Agenda item

Mr P B Carter, Leader of the Council, and Mr O Mills, Managing Director, Adult Social Services, will attend the meeting at 2.15 pm to answer Members' questions on this item. 

(1)       Mr P B Carter, Leader of the Council; Mr O Mills, Managing Director, Adult Social Services; Ms A Beer, Head of Personnel and Development; and Ms J Richardson, Inclusive Services Policy Manager, attended the meeting to answer Members’ questions on this matter, which covered the following issues:-

Consultation Arrangements - General

(2)       In answer to questions from Mrs Newell, Mr Mills explained that the County Council was required to have a Gender Equality Strategy in place by 30 April 2007.  Race and Disability Equality Strategies had been approved previously and the County Council had decided to bring all three Equality Strategies together into one document.  The current consultation exercise, which would be completed within the next week, related only to the Gender Equality Strategy.  Consultation on the Race and Disability Equality Strategies had taken place before those strategies were adopted.  However, there would be further consultation with service users over the next six months on all three elements of the Equality Strategy to inform a review at the end of 2007.

Consultation Arrangements - Members

(3)       In answer to questions from Mrs Newell and Dr Eddy, Ms Richardson said that consultation with Members had been undertaken through the cross-party Strategic Equalities Group, and there would be further consultation with Members through the Policy Overview Committees for the end-2007 review.  In the meantime, Members were welcome to pass their views direct to her or to Mr Mills.  Mr Mills offered to circulate details of the membership and terms of reference of the Strategic Equalities Group.

Consultation Arrangements – Residents’ Panel

(4)       In answer to a question from Mr Parker, Ms Richardson explained that the Residents’ Panel had not been used for consultation on the Gender Equality Strategy because it was felt that a broader reach was required.  Ms Richardson pointed out that the Race Equality Action Plan included reviewing the ethnic composition of the Residents’ Panel.

Action Plans

(5)       In answer to a question from Mr Scholes, Ms Richardson explained that the Action Plans were still being refined at the time that the report was published for Cabinet.  The Action Plans were now complete and included names, dates and indicators of achievement for every item.

(6)       In answer to a question from Dr Eddy, Ms Richardson said that the Action Plans would include a target on making KCC documents accessible to people for whom English was not their first language and for the visually-impaired.

(7)       RESOLVED that:-

(a)       Mr Carter, Mr Mills, Ms Richardson and Ms Beer be thanked for attending the meeting and answering Members’ questions;

(b)       the Leader’s agreement that any changes proposed to be made to the Strategy as a result of consultation responses would be shared with the opposition Group Leaders before publication on 30 April be welcomed;

(c)        the Managing Director, Adult Social Services be requested to share the final versions of the Action Plans (including target dates and indicators of achievement) with the Chairman and Spokesmen of the Committee as soon as completed;

(d)       the offer by the Managing Director, Adult Social Services, to circulate details of the membership and terms of reference of the Strategic Equalities Group be welcomed;

(e)       the Managing Director, Adult Social Services be requested to ensure that the Action Plans included provision for a review of the composition of the Kent Residents Panel as part of the overall review of the Equality Strategy at the end of the year.