Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy
Inclusive growth for prosperous communities
Introduction
Enabling every resident to achieve their potential is at the heart of everything the Council does.
We are highly ambitious for residents and we support our communities – as diverse and varied as they are – to be vibrant and to develop and grow.
We want to see people empowered and we want them to demand the best from their communities – being able to think big and be big is essential so everyone can have the very best life possible. Mutual respect is critical to this, so too making informed choices for themselves and their families.
This strategy is designed to ensure a consistent approach, to ensure that equality of opportunity is built into decision making so everyone can achieve their full potential.
We will enable local services, schools and the business community to be accountable for enabling inclusivity across the workforce to ensure everyone has the opportunity and the means to be an active and involved part of their community.
Our values
- Promoting self responsibility and people having choice and control over their own lives
- Using our resources wisely and with integrity
- Striving for excellence and high standards
- Equality of opportunity so everyone can have a good quality of life.
By living and values and being true to them, we raise the standards which set expectations for others.
Our key themes
Our headline objectives are focused on four themes. These themes reflect the Local Government Association (LGA) Equality Framework for Local Government 2020 which is designed to help Councils plan, implement and deliver equality outcomes.
Our equalities themes
Leadership and organisational commitment
The overall approach the council takes to ensure that equalities is at the heart of decision making and promotes equal opportunities for everyone in the area to achieve their full potential.
Workforce
Ensure that our employees feel equal and enabled to feel a sense of belonging. That employees are supported to reach their potential, are not subject to any unfair disadvantages regardless of their background and/or characteristics and are representative of the communities that they serve.
Community
Action to support the creation of a place where everyone feels that they belong, are understood, feel safe and can fully participate in and contribute to the economic, social and civic life of North Lincolnshire.
Service design
Ensure that all our services are designed in an accessible and inclusive way including co-production with local people and organisations. This includes an approach to procurement and commissioning that values equality and diversity and everyone in North Lincolnshire has the information they need to access our services.
Place
Promoting diversity, preventing inequality and tackling discrimination is not solely the responsibility of the council.
Our approach will also consider the wider partnerships we operate in. Whether this is with other public sector bodies, such as the NHS or police, our community and faith sector partners, our partners in the education sector or the business community.
Our Leadership ambition
That we are a council with compassionate leadership that invites challenge and creates an environment and culture where people support each other to enable everyone to reach their full potential.
We must all be active in creating this if we are to deliver change; everyone has a part to play and only by creating a respectful environment will everyone feel supported.
Theme one – Leadership
Outcomes/Impact
- Transparent and accountable leadership.
- Enabling cultures of belonging by building trust, so that people can feel safe to speak, visible and heard, they can feel valued and see diverse representation at all levels.
- A workforce that understand the five locality populations and champions equality, rights and responsibility
- Ensuring there is zero tolerance for bullying and harassment and related (unlawful) discriminatory behaviours.
- Co produce plans and strategies and ensures decision making is informed by residents and supported by evidence.
- Actively supportive and respectful of everyone.
Intent
Promotes North Lincolnshire as the #BestplacetoLive work, visit and invest with people who share the same and different aspirations, with people who have a common identity and hold different identities, as a place with unique individuals and communities who share many of the same values.
Offer
- We will have an open, visible and accountable leadership on the issues of equality and diversity across the counciland widely across the area.
- We will nurture a sense of belonging for staff and encourage an environment where people feel comfortablebeing themselves at work .
- Ensure we are open with empowered residents who can be confident, who can offer their opinions and raiseconcerns in a safe, neutral environment.
- Have a workforce that understands the area and the communities and champions equality.
- Our Corporate Parenting offer extends to all age people in care.
Our Workforce ambition
We want to develop our workforce, supporting and encouraging our employees to share their lived experience through staff engagement sessions and periodic surveys.
We will listen, and act to remove barriers to success and create an environment that supports our workforce to flourish.
We want all employees to feel a sense of belonging, to support each other and to know, understand, and appropriately contribute to achieving our equality objectives.
Theme two – Workforce
Outcomes/Impact
- Our employees have the best experience.
- We invest in our people.
- All our people are diverse and engaged.
- All employees feel safe and are enabled to be themselves at work.
Intent
- Leaders and mangers will be positive role models who motivate, inspire and empower to achieve organisational outcomes.
- We will listen, engage and respond with feedback and have a continuing dialogue which enables trust.
- We will maintain a high performing workforce, we will create safe working environments and cultures where people feel valued, they collaborate and seek to understand, listen and learn from a variety of perspectives and experiences to support each other.
- Reward and recognise our workforce contribution to the running of the council services and functions, and prioritise our vulnerable populations.
Offer
- An understanding of and working with our communities.
- Leadership at all levels, partnership and organisational commitment.
- Responsive functions and customer care.
- We will ensure we are diverse by design.
- Well and healthy.
- Extensive programmes to enable staff to be supportive of each other.
- Strong network of staff interest groups.
- Best Awards recognising our workforce.
Our Community ambition
We work closely with and for our communities, in a way that has the greatest possible impact, given our resources and influence in tackling inequalities, challenging all forms of discrimination.
We will skill our workforce to do this better, utilising local and community expertise where we have it.
We will work with communities to build their confidence to take more active roles in the life of North Lincolnshire.
Theme three – Community
Outcomes/Impact
- People feel a sense of belonging to their local community.
- Communities have enabled strong and diverse social networks improving social and economic outcomes for residents.
- Communities have enabled a sustainable civic structure.
- Community groups are diverse and inclusive here everyone has a voice.
- Communities feel safe and are safe.
- Sustainable and enabled community infrastructure.
- Enabled, connected and networked communities.
Intent
Shared basics: clarity of purpose, values, and roles built on shared understanding, knowledge and a commitment to partnership working through community investment and inclusion.
Anti-discriminatory behaviours and ways of working that enable the power of the whole community to flourish, with all parts giving generously to the process and being open to receiving feedback.
Structures: systems, mechanisms and processes that are fit for purpose and enable innovation and sustain long-term commitment to all communities.
Capacity and resources: having thee wherewithal to act at a locality and neighbourhood level.
Offer
- Fewest best interventions.
- Enabling the workforce to empower communities to support at the lowest level.
- Removing duplication and boosting utilisation across communities – one community, one team through one intervention.
- Community First Approach for One Family.
- A common language to enable more effective communities.
- Empower and support communities to deliver neighbourhood and locality assets.
- A evidenced based community specification.
Our Service Design ambition
We will use our knowledge of North Lincolnshire and our communities in conjunction with engaging with stakeholders to create the best outcomes possible within our resources.
We will provide information about our offer in a range of accessible formats targeted at the locality they serve, so that all our communities and residents have the information they need to find and access the support available to them and to ‘give back’ to strengthen the resilience of people and place.
We will use our social value act levers to drive inclusivity in all public sector services.
Theme 4 – Service Design
Outcomes/Impact
- Adopt the Accessible Information Standard across the whole of the council.
- Ensure our website is accessible and test it with experts.
- Commission only from suppliers and commissioned providers of services who comply with equality regulations.
- Our suppliers and commissioned providers of services, as far as possible, will reflect our communities and will be in North Lincolnshire or close by whenever possible.
- Current and future service customers will co-produce the service specification and be part of the quality monitoring regardless of their protected characteristic or income.
Intent
We aim to provide services, both face to face and digital, that meet the needs and are accessible to individuals across all our communities. Regardless of whether we provide these services directly or procure them through contracts and commissions, by involving stakeholders in their design and commissioning through co-productive mechanisms.
We will actively consider the needs of children and vulnerable people in the design and delivery of our services by encouraging direct input, where appropriate, from future and current customers in the design. We will consider how barriers that prevent people from accessing services can be removed in the design and delivery of services.
Offer
- We will design, commission and deliver services that are accessible, inclusive and responsive to the needs of people and communities.
- We will provide information about services in a range of accessible formats so that people know what services are available to support them and how to access them.
- We will aim to contract and commission locally wherever possible so that we can support our local economy.
- This will help us build a local supply chain connected to its wider social responsibilities and offer high-quality employment and training opportunities to local people, while delivering equitable services that are value for money.
The Equality Act 2010 applies to all local authorities and includes a general duty for all organisations to take steps to:
- Eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation.
- Advance equal opportunities for all.
- Foster good relations between all individuals.
