Equality and Diversity

Anne Snelgrove
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps the Government are taking to promote equality and diversity within local authorities; and what targets it has set in relation to this.

Mr. Woolas
The Government encourage the promotion of equality and diversity within local authorities in a number of ways, as follows:

There is a Duty to promote race, disability and gender equality.

The Government have introduced the Beacon Scheme for local authorities and their partners.

Government have worked and continue to work with the Improvement and Development Agency and the Regional Centres of Excellence on the improvement programme for local government, including programmes to support embedding equality and diversity.

Best Value Performance Indicators

Examples include:

The level of performance in respect of the authorities’ delivery on the Race Equality Duty

Percentage of top-paid 5 per cent. of local authority staff who are women.

The percentage of the top 5 per cent. of local authority staff who are from an ethnic minority.

Percentage of the top paid 5 per cent. of staff who have a disability.

The percentage of local authority employees with a disability.

The percentage of the economically active population in the local authority area who have a disability.

The percentage of local authority employees from ethnic minority communities.

The percentage of the economically active (persons aged 18 to 65) population from ethnic minority communities in the local authority area.

The percentage of authority buildings open to the public in which all public areas are suitable for, and accessible to, disabled people.

Percentage of proposed statements of Special Educational Need issued by the authority in a financial year and prepared within 18 weeks.

Older people helped to live at home per 1,000 population aged 65 or over.

Satisfaction of ethnic minority council housing tenants (excluding white minority) with their opportunities for participation in management and decision-making in relation to housing services provided by their landlord.

Whether the authority follows the Commission for Racial Equality’s code of practice in Rented Housing and the Good Practice Standards for Social Landlords on Tackling Harassment included in ‘Tackling Racial Harassment: Code of Practice for Social Landlords’.

The percentage of pedestrian crossings with facilities for disabled people, as a proportion of all crossings in the local authority area.

The number of racial incidents reported to the local authority, and subsequently recorded, per 100,000 population.

The percentage of racial incidents reported to the local authority that resulted in further action.