Equal Opportunities and Diversity Board work programme, co-option and terms of reference

Report: 11
Date: 4 November 2004
By: Clerk

Summary

This report provides recommendations on the future work programme of the Equal Opportunities and Diversity Board, the co-option of Members to the Board and the Terms of Reference of the Board.

A. Recommendations

1. Agree the suggested workplan;
2. Agree the way forward for co-option of members;
3. Agree to refer the revised terms of Reference to the full Authority for ratification

B. Supporting information

Work programme

1. At its last meeting on 2 September 2004 the final item on the agenda was a discussion on what successes there had been in issues around diversity and what the initial thoughts were, of those around the table, of issues that needed to be tackled.

2. On 8 October 2004, members of the Equal Opportunities Board met with officers to consider the outcome of the earlier discussion and decide on the pool of topics from which the future workplan would be constructed. It was noted that the agenda had already been set for the first two meetings of the Board (September and November).

3. The meeting noted that the Race and Diversity Unit had been without a head since July and there was likely to be a period of several months before a new head was in place which, together with the fact that the two policy officers were also new to the organisation and were involved in progressing and finishing off existing work, impacted upon the ability of the Unit to start major new pieces of work. In the circumstances it was agreed that it was sensible to produce a work programme for a much longer period than the remainder of 2004/05 so that areas of work could be identified for up to two or three years ahead.

4. A number of areas and pieces of work, for which the Board have responsibility, are ongoing, will need to be progressed and should be in the year one work programme. They are:

• Equalities Standard for Local Government – members need to be kept up-to-date either by means of a report to the Board or a briefing paper to report progress on the aim to achieve Level 5 by the end of 2005.
• MPA and MPS Race Equality Schemes - members need to be kept up-to-date either by means of reports to the Board or a briefing paper on the ongoing operation of the schemes and the progress of the 2005 review of the schemes.
• Mental Health Scrutiny –The Chair of this Board is a member of the Scrutiny Panel and will be the conduit for issues from the scrutiny for which the Board has an interest.
• Disability – carrying forward from the MPA conference on 7 October including continuing oversight of both employment issues in the MPS and “policing and disabled people”.
• New MPS Diversity Strategy - Suggestion of having a seminar/workshop for members of this Board and other members.
• Race Hate Crime Forum – to continue to report to this Board. The Chair of the Board will explore ways of widening the remit to include other hate crimes.
• Stop and search scrutiny implementation sub group and Recommendation 61 implementation - to continue to report to the Board.
• Gender issues – ongoing work by the MPS looking at both internal and external issues, particularly in relation to women

5. There are some important issues that are current or emerging. They will need to be part of the year one workplan. They are:

• Morris Inquiry – the meeting was not aware of any plans there might be for MPA to consider the Morris Inquiry but it was reasonable to expect that there would be areas to be looked at by several committees including this Board.
• Equality impact of policing of terrorism – at this time this is primarily about the policing of Muslim and other Asian communities and should relate to more than stop and search.
• Forced marriages – it was noted that Aneeta Prem was doing some work on this and that there would be an MPS conference in January 2005, which might be an opportune time for a report to the Board.
• Joint working with other Committees - having a joint meeting with another committee – especially Human Resources - was something that should be pursued. The Chair of Human Resources would be approached. A possible subject for such a meeting would be to meet representatives of the Staff Associations and/or Samurai, the umbrella organisation. It was felt that a meeting with the Staff Associations should be held in any case and that relevant IAGs should also be invited. Timescale – within next 6 months.

6. The meeting considered that the following topics would be appropriate for the Board have on its agenda in years two and three. These topics could be dealt with in a number of ways but it may be helpful to allocate a topic to a series of about 3 meetings (a mini scrutiny).

• Hendon - a possible visit and consideration of outstanding diversity issues, possibly in conjunction with Human Resources Committee.
• Specialist Operations and other Operational Command Units – to build on and expand on the initial work done some time ago on the staff profiles of Operational Command Units. Perhaps to be tackled by a rolling programme of mini-scrutinies into particular Operational Command Units.
• Borough Operational Command Units – race and diversity issues
• Work of particular MPS functions – e.g. forensic services to look at diversity aspects of DNA in the light of Operation Minstead.
• Crimes against children – possible joint working with NSPCC to start in the autumn of 2005. Possible joint working with Planning Performance and Review Committee.
• Procurement – possibly in year 3.
• Age discrimination – work will be needed to ensure that arrangements are made to meet the forthcoming statutory obligations from December 2006. This will need to begin when the regulatory obligations are known

The exact timeline allocation could be usefully addressed at later agenda setting meetings

7. Items for the work programme which address, in a specific way, the diversity strands of sexual orientation, religion or belief and age will be identified following a review of the work of the MPA and MPS in these areas . This review will be submitted to the Board in the new year.

8. The work programme will, of course, be subject to the consideration of urgent emerging issues. With that proviso, the subject areas above are recommended to the Board to be the basis of its work programme for this year and the following two years. The exact allocation to agenda, taking on-board the timing recommendations of the meeting of 8 October 2004, to be decided at future agenda setting meetings.

Co-opted members

9. The last meeting of the Board agreed to the co-option, for a further term, of Lee Jasper, Member of the Mayor’s Advisory Cabinet with the Race Relations portfolio. The meeting took the view that it would be prudent to appoint further co-optees to meet the needs of future pieces of work so that particular and appropriate expertise could be brought to the Board. This approach is recommended to the Board.

Terms of reference

10. In the course of the meeting, the Terms of Reference of the Board were considered. It was decided that it would be appropriate to review them to facilitate the better working of the Board. The existing Terms of Reference needed some clarification and the removal of items that were time-specific. The suggested revised Terms of Reference, included at Appendix 1, are recommended to the Board. If accepted, or after any further amendments the Board may feel appropriate, the revised terms of Reference would be referred to the full Authority for ratification. The existing terms of reference are also included at Appendix 1.

C. Race and equality impact

11. The Terms of Reference of the Equal Opportunity and Diversity Board, current and proposed, clearly set out the role of the Board to have a positive impact on equalities issues throughout the Metropolitan Police Authority and the Metropolitan Police Service. This positive impact will have a beneficial effect for the diverse communities of London.

D. Financial implications

12. All costs involved will be met from within existing and future equalities budgets.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Doug Lewins

For more information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

Appendix 1: Suggested revised terms of reference - Equal Opportunities and Diversity Board

1. To lead on the scrutiny of all issues relating to equal opportunities and the six equality strands within the MPA and the MPS. This includes: age, disability, gender, race, religion or belief and sexual orientation.
2. To ensure that the MPA meets its statutory responsibilities under all relevant anti-discrimination legislation; and to monitor the MPS’s response to this legislation.
3. To monitor the implementation of the MPA’s race equality action plan and corporate equality plan.
4. To approve the MPA’s annual equal opportunities and diversity work programme.
5. To consider and advise on the equalities and diversity implications of major policy proposals and initiatives.
6. To keep under review the Authority’s equal opportunities statement and strategies which put this statement into practice
7. To review and interrogate MPS performance data on diversity issues in relation to both service delivery and employment practice, including trends and performance against policing plan objectives
8. To develop performance indicators and target setting in areas of diversity issues.
9. To co-ordinate the scrutiny of action being taken on issues arising from the recommendations in final reports of relevant scrutinies and official inquiries.
10. To advise other MPA committees on equalities and diversity issues of relevance to their responsibilities
11. To propose to the Co-ordination & Policing Committee at least one review of the MPS diversity strategy or other relevant issues annually, depending on the staffing resources available. These reviews could range from a formal scrutiny to one or more themed meeting on a particular subject
12. To monitor and review the MPA and MPS annual budget and equalities submissions to monitor spend against performance and to respond to the budget requirements of the Mayor’s Office.

Equal opportunities and diversity board – existing terms of reference

1. To lead on all issues relating to equal opportunities and diversity within the MPA and the MPS. This includes:
2. To ensure that the MPA meets its statutory responsibilities under all relevant anti-discrimination legislation; and to monitor the MPS’s response to this legislation.
3. To monitor the implementation of the MPA’s race equality action plan.
4. To approve the MPA’s annual equal opportunities and diversity work programme.
5. To consider and advise on the equalities and diversity implications of major policy proposals and initiatives.
6. To keep under review the Authority’s equal opportunities statement and strategies which put this statement into practice
7. To review and interrogate MPS performance data on diversity issues, including trends and performance against policing plan objectives, particularly with regard to:
   • stop and search data
   • hate crimes (race, homophobic, rape, domestic violence, child abuse)
   • street crimes (diversity issues)
   • possession of knives/weapons (diversity issues)
   • CRR training
   • other areas of performance which have a specific impact on diversity issues
8. To propose the development of performance indicators and target setting in areas of diversity issues.
9. To consider areas of diversity where new or improved performance monitoring is required.
10. To co-ordinate action on issues arising from the Lawrence Report
11. To advise other MPA committees on equalities and diversity issues of relevance to their responsibilities
12. To propose to the Co-ordination & Policing Committee at least one review of the MPS diversity strategy or other relevant issues annually, depending on the staffing resources available. These reviews could range from a formal scrutiny to one or more themed meeting on a particular subject
13. To monitor and review the MPA and MPS annual diversity budgets to ensure efficiency of spend against performance and to respond to the budget requirements of the Mayor’s Office.

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