Agenda item

The Leader introduced the Council’s Annual Report on the progress against its Strategic Equality Plan 2020-2024 (SEP).

As colleagues recalled, under the Equality Act (2010), the Council was required to annually report on the progress it made against the strategic equality objectives within the Strategic Equality Plan, alongside staff equalities data.

The Equality Objectives were developed in partnership with key internal and external stakeholders and subject to extensive community engagement. The involvement of grassroots communities ensured that whilst the Plan delivered a strategic vision for equality in Newport, it also ensured tangible outcomes for our communities.

The SEP Annual Report 2022-2023 was reviewed by the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee on 9 October and their comments were included within the report.

Turning to the report itself, the Annual Report related to the third year of delivery against the Council’s Strategic Equality Objectives.

The Leader drew attention to the summary of achievements table [pages 282 – 284] which highlighted progress against each of the objectives, such as:

1.      The use of participatory budgeting which allocated funding to 44 local community projects during this financial year alone.  

2.      The promotion, support, and celebration of diversity across the city during significant dates, including Eid al-Fitr, Black History Wales (365), UN Anti-Racism Day and, of course, Pride in the Port, Newport’s very own community Pride Event, which was going from strength to strength and was a real example of how communities came together to celebrate diversity and unity.

The Leader was passionate about equity, inclusion and diversity and it was encouraging to see the progress being made including the closure of the gender pay gap amongst officers, with gender equality also evident within members of the Cabinet.

The report concluded with staff equality data analysis and information on the continued commitment to working towards a workforce that reflected the diverse communities across the city.

This was a key objective within the new Strategic Equalities Plan and People Plan (both to be published in 2024) and was embedded within the Corporate Plan. 

The Leader invited the Cabinet Member for Organisational Transformation to say a few words.

This report was a summary of the work undertaken during the penultimate year of the Strategic Equality Plan. It set out the Council’s commitment to a workplace culture and approach to service delivery that valued inclusion and diversity.

Thanked the hard work of officers and recognised the ongoing work around customer services and complaints.

The key highlights were shared with Cabinet:

·        The roll out of anti-racism training to members and officers as part of the Council’s commitment to the All-Wales Anti-Racism Action Plan.

·        The dedication and passion of staff networks to ensure the Council was inclusive and supportive. 

This work would continue to progress over the next 12 months. The Annual Report set clear priorities for the next period based on a review of the workforce data and progress against Equality Objectives.

As Chair of the Council’s Strategic Equalities member and officer group the Cabinet Member for Organisational Transformation continued to support the delivery of the Strategic Equality Plan and ensure that the Council was innovative in its approach and effectively involving key stakeholders.

Decision:

That Cabinet approved the attached final monitoring report and published it on the Council’s website, in accordance with statutory deadlines.