www.wiltshire.gov.uk
Equality Impact Assessment - Heritage
1. What is the name of the function, policy or service that is being assessed?
Heritage (Libraries & Heritage, Community Services)
General statement on the scope of the assessment:
This assessment mainly concentrates upon the service provided through the Wiltshire & Swindon Archives Service and Wiltshire Studies, which are the primary providers of public services through the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre. Other services based at the History Centre are the Museums Advisory Service, Conservation Service, Archaeology Service and the Heritage Services Administration Team. Also working at the Centre are the Wiltshire Buildings Record and the Victoria County History for Wiltshire, but the services are not provided by Wiltshire County Council.
The Archaeology Service has limited public access, while the Conservation and Museums Services do not directly work with the public but other museum/heritage professionals. These services currently follow WCC guidance and policy on age, disability, gender, race, religion/belief and sexual orientation. They have undertaken only a small amount of proactive service development in this area (specific items are noted in the assessment). A more detailed appraisal of these services will be undertaken through future EIA appraisals.
2. What are the aims of the function, policy or service? Whose needs it is designed to meet? What are the current priorities?
To balance the growth and protection of the environment by providing excellent information on the County’s heritage and archaeology and encouraging its preservation, understanding and enjoyment by all.
To protect and increase access to Wiltshire’s heritage by providing the new Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre.
3. In what ways might this function, policy or service affect some groups of people differently? Might some groups find it harder to access the service? Do some groups have particular needs that are not well met by the current policy or service? Please ensure that you comment against each of the dimensions listed below and where no issues are identified that you state this clearly against the relevant dimension.
Age
We aim to provide services for all ages, from young school children through to adults in old age. Membership profiles of the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre (WSHC) show that 1% of visitors were under 20 years of age (25.1% of the population of Wiltshire and Swindon are under 20 in the 2001 census), 11% were aged between 20 – 44 (35.12% total pop.), 28% aged 45-59 (19.25% total pop.) and 57% were aged 60 or over (20.52% total pop.). Our user profile, therefore, does not mirror the age structure of population served. While no direct comparisons can be made between the services provided in the History Centre and similar services in the UK, our age profile is generally in line with the experience of archive-based services.
The Wiltshire & Swindon Archives Service and Local Studies collects and preserves records and histories of social and welfare organisations concerned with the elderly population, generated by those organisations and individuals past and present.
Outreach from the History Centre to groups in their community is undertaken through talks and presentations, and national events e.g. National Archaelology Day and Archives Awareness Week. Catalogues and some digital content are available on our website to those who are unable to visit the History Centre and this will continue to expand.
Disability
WSHC complies with DDA regulations. User groups were consulted during the design phase and construction of the new History Centre and the ideas acted upon. However, there has been no follow up consultation since the building has opened to the public and this does need to be planned into future work schedules.
Our staff are trained to meet the needs of customers of customers who for physical or mental reasons need additional support to access services. However, such training does need to be refreshed and updated.
Furniture and equipment within the Centre includes adjustable-tables for customers with difficulties in mobility; a dedicated PC with access software for and other reading aids are available for the visually impaired, visitor information can be provided in alternative formats and signage within the main public search rooms is also accompanied by clear symbols; and a hearing loop has been installed for those with hearing impairment. Barriers to customers with physical disability during the Centre’s first month of opening have been elicited through customer comments forms and unobtrusive observation by staff. These will be acted upon through WCC comments/complaints policies.
The Wiltshire & Swindon Archives Service and Local Studies collects and preserves records and histories of social and welfare organisations concerned with disability, both past and present. Less work has been undertaken to pro-actively engage individuals and organisation who may feel disadvantaged in using our service, especially those with learning difficulties. Catalogues and some digital content, including Wiltshire Wills and the Sites & Monuments Database (Archaeology Service) is available on our website to those who are prevented by their disability from visiting the History Centre and this will continue to expand. The nature and format of archive materials does make it difficult for some customers with physical disabilities or visual impairment to access the content, but staff are aware of such issues and will provide assistance.
Gender
We aim to meet the needs of male and female customers equally. Membership profiles of the WSHC show that 60% of visitors were male and 40% female. In comparison, the resident population of Wiltshire is 49.3% male and 51.3% female and in Swindon 49.8% male and 50.2% female (2001 census).
The Wiltshire & Swindon Archives Service and Local Studies collects and preserves records and histories of social and welfare organisations concerned with gender issues, generated by organisations and individuals past and present, through deposit or purchase.
All teams within Heritage Services comply with WCC policies and guidelines.
Race
We aim make services accessible to whole of Wiltshire and Swindon’s diverse communities. Language barriers make it harder to understand information about our service, but visitor information can be provided in other languages to help overcome this and access to a translation service and language interpretation is available.
Previously, staff have been trained to be aware of the needs of customers from diverse backgrounds, but this will need to be refreshed and updated. Similarly, procedures for reporting racist incidents need to refreshed and embedded throughout the service.
Our membership profile suggests that 95% of our current users recorded themselves as White British, with 4.5% preferring not to indicate their ethnicity. Less than 0.5% was from other ethnic backgrounds (most recorded as White European). This compares to 1.66% of Wiltshire’s population and 4.8% of Swindon’s population who recorded themselves as non-white in the 2001 census.
The Wiltshire & Swindon Archives Service collects and preserves the records of the Wiltshire Racial Equality Council, but no other representative organisations have deposited archives. Efforts to proactively engage with the diverse communities or promote the diversity within Wiltshire and Swindon’s historic communities have not been successful to date and is an area requiring much development.
No formal consultation has been undertaken with BEM groups or the Travelling community by the Heritage Services and it is an area in need of development.
Religion/belief
The Service as a whole takes a neutral approach to religion and belief. The Wiltshire & Swindon Archives and Local Studies collects archives and printed items on deposit or through purchase from all faith groups and places of worship, but currently the profile of the collections suggests the majority of such deposits are predominantly from Christian denominations and work does need to be undertaken to promote the preservation and keeping of archives to other faith organisations.
The Wiltshire & Swindon Archives acts as the diocesan archive for the Anglican Diocese of Salisbury and in this capacity consults with the Anglican Church. Archaeology Service consults with Pagan groups
No other formal consultation has been undertaken with any other faith groups.
Sexual orientation
The Service takes a neutral approach to sexual orientation. However, no staff training has been undertaken with regard to regard to discrimination, service delivery and service development. Neither Wiltshire & Swindon Archives nor Local Studies hold any specific collections relating to Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual organisations and is an area requiring development.
No formal consultation has been undertaken with Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual groups.
4. What evidence do you have for your judgement? Is there evidence of public concern (e.g. complaints)? Have staff raised concerns? Is there local or national research to suggest that there could be a problem?
Heritage Services has recently moved into the WSHC, which opened to the public on October 31st 2007. In March 2005 a review was undertaken by an independent consultant of the plans for the proposed new History Centre to develop a strategy for access. Following construction an audit was undertaken by the Wiltshire & Swindon Users Network (WSUN) on 20th October 2006. This was commissioned by the WCC Libraries & Heritage to ensure compliance with DDA and to identify potential barriers to disabled people and service users in accessing the new building. The audit also considered issues highlighted by a focus group held in February 2005 at the WSUN in Devizes. Libraries and Heritage has acted upon and implemented the majority of the recommendations, and a further inspection is pending.
Most statistical information relates to services provided before his date, but the new service now has access to monthly data profiling customers with membership cards. For some areas of the service, such as the Wiltshire & Swindon Archives, surveys have been undertaken as part of a national programme PSQG (National Council for Archives - Public Services Quality Group), while Wiltshire Studies formed part of the Library Service and covered by library surveys such as CIPFA Plus. The first PSQG in the WSHC will take place during late November / early December 2007. WSHC membership details provide statistical information for customer profiles with regard to age, gender and ethnicity. Comparisons and trends are also identified against published demographic statistics for Wiltshire and Swindon.
WSHC and all services within it comply with the WCC complaints procedure and while there has been no evidence of any major concerns raised about the service by a particular interest group or by staff; some minor issues have been highlighted by customers with regard to physical access in the public search rooms and are being acted upon.
All other evidence is based upon service professionals’ knowledge of how the policy operates in practice.
5. How and with whom have you consulted with as part of your assessment? What were the results? Have you published the results of that consultation? If so, where?
The assessment is based on evidence from consultation with Heritage Service users in which information about age, gender and ethnicity is recorded, that is the PSQG and CIPFA surveys, and membership data. The results of the PSQG (summary) are available online (full statistics are available to the public on application to the Principal Archivist) and CIPFA surveys are available in public libraries. Membership data for the WSHC is subject to the Data Protection Act, but broad statistics and trends will be made available to the public through WCC performance indicators.
Consultation with disability groups took place between February 2005 and March 2006 as outlined in section 4 above.
6. If you have found that the function, policy or service might have an adverse impact on a particular group of people, can you justify this?
N/A
7. If the impact cannot be justified, what do you intend to do about this? Are there changes that you could introduce which would make the function, policy or service work better for this group of people? Is further research or consultation required?
- Further research consultation will be undertaken with BEM and Traveller organisations, communities and individuals; faith groups and places of worship; and Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual organisations (target groups, organisations and individuals to be identified and consultation process to be included in action plan October 2008 – see aims and objectives section 9 below).
- We intend to undertake self assessment against the MLA (Museums Libraries & Archives) ‘Access for All toolkit” for enabling inclusion for museums, libraries and archives (May/June 2008 - see aims and objectives section 9 below).
- Further assessments are required for service areas that have little or no frontline contact with customers (to be included in action plan October 2008 – see aims and objectives section 9 below).
8. How will you monitor the take-up or impact of the function, policy or service in future?
- Data from the library management system on membership.
- Attendance at Heritage Services events and promotions, and feedback from attendees.
- Statistics from PSQG and CIPFA and customer comments.
- Identify and consult with targeted groups.
9. What actions do you plan to take as a result of this EIA? Please include target dates for completion of actions and resource implications where possible.
Key goals (from Wiltshire 2009 – corporate plan, updated 2007)
"11. Enrich individuals’ lives and strengthen communities through cultural activities"
Appendix - 11.
Heritage:
Promote the new Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre as the centre for excellence for heritage issues – marketing plan projects a 30% increase in new users to the Centre (opening October 2007). An outreach programme includes primary schools. Web 2.0 technologies used to increase participation.
In relation to our key service outcomes (above) and the EIA:
Aims:
- We will work towards achieving the purpose of WCC “Enrich individuals’ lives and strengthen communities through cultural activities” and to make continuous improvement in this area of our work.
- We will endeavour to meet the diverse needs of all in society.
- To reflect the diverse communities of Wiltshire & Swindon in our events, activities and collection policies.
Objectives:
- Undertake self-assessment against the MLA ‘Access for All’ toolkit (June 2008).
- Ensure compliance with WCC equality schemes (March 2008).
- We will create an action plan based upon the WCC equality schemes and the results of our self assessment against the MLA toolkit. (Completed by end of October 2008).
- Train staff in identifying and meeting the needs of all community members (Training needs analysis completed by March 2008)
- Monitor the level of uptake of Heritage Services by ethnic groups (PSQG November / December 2007, review and report in March 2008 - or as soon as statistical evidence is published - and September 2008).
- Monitor the level of uptake of Heritage Services by age and gender (PSQG November / December 2007, review and report March 2008 and September 2008).
- Ensure continued compliance with the DDA (review April 2008 and September 2008).
- Identify and consult with diverse groups, organisations and individuals on areas of service development (included within action plan October 2008 above)
- Ensure equality and diversity is embedded in team and individual goals, objectives and outcomes (goals 2008-2009).
- Targeted outreach activities for excluded communities and individuals (goals 2008-2009).
- Ensure that the acquisition policy for Wiltshire & Swindon Archives and Wiltshire Studies reflects Wiltshire and Swindon’s diverse communities (review and update acquisition policies April 2008).
- Undertake further Equality Impact Assessments on specific areas of Heritage Services, with particular regard to the Archaeology Service and Museums & Conservation Service.
- Undertake Equality Impact Assessment for Grant Allocation (Heritage Services) after the current review of all WCC grant allocation has been completed.
10. If no actions have been identified in section 9 above, please state when a further review of this assessment is planned:
N/A
11. Name of person completing form:
Archives & Local Studies Manager
Date assessment completed:
20 February 2008
12. Name of senior manager approving assessment
Assistant Director Libraries & Heritage
Date assessment approved by senior manager
21 February 2008
Contact Details
By Post
Equality & Diversity Team
Wiltshire County Council
County Hall
Bythesea Road
Trowbridge
Wiltshire
BA14 8JN
By Email
By Telephone
01225 713510
By Fax
01225 713117
