Stuart Black Performance and Equalities Officer Environment Directorate

Finance & Corporate Services Directorate

Equality and Diversity Information Audit

_____________________________________________________________________________

Summary report – January 2015

2

Contents 1. Introduction page 3 2. Finance and Corporate Services Directorate – What we do and who we are page 4 3. Service User Profiles – information about the residents who use our services page 7 4. “Fairness for All” and Equality Achievements page 9 5. 2014/15 EINA Schedule page 11 6. FCS Screening for Relevance summary page 12 7. EINA Actions – progress on actions identified in completed EINAs page 13 8. Equality Action Plan – update of the FCS Directorate equality action plan page 16 9. Equality Objectives – the current status of Directorate equality objectives page 18 10. Information Sources – a collection of information sources relevant to the report page 20 11. Appendices page 21

3

1. Introduction

On 1st October 2010, the Equality Act 2010 came into force to replace and simplify anti-discrimination laws, making the legal position easier to understand and comply with. As part of this act, the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) was introduced on 5th April 2011, with the aim to embed equality considerations into the everyday work of public bodies to enable them to tackle inequality and discrimination more effectively. The PSED has three general duties that require public bodies to have due regard to the need to:

Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010;

Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it;

Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not share it.

Expanding upon previous equality duties (for race, gender and disability), the PSED encompasses nine protected characteristics;

Age

Sex or Gender

Race (including ethnic or national origins, colour and nationality)

Disability

Religion and Belief (includes a lack of belief)

Sexual orientation

Gender reassignment

Pregnancy and Maternity

Marriage and Civil Partnership (although only in respect of eliminating unlawful discrimination) In addition to the general duties, the Government introduced specific duties to assist public bodies, like Richmond upon Thames Council, to achieve the aims of the general duties. These are:

To publish annual information to demonstrate its compliance with the PSED.

To set and publish equality objectives, at least every four years, from the 6th April 2012.

This document has been produced to demonstrate our compliance with the PSED. It provides an update of the equality progress in the Finance and Corporate Services (FCS) Directorate of Richmond upon Thames Council and aims to represent the actions that have occurred to make equality of opportunity, fair access to services and good relations available to all.

4

2. Finance and Corporate Services Directorate – What we do and who we are

The FCS Directorate has responsibility for the management of the Council’s support functions, incorporating the provision of effective financial reporting and accounting control, plus the provision and further development of efficient IT and office management systems and processes. Since 2013, the Arts Service and Library Service have also been part of the FCS Directorate. The FCS Directorate consists of nine services:

Accountancy

Arts

Customer Services

Electoral Services

ICT (including the Corporate Web Team)

Internal Audit and Investigation

Libraries

Revenues and Benefits Workforce profile against protected characteristics1 As of October 2014, the FCS Directorate consists of 397 employees, an increase of 3.2% since October 2013.2 This accounts for almost 12% of the overall Council workforce. Gender: The Directorate workforce is composed of 151 male and 246 female members of staff.

Age: The age profile of the FCS Directorate remains comparable to that of the Council workforce.

1 Gender reassignment data is not currently available as it is not requested on staff monitoring forms.

2 Please see Appendix 1 for a comparison between Directorate staff breakdown in 2013 and 2014.

5

Religion and Belief: Of the 56% of directorate staff who stated a religion or belief, Christianity was the most common religion, accounting for 32% of the workforce, whilst the second largest category was no religion, at 12%. Of the other main religions, Islam had the next highest proportion, at 3% of staff, followed by Sikhism with 2%. Hindu, Buddhist and Jewish staff each continue to constitute less than 2% of the Directorate workforce. This breakdown is broadly in line with the Borough population, although, as 44% of staff chose not to provide this information, a direct comparison is not possible. Race and Ethnicity:3 The ethnicity breakdown of FCS staff is broadly in line with that of the overall Council workforce and our resident population for both White other and BME (Black and Mixed Ethnicity) representation. Under-representation (minus ten percentage points) is noted when considering the White British workforce, although this may be partially mitigated by the relatively high proportion of staff members who chose not to provide information.

Further breakdown of the data reveals a slightly higher percentage of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, black African and black Caribbean staff members than in the general population. In contrast, Chinese, other Asian and all mixed ethnicity groups are marginally under-represented in the FCS workforce.

Disability: 15 FCS staff members (4% of the workforce) considered themselves as having a disability,4 although it should be noted that over 79% of FCS staff have not provided information for this characteristic in their personnel records. The implementation of a new HR self-service system in 2014 allowed all staff to amend their personal information and has seen an increase in available data related to this characteristic (86% of staff had not provided information in 2013).

3 Ethnicity categories: White other (White Irish, Irish Gypsy/Traveller, all other White backgrounds); Black (Black

African, Black Caribbean and Black other); Asian (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese and other Asian); Mixed (White/Black Caribbean, White/Black African, White/Asian and other mixed heritages) 4 Defined by the 2010 Equality Act as: “A physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’

negative effect on normal daily activities.” (Chapter 15; Part 2, Chapter 1, Section 6)

6

Marital Status: Following the introduction of the new HR self-service system in 2014, 14% of directorate staff have now provided their marital status (compared to only 4% in 2013) and it is anticipated that the data available for this characteristic will continue to increase in the future as more staff update their details. However, despite the improvement, current figures remain too small to be deemed as representative of the overall Directorate. For the record, 25 staff members are married, 22 are single, and a further seven staff members state they are either in a Civil Partnership, have a partner or are co-habiting. Sexual Orientation: In contrast to other categories, the quantity of available data for this characteristic has reduced in 2014, with 54% of directorate staff providing this information (compared to 57% in 2013). From the information available, 50% of staff are heterosexual, 3% are gay men, whilst lesbian and bisexual women each make up less than 1% of the workforce. Pregnancy and Maternity: During 2014, four members of staff have been on maternity leave within the FCS Directorate.

7

3. Service User Profiles

Collecting information on who the FCS Directorate provides services to continues to be difficult. Whilst a number of services are front facing, they do not have a defined customer base as they are relevant to all residents. As such, we are reliant on information voluntarily provided in customer monitoring surveys at the point of contact. Whilst the surveys primarily focus on the quality of service provision, they also include equality monitoring questions that are relevant to the service. In 2014, the FCS Directorate collected information on who uses our services through the Arts Service, the Library Service and the Customer Contact Centre. A comparison between the user information collected by each service and the Borough population can be found in the relevant appendix noted below.5 Arts Service: Service user data has been collected and analysed from six of the events organised in 2014.6 Alongside feedback on the quality of the particular event, information was also requested on the gender, age, ethnicity, religion and disability of service users, although providing an answer was not compulsory. Through this process, 279 service users, from a total attendance of over 16,000 (1.7%), provided information. Due to the relatively small numbers involved, the data collected can only serve as an indication of who attends Arts Service events. It should also be noted that it is not possible to distinguish individual service users, which may result in duplicate records from people who attended multiple events. Full data, including those for specific events, can be found in Appendix 2, however the key aspects are:

Gender: o 59% of attendees were female.

Ethnicity: o 15% of attendees were from BME groups.

Disability: o 12% of attendees stated they had a disability. o This rose to 27% at the Madge Gill Exhibition of outsider art (including disabled artists).

Library Service: The Library Service relies upon voluntary information provided through membership applications or event evaluations. It was anticipated that customer data, via the Richmond Card project, would be imported into Spydus, the Library Management System. However, numerous issues with the quality of this data, including a large number of duplicate records or records that cannot be aligned with existing service user information due to missing data, have prevented this from taking place to date. The project lead officer is aware of the issues and the programme manager is investigating options for addressing the lack of data currently available. As such, the only service user data currently available is from events that took place as part of CityRead London,7 held in April 2014. In total, 186 service users attended events and a full summary can be found in Appendix 3; however, of note:

Gender: o 64% of attendees were female.

Age: o 64% of attendees were over 55 years of age. o 16% of attendees were under the age of 16.

Ethnicity: o 88% of attendees were White.

Disability: o 5% of attendees stated they had a disability.

5 Due to variations in the age categories used, no comparison is available for these data sets.

6 Arts events: Madge Gill Exhibition (Outsider Art), On the Edge, Carnival 2014, Hampton Square Mini-Fest,

Barnes Green Mini-Fest and Showtime on Richmond Riverside. 7 CityRead London – an annual celebration of literature that aims to encourage the level of reading amongst

London residents.

8

Customer Contact Centre: Between October 2013 and February 2014, the Customer Contact Centre undertook a satisfaction survey of customers who contacted the Council to enquire about a range of services,8 across three contact streams (email, telephone and face-to-face).9 As part of this survey, which involved a total of 946 customers, equality data was also collected,10 of which the following information can be summarised:11

Gender: o 47% of customers surveyed were male, 51% are female.

Ethnicity: o 83% of customers surveyed were White. o 14% of customers were BME.

Disability: o 6% of customers stated they were disabled.

The FCS Directorate is aware that gaps remain in our knowledge of our service users and will continue to look at how this can be improved. Greater knowledge of our service users will enable the Directorate to make more informed decisions and ensure the services we provide are appropriate to the needs of our residents. However, it must be highlighted that we are, and will continue to be, reliant upon our service users voluntarily providing this information, a factor which limits the quantity and quality of data available to us.

8 Services enquired about: Revenues and Benefits, Housing, Environment Agency, Highways, Planning,

Recycling/Waste, Parking, Parks/Trees, Registration Services and Electoral Services 9 The results of the surveys are available on the LBRuT website:

http://www.richmond.gov.uk/customer_satisfaction_surveys 10

Equality data was not collected for telephone customers as survey was conducted through an automated telephone call. As such equality information is based upon 560 residents. 11

Full data can be found in Appendix 4.

9

4. “Fairness for All” and Equality Achievements

The Corporate Plan is an annual document that represents the Council’s commitments, outlining how we will take these forward and defining how we will measure our progress – the full document can be viewed on the London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames’ website.12 Within the plan, the section “Fairness for All”13 highlights the Council’s commitment to equality and diversity, how the commitments will be achieved and how the achievements will be measured. The following are the aspects of “Fairness for All” relevant to the Directorate, along with significant equality achievements that have been gathered through Information Audits of all nine FCS services. Fairness for All – Commitment: Eliminating discrimination, harassment and victimisation and meeting appropriately the diverse needs of service users and Richmond staff.

Electoral Services Officers (ESO) attended a voter awareness event run for people with learning disabilities, their families, carers and support workers, run by MENCAP and held in April 2014, in preparation for the 2014 Local and EU elections. Staff explained the voting process at a polling station and provided information on postal and proxy voting.

As part of Learning Disability Week, librarians visited the local MENCAP reading group and the group visited Twickenham Library to encourage them to use the service.

The Library Service celebrated Black History Month in October with three children’s events. o Richmond Library – Bollywood dancing, henna and candle decorating for Diwali. o East Sheen Library/Twickenham Library – Caribbean storyteller o A poetry event for adults (African Voices) also took place at Richmond Library.

The Arts Service organised events for residents and visitors of different religious beliefs and ethnic backgrounds. These included Richmond Carnival and the “On the Edge” world music festival. These events were free to visit and the proportion of BME visitors was greater than the Borough breakdown.

The Arts Service held the Madge Gill Exhibition at Orleans House Gallery. This included works of art produced by artists with a range of disabilities and was attended by large numbers of disabled service users.

Electoral Services provided electoral information in ‘other formats’ for 50 electors who requested this in 2014. All these electors have now registered under the new IER process.

The Library Service facilitates a number of reading groups for specific community groups: o Isolated adults at Twickenham library (weekly). o People with dementia at East Sheen library (weekly). o Adults with a disability at the Access Centre in Whitton (fortnightly). o Residents over 50 years of age at East Sheen Library (monthly). o Residents over 65 years of age at Hampton and Richmond libraries (monthly).

Libraries held storytelling sessions during the Holly Lodge summer activities for children with additional needs.

The Information and eServices team ran an IT and Tea Week, based on the Age Concern ITea and Biscuits Week of 2013. The event aimed to develop older people’s IT skill in a social setting – 86 people attended the 12 taster sessions in September 2014.

Customer Services published an equality monitoring summary, collected during a customer monitoring exercise – a follow-up is planned for 2015 to monitor and compare the data.

The Arts Service has ensured the continuation of ‘Octagon’, a weekly art club held in Orleans House Gallery for young people with disabilities.

Electoral Services have facilitated 94 Waiver postal votes (for electors who cannot sign in a consistent or distinctive way) and 70 proxy votes for Borough residents.

2,983 children completed the Summer Reading Challenge.

12

http://www.richmond.gov.uk/corporate_plan.htm 13

http://www.richmond.gov.uk/home/council_government_and_democracy/council/council_publications/corporate_plan_dev/corporate_plan_resources.htm#c4

10

Four EAL groups were visited this year to promote library services and proffer library membership. Members of the groups have come into libraries for 1:1 IT sessions.

ESO participated in Local Democracy Week (13th-17th October) allowing students to experience voting in a polling station and gain an understanding of the democratic process.

The Library Service was represented at summer fairs to promote the service in areas of relative depravation. Approximately 750 people engaged.

The Web Team implemented a new and improved website design, with refreshed content – this included increased clarity, so key information stands out, the removal of unnecessary links and enhanced site navigation. Customer feedback forms, including E&D monitoring information, have also been created. Results and analysis are expected in 2015.

Equality data provided by service users is now being recorded by the Revenues and Benefits Team, although there are currently too few records to provide meaningful analysis.

Fairness for All – Commitment: Consulting and engaging with equality groups in order to find out about diverse needs and improving equal access.

The Web Team consulted with local equality and support groups14 in relation to changes to the public website, to try and ensure it meets the requirements of all service users.

Fairness for All – Commitment: Achieving a workforce representative of the communities we serve.

The FCS workforce is representative of the Borough population (see section 2).

All election staff for the 2014 Elections completed equality monitoring forms and this data was analysed to determine the breakdown of staff involved with the Election process. Whilst Electoral Services recognise the limited impact they have on this issue, the data may be used to guide future recruitment to try and ensure, as far as possible, election staff members are representative of our local community.

Fairness for All – Projects and Programmes: Recognise and value the contribution of older people through the Richmond Plus initiative, which will include supporting the role of the Champion for Older People and tackling barriers to involvement in community life.

Both the Library Service and Electoral Services ran stalls at the “Full of Life Fair” that took place on 1st October 2014. o Electoral Services staff discussed Individual Electoral Registration (IER) and the

forthcoming elections in May 2015. Residents could check they had been included on the Register of Electors and received information on how IER would affect them and confirmation of the deadlines to apply for postal or proxy voting.

o Library staff spoke to residents and encouraged them to visit the Borough libraries. Fairness for All – Measures: The extent to which an EINA has been undertaken as part of any review, new development or service change.

All service reviews, changes and new developments within the FCS Directorate have undergone an EINA to ensure full consideration is given to the requirements of the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Internal audits at both Richmond and Kingston highlighted improvements to existing equality and diversity processes. Reports recommended changes, which have now been implemented, to the EINA toolkits; that EINAs should be completed at the initial stages of projects and there should be monitoring of actions identified as a result of EINAs.

Fairness for All – Measures: Council workforce analysis.

Analysis can be found in Section 2 of this report. A more detailed report on the overall Council workforce is produced annually by the Human Resources Department.

14

Groups consulted with: EMAG (Ethnic Minority Advocacy Group), RAID (Richmond Advice and Information on Disability), CAB (Citizens Advice Bureau), Faith Forum, Age UK and Richmond Carers.

11

5. 2014/15 EINA schedule Each year, all Council Directorates undertake Equality Impact Needs Assessments (EINAs) to ensure services and policies do not discriminate against our service users, advance equality of opportunity by meeting diverse needs, increasing access to participation and decision making and ensuring the needs of disabled people are met, and foster good relations. Below is the updated FCS EINA schedule for 2014/15 (items with a white background are in progress).

Item EINA Title Description of EINA EINA lead Update/Progress

1 Individual Electoral Registration (IER)

By July 2014, every individual in a household must complete their own registration form to prevent fraud.

Stephanie Bishop Completed – published on 14/04/14.

2 Channel Shift in the Customer Contact Programme

Focusing on the implementation of Channel Shift programme.

Tanika Jackson Completed – published on 06/05/14.

3 IT provision to users with special needs

To consider disability, home-working and maternity. Adrian Boylan Completed – published on 07/07/14.

4 Election 2014

To consider accessibility to voting process for residents and recruitment of election staff.

Stephanie Bishop No further action – relevant information included as part of “Electoral Registration and Election Process” EINA.

5 Application Support Team (ICT) restructure

Confidential EINA, not for publication. John Wiltshire Completed – June 2014.

6 Bailiff & Court processes

Service moving to new premises - building not Council-owned so limited ability to make adjustments.

Jacky Warren No further action – Screening for Relevance indicated no equality issues in relation to change of premises.

7 Shared Accountancy service

Shared service agreement with Kingston. Graham Russell Postponed indefinitely due to Thames Agreement and subsequent delays.

8 Cultural Strategy New strategy is being developed. Rachel Tranter

Initial meeting took place in January 2015 – EINA is expected to be completed by summer 2015.

9 Internal Audit and Investigations Service

Possible expansion of the Internal Audit and Investigations Service (transfer of staff from RBK).

Jill Pain No further action.

10 Single Fraud Investigation Service

EINA to be completed by DWP but LBRuT will have to provide data to enable completion.

Jill Pain No further action - no information has been requested by the Department for Work & Pensions.

11 Internal Audit and Investigations Service

Minor amendments to structure due to take place (involving three positions).

Alix Wilson No further action – Screening for Relevance indicated no equality issues in relation to amendment of structure.

12 Library Booking Service

Procurement of new service to allow library users to book a PC session at Borough libraries.

Grace Albury Draft completed in Jan 2015 for inclusion in procurement documents. Publication will occur after tender is complete.

13 Wireless Concessions

Procurement of concession partner to provide enhanced mobile network in Borough

Colin Frame No further action – Screening for Relevance indicated no equality issues in relation to this project.

After publication of the 2013 report, the following EINAs from the 2013/14 schedule were completed.

1 HR Self-service Implementation of new iTrent self-service system. Mike Gravatt Completed – published on 21/02/14.

2 Wi-fi provision in Libraries

Wi-fi access to be installed across all Borough libraries. Steven Liddle Completed – published on 27/02/14.

3 Public website review Redesign of public website. Chloe Hunter Completed – published on 27/02/14.

12

6. FCS Screening for Relevance summary

A Screening for Relevance is an initial assessment that is undertaken to assess the impact of a service against the nine protected characteristics and three general duties. The current Screening for Relevance of each FCS service is shown below. This summarises the relevance of each protected characteristic and the general duties of the PSED in relation to each service – due to the specific nature of each assessment, it is not possible to directly compare the level of relevance across different services. This is a live document and will be updated based upon the Equality Impact Needs Assessments (EINAs) that are completed within each team – as such, assessments made for individual characteristics may change from year to year as new considerations arise and are assessed.

Service Last

updated Age Sex Race Disability

Religion & Belief

SO GR P&M M&CP

Eliminating discrimination, harassment or victimisation

Advancing equality of opportunity

between people who share a

characteristic and those who do not

Fostering good relations between

people who share a characteristic and those who do not

Accountancy 2012 Low Low Low Low Low Low Low Low Low Low Low Low

Arts 2013 Medium Low High High High Low Low Medium Low High High High

Customer Services 2014 High Low High High Low Low Low Low Low High High Medium

Electoral Services 2014 High Low Medium High Low Low Low Low Medium High High Medium

ICT 2014 Medium Low Low High Low Low Low Medium Low High High Low

Internal Audit and Investigations

2013 Medium Low Low Medium Low Low Low Low Low Medium Low Medium

Libraries 2014 High Low High High Low Low Low Medium Low High High High

Revenues and Benefits

2012 High Low Medium Medium Low Low Low Low Medium High High Medium

Corporate Web team

2014 High Medium High High Low Low Low Low Low High High High

SO: Sexual orientation GR: Gender reassignment P&M: Pregnancy and Maternity M&CP: Marriage and Civil partnership

13

7. EINA actions A key aspect of the EINA process is to highlight actions that are needed to ensure our service users and staff do not experience discrimination. The table below highlights the actions that have been undertaken having been identified in completed FCS EINAs.

No EINA title Action Lead Officer Status Expected Completed Comments

1 Council Tax Support scheme

Consult with RAID and other stakeholders to inform them of changes caused by continued Central Government legislation amendments.

Graham Russell

- 04/04/2014 Completed as part of the Welfare Reform Group action planning.

2 Council Tax Support scheme

The Revenues & Benefits system is being developed to ensure customer monitoring information is more readily available.

Paul Carter

On-going -

E&D data is now being collected and being manually entered on Northgate. Numbers are currently small, so no plans for analysis at this stage.

3 Library Management System

LMS user survey Steven Liddle

Summer 2015

-

Originally scheduled for late 2014, this survey has been put back to summer 2015 due to Spydus 9 upgrade being delayed until at least April 2015.

4

Library Management System

Non-user survey Steven Liddle

Early 2015 -

A draft survey has been produced – currently 15k Richmond Card holders who are non-users of libraries. Distribution of the survey is reliant on agreement from the RC Project Board.

5

Library Management Service

Stock surveys Cheney Gardner

- 17/11/2014

Stock survey report completed – will be used to guide future purchases to ensure libraries have books relevant to protected characteristics (for both adults and children).

6 Revenues & Benefits Front Office

Lack of information and training in areas of learning difficulties and mental health – review any information and best practice that may be available elsewhere – consider specific training.

Jacky Warren

- 25/04/2014

No suitable internal training – Corporate Training are exploring external options and will notify R&B if/when specific training is arranged.

7

iTrent (HR self-service)

Text on site cannot be enlarged for visually impaired users – consultation with HR to ensure functionality is implemented.

Emma Stracey

February 2015

-

Originally due in Aug 2014 - updated version is now due for launch in February 2015 - function likely to be made available at this time, although no progress can be made until further details about the update are received.

8

iTrent (HR self-service)

No option to change colour contrasts which may impact accessibility for some visually impaired users – consultation with HR to ensure functionality is implemented.

Emma Stracey

February 2015

-

Originally due in Aug 2014 - updated version is now due for launch in February 2015 - function likely to be made available at this time, although no progress can be made until further details about the update are received.

14

No EINA title Action Lead Officer Status Expected Completed Comments

9 Web review

External bodies, such as RAID, to look over new site and identify any issues.

Chris McCulloch

February 2015

- Contact made with six external bodies to provide feedback by the end of November 2014.

10 Web review

Further consultation with equalities groups after the site has been running for a year.

Chris McCulloch

May 2015 - Consultation planned but not due to begin until after May 2015.

11 Channel Shift in Contact Centre

Provide relevant information to the appropriate services, following customer satisfaction surveys.

Clea Hemans

- 06/05/2014 Published on Council website (and available as Appendix 5 in this EINA).

12 Channel Shift in Contact Centre

Ensure key services are available through more than one contact channel.

Tanika Jackson

- 06/05/2014 Existing contact channels remain in place and will continue to do so.

13 Channel Shift in Contact Centre

Continue to use translation service, which has recently been procured, as and when required.

Tanika Jackson

- 06/05/2014 This service continues to be used as and when required.

14

Channel Shift in Contact Centre

Use of translation service to be trained annually as part of annual refresher programme for Customer Service staff.

Simon Batchelor

- 01/07/2014

Refresher training not required - continue to reference information that is available on Council intranet during induction of new staff and updated to reflect current practice and workforce.

15

Channel Shift in Contact Centre

Representative to continue to attend meetings with groups, such as the FCS Equality & Diversity Group and the Equality Stakeholders Scrutiny Group (ESSG), to identify ways of advancing equality between different protected groups.

Tanika Jackson

- 06/05/2014

Attendance at these meetings will continue to ensure the Contact Centre can contribute to, and participate in, all relevant E&D issues.

16

Individual Electoral Registration (IER)

Work With Communications team to produce local publicity alongside extensive national publicity from the Electoral Commission.

Stephanie Bishop

- 29/08/2014

IER Write Out slightly delayed and sent out in late August 2014. IER publicity display in the Civic Centre atrium, whilst posters displayed on Community Notice Boards and leaflets available in borough libraries. Everyone on Electoral Services publicity list has been sent info. Electoral Services Manager attended Voluntary Sector Forum (14/07/14) to present on IER, with all delegates receiving info leaflets.

17 Individual Electoral Registration (IER)

Contact Richmond Housing Partnership for feedback on relevant actions outlined and taken in the Community Strategy Document.

Stephanie Bishop

March 2015

- All social landlords in the borough have been contacted and sent publicity – any feedback is expected in early 2015.

15

No EINA title Action Lead Officer Status Expected Completed Comments

18 Individual Electoral Registration (IER)

Liaise with local Housing Associations and Housing Trusts for feedback on relevant actions outlined and taken in the Community Strategy document.

Stephanie Bishop

March 2015

- All social landlords in the borough have been contacted and sent publicity – any feedback is expected in early 2015.

19

Individual Electoral Registration (IER)

Arrange Care Home visits to provide specific assistance to residents with completing IER forms.

Stephanie Bishop

February 2014

-

All care homes in the borough have either been personally visited or contacted by email. Follow up visits are due to take place from December 2014 for non-responders.

20

Individual Electoral Registration (IER)

Contact St Mary’s University, Kingston University and the American University in Richmond to arrange a meeting to discuss IER with the Academic Registrar, Accommodation Officer and Student Union representatives to agree new procedures – for example, how they can promote online student registration and supply monthly updates to inform Electoral Services when students leave halls of residences, or display and circulate publicity.

Stephanie Bishop

- 14/11/2014

We’re in regular contact with Universities and Student Unions – IER leaflets and publicity have been sent. Registration letters sent in November 2014 to all St Mary’s students and Kingston University students living at Kingston Bridge House, to encourage registration on-line.

21 Individual Electoral Registration (IER)

Provide scripts for all front line staff on how IER works, with options for registering, dealing with queries, nationality and residency rules etc.

Stephanie Bishop

- 29/08/2014 All training and scripts were agreed before distribution of IER Write Out.

22

Individual Electoral Registration (IER)

All known residents and properties to be sent IER forms/Household Enquiry Forms (HEFs) to complete and non-responders to be followed up.

Stephanie Bishop

- 14/11/2014

Canvassers completed final visits to encourage non-responders to vote. Each canvasser was asked to complete E&D forms to collect info on the number of residents who needed extra assistance due to equality issues.

23 Wi-fi provision in Borough libraries

Library Service will manage customer access to the internet and apply differential web filtering to the network for adults and children, using filtering categories from the Local Education Authority.

Robert Jones

- 04/04/2014

24 IT provision to users with special needs

Introduction of Windows 7 and MS Office 2010 improves the range of accessibility adjustments available to the user. These will be highlighted in training and communication to staff.

Adrian Boylan

Spring 2015

- Originally expected in September 2014 - this has now been delayed until at least Spring 2015.

25 IT provision to users with special needs

Introduction of tablet PCs. Adrian Boylan

Spring 2015

-

Originally expected in October 2014 –this has now been delayed until at least Spring 2015 as it is linked to the introduction of Windows 7.

16

8. Equality action plan Current status of the 2014/15 Equality Action plan

No Gap identified Action Lead Officers Status Expected Completed Outcome/update

1

No clear guidelines on the monitoring of customers

Develop a standardised monitoring form that is used throughout the Directorate. Develop guidelines for staff/customers on why we need to collect monitoring information.

FCS Steering group

Early 2015 -

Contact Centre completed customer monitoring exercise in March 2014 – results and analysis published in May 2014. Improved guidelines have been discussed at Corporate Equality and Diversity Group and will be distributed to staff once confirmed. This action will continue in the 2015/16 Equality Action Plan.

2

Improve E&D profile across Directorate

Staff presentations to improve E&D profile and increase staff involvement.

FCS Steering Group

March 2015 -

E&D and EINA presentations given to Service Heads by FCS E&D Lead Officer. All services to produce E&D presentations, on their service equality issues, to FCS Steering Group – presentations scheduled up to and including the March 2015 meeting. Actions to address this will be refreshed in the 2015/16 Equality Action Plan.

3 Continue to strengthen the EINA monitoring process

Continue to have EINA action monitoring as a standing agenda item in E&D Steering Group meetings

FCS Chair

- 14/07/2014

Monitoring is, and will continue to be, a standing item at all E&D Steering Groups. This action will continue in the 2015/16 Equality Action Plan.

4 Weakness between customer data received (e.g. surveys) and how information is used to improve delivery.

Develop a customer monitoring exercise to gather information on how to improve service delivery.

Head of Customer Services

- 06/05/2014

Contact Centre completed customer monitoring exercise in March 2014. Actions to improve service delivery that were highlighted by this exercise were published on the Council website, alongside the analysis, in May 2014.

5 Potential concerns were identified amongst disabled staff re: confidence in individual issues being dealt with and resolved effectively.

Promote the ‘Code of practice’ and the reporting of incidents / issues of discrimination, bullying and harassment by staff. Director to liaise with Chair of staff Disability Action Group to address specific issues.

Team Leaders & Service Managers

Summer 2015

-

Actions continue to be followed up – impact cannot be judged until the next staff survey is undertaken in Summer 2015 and the results are analysed.

17

No Gap identified Action Lead Officers Status Expected Completed Outcome/update

6 The staff survey results highlighted that some concerns from staff in F&CS about home- or flexible working arrangements.

Promote flexible working and working from home in F&CS

Team Leaders & Service Managers

- On-going

All staff members in F&CS have the opportunity to apply for home- or flexible working – if it is applicable to their employment terms and conditions. This action will continue into the 2015/16 Equality Action Plan.

7

Lack of an internal Mystery Shopping process.

Meetings with the Disability Entitlement Advocacy Program (DEAP) and other support groups are planned in order to develop a robust mystery shopping campaign which tests Corporate contact standards

Head of Customer Services

Postponed -

Initial meetings held in Summer 2014 – no further action was undertaken at this time as consensus was this was not a priority. Customer monitoring surveys will continue to be undertaken to ensure contact standards are maintained – current standards are high but should future monitoring surveys indicate a fall, this action will be revisited.

18

9. Equality Objectives As part of the PSED, the Council is required to provide performance indicators that are monitored to demonstrate our consideration of equality issues. These performance indicators are reviewed on an annual basis to ensure they remain relevant to the Directorate.

Indicator Description Owner Target Status Comments

E&D 001: Achieve WCAG 2.0 for the public website

Ensure the public website continues to follow the revised WCAG 2.0 accessibility standards to level AA.

Chris McCulloch WCAG 2.0

We failed to gain an Accessibility tick in this year’s report as there were a number of minor failings in their test areas. Since this time, the whole site has been overhauled, and previous failings addressed or are no longer applicable. Any outstanding failings we have been made aware of are being fixed to ensure we regain our tick in 2015.

E&D 002: Review website accessibility statement

Ensure the website accessibility statement (http://www.richmond.gov/web_accessibility_policy) follows best practice as stated by the COI.

Chris McCulloch -

The website accessibility statement reviewed prior to launch of new public website - minor amendments made. Note: Indicator will be removed from the 2015 objectives.

E&D 003: Accessibility of web-based data

Accessibility of web-based data will be benchmarked against independent standards for users with sensory impairments and through direct feedback from these users. Effectiveness of the learning disability will be assessed with the target group before deciding how these should be extended.

Corporate Web Team

Passing assessment of

annual SOCITM report

www.richmond.gov.uk follows WCAG standards and is assessed through the annual SOCITM report. Web Review completed in Summer 2014 – testing with representatives of external organisations began Oct 2014. The Learning Disability pages are still being decided by the Adults & Community Services (ACS) Directorate – when implemented, the format will be the same as the rest of the website, but with links to easy read documents.

E&D 004: Improve the satisfaction levels of BME and disabled staff

The 2009 staff survey showed the following:

BME employees report lower levels of satisfaction with appraisals, training and development

Disabled staff are less positive than non-disabled staff as to the quality of their appraisals, in particular around understanding how their performance was evaluated and support in identifying training needs.

DMT will oversee implementation of new corporate appraisal standards to ensure consistent application.

Mark Maidment Improved staff satisfaction

2013 Interim Staff Survey results were released in Jan 2014 – overall satisfaction has increased in 24 out of 30 categories since 2009. Overall results are positive although due to small numbers, BAME and Disabled staff information is not available. Council-wide: Minimal differences between BME and non-BME staff, including areas such as Performance Management, where BME staff are more positive. Disabled staff members remain slightly less positive than non-disabled staff overall, however in most areas, the difference was minimal at only 1-2%. More detailed results will be available following the full staff survey, scheduled for 2015.

19

Indicator Description Owner Target Status Comments

E&D 008: Monitor the number of non-white participants at Arts programmes and events

To ensure that attendees across all Arts Service programmes and events are representative of our community.

Rachel Tranter 15%

15% of attendees were BME, compared to 72% white and 13% who did not provide an answer. Data provided by 279 attendees to six Arts events - Madge Gill Exhibition, On the Edge Festival, Carnival 2014, Hampton Square Mini-Fest, Barnes Green Mini-Fest and Showtime on Richmond Riverside.

E&D 009: % of EINA actions completed within agreed timescales

To target an increase in EINA actions completed within agreed timescales.

FCS Steering Group

70% N/A

This is a new target for 2015/16 – target is based on improving upon performance (65%) from last full financial year (2013-14).

20

10. Information sources The information audit has enabled the services within the FCS Directorate to contribute towards a list of key information sources that have been useful and could be useful when carrying out equalities analysis. This information is provided below.

Name Location

Arts Service Arts Events – Evaluation Reports Not published (internal use only)

Corporate Web Team & ICT SOCITM http://www.socitm.net/

Webcredible – external body that checks accessibility. http://www.webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-resources/white-papers/council.shtml

Web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG 2.0) http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/

LBRuT web accessibility policy http://www.richmond.gov.uk/web_accessibility_policy

EHRC general web accessibility guidance http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/footer/accessibility-statement/general-web-accessibility-guidance/

Corporate Contact Centre Contact Centre customer satisfaction survey results http://www.richmond.gov.uk/customer_satisfaction_surveys

Customer Contact Centre customer standards http://www.richmond.gov.uk/home/council/how_we_work/corporate_customer_standards.htm

Electoral Services Electoral Commission reports http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/

E&D clauses in procurement documents http://www.richmond.gov.uk/richmond_-_building_equalities_into_proc_-_5.06.doc

Electoral Commission translation booklet Not publicly available

Census statistics http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/census/2011/index.html

Combined Local & EU Election Voter Surveys Not published (internal use only)

Feedback from combined Local & EU Election staff Not published (internal use only)

Internal Audit and Investigations The Accounts and Audit (England) Regulations 2011 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2011/817/made

CIPFA Code of Practice for Internal Audit http://www.cipfa.org/Policy-and-Guidance/Technical-Panels-and-Boards/Audit-Panel

Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984 https://www.gov.uk/police-and-criminal-evidence-act-1984-pace-codes-of-practice

Data Protection Act 1998 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/29/contents

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/23/contents

Human Rights Act 1998 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/42/contents

Consultation on the Code of Practice on Local Authority Accountancy in the United Kingdom

http://www.cipfa.org/policy-and-guidance/consultations-archive/201516-code-of-practice-invitation-to-comment

CIPFA Code of Practice Annual Strategy and Terms of Reference

http://www.cipfa.org/Policy-and-Guidance/Publications/Codes-of-Practice

Libraries Service Adult PLUS 2012 Summary Report Not publicly available.

http://www.cipfasocialresearch.net/libraries/plus/ Adult PLUS 2012 Tabular Demographic Report Not publicly available.

Adult PLUS 2012 Tabular Geodemographic Report Not publicly available.

Children’s PLUS Report 2013 Not publicly available.

21

Appendix 1 – FCS Directorate staff comparison between 2013 and 2014

Gender 2013 2014

Change % %

Male 38.7% 38.0% -0.7%

Female 61.3% 62.0% +0.7%

Age 2013 2014

Change %

%

16-20 5.2% 4.5% -0.7%

21-30 15.1% 12.6% -2.5%

31-40 21.3% 20.9% -0.4%

41-50 23.4% 24.2% +0.8%

51-60 22.6% 23.9% +1.3%

61+ 12.5% 13.9% +1.4%

Ethnicity 2013 2014

Change %

%

White British 63.4% 60.7% -2.7%

White Other 9.9% 11.1% +1.2%

BME 14.0% 12.4% -1.6%

Mixed Ethnic Group 3.6% 2.5% -1.1%

Asian or Asian British 7.3% 7.1% -0.2%

Black or Black British 2.1% 2.0% -0.1%

Other Ethnic Group 1.0% 0.8% -0.2%

Prefer not to say 12.7% 15.9% +3.2%

Sexual Orientation 2013 2014

Change %

%

Heterosexual 52.0% 49.6% -2.4%

Gay Man 2.5% 2.8% +0.3%

Lesbian or Gay Woman 0.5% 0.5% -

Bisexual 0.8% 0.8% -

Prefer not to say 44.4% 46.4% +2.0%

15

Atheist option not available prior to 2014. 16

Civil Partnership, Separated and Widowed options not available prior to 2014.

Religion & Belief 15

2013 2014

Change %

%

Christian 33.5% 31.2% -2.3%

Muslim 3.1% 2.5% -0.6%

Hindu 0.8% 1.0% +0.2%

Buddhist 0.8% 0.8% -

Sikh 1.8% 2.0% +0.2%

Jewish 0.3% 0.3% -

Atheist - 2.5% +2.5%

No religion 13.0% 11.6% -1.4%

Other religion 4.7% 3.5% -1.2%

Prefer not to say 42.1% 44.1% +2.0%

Marital status 16

2013 2014

Change %

%

Single 1.0% 5.5% +4.5%

Married 2.6% 6.3% +3.7%

Civil Partnership - 0.3% +0.3%

Divorced 0% 0% -

Separated - 0% -

Partner 0.8% 1.0% +0.2%

Widowed - 0% -

Cohabiting 0% 0.5% +0.5%

Prefer not to say 95.6% 86.4% -9.2%

Disability 2013 2014

Change %

%

Yes 3.6% 3.8% +0.2%

No 10.1% 17.6% +6.5%

Not provided 86.2% 78.6% -7.6%

22

Appendix 2 – Service User data from Arts Events

Gender MG On the Edge Carnival 2014 Hampton M-F Barnes M-F Showtime Total

LBRuT % N

o % N

o % N

o % N

o % N

o % N

o % N

o %

Male 34 32.1% 12 36.8% 11 22.0% 1 3.8% 5 17.9% 6 18.8% 69 24.7% 49%

Female 56 52.8% 21 52.8% 29 58.0% 22 84.6% 18 64.3% 19 59.4% 165 59.1% 51%

Prefer not to say 16 15.1% 4 10.5% 10 20.0% 3 11.5% 5 17.9% 7 21.9% 45 16.1% -

Total 106 - 37 - 50 - 26 - 28 - 32 - 279 -

Age MG On the Edge Carnival 2014 Hampton M-F Barnes M-F Showtime Total

No

% No

% No

% No

% No

% No

% No

% Under 16 1 0.9% 0 - 1 2.0% 0 - 0 - 0 - 2 0.7%

16-49 47 44.3% 25 67.6% 31 62.0% 22 84.6% 20 71.4% 15 46.9% 160 57.3%

50-64 28 26.4% 7 18.9% 8 16.0% 1 3.8% 0 - 6 18.8% 50 17.9%

65+ 24 22.6% 3 8.1% 2 4.0% 0 - 0 - 6 18.8% 35 12.5%

Prefer not to say 6 5.7% 2 5.4% 8 16.0% 3 11.5% 8 28.6% 5 15.6% 32 11.5%

Total 106 - 37 - 50 - 26 - 28 - 32 - 279 -

Ethnicity MG On the Edge Carnival 2014 Hampton M-F Barnes M-F Showtime Total

LBRuT % N

o % N

o % N

o % N

o % N

o % N

o % N

o %

White British 95 89.6%

19 51.4% 24 48.0% 14 53.8% 17 60.8% 12 37.5% 202 72.4%

71.5%

White Other 2 5.4% 8 16.0% 4 15.4% 1 3.6% 6 18.8% 14.5%

BME 4 3.8% 12 32.4% 10 20.0% 5 19.2% 3 10.7% 7 21.9% 41 14.7% 14.1%

Mixed Ethnic Group 2 1.9% 6 16.2% 8 16.0% 0 - 3 10.7% 4 12.5% 23 8.2% 3.6%

Asian or Asian British 0 - 1 2.7% 0 - 2 7.8% 0 - 1 3.1% 4 1.4% 7.3%

Black or Black British 1 0.9% 0 - 2 4.0% 3 11.5% 0 - 2 6.3% 8 2.9% 1.5%

Other Ethnic Group 1 0.9% 5 13.5% 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 6 2.2% 1.7%

Prefer not to say 7 6.6% 4 10.8% 8 16.0% 3 11.5% 7 25.0% 7 21.9% 36 12.9% -

Total 106 - 37 - 50 - 26 - 28 - 32 - 279 - -

Disability MG On the Edge Carnival 2014 Hampton M-F Barnes M-F Showtime Total

LBRuT % N

o % N

o % N

o % N

o % N

o % N

o % N

o %

Yes 29 27.4% 0 - 4 8.0% 0 - 0 - 0 - 33 11.8% 11.5%

No 77 72.6% 32 86.5% 37 74.0% 18 69.2% 23 82.1% 26 81.3% 213 76.3% 88.5%

Prefer not to say 0 - 5 13.5% 9 18.0% 8 30.8% 5 17.9% 6 18.7% 33 11.8% -

Total 106 - 37 - 50 - 26 - 28 - 32 - 279 - -

MG: Madge Gill Exhibition – Outsider Art, held 5

th October 2013 – 26

th January 2014 (106 responses from 4,682 attendees – 2.3%)

On the Edge: Held 16-17th August 2014 (37 responses from over 3,000 attendees – 1.2%)

Carnival 2014: Held 15th June 2014 (50 responses from over 4,000 attendees – 1.3%)

Hampton M-F: Hampton Square Mini-Fest, held 30th July 2014 (26 responses from over 1,200 attendees – 2.2%)

Barnes M-F: Barnes Green Mini-Fest, held 13th August 2014 (28 responses from over 1,000 attendees – 2.8%)

Showtime: Showtime on Richmond Riverside, held 30th July 2014 (32 responses from over 2,500 attendees – 1.3%)

23

Appendix 3 – Library Service User Information from CityRead London 2014 events

Gender Number % LBRuT %

Male 66 35.5% 49%

Female 119 64.0% 51%

Prefer not to say 1 0.5% -

Total 186 -

Ethnicity Number % LBRuT %

White British 145 78.0% 71.5%

White Other 18 9.7% 14.5%

BME 20 10.8% 14.1%

Mixed/Multiple Ethnic Groups 9 4.8% 3.6%

Asian or Asian British 3 1.6% 7.3%

Black or Black British 8 4.3% 1.5%

Other Ethnic Group 0 0% 1.7%

Prefer not to say 3 1.6% -

Total 186 - -

Disability Number % LBRuT %

Yes 9 4.8% 11.5%

No 168 90.3% 88.5%

Prefer not to say 9 4.8% -

Total 186 - -

Age Number %

5 – 9 14 7.5%

10 – 15 15 8.1%

16 – 25 4 2.2%

26 – 35 5 2.7%

36 – 45 10 5.4%

46 – 55 15 8.1%

56 - 65 65 34.9%

66+ 54 29.0%

Prefer not to say 4 2.2%

Total 186 -

24

Appendix 4 – Customer Service User Information

Gender Email Face-to-face Combined LBRuT

Number % Number % Number % %

Male 175 50% 86 41% 261 47% 49%

Female 165 47% 123 59% 288 51% 51%

Prefer not to say 11 3% - - 11 2% -

Total 351 - 209 - 560 - -

Age Email Face-to-face Combined

Number % Number % Number %

Under 16 0 - 0 -

16 – 24 4 1% 13 6% 17 3%

25 – 34 42 12% 46 22% 88 16%

35 – 44 63 18% 52 25% 115 21%

45 – 54 74 21% 46 22% 120 21%

55 – 64 62 18% 29 14% 91 16%

65 - 74 67 19% 17 8% 84 15%

75 – 84 14 4% 6 3% 20 4%

85+ 7 2% 0 - 7 1%

Prefer not to say 18 5% 0 - 18 3%

Total 351 - 209 - 560 -

Ethnicity Email Face-to-face Combined LBRuT

Number % Number % Number % %

White 297 85% 167 80% 464 83% 85.9%

BME 36 10% 42 20% 78 14% 14.1%

Mixed/Multiple Ethnic Group 12 3% 17 8% 29 5% 3.6%

Asian or Asian British 16 5% 13 6% 29 5% 7.3%

Black or Black British 3 1% 8 4% 11 2% 1.5%

Other Ethnic Group 5 1% 4 2% 9 2% 1.7%

Prefer not to say 18 5% - - 18 3% -

Total 351 - 209 - 560 - -

Disability Email Face-to-face Combined LBRuT

Number % Number % Number % %

Yes 18 5% 13 6% 31 6% 11.5%

No 333 95% 196 94% 529 94% 88.5%

Total 351 209 - 560 - -