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Equality and Diversity
The council is committed to ensuring that it delivers all of its services in a fair and equal way. It also pledges to develop an inclusive and recruitment and selection procedure aimed at creating a strong and diverse workforce. This two-pronged approach ensures that we work towards removing barriers to our services and actively promote and support diversity. This mission will be carried out in close working relationship with our partners on the Local Strategic Partnership.
There have been some recent legislative changes in this area, including the requirement to create a gender equality scheme and increased expectations in tackling discrimination on the grounds of faith, disability, age and sexuality. The legislation has also brought in the requirement to not only tackle discrimination but to actively promote diversity. This is a significant change to our responsibilities and one that will require us to act in different ways.
The equality standard for local government helps us to measure progress towards promoting diversity. The standard has five levels and Wirral council is currently at level two. In order to meet the requirements of the standard at level two we have developed a single equality and diversity policy and strategy and a corporate equality plan. These documents incorporate the council’s three statutory schemes in relation to disability, race and gender.
The council’s equality and diversity policy draws together in one document the legislative process, the council’s service delivery commitments, employment commitments and policy statements in relation to the six pillars of the equality standard, which are:
- Age
- Disability
- Ethnicity
- Faith/Belief
- Gender
- Sexuality
The council’s equality and diversity strategy sets out the context for delivering Wirral’s policy aims and objectives, as set out in its equality and diversity policy, and describes how the organisation will work to address the particular challenges it faces.
The council’s draft corporate equality plan is a live document which highlights key projects and activities relating to the equality and diversity strategy and policy.