Agenda item

RESOLVED:

1. That Cabinet notes the progress that has been made over the past year towards the Council’s ambitions to tackle inequality and ensure that no-one is left behind.

2. That Cabinet endorses the refreshed Surrey County Council Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Action Plan 2022-23.

Reasons for Decisions:

The EDI action plan is key to delivering the equality objectives in the Organisation Strategy 2021-26 and plays a pivotal role in supporting the council’s wider aim to tackle inequality to ensure no-one is left behind. Moving to a fairer, more compassionate and inclusive culture will inform how we develop policy, take decisions and serve all stakeholders so everyone who lives, works and studies in Surrey is supported to thrive.

The updated action plan aims to build on the progress made through the action plan for 2021-22. The focus of the updated plan has been refined to support residents and our workforce with protected characteristics, and those who experience other inequalities (such as socio-economic inequality), to have more opportunities to have improved outcomes.

The report was introduced by the Cabinet Member for Adults and Health who explained that in February 2021 Cabinet agreed the new commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, as well as an action plan for strengthening our approach to this. In just over a year we have taken steps to build a solid foundation to becoming a fairer, more compassionate and inclusive council. However, there was still a lot more to do to ensure that the changes are embedded in everything that we do, both internally and with our external partners and residents. This paper sets out the progress made so far and proposes and refreshed action plan.  Our employee focus work over the past 12 months has helped us put in place foundations we need to support the cultural and process changes to ensure that we are an organisation that takes equality diversity and inclusion seriously. This work includes supporting the development of our Employee Reference Groups which play a key role in not only representing the interests of different communities of staff, but they also work collaboratively with the council to agree our priorities and our action plan and hold us to account in our delivery of meaningful change, which has the biggest impact on the experience of employees of the Council. The refreshed action plan for 2022-2023 built on these foundations by continuing to support the development of our Employment Reference Group and providing training that addresses the issues of most concern to the Council and to our staff. The Surrey Gypsy traveller communities forum was a key partner in this work, ensuring that our work was informed and shaped by the experiences and perspectives of this community.

The Deputy Cabinet Member for levelling-up welcomed the renewed commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, which builds upon the progress already made in this area. The Deputy Cabinet Member mentioned that Surrey was the first County Council to make free period products available across Surrey in partnership with the charity Binti. The council also achieved White Ribbon accreditation in November 2020 and at the time we had already embarked on an ambitious domestic abuse transformation programme. We are now working with Surrey Police and partners on Surrey's first multi-agency violence against women and girls strategy. For the future a new leadership programme for the Council workforce that will develop and support staff with protected characteristics to enter leadership roles was being introduced. This will develop deliver a pipeline of talent, resulting in a more diverse and representative senior leadership team in the future. The planned introduction of pay gap reporting for ethnicity and disability will also play an important role to in highlighting any underlying issues. The council was also planning to put in place domestic abuse refuge provision for groups not currently well served in Surrey.

RESOLVED:

1. That Cabinet notes the progress that has been made over the past year towards the Council’s ambitions to tackle inequality and ensure that no-one is left behind.

2. That Cabinet endorses the refreshed Surrey County Council Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Action Plan 2022-23.

Reasons for Decisions:

The EDI action plan is key to delivering the equality objectives in the Organisation Strategy 2021-26 and plays a pivotal role in supporting the council’s wider aim to tackle inequality to ensure no-one is left behind. Moving to a fairer, more compassionate and inclusive culture will inform how we develop policy, take decisions and serve all stakeholders so everyone who lives, works and studies in Surrey is supported to thrive.

The updated action plan aims to build on the progress made through the action plan for 2021-22. The focus of the updated plan has been refined to support residents and our workforce with protected characteristics, and those who experience other inequalities (such as socio-economic inequality), to have more opportunities to have improved outcomes.