Mr Mayor,
It is my job today to seek the full commitment of the Council
to equality of opportunity for everyone who lives in, works in or visits our
county borough as we begin work to update our Strategic Equality Plan.
It is important for me to start by saying that this county
borough has much to be proud of, much to celebrate.
Research recently undertaken to inform our place brand for
the county borough marked the friendliness of local people out as one of our
unique strengths. And the commitment of the Council to equalities is also being
recognised in a number of ways:
We have recently been given the silver award by Chwarae Teg
for the work we have been doing, together with our trade union partners to
advance gender pay equality.
Later this month at Staff Council, we will formally launch
our commitment to strengthening the way we support employees with poor mental
health by signing up to the Time2Change programme.
In recognition of the difficulties people experiencing poor
mental health in our communities can face in their daily work, we are working
with MIND and with UNISON to provide training for our workforce to make sure
everyone is confident to deal with people experiencing poor mental health and
to make reasonable adjustments so that everyone has equal access to Council
services.
We are also strengthening the support we provide to our local
BME Community Association to celebrate and promote diversity and, on September
23rd, we will hold a poverty symposium here at the Princess Royal
Theatre to take stock of financial hardship being experienced across the county
borough and to agree what more can be done to relieve that financial hardship.
These are just some examples of practical things we are doing
to deliver our equality duties. I am sure that you will have your own examples
of where the work of the Council is making strides to tackle inequality in all
its guises.
But whilst I have begun by focusing on the positives Mr
Mayor, I am equally sure that Council will join me in condemning the recent
racist incidents we have seen in our county borough. The first involved
discrimination against taxi drivers of Pakistani heritage; more recently
reports of a swastika being displayed on a Neath address; and we have also seen
far right wing graffiti in communities. There is absolutely no place for such
behaviour or the ideas that sit behind it.
I call on all councillors and our wider communities to work
together to make Neath Port Talbot a place where everyone is able to get along
with each other and where discrimination in any form is not tolerated.
Mr Mayor, the review of the Council’s Strategic Equality Plan
provides an excellent opportunity for us to make a renewed commitment to
eliminating discrimination, harassment and victimisation; advancing equality of
opportunity between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do
not; fostering good relations between those who share a protected
characteristic and those who do not.
The motion before Council is for all members to fully engage
in the process of renewing and strengthening our Strategic Equality Plan and to
encourage people from all backgrounds to engage in the process so together we
can build a Neath Port Talbot where everyone has equal chance to enjoy a good
life.
Minutes:
Members
of Council received a Notice of Motion under Section 10 of Part 4 (Rules of
Procedure) of the Council’s Constitution, concerning equality of opportunity.
The Motion was proposed by Councillor D.Jones,
seconded by Councillor A.Llewelyn, and endorsed by
the Leader of the Independent Democrats Group.
Members
noted that the Poverty Symposium would take place on 20 September 2019, and not
23 September, as contained in the Notice of Motion.
RESOLVED: That full commitment be
given to equality of opportunity for everyone who lives in, works in or visits
Neath Port Talbot County Borough.