3 Strategic Equality Plan 2024/2028 PDF 304 KB
Additional documents:
Decision:
Following
scrutiny, members supported the recommendation outlined in the draft Cabinet
report.
Minutes:
Members
considered the report as circulated within the agenda pack.
Officers
outlined that this is a plan that is governed by statute. The equality
objectives outlined within the plan have not changed since the last plan as it
is felt that they are still relevant to the communities within Neath Port
Talbot. As a result of this there was no requirement for the authority to
consult on the plan. It is noted that the action section has been updated to
make it more SMART. It now includes not only the actions, but also the outcomes
and measures against each action. This will assist in measuring progress
against each action and will be used to assist with presenting information on
the Strategic Equality Plan Annual Report moving forward. It is noted that in
the revision of the plan, there was a wide corporate effort with input from
across the whole Council.
Members
queried if job applications for employment across the authority are being
anonymised or are there some exceptions? Officers confirmed that the authority
has the capability to anonymise application forms and currently this is an
option that recruiting managers can select. It is not yet mandatory. In order
to make it mandatory the Recruitment and Selection Policy will need to be
changed. Before this is done, officers will carry out of a lot of awareness
raising with recruiting managers and this will be done in a range of ways.
There
is one specific appointment where the application form was not anonymised. This
related to the Chief Executive post. It was recognised that in order to
anonymise the application form a large amount of information would have needed
to have been stripped from the form which would have made shortlisting very
difficult.
Officers
advised that the amended policy would be presented to the Personnel Committee
before Christmas.
Officers confirmed that there is funding available under the SPF support scheme for social care to provide support to those that are digitally excluded. Officers confirmed that they would seek further information from social care colleagues to ... view the full minutes text for item 3