Work & progress

Work undertaken so far has included:

Diagnostic work has been undertaken with all five Councils and performance assessed against the Equality Standard for Local Government. Diagnostic work took the form of consideration of key strategies, policies and plans in each authority and focus group/interviews with key members of staff. The diagnostic reports are below:

Each authority was assessed against Level 2 of Equality Standard for Local Government and actions necessary to consolidate each authority at this level were identified and reported back. The templates can be accessed via the Background page.

Diagnostic work identified the following key areas of common weakness and a need for capacity building support

  • Equality Impact Assessments – There was seen to be a lack of expertise across authorities
  • Consultation – It was seen that whilst authorities did carry out consultation they were not effectively sharing information, there was a risk of over consultation of some groups and that expertise was limited in consultation methods to suit the needs and requirements of different groups
  • Procurement – In common with other authorities, Wiltshire authorities were seen to be in need of support around equalities in procurement to ensure legal requirements were being met
  • Good Practice- there was a need identified to share good practice across authorities

Following on from this Equality Impact Assessment Training Sessions have been developed. Links to the course materials and attendees from the sessions are below:

Other workshops are being planned around the issues identified above.