(a)

the Council was committed to meeting its public sector equality duty, and was working hard to promote equality, celebrate diversity and support community cohesion. There was also a commitment to treating customers and employees with respect and dignity and understand the barriers that different communities in the city face. The ambition was to create a city where an outstanding quality of life was enjoyed by everyone;

(b)

the commitment to equality and diversity paper demonstrated the progress that the Council had made in meeting its public sector equality duty, and set out how the Council had been promoting equality during the past year. Some of the work delivered included involving members through a cross party equalities Working Group. The Group was scheduled to meet four times a year to deliver the city survey and using the insights to inform the development of the community builders programme, which provided additional engagement capacity in some of our most deprived wards, working in partnership with local organisations to improve the accessibility of events, supporting employee networks, supporting employees to effectively consider equality and diversity during procurement activities, and decision making;

(c)

a new equality and diversity action plan for 2023/24 was developed in consultation with the Corporate Equality Group and the Equalities Working Group; the action plan aimed to build upon the good work from previous action plans and the completion of actions allowed the Council continue its journey toward excellence on the equality framework for local government.

(e)

the majority of Members had completed the Equality and Diversity training; this was provided by the LGA therefore Members were required to notify their completion of the course to the Council so that it could be accurately recorded; Figures of those having completed the course would be provided to Members;

(f)

a session on equality and diversity was already worked into the new Councillor Induction Programme and this would continue to be scheduled in the future to promote the importance of equality and diversity;

(g)

the training on equality and diversity run by the LGA was considered basic and more of an introductory level, there was an ambition to create an enhanced training programme for Members that moved beyond the introduction of topics and demonstrated how Councillors behave and engage in the community;

(h)

a written response would be provided as to if there was an industrial diseases register maintained by the Council for local residents where those with disabilities were registered;

(i)

when a customer accessed Council services, data was collected in order to provide appropriate support in an inclusive manner;

(j)

a written response would be provided to Members as to if the public sector equality duty extended to the Council’s commissioning of services, partnership working and commercial arrangements; it was considered that this was a social value element of the procurement process however this would be confirmed;

(k)

in terms of the decline in percentage of residents from different backgrounds that considered they got on well together in Plymouth from 55% in 2021, to 42% in 2022 (as detailed in the Corporate Plan Performance Report), a breakdown of Plymouth’s demographic and at Ward level would be provided to Members; this would also help inform future work;

(l)

it was acknowledged that the wording in the action plan, specifically with regards to Holocaust Memorial Day and the Council continuing to mark this event, other than determining not to was worded in such a way as to respond to an action; this would be looked into.

1.

that a written response would be provided to Members on the numbers of Councillors that had completed the LGA Equality and Diversity training course;

2.

a written response would be provided to Members as to if there was an industrial diseases register maintained by the Council for local residents where those with disabilities were registered;

3.

a written response would be provided to Members as to if the public sector equality duty extended to the Council’s commissioning of services, partnership working and commercial arrangements;

4.

in terms of the decline in percentage of residents from different backgrounds that considered they got on well together in Plymouth from 55% in 2021, to 42% in 2022 (as detailed in the Corporate Plan Performance Report), a breakdown of Plymouth’s demographic and at Ward level would be provided to Members;

5.

to note the progress set out in the Our Commitment to Equality and Diversity document;

6.

to note the accompanying updated Equality and Diversity Action Plan for 2023/24.