## Cross-Council Equality, Diversity And Inclusion (Edi) Action Plan 2019-2020

| Theme                                                                      | Focus area                   | Outcome                                      |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------|----------------------------------------------|
| Communication and awareness                                                |                              |                                              |
| raising                                                                    |                              |                                              |
| Improved communication on                                                  |                              |                                              |
| Equality, Diversity and Inclusion                                          |                              |                                              |
| (EDI) across the council                                                   |                              |                                              |
| Leadership, partnership                                                    |                              |                                              |
| and organisational                                                         |                              |                                              |
| commitment                                                                 |                              |                                              |
| EDI to be embedded into leadership conferences                             | From April 2019              |                                              |
| EDI embedded within corporate and departmental comms plans                 | From April 2019              |                                              |
| Equalities intranet pages to be reviewed and updated annually              | Sep-19                       |                                              |
| Ensure that action taken in response to engagement on EDI is reported      |                              |                                              |
| back in 'You said, we did' updates                                         |                              |                                              |
| Ongoing                                                                    |                              |                                              |
| Develop mechanisms to enable staff EDI feedback, including anonymously,    |                              |                                              |
| e.g. Yammer and online form                                                |                              |                                              |
| Apr-20                                                                     |                              |                                              |
| Hold internal awareness raising events                                     | Throughout year              |                                              |
| Deputy Head of Strategy                                                    | Strategic Equality Objective |                                              |
| (SEO)                                                                      |                              |                                              |
| Refresh of the SEO to link up with                                         |                              |                                              |
| the Corporate Plan                                                         |                              |                                              |
| Performance against the SEO will be reported quarterly through the Policy  |                              |                                              |
| and Resources Action Plan                                                  |                              |                                              |
| Jun-19                                                                     |                              |                                              |
| The Annual Equalities Report to include an assessment of outcomes against  |                              |                                              |
| the previous Equalities Action Plan                                        |                              |                                              |
| Jun-19                                                                     |                              |                                              |
| Annual Equalities Report 18/19 submitted to P&R                            |                              |                                              |
| Committee 11 June 2019                                                     |                              |                                              |
| Harassment and hate crimes in the borough are monitored and analysed       |                              |                                              |
| regularly, and appropriate action is taken to address the issues that have |                              |                                              |
| been identified                                                            |                              |                                              |
| Fostering good relations                                                   | The organisation takes a     |                                              |
| sophisticated approach to fostering                                        |                              |                                              |
| good relations which has resulted                                          |                              |                                              |
| in measurable improvements in                                              |                              |                                              |
| relationships between diverse                                              |                              |                                              |
| communities                                                                |                              |                                              |
| LBB to explore gaining accreditation for the Stonewall index               | Apr-20                       | To commence, following the move to Colindale |
| Data should be available disaggregated to cover the protected              |                              |                                              |
| characteristics                                                            |                              |                                              |
| Strategy and Communications                                                |                              |                                              |
| teams/HR/Barnet Allias                                                     |                              |                                              |
| CMT Lead and Equalities,                                                   |                              |                                              |
| Diversity and Inclusion Steering                                           |                              |                                              |
| Group                                                                      |                              |                                              |
| Leadership conference in December 2018 had a significant                   |                              |                                              |
| focus on EDI. The Equalities Allies presented a session on                 |                              |                                              |
| unconscious bias. Next leadership conference in July 2019                  |                              |                                              |
| will focus on socialising action plan with managers and                    |                              |                                              |
| identifying their specific contribution to delivery of the                 |                              |                                              |
| plan.                                                                      |                              |                                              |
| Communications team ensures equalities is considered in                    |                              |                                              |
| the planning of all campaigns and engagement                               |                              |                                              |
| opportunities. This has been evident with the Together We                  |                              |                                              |
| Are Barnet, Barnet 2024 and All About Me campaigns.                        |                              |                                              |
| These have all had a strong equalities and diversity focus.                |                              |                                              |
| Currently liaising with the Equalities Allies to set up an                 |                              |                                              |
| intranet hub where all equalities pages and support will be.               |                              |                                              |
| This will be live by 30th June 2019.                                       |                              |                                              |
| Several equalities focussed groups have been set up on                     |                              |                                              |
| Yammer, which are used to promote equalities issues and                    |                              |                                              |
| invite feedback from a diverse range of people from across                 |                              |                                              |
| the organisation.                                                          |                              |                                              |
| BEA also sit on EDI Steering Group.                                        |                              |                                              |
| BEA and Comms are working together on EDI segment for                      |                              |                                              |
| next round of chief exec briefings to update on progress,                  |                              |                                              |
| and invite staff to utilise feedback channels and join staff               |                              |                                              |
| groups.                                                                    |                              |                                              |
| On a yearly basis we hold events for a range of celebrations               |                              |                                              |
| such as Black History Month and International Womens                       |                              |                                              |
| Day and have also marked a number of other similar                         |                              |                                              |
| events.                                                                    |                              |                                              |
| Ongoing                                                                    |                              |                                              |
| Community Safety Partnership                                               |                              |                                              |
| Board / Community  Engagement                                              |                              |                                              |
| Coordinator / HR                                                           |                              |                                              |
| Monitoring is in place, and the Strategy team's Community                  |                              |                                              |
| Engagement Coordinator works closely with Community                        |                              |                                              |
| Safety and the Faith sector                                                |                              |                                              |
| MOPAC hate crime dashboard provides a detailed                             |                              |                                              |
| breakdown of target groups                                                 |                              |                                              |
| Accountability and leadership                                              | Council Management                                        |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------|
| Team/Human Resources                                                       |                                                           |
| Review the staff survey to ensure questions on equality and diversity are  |                                                           |
| included                                                                   |                                                           |
| Next staff survey                                                          |                                                           |
| Some basic demographic data collected in the current staff                 |                                                           |
| wellbeing survey                                                           |                                                           |
| Political and executive leaders                                            |                                                           |
| demonstrate personal knowledge                                             |                                                           |
| and understanding of local                                                 |                                                           |
| communities and continue to show                                           |                                                           |
| Organisational values are reflected                                        |                                                           |
| in all council business                                                    |                                                           |
| Revise recruitment and induction to ensure equality and diversity is being |                                                           |
| incorporated (e.g. balanced recruitment panel that are all trained on      |                                                           |
| unconscious bias, equality and diversity duties) - to include in training  |                                                           |
| module                                                                     |                                                           |
| Deliver training to members on equality, diversity and inclusion           | Apr-20                                                    |
| Clarity on which roles are                                                 |                                                           |
| responsible for monitoring of                                              |                                                           |
| documents and facilitating equality                                        |                                                           |
| activities                                                                 |                                                           |
| Quarterly report to CMT on progress of EDI action plan                     | From March 19                                             |
| All new standard contracts to include equality standards and consideration |                                                           |
| given to equality and diversity agenda                                     |                                                           |
| In place and ongoing                                                       |                                                           |
| All new contracts have performance measures built in to ensure equality    |                                                           |
| issues are addressed                                                       |                                                           |
| Apr-19                                                                     | In place and ongoing                                      |
| Procurement and commissioners                                              | Data and Insight                                          |
| procurement processes and                                                  |                                                           |
| practices include diverse needs of                                         |                                                           |
| our residents and that providers                                           |                                                           |
| understand requirements of public                                          |                                                           |
| sector Equality Duty (e.g.                                                 |                                                           |
| Committee Papers)                                                          |                                                           |
| Knowing your                                                               |                                                           |
| communities                                                                |                                                           |
| Webpages to be reviewed and links to outdated documents removed from       |                                                           |
| the public internet and internal intranet                                  |                                                           |
| Jul-19                                                                     |                                                           |
| Some out of date content still to be removed.  However the                 |                                                           |
| JSNA has up to date demographic data.                                      |                                                           |
| Published data on the profile of                                           |                                                           |
| its communities and the extend                                             |                                                           |
| of inequalities and                                                        |                                                           |
| disadvantage - Joint Strategic                                             |                                                           |
| Needs Assessment                                                           |                                                           |
| A comprehensive set of                                                     |                                                           |
| information about the                                                      |                                                           |
| demographics of our local                                                  |                                                           |
| communities is regularly updated                                           |                                                           |
| and published and used to identify                                         |                                                           |
| priorities for the local area                                              |                                                           |
| JSNA to include a section on borough demographics and to be updated        |                                                           |
| regularly                                                                  |                                                           |
| Apr-19 and ongoing                                                         |                                                           |
| JSNA is under constant review and is the most up to date                   |                                                           |
| source of local data                                                       |                                                           |
| Relevant and appropriate                                                   |                                                           |
| information and data is mapped,                                            |                                                           |
| disaggregated and used with                                                |                                                           |
| partners, to assess needs and                                              |                                                           |
| priorities and set equality                                                |                                                           |
| objectives                                                                 |                                                           |
| Health and Wellbeing Board and Community Safety Partnership Board to       |                                                           |
| regularly review  needs assessment of local population and ensure that     |                                                           |
| policy decisions are influenced and shaped by intelligence and insight     |                                                           |
| Use events across the borough/community engagement events to               |                                                           |
| communicate intelligence and insight on borough's diversity                |                                                           |
| Apr-20                                                                     |                                                           |
| Involving your                                                             |                                                           |
| community                                                                  |                                                           |
| Community Engagement                                                       |                                                           |
| structures are being developed                                             |                                                           |
| throughout the organisation                                                |                                                           |
| Effective use of Community Together Network in involving diverse range of  |                                                           |
| communities in shaping our local services                                  |                                                           |
| Apr-19                                                                     | All consultations are publicised through the CTN bulletin |
| The organisation engages with all                                          |                                                           |
| its communities when making                                                |                                                           |
| decisions, including those with                                            |                                                           |
| protected characteristics                                                  |                                                           |
| Effective use of consultation and engagement tool to inform service        |                                                           |
| planning                                                                   |                                                           |
| Ongoing                                                                    |                                                           |
| Local people are encouraged to                                             |                                                           |
| participate in public life or in other                                     |                                                           |
| activities where they are under-                                           |                                                           |
| represented                                                                |                                                           |
| Sep-19                                                                     |                                                           |
| Public Health/Intelligence and                                             |                                                           |
| Insight Network                                                            |                                                           |
| Ongoing                                                                    |                                                           |
| The Together we are Barnet campaign will be publicly                       |                                                           |
| launched at Brent Cross shopping centre on 4 July 2019.                    |                                                           |
| The campaign will then run throughout the year                             |                                                           |
| highlighting diversity and celebrating groups and                          |                                                           |
| organisations that support cohesion.                                       |                                                           |
| Strategy Team                                                              |                                                           |
| Community Participation Action                                             |                                                           |
| Plan                                                                       |                                                           |
| Engage-Barnet is regularly updated and its functions                       |                                                           |
| developed. It is the online hub for the Together We are                    |                                                           |
| Barnet campaign, facilitating uploads of photos and stories                |                                                           |
| from the community                                                         |                                                           |
Utilise Barnet Community Directory to help inform residents and partners about local CVS services
Ongoing 
Shared engagement structures developed with partners 
Utilise Barnet Together website and direct residents to it
Ongoing 
Engagement mechanisms and structures are in place to involve equality stakeholders and scrutinise service delivery, decisionmaking and progress 
Equalities Policy will be reviewed for 2019 then updated every two years  
Oct-19
Deputy Head of Strategy
Responsive services and customer care
Equalities Policies and Published Information
Equality Policy and the Staff Equalities Statement to be brought up to date 
A review of HR policies to ensure that any with an impact on equalities are up to date
Jun-19
HR 
Equalities Impact Assessment 
Improve the current EIA/EC model to ensure robust systems and accountability is in place 
A review of current Equalities Champion model, invite other EA's, Change Champions and other relevant colleagues to be EC's and ensure Equality Champions come from diverse backgrounds Communication on the Equalities Champion model is clear and promoted across the organisation and individual departments 
Sep-19
Equality analysis/ impact assessment is integrated systematically into planning and decision making across the organisation 
Equalities Champions have adequate training in EDI & Unconscious Bias to ensure they can carry out the tasks accordingly 
Sep-19
Potential training providers have been identified 
Each Directorate to have EIAs action plan presented to their SMT on a regular basis and overseen by Service's Equality Champions 
Dec-19
To be established as part of Business Planning cycle 
Develop a shared location (eg OneDrive/Sharepoint) to upload and share EIA's to ensure transparency and enable from ECs and peers 
Sep-19
Training to be set up and offered to officers to ensure EIAs are carried out at the appropriate stage
Sep-19
Potential training providers have been identified 
HR to support the council in  undertaking a refresh of workforce equality 
data 
Next staff survey 
Staff can update own records. This will be communicated 
to staff in a comms campaign 
Workforce diversity 
Succession plans and recruitment process to address under-representation of specific groups
Apr-20
The organisation's workforce profile (including the profile of major providers of commissioned services) broadly reflects the community it serves/local labour market across all levels
Model staff development in same way as apprenticeships and graduate scheme e.g. formal mentor opportunities/scheme, bespoke opportunities for under-represented groups etc. Introduce indicators for diversity in all recruitment (including management training scheme)
Apr-20
Review recruitment process and introduce methods which eradicate potential for discrimination and/or bias in process - fairness at all stages e.g. cross department panels and blind applications in terms of names and education Explore implementing 'Return to Work Scheme'
Apr-20
Training and culture 
Design, implement and review impact of mandatory EDI training for all council staff
Jul-19
Remove challenges and barriers at work in the Council so all staff can flourish and are free from discrimination 
Strategy Team are working with the commissioned provider of the Directory to increase content on the Directory and ensuring all comms materials relating to VCS references the Directory and provides a link to it 
Deputy Head of Strategy   - Community Participation Action Plan Equalities Champions / Deputy Head of Strategy 
Sep-19
Will follow implementation of the HR transformation programme 
Human Resources and Senior Managers 
Apr-20 Apr-20
Training designed and in delivery, under review as to whether to make mandatory. E-learning module already in place as part of induction
Learning & Development/ Communication, Engagement, Participation and Strategy Lead/Equalities Allies
| Training and culture                 |
|--------------------------------------|
| work in the Council so all staff can |
| flourish and are free from           |
| discrimination                       |
| Apr-20                                                                     | Could be addressed via TW3 or staff survey.       |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------|
| Conduct benchmarking exercise that allows staff to comment or suggest      |                                                   |
| changes to the physical office space/ working culture that would provide   |                                                   |
| indication of what to address and help the Council be more inclusive       |                                                   |
| Sep-19                                                                     | Potential training providers have been identified |
| Commission EDI training for delivery units who are responsible for dealing |                                                   |
| with issues around discrimination e.g. complaints team to ensure they are  |                                                   |
| appropriately equipped to understand underlying issues and respond         |                                                   |
| Commission EDI training for Equalities Champions                           | Sep-19                                            |
| HR/Senior Managers/H&S                                                     | Promoting an inclusive working                    |
| environment                                                                |                                                   |
| Flexible working arrangements, and reasonable adjustment policies are in   |                                                   |
| place and are being implemented on a case by case basis                    |                                                   |
| May-19                                                                     |                                                   |
| There are high satisfaction levels                                         |                                                   |
| with the working environment                                               |                                                   |
| across all staff groups particularly                                       |                                                   |
| those with protected                                                       |                                                   |
| characteristics                                                            |                                                   |
| Already in place and being implemented on a case by case                   |                                                   |
| basis. TW3 training also captured flexible working and                     |                                                   |
| reasonable adjustments, New Modern Working and Flex                        |                                                   |
| Working policies being rolled out as part of move to                       |                                                   |
| Colidale.                                                                  |                                                   |
| Access and utilisation of occupational health has been equal across the    |                                                   |
| organisation and those with protected characteristics                      |                                                   |
| Sep-19                                                                     |                                                   |
| Data from 2018 suggest that there is a large number of                     |                                                   |
| referrals for people with mental ill health and stress. Those              |                                                   |
| with temporary mobility problems will be referred to OH                    |                                                   |
| and reassesed for reasonable adjustments in the next few                   |                                                   |
| months. It is envisaged to get quarterly information on OH                 |                                                   |
| referrals and protected characteristics, whenever available.               |                                                   |
| Analyse staff survey across all protected characteristics                  | Next staff survey                                 |