulations 2011 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2011/817/made

CIPFA Code of Practice for Internal Audit http://www.cipfa.org/Policy-and-Guidance/Technical-Panels-and-Boards/Audit-Panel

Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984 https://www.gov.uk/police-and-criminal-evidence-act-1984-pace-codes-of-practice

Data Protection Act 1998 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/29/contents

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/23/contents

Human Rights Act 1998 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/42/contents

Consultation on the Code of Practice on Local Authority Accountancy in the United Kingdom

http://www.cipfa.org/policy-and-guidance/consultations-archive/201516-code-of-practice-invitation-to-comment

CIPFA Code of Practice Annual Strategy and ToR http://www.cipfa.org/Policy-and-Guidance/Publications/Codes-of-Practice

Libraries Service Adult PLUS 2015 Questionnaire Report due in Summer 2016 – http://www.cipfasocialresearch.net/libraries/plus/

17

Appendix 1 – Finance and Corporate Services Directorate staff comparison between October 2014 and October 2015

Gender 2014 2015 Change Male 38.0% 39.5% +1.5%

Female 62.0% 60.5% -1.5%

Age 2014 2015 Change 16-20 4.5% 3.8% -0.7%

21-30 12.6% 13.3% +0.7%

31-40 20.9% 21.0% +0.1%

41-50 24.2% 23.4% -0.8%

51-60 23.9% 26.9% +3.0%

61+ 13.9% 11.5% -2.4%

Marital status 2014 2015 Change Single 5.5% 7.7% +2.2%

Married 6.3% 12.2% +5.9%

Civil Partnership 0.3% 0.3% -

Divorced 0.0% 0.3% +0.3%

Separated 0.0% 0.0% -

Partner 1.0% 2.4% +1.4%

Widowed 0.0% 0.3% +0.3%

Cohabiting 0.5% 0.3% -0.2%

Prefer not to say 86.4% 76.2% -10.2%

Disability 2014 2015 Change Yes 3.8% 5.2% +1.4%

No 17.6% 85.3% +67.7%

Not provided 78.6% 9.4% -69.2%

Ethnicity 2014 2015 Change White British 60.7% 67.5% +6.8%

White Other 11.1% 13.3% +2.2%

BME 12.4% 13.6% +1.2%

Black or Black British 2.0% 2.4% +0.4%

Asian or Asian British 7.1% 8.7% +1.6%

Mixed Ethnic Group 2.5% 1.4% -1.1%

Other Ethnic Group 0.8% 1.0% +0.2%

Prefer not to say 15.9% 5.6% -10.3%

Sexual Orientation 2014 2015 Change Heterosexual 49.6% 58.7% +9.1%

Gay Man 2.8% 3.8% +1.0%

Lesbian or Gay Woman 0.5% 0.3% -0.2%

Bisexual 0.8% 1.0% +0.2%

Prefer not to say 46.4% 36.0% -10.4%

Religion & Belief 2014 2015 Change

Christian 31.2% 34.3% +3.1%

Muslim 2.5% 3.8% +1.3%

Hindu 1.0% 0.7% -0.3%

Buddhist 0.8% 0.3% -0.5%

Sikh 2.0% 2.8% +0.8%

Jewish 0.3% 0.3% -

Atheist 2.5% 3.1% +0.6%

No religion 11.6% 18.9% +7.3%

Other religion 3.5% 2.8% -0.7%

Prefer not to say 44.1% 32.9% -11.2%

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Appendix 2: Arts Events – Equality Monitoring data (from feedback forms at selected 2015 events)

Gender On the Edge Carnival 2015 Mini-Fest JBT River The Streets Music/Drama Total Borough

population No

% No

% No

% No

% No

% No

% No

%

Male 32 39.0% 37 27.6% 10 16.4% 79 27.6% 6 31.6% 49 30.8% 213 28.7% 48.6%

Female 50 61.0% 97 72.4% 51 83.6% 207 72.4% 13 68.4% 110 69.2% 528 71.3% 51.4%

Total 82 - 134 - 61 - 286 - 19 - 159 741 - -

Age Group On the Edge Carnival 2015 Mini-Fest JBT River The Streets Music/Drama Total Borough

population No

%

No

%

No

%

No

%

No

%

No

% No

%

Under 16 2 2.7% 11 9.1% 5 9.3% 266 93.0% 0 - 4 2.6% 288 40.9% 20.5%

16-30 12 16.2% 12 9.9% 6 11.1% 1 0.3% 4 25.0% 5 3.2% 40 5.7% 15.6%

31-49 31 41.9% 65 54.7% 32 59.3% 0 - 7 43.8% 33 21.4% 168 23.8% 32.6%

50-64 27 36.5% 19 15.7% 6 11.1% 0 - 3 18.8% 51 33.1% 106 15.0% 17.1%

65+ 2 2.7% 14 11.6% 5 9.3% 19 6.7% 2 12.5% 61 39.6% 101 14.3% 14.4%

Total 74 - 121 - 54 - 286 - 16 - 154 705 - -

Ethnicity On the Edge Carnival 2015 Mini-Fest JBT River The Streets Music/Drama Total Borough

population No

%

No

%

No

%

No

%

% %

No

% No

%

White British 52 63.4% 86 67.2% 48 78.7% 185 66.3% 15 83.3% 145 86.3% 531 72.1% 71.5%

White Other 14 17.1% 11 8.6% 8 13.1% 49 17.6% 3 16.7% 13 7.7% 98 13.3% 14.5%

BME 16 19.5% 31 24.2% 5 8.2% 43 15.4% 0 - 10 6.0% 107 14.5% 14.1%

Black or Black British 5 6.1% 4 3.1% 1 1.6% 6 2.2% 0 - 2 1.2% 18 2.4% 3.6%

Asian or Asian British 5 6.1% 5 3.9% 1 1.6% 13 4.7% 0 - 5 3.0% 29 3.9% 7.3%

Mixed Ethnic Group 5 6.1% 14 10.9% 2 3.3% 26 9.3% 0 - 3 1.8% 50 6.8% 1.5%

Other Ethnic Group 1 1.2% 8 6.3% 1 1.6% 0 - 0 - 0 - 10 1.4% 1.7%

Total 82 - 128 - 61 - 279 - 18 - 168 - 736 - -

Disability On the Edge Carnival 2015 Mini-Fest JBT River The Streets Music/Drama Total Borough

population No

%

No

%

No

%

No

%

No

%

No

%

No

%

Yes 2 2.8% 6 5.0% 2 3.6% 24 8.4% 3 17.6% 10 6.2% 47 6.6% 11.5%

No 70 97.2% 115 95.0% 53 96.4% 261 91.6% 14 82.4% 152 93.8% 665 93.4% 88.5%

Total 72 - 121 - 55 - 285 - 17 - 162 - 712 - -

On the Edge: Held 22-23rd August 2015 (88 responses from over 10,000 attendees – 0.9%) Carnival 2015: Held 14th June 2015 (141 responses from over 5,000 attendees – 2.8%) Mini-Fest: Mini-Fest! Hampton Square on 28th July and Mini-Fest! North Sheen on 11th August (69 responses from 2,500 attendees – 2.8%) JBT River: Joined by the River exhibition held 16-25th October included an intergenerational project (286 attendees from care homes and schools) The Streets: The Streets Launch – Diamond Jubilee Gardens, held on 11th July 2015 (21 responses from over 700 attendees – 3.0%) Music/Drama: Six Festival events, out of 80 held between 28th September and 16th October 2015 (186 responses from over 800 attendees – 23.3%)

KEY: Over-representation (> +5.0%); under-representation (< -5.0%); comparable representation (+/- 5.0%)

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Appendix 3: Revenues and Benefits service users – equality monitoring data (up to May 2015)

All Revenues & Benefits service users have the opportunity to provide equality monitoring information alongside their application. In total, 10,929 applications have been received; figures below only include applications that included the relevant monitoring information.12

Gender Respondents Borough

population* Number %

Male 4,224 36.6% 48.6%

Female 6,705 61.4% 51.4%

Total 10,929 - -

Age Group Respondents

Borough population (exc. 0-15 age group)*

Number % %

16-24 395 3.6% 10.1%

25-34 1,475 13.5% 18.2%

35-44 1,971 18.0% 22.4%

45-54 1,931 17.7% 18.3%

55-64 1,502 13.7% 13.1%

65+ 3,655 33.4% 18.0%

Total 10,939 - -

Ethnicity Respondents Borough

population† Number %

White British 1,071 62.3% 71.4%

White Other 308 17.9% 14.5%

BME 341 19.8% 14.0%

Black or Black British 72 4.2% 1.5%

Asian or Asian British 108 6.3% 7.3%

Mixed Ethnic Group 69 4.0% 3.6%

Other Ethnic Group 92 5.3% 1.6%

Total 1,720 - -

KEY: Over-representation (> +5.0%); under-representation (< -5.0%); comparable representation (+/- 5.0%)

12

Gender and Age must be provided as part of the application. Ethnicity information is voluntarily provided by the applicant.

***Source: Mid-year 2014 population estimate (ONS) †* Source: 2011 Census

20

Appendix 4: Library non-user survey – Equality Monitoring Information (February – March 2015)

The Library Service conducted a survey to gather feedback from those Richmond Card holders who had not used their card to borrow anything from the Library Service. In total 1,667 surveys were sent out and 165 responses were received; figures below only include applications that included the relevant monitoring information.

Gender Respondents Borough

population* Number %

Male 87 54.0% 48.6%

Female 74 46.0% 51.4%

Total 161 - -

Age Group Respondents Borough

population* Number %

Under 18 0 0.0% 22.4%

18-24 5 3.1% 6.1%

25-34 17 10.5% 14.5%

35-44 26 16.0% 17.8%

45-54 31 19.1% 14.5%

55-64 48 29.6% 10.4%

65+ 35 21.6% 14.4%

Total 162 - -

Ethnicity Respondents Borough

population† Number %

White British 144 92.3%

71.5%

White Other 14.5%

BME 12 7.7% 14.0%

Black or Black British 3 1.9% 1.5%

Asian or Asian British 5 3.2% 7.3%

Mixed Ethnic Group 2 1.3% 3.6%

Other Ethnic Group 2 1.3% 1.6%

Total 156 - -

Disability Respondents Borough

population† Number %

Yes 11 6.8% 11.5%

No 150 93.2% 88.5%

Total 161 - -

KEY: Over-representation (> +5.0%); under-representation (< -5.0%); comparable representation (+/- 5.0%)

***Source: Mid-year 2014 population estimate (ONS) †* Source: 2011 Census