Taunton Deane Borough Council Equality Policy

Our Commitment to Equality

Taunton Deane Borough Council values diversity and believes that all people have the right to be treated with dignity and respect. We aim to promote equality of opportunity in our role as a service provider, policy maker, employer, purchaser of goods and services and elected leader in the local community.

In promoting equality of opportunity, we will oppose all forms of discrimination, whether on grounds of disability, gender, race, sexuality, age, marital status, religion, national origin or any other condition or requirement which may place a person or group at a disadvantage.

Specific Equality Objectives

As an employer, we will:

• Ensure that no employee or job applicant receives less favourable treatment than another on the grounds of disability, gender, race, sexuality, age, marital status, religion and national origin.
• Ensure that advertising and recruitment processes are accessible to all sections of society, as part of our commitment to developing a workforce that reflects the community we serve.
• Ensure that objective job-related criteria apply to all of our employment policies and practices.  Appointments and promotions to Council posts will be based on merit, qualification and experience.
• Create and maintain a workplace where all employees are treated with dignity and respect, and where the need to achieve a balance between work and personal/home responsibilities is recognised
• In recruitment of employees, seek to eliminate any assumptions, preferences or judgements that do not relate to the potential abilities of individuals to perform the required job.  This principle will apply to every stage of the recruitment process.
• Ensure equality of opportunity for promotion and advancement.  A vital element in this is ensuring equal access to training.
• Ensure that all employees understand and receive training as appropriate to promote and encourage equal opportunities.
• Monitor recruitment, promotion and training opportunities and take up, staff absence, harassment, pay, grievances and exit from employment.

As a provider of services we will:

• Continuously improve services to ensure that they are accessible and provided fairly to everyone in our community.
• Take action to identify groups in Taunton Deane with specific needs and requirements in accessing our services.
• Integrate equality considerations into everything we do, through the development of service specific equality action plans and targets.
• Monitor the effectiveness of our services in promoting equality of opportunity and address any particular obstacles or difficulties identified.
• Ensure that our complaints procedure is accessible to all service users, and that complaints about unfairness and discrimination are treated in a way that does not promote fear of victimisation and/or recrimination.

As a purchaser of goods and services we will:

• Communicate our Equality Policy to contractors delivering services on our behalf, and include equality factors in the awarding and monitoring of contracts.

As an elected leader in the community we will:

• Promote good relations within the community and seek to eliminate discrimination, harassment and abuse of any group or individual.
• Raise awareness and promote the Councils equality commitments among staff, members, partner agencies and the wider community
• Develop robust methods to ensure that consultation exercises carried out by the Council are accessible to all groups within our community.

Implementing the Equality Policy

To support the implementation of this Policy, the Council will:

• Develop a detailed Corporate Equality Plan (CEP), which translates commitments into specific actions, with targets and timescales for moving through the levels of the Equality Standard for Local Government.  The CEP will also include procedures for self-assessment, audit and scrutiny using national and local performance indicators.
• Monitor progress and revise targets in all areas of action - reporting on a regular basis to elected members and senior management.
• Deliver and keep under regular review the Council's statutory Race Equality Scheme and other equality related strategies and plans
• Allocate specific resources to improve equality practice as appropriate.

Legal requirements

The Council recognises its statutory obligations and will comply with all relevant equality based legislation and codes of practice, including:

• Equal Pay Act 1970
• Race Relations Act 1976
• Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000
• Human Rights Act 1999
• Disability Discrimination Act 1995
• Sex Discrimination Act 1975

Responsibility for the Equality Policy

The Council has established a framework to ensure that equality is integrated in all that we do. Specifically, a multi-departmental officer team has been set up to ensure that our equality commitments are delivered. The Chief Executive acts as equalities 'champion', working with senior management to ensure that active steps are taken across all services to implement this Policy. Most importantly, all employees have a role in implementing and supporting all aspects of this policy.

At elected member level, specific responsibility for overseeing this Policy rests with the Community Leadership Review Panel and the Executive Councillor with responsibility for Community Leadership. However, all Councillors have a responsibility to support the commitments and specific objectives of this Policy.

December 2003

Do you have any comments about how Taunton Deane Borough Council's commitment to equality and how this is working in practice? if so, we would like to hear from you.

We take our commitment to equality seriously and will provide feedback to individuals who provide comments, complaints and compliments. You can submit a comment to us through our comments and complaints page.