North East Lincolnshire Council is required to publish and review, at least every three years, a Race Equality Scheme and Action Plan in order to comply with both the general and specific duties set out in the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000.
A report on equality issues was presented to the Council's Cabinet in October 2000 outlining the actions needed to ensure that equal treatment for all was given the proper priority. As a result the Corporate Equalities Group was established with the task of moving forward equality work.
Since that time we have put in place a number of corporate programmes and policies that promote the importance of putting the service user first. We are starting to generate a culture of openness and consultation, linked with staff development, which will improve the delivery of our services and will have equal treatment for all at the heart of everything we do.
We are starting to link all areas of activity together in order to deliver better services. Our work on the Comprehensive Performance Assessment will take this further and will integrate our work on Best Value and Performance Management. As we are continuing to undergo major changes in the way we work, change management will play a major part in ensuring that our new approaches are delivered successfully by ensuring that our staff are aware of why things are changing and what the results of that change will be.
We are also developing our partnership working through the ongoing work of our Local Strategic Partnership. Social inclusion and equality have been recognised as essential parts of the development of the Community Strategy and we will link into this work, taking advantage of the work of our partner organisations, to further enhance our equality agenda.
The Corporate Equalities Group has been re-established following the restructuring of the Council and includes representatives from all Directorates.
The Group's first task was to develop the Scheme and it did this by identifying all major functions that we, as a Council, perform and outlining the potential impact on equality issues. In order to ensure that the views of our black and ethnic minority communities were included in the Scheme the Group made contact with a number of groups but with limited success.
As a result of the work action plans have been developed outlining both the corporate and Directorate actions needed to comply with the Act. The Corporate Equalities Group will be responsible for driving progress. Members also have a key role to play in implementing the Scheme and the Leader of the Council has given his full support to this approach. Scrutiny Commission 1 has taken on responsibility for monitoring the work associated with the Action Plans to ensure appropriate progress is made.