Lib Dems Call in County Council's Equalities Scheme

12.03.00pm GMT Mon 20th Nov 2006

Cllr. Mel De Cruz

Councillor Mel de Cruz (Liberal Democrat - Spencer) delivered devastating criticism of the County Councils new Equalities Scheme at the County Council's Cabinet Meeting.

"I have awaited this Councils Corporate Equalities Scheme with eagerness as another step closer towards breaking down more barriers within our society today. With Islam-phobia, Homophobic Bullying within Schools, and Inequality in the Workplace still on the increase. This is a real opportunity for this Council to take the lead by adopting a living/breathing policy which is a robust and ambitious Equalities Schemes that other Counties would be able to learn from… by making a stand on all forms of discrimination and inequality. However we are presented with a document that fails to address many of the key issues -

• Best Value Performance Indicators do not appear against any of the Intended Outcomes anywhere in this Scheme, neither is there any Monitoring or Evaluation against the Intended Outcomes …for example:

• Sustainable Transport - Congestion, the action is "To improve bus stops on core routes in Npton, Wellingborough and Kettering." The intended outcome being MORE WOMEN USING BUSES. How is this being evaluated? Are Officers going to be asked to stand at bus stops doing head counts.

• Community Safety…It talks about how the council can no longer fund the post which deals with meeting the needs of victims of domestic abuse within the Black and Minority Ethnic community - even though in the Race Equality Scheme Annual Report for 2002 - 2004 it was identified as an Improvement Priority to be actioned in 2005.

• Again from the Race Equality Scheme Annual Report - identified as an Improvement priority for 2005-6 is 'Reducing the number of Black and Minority Ethnic pupils who are permanently excluded from schools. There is no mention of this in the current Scheme.

• On Target Timescales some expired as far back as Dec 2004 & June 2005

• On Sexuality - the Councils commitment to Equality in terms of Sexuality is summarised in 6 lines of text

The list of inadequacies within this policy are glaringly obvious .

This policy is being rushed through Cabinet purely on the basis of the Disability Legislation taking effect on the 4th December, 2006. If Cabinet agrees this Scheme not only will it be a retrograde step for this Council but it will be an embarrassment to Cabinet Members who have embraced equality and ensured that they have met their inherited equalities targets."

For these reasons the Liberal Democrat Councillors have decided to mount a challenge on this scheme by calling it in to a Scrutiny Committee for further review.