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Our vision is to make South Derbyshire a better place to live, work and visit.
We recognise that an essential part of this aim is to ensure fair and equal access to our services and employment opportunities. We intend to promote equality and diversity for all regardless of such considerations as gender, race, ethnic or national origin, disability, family status, age, religious belief, class or sexuality.
Promoting equal opportunities
We are committed to treating people fairly in everything we do as a service provider, employer and leader of the community. We will therefore work to ensure that the people we serve and our employees do not suffer unfair discrimination due to:
- Age
- Child care responsibilities or responsibilities for other dependants
- Disability
- Ethnicity, race colour or nationality
- Gender
- Marital/Civil Partnership status
- Political Beliefs
- Religious Beliefs
- Sexual Orientation
- Trade Union activities
- Unrelated criminal convictions, where this is possible
Equality Framework for Local Government
We are continually working to improve our approach to equality and diversity. We have recently undergone an external Diversity Peer Challenge by the IDeA.
In February 2010 we were externally assessed under the Equality Framework for Local Government. There are three levels of the framework: Developing, Achieving and Excellent.
The onsite visit was carried out by the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) and we were awarded 'Achieving' Level of the framework. The findings of the Diversity Peer Challenge are summarised in a report produced by the IDeA, which is available at the bottom of this page.
We were told that we have a strong approach to meeting and understanding community needs. The organisation and staff were also praised for having ‘strong values’ which are underpinned by policies and procedures.
We are committed to progressing within this framework and we are now aiming to become an 'Excellent' Council.
The Corporate Equality and Fairness Scheme
We published our Corporate Equality and Fairness Scheme in April 2008. This single scheme brought together our Disability, Gender and Race Equality schemes and also included plans to tackle discrimination and harassment on the basis of age, religion or belief and sexual orientation. It sets out how we plan to meet our responsibilities in these areas over the next three years.
Previous equality schemes
Our Race Equality Scheme was published in 2003 and detailed how we planned to meet our 'general duty' to promote race equality as set out in the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000.
The general duty requires us to:
- Eliminate unlawful racial discrimination,
- Promote equality of opportunity, and
- Promote good relations between people of different racial groups.
Our Disabilities Equality Scheme was published in December 2006 and set out how we would promote equality of opportunity for disabled people. We developed it in consultation with disabled people and other stakeholders.
Our Gender Equality Scheme was published in July 2007 and set out how we would promote equality of opportunity between men and women and eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment.
Equality Impact Risk Assessments (EIRA)
An EIRA is a way of examining our policies, procedures, services and projects to identify and reduce, as far as possible, any risk of discrimination.
Assessments are ongoing, and new policies are assessed as they are written. We have completed EIRAs for many of our services and will be completing more over the next 12 months.
Equality Impact Risk Assessments (EIRA)
Contact details
South Derbyshire District Council
Policy Team
Civic Offices
Civic Way
Swadlincote
Derbyshire
DE11 0AH
Tel: 01283 595822
Fax: 01283 595760
Online: contact form
email: policy@south-derbys.gov.uk
Page ref: LGSL 344, 861
Related documents
The following documents are in Portable Document Format (PDF). You can download the PDF software for free from the Adobe website (opens in a new window)
