Equality Framework for Local Government

4. Responsive Services and Customer Care

Equalities and business planning

Far from seeing Equality and Diversity as a single team or standalone service, equalities are fully integrated into each and every of the Council's services. This is reflected in the inclusion of Equality and Diversity objectives and targets in service and business plans. By being included in the plans, services' equalities issues and commitments are subject to internal and external consultation and accountabilities.

We have mapped all of the equalities actions and targets against the five themes of the Equality Framework for Local Government to ensure that we are meeting the criteria of an Achieving authority and to shape future delivery to improve our performance further.

The importance of Equality Impact Assessments

We have demonstrated our commitment to assessing the needs of our customers, particularly those from vulnerable and marginal groups, to identify possible gaps in service delivery and further improvements (see examples in place shaping, leadership, partnership and organisational commitment. We have completed a schedule of Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) for all our directorates together with the respective impact assessments and a system for updating the schedule and monitoring completion.

However we are aware that some of these have been paper-based assessments which have not been used at the planning and development stages to influence actual delivery. The Peer Challenge process has clearly highlighted this as an area for improvement. The Havering 2014 Transformation Programme has taken the opportunity to begin to use EIAs as a tool to influence and affect the decisions we make to prioritise resources whilst reducing expenditure.

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