Issue - meetings

To receive the Annual Equality and Diversity Report 2015-16, which is a statutory requirement under the Equality Act 2010, and the Draft Equality & Human Rights Policy and Objectives for 2016-2020

(1)          Mr Cooke (Cabinet Member for Corporate and Democratic Services introduced the report which included a summary of the Annual Equality and Diversity Report 2015-16 and asked the Cabinet Committee to review and make recommendations on the draft Equality and Human Rights Policy and Objectives 2016-2020.  He also said the policy made it very clear that KCC took equality and diversity issues very seriously

(2)       David Whittle (Director of Strategy, Policy, Relationships and Corporate Assurance) set out the background to the report and its structure.  He said there was a requirement to include Equality Impact Assessments in the papers for any key decisions but ways of rationalising the template were being investigated

(3)       Akua Agyepong (Corporate Lead Equality and Diversity) said the draft Equality and Human Rights Policy and Objectives had been developed in consultation with directorates, equality leads, partners and the public and could be considered in three parts with the first part setting out KCC’s commitment and vision for equality, diversity and human rights; the second part setting out a clear framework of accountability for the delivery of the policy and its objectives; and the third part setting out KCC’s equality objectives.

(4)       In response to queries about the data, Mr Whittle offered to provide a list of data sources but the Committee did not consider this to be necessary.

(5)       In response to comments about the risk of judicial review and the importance of conducting EQiAs before decisions were made, Mr Whittle said that this requirement was implicit in the policy and said the inclusion of a specific reference would be considered in conjunction with Mr Cooke.

(6)       Mrs Agyepong confirmed that HR and other KCC policies enabled men to take paternity leave

(7)       Mr Cooke responded to comments about Eastern European workers and confirmed that KCC did not pay any of its staff less than the minimum wage.

(8)       Resolved that:

(a)   The Executive Summary of the Annual Equality and Diversity Report 2015-16 be noted;

(b)  The proposed decision to approve the Equality and Human Rights Policy and Objectives 2016-2020 be endorsed.