www.wiltshire.gov.uk

The council is firmly committed to the principles of equality and diversity in both employment and the delivery of services and is keen to celebrate the diversity of people who live and work in Wiltshire.

This means:

making services accessible to all; and
treating people fairly

regardless of their colour, race, ethnic or national origin, language, religion or belief, gender or gender reassignment, marital status, sexuality, disability, age, or any illness or infection.

The council is opposed to all forms of unlawful and unfair discrimination and harassment. It seeks to provide services and employment in an environment which promotes equality, values diversity and celebrates excellence.

As a major public sector employer within Wiltshire, the council is committed to building a workforce which broadly reflects the diversity of the local community and it seeks to celebrate this diversity with other partner agencies, organisations and community groups.

In furtherance of this commitment to equality and diversity, the council has adopted the following corporate equality statements:

The information that we provide – for instance, through the Wiltshire magazine and our website – will be improved so that it better reflects the diversity of the local community.
When devising new policies we will give due regard to equality and diversity issues.
When working with partners, including contractors, we will continually ensure that robust consideration is given to diversity issues.
Our service provision will become more inclusive through actively assessing and responding to the needs and preferences of our diverse community.
We will actively engage and empower under-represented groups through the broadening of our consultation processes and the strengthening of our links with community representatives.
We will build a workforce that reflects the diversity of the local community, improving access to careers within the council.
In order to improve the way we provide services, equality and diversity will be embedded as a key behaviour within staff and managers through training and development.

Action plans to deliver against these statements can be found within this Disability Equality Scheme and the Race Equality Scheme (and will be in other future Equality Schemes) at www.wiltshire.gov.uk

3.2. The Corporate Equality and Diversity Structure

The council’s Comprehensive Equality Policy is available on the website www.wiltshire.gov.uk/equality-policy.pdf . In order to turn the council’s commitment to Equality and Diversity into a practical reality, a Corporate Equality Plan is being developed. The Race Equality Scheme and this Disability Equality Scheme will form part of the Corporate Equality Plan along with future equality schemes.

The County Council’s Corporate Equality and Diversity Steering Group, chaired by the Assistant Director (Resources & Improvement), addresses both employment and service issues. All departments are represented on the group, as well as two members of the Staff Disability Forum. Its role includes ensuring corporate co-ordination in the development, implementation and monitoring of the Disability Equality Scheme and to promote and share best practice.

The council supports a Staff Disability Forum. Managers are urged to encourage staff to attend the forum, as this can make a real difference to the council’s understanding of the issues that employees face. The forum’s role is to provide support to individual members and to help ensure that council employment policies and procedures are fair. During 2006, the Human Resources section has forged closer links with the forum with a view to ensuring that issues can be dealt with more directly.

The Staff Disability Forum is also a valuable consultation resource for the council departments providing services to the public.

The Member for Staffing attends the Staff Disability Forum meetings, on invitation, in order to gain an insight into employment disability issues.

In 2005/06, the County Council’s Human Resources section was restructured. The ‘Success Through People’ strategy means that the Human Resources section is now better able to focus on a range of equality and diversity employment activities and to deliver on our commitment to promoting equality and celebrating diversity.

An ‘Equality & Diversity Sub-Group’, which reports to the Success Through People Board, has been set up to ensure the implementation of equalities workforce issues coming out of the Human Resources strategy (initiatives, legislation, workforce equalities data, disability/race relations, employee networks), to disseminate information to departments and to feed employee concerns back to the group.

Equality and diversity working groups have been or are being set up within each outward-facing service area.

“Equal Opportunities must remain at the forefront of our work ethic and business planning. We will strive to do all we can to assist those of us who need a little extra support to do their job or to access our services”. - Cllr Mark Baker, Cabinet Member for Customer Care and Staffing, WiltshireCounty Council

3.3. Wiltshire County Council’s Structure and Decision Making Process

Structure of the Council

The Council is made up of 49 CountyCouncillors who are elected every four years. They are democratically accountable to the residents in their electoral divisions. All Councillors meet together as the Council to decide the Council’s overall policies and set the budget each year.

The Council’s paid staff (officers) are currently organised into the following Departments:

Department of Community Services
Corporate and Library Services
Children and Education
Environmental Services
Finance and Information Technology

This structure will change by April 2007 to one central department of resources plus three departments focusing upon Children’s Services, Community Services (including adult social services, libraries, and community planning), and Environmental Services.

The Chief Executive and the team of Chief Officers form the Corporate Management Team and are responsible for providing professional support and advice to the Council, for the day to day management of services and the longer term planning and allocation of resources. A code of practice governs the relationship between officers and Councillors.

Decision Making Process

The Cabinet is the part of the Council responsible for the council’s strategic direction and for many of the decisions at elected Member level. Overview and Scrutiny Committees support the work of the Cabinet and the Council as a whole. They look at the effectiveness of the Council’s policies and inquire into matters of local concern. They also monitor the Cabinet’s decisions.

The council works with its partners and local people within communities to improve services and plan for a sustainable future. The council’s joint working relationships with the District Councils in Wiltshire and the Town and Parish Councils are essential in the interests of Wiltshire.

The council is currently the lead organisation on the Wiltshire Strategic Board. The Strategic Board involves key public and voluntary sector organisations that are working to improve the economic, social and environmental well being of Wiltshire as a whole. These organisations are engaged with partnerships that have specific significant responsibilities towards e.g., health and social care, community safety and environmental improvements.

Responsibility for the Disability Equality Scheme

Statutory responsibility for the effective implementation of the Disability Equality Scheme lies with the Council, which is committed to the fulfilment of its duties in the performance of all its functions and powers.

Operational responsibility lies with the Chief Executive and Chief Officers who will be responsible for ensuring the scheme is implemented corporately and within individual Directorates. Action priorities arising from the Scheme will be incorporated into the Council’s corporate and departmental plans.

The council will produce an annual review of progress in meeting its duty to promote disability equality. The annual review will be submitted to the Cabinet for discussion and approval.

3.4. Wiltshire County Council’s Plans

3.4.1. Aims for 2009

Our goals, aims and priorities reflect our ambitions for the Council itself and for the County of Wiltshire, and reflect the characteristics of the County and the needs of those who live and work here. The Council’s aims are:

To provide excellent services at an affordable cost
To achieve high public satisfaction
To be a transparent and local County Council

We want people to view us as leading Wiltshire’s communities, working in partnership, being open, and involving our communities and the people that use our services in making decisions.

There are goals in our Corporate Plan including performance indicator targets (shown in Appendix 5) directly relevant to disability equality. To achieve these goals we need to recruit and retain staff who appreciate and understand the need for equality and diversity, and we need to work in partnership with colleagues from the community, voluntary and statutory sectors.

A summary of the Wiltshire County Council Corporate Plan can be found on the website www.wiltshire.gov.uk/council/wiltshire-2009.htm

3.4.2. Performance and Improvement Plan

The Performance & Improvement Plan is used to manage the Council’s ambitions. It provides information about progress and plans for delivery, and is used throughout the year to monitor progress. It is supported by a comprehensive performance management system which cascades priorities, key targets and milestones through service plans and the County Council’s change programme. www.wiltshire.gov.uk/council/performance-plans.htm

3.4.3. Measuring success – Performance Indicators

Performance Indicator targets set out in the Corporate Plan are monitored corporately throughout the year.

Best Value Performance Indicators

The County Council is a ‘3 star’ authority under the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) and so falls within the Best Value Performance Plan requirements to give details on:

out-turn performance over the past year (2005/06) on all Best Value Performance Indicators
targets for the current year and subsequent 2 years for all Best Value Performance Indicators

This information can also be found on the website www.wiltshire.go.uk/council/best-value-performance-plan.htm

3.5. Equality Standards

The Equality Standard for Local Government (see also www.idea-knowledge.gov.uk ) sets out a generic framework for local authorities like Wiltshire County Council to mainstream and effectively audit equality across service areas. The framework enables the council to meet its legal obligations with regard to anti-discrimination legislation. It also contributes towards assisting the authority in developing a quality service to its diverse citizens.

Through its five level framework, the Equality Standard for Local Government acts as a guide seeking to encourage a local response to local circumstances while securing continuous improvement. Targets applicable to each level need to be achieved before an authority can move on to the next level.

Level One of the Equality Standard entails a commitment by local authorities to a Comprehensive Equality Policy committing the organisation to achieving equality.

To achieve Level Two of the Equality Standard local authorities must engage in a process of assessment and consultation, the findings of which must be made public.

To achieve Level Three of the Equality Standard local authorities must set equality objectives and targets for employment and service delivery.

To achieve Level Four of the Equality Standard local authorities must establish information systems and monitoring against targets.

To achieve Level Five of the Equality Standard local authorities must make considerable progress in achieving equal employment and service provision with regard to equality.

The commitments made in each level of the Equality Standard translate into action in four substantive areas:

Leadership and corporate commitment
Consultation and community development and scrutiny
Service delivery and customer care
Employment and training

Wiltshire County Council has already achieved Level One of the Equality Standard, where it demonstrated its commitment at a corporate level by dedicating resources towards implementing the Equality Standard.

The County Council has a target to achieve level 3 of the Equality Standard for Local Government (BVPI 2a) by 2009. The Audit Commission’s regular inspection of councils, Comprehensive Performance Assessment, is soon to be directly related and dependent on the level of Equality Standard achieved.

3.6. Disability Symbol Accreditation

In June 1991 the Department of Employment awarded Wiltshire County Council the “Positive about Disabled People” symbol, or more commonly known as the “double tick” symbol, for its commitment to promoting employment opportunities for disabled people. There are five commitments, which must be met, and regularly monitored in order to maintain the right to use this symbol.

to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for a job vacancy and consider them on their abilities
to ensure there is a mechanism in place to discuss, at any time, but at least once a year, with disabled employees what can be done to make sure they can develop and use their abilities
to make every effort when employees become disabled to make sure they stay in employment
to take action to ensure that all employees develop the appropriate level of disability awareness needed to make these commitments work

each year to review the five commitments and what has been achieved, plan ways to improve on them and let employees and Jobcentre Plus know about progress and future plans

3.7. Social Model of Disability

The County Council is committed to the Social Model of disability. A Social Model approach states that people with impairments are disabled by physical and social barriers. The ‘problem’ of disability results from social structures and attitudes, rather than from a person’s impairment or medical condition.

By investigating the barriers that disabled people face, knowledge is gained of changes organisations need to make, in terms of things they can do and things that should benefit a range of different people.

* The County Council recognises that the term ‘disabled people’ is the preferred terminology compatible with the social model of disability. We have therefore used this term throughout this document. This is not to exclude people, however, who are covered by the Disability Discrimination Act but prefer not to be referred to as a disabled person.

3.8. Training Staff and Members / Learning and Development

The Council recognises that effective communication, learning and development of both employees and Members plays a key role in the implementation of the scheme and will work towards addressing any institutional disability discrimination.

Our Human Resources department has corporate responsibility for co-ordinating equality and diversity training. This includes training that enables staff to identify and challenge discrimination, harassment and prejudice with regard to disability and other equalities issues.

We ensure that equality and diversity themes and examples are included in other training that is offered to council employees, both to reinforce our commitment to equality and diversity, and to help staff understand how equality and diversity is part of mainstream council activities. We ensure that disabled employees have equal access to all training and development opportunities.

All training is reviewed to determine the effectiveness of each training programme. Developments in this area include:

equality and diversity training is now included in our Corporate Induction programme for new starters with the council
the council is designing a half-day diversity course as part of its Management Development Programme
equality and diversity issues are mainstreamed into our other development courses
the council has purchased a number of e-learning licenses for equality and diversity training with a view to rolling out initially as part of the induction programme.

3.9. Procurement, Contracts and Partnerships

The purpose of the Wiltshire County Council Procurement Strategy is to help the council deliver its strategic goals and objectives by enabling the procurement of best value goods and services to the benefit of the county's diverse community.

Procurement covers all activities that involve buying, contracting, purchasing, sourcing or tendering. The council procures a wide variety of goods, services and works ranging from pencils to foster-care to new school buildings. Good procurement does not mean simply buying the cheapest option but rather seeking to achieve value for money by considering a combination of cost and quality.

The unit has developed contract regulations to ensure that the council complies with national and European law.

The unit has also developed a guide for small and medium-sized enterprises entitled “How to do business with the public sector”.

The unit also manages corporate contracts. If an external contractor is not itself a public body the procuring or commissioning service will build relevant disability considerations into that process to ensure that the authority is meeting the duty to promote disability equality.

Contact Details

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Equalities Team
Development Services
Wiltshire County Council
County Hall
Bythesea Road
Trowbridge
Wiltshire
BA14 8JN

By Email

equalities@wiltshire.gov.uk

By Telephone

01225 713000

By Fax

01225 713145

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Section 3: Wiltshire County Council and the Current Situation on Disability Equality

November 2006

Contents

3. Wiltshire County Council and the current situation on Disability Equality

3.1. Wiltshire County Council’s Statement of Commitment to Equality and Diversity