Equalities objectives
We are committed to ensuring that the services we provide are accessible to all and meet different people's needs. Improving life chances, and increasing prosperity and equality for all is at the heart of the Sustainable Community Strategy and the starting place for developing our equality objectives. We have also asked residents, service users and partners to shape the objectives so that they reflect the needs and concerns of people who live and work in Hackney.
Our Equality Objectives for 2012/2016 are:
- Deliver actions which aim to narrow the gap in outcomes between certain disadvantaged groups and the wider community
- Improve the way we listen to our residents and respond to service users' feedback to improve services
- Foster good relations by building a strong sense of community, neighbourliness and pride
To help us measure progress towards the Equality Objectives we have set a number of specific and measurable actions.
Deliver actions which aim to narrow the gap in outcomes between certain disadvantaged groups and the wider community.
a) Improve the way we identify the groups of residents who have poorer outcomes than the wider community in high priority areas such as education, employment, health and community safety and work together with partners to agree solutions to put in place by the beginning of 2013/14.
b) Work together with partners to understand the reasons why some groups are either over-represented or underrepresented in services (for example in the mental health system and Criminal Justice System) and agree solutions with partners put in place by the beginning of 2013/14.
c) Adopt a single equality scheme, which co-ordinates actions which advance equality for disadvantaged residents and groups protected by the Equality Act by January 2013.
d) Improve the life chances of children and improve employment prospects for adults by taking forward the recommendations of Child Poverty and the Worklessness in 2012/13.
e) Respond to the changes in national Government policy and funding for example to welfare, health, housing and education and agree actions with partners on an ongoing basis.
Improve the way we listen to our residents and respond to service users' feedback to improve services
a) Ensure that staff are trained and aware of the issues affecting disadvantaged residents to improve service delivery on an ongoing basis.
b) Review how we engage with our community in 2012/13 and put in place new ways to encourage a better dialogue between the Council, residents and service users by 2013/2014.
c) Listen and respond to service users' feedback to improve services and let service users know the improvements that have been made by 2013/2014.
d) Canvas staff views regularly and put in place an action plan which responds to staff feedback from the staff survey in 2011 to advance equality within the workplace and for service users.
e) Work with partners to embed a shared understanding of need, supported by a single evidence base, that informs service development by 2012/13. Specifically we will:
(i) Provide access to the evidence and assessment of need which is held by all partners through through one website (referred to as the single evidence base)
(ii) Raise awareness about and promote the use of the single evidence base
(iii) Povide information and evidence in accessible formats
f) Work together with partners to build a better understanding of the needs of our residents especially the needs of residents whom we know little about.
g) Develop our understanding of the needs of all groups protected under the Equality Act, by building a better profile of service users and staff from 2012/13. Specifically we will:
(i) work with frontline services to improve the quality and relevance of information which we collect about take up and need during 2012/13.
Foster good relations by building a strong sense of community, neighbourliness and pride
a) Continue to take forward the recommendations of the 2010 Cohesion Review which looked at whether communities in Hackney are cohesive (whether people from different backgrounds live and work comfortably alongside their neighbours), and whether they are resilient (whether people and communities are able to cope with changes in their lives and communities without blame or undue tension). Specifically we will:
(i) Promote communications which celebrate diversity and showcase residents' contributions to their community and to cohesion on an ongoing basis
(ii) facilitate opportunities for residents to come together such as through cultural, sporting and community-led activities on an ongoing basis
Next steps
The equality objectives provide the starting point for the development of a more detailed action plan: the equality scheme, which will set out the actions which are being taken to advance equalities across the Council. We will be consulting on the equality scheme with residents on.
Page updated: 3 Apr 2012
.