Agenda and minutes

[The Chair to welcome everyone to the meeting.]

The Chair welcomed the Panel to the meeting. 

[The Chair will explain how the meeting will proceed, how questions are to be asked and any matters of meeting etiquette.]

The meeting procedures were explained to the Panel. 

There were no apologies for absence. 

There were no declarations of interest.

[To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as a correct record]

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 8 June 2023 be approved as a correct record. 

[Jin Takhar, Head of Equality Diversity & Inclusion to lead presentation with colleagues]

The Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion explained to meet the requirements of the law, they were present to inform the Panel on the status of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Key Performance Indicators (KPI).

The Director of Adult Social Care began her presentation (a copy of which is attached to the signed minutes) to give an overview of Adult Social Care EDI KPIs. She said that they had made progress on where they were previously at, but she recognised they still had a long way to go. She said they had made progress with the protected characteristics of Age, Sex and Disability. Some of the data captured was newly captured data and therefore, not all could be displayed with a relative comparison to capture progress. Bespoke training was commissioned to allow the workforce to have sensitive conversations relating to the protected characteristics with patients, however, this had not achieved the desired outcomes. This is something that would need to be focused on and worked out as next steps.

The Director of Adult Social Care said “Direct Payments” were seen as a good thing in Adult Social Care, as it showed the independence of the person. However, there was a significantly higher portion of Black and Asian people who utilised direct payments, rather than commissioned services. Research was to be carried out to discover if this was down to any cultural insensitivities by those services and to allow alterations to service provision to be more inclusive of Black and Asian groups. Work would need to be done to ensure Black and Asian people were aware of the mental health services available in the community.

The Vice-Chair sought clarification on a quote within the presentation document which stated: “14.3% of adults were of Black, Black British, Caribbean or African ethnicity, with 15.2% detained being of the same ethnic origin.”

The Director of Adult Social Care said it meant 15.2% of the whole 14.3% were of a specific and same ethnic origin.  The Chair said it needed to be noted that quotes written in this way were not clear enough and needed to be written with better clarity.

The Chair referred to page 18 of the presentation which explained that the bespoke training had not achieved the desired outcomes. He was concerned experts were hired to train staff on this specific issue and it did not work. He wanted to understand why this was the case and have further information.

The Director of Adult Social Care explained that although the training was for all protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010, they found they were unable to get people to declare their sexuality and therefore saw this as a failure which would need to be addressed in a different way. This meant that they were not getting data still on sexuality and would need to do a lesson’s learned approach as to why the training did not achieve the aims.

The Chair agreed it would be an on-going process to attempt  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

[Jin Takhar, Head of Equality Diversity & Inclusion, to present to the Panel]

The Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion opened the presentation (a copy of which is attached to the signed minutes) with the purpose of updating the Panel on the progress made against the Race at Work Charter requirements.  The Business in the Community (BITC) Race at Worker Charter was launched in partnership with the Government in 2018. There were 7 “calls for action” as a part of this, and The Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion spoke about progress on these.

The Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion stated that the Council had appointed an Executive Sponsor for Race, Religion and Belief; they chose the Chief Operating Officer for the role. Since then, Executive Sponsors had been appointed from each equality forum.  She said it had made a difference and that employees felt more empowered to speak up about concerns or issues. She said there were over 60 members of senior staff who were mentors for 75 mentees, with 25 mentees being promoted. This was down to engagement with Senior Executive Board Sponsors. For the action, “Capturing Ethnicity Data and Progress”, the Council had achieved this by capturing the data and presenting it to the Panel. The Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion reported increases in Ethnic Minority Background representation in the workforce. Black and Asian members of the workforce at paygrades 9 to 17 had doubled in numbers, totally at 56 members from Ethnic Minority Backgrounds. 42.1% of apprentices were from Ethnic Minority Backgrounds across 2021-2022.  Progress on committing at board level to zero-tolerance of harassment and bullying was the creation of clear policy on this matter, as well as the creation of safe spaces and ways to speak up, including through independent third-party organisation to get advice and support. Figures for 2021 to 2022 grievances totalled less than 10 cases.

The Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion remarked that to work towards the call for action - “Supporting Equality in the workplace is the responsibility of all leaders and managers”; actions taken included EDI being a standing item on all team meetings, each directorate had an equality plan to show the steps the Council was taking to tackle service inequality, as well as proactive messaging from Senior Executive staff members. To take actions that support ethnic minority career progression the Council offered Aspire to management training, which all colleagues could apply for, wrap around support for individuals who have been unsuccessful in an interview, opportunity to get mentorship from senior colleagues, as well as broader skills improvement opportunities.

The Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion commented that to support race allies in the workplace the Council had a One City Allyship Approach in which the Council encouraged uptake to the role with colleagues. To support ethnical diverse-led enterprise owners in supply chains, the Council had worked with procurement teams to offer options where these businesses could be considered.  They had also worked with groups such as the Black Business Network and Asian Business Network to help develop training  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

[Alison Shannon, Chief Accountant, to present a For Information Only item]

The Chief Accountant opened the presentation (a copy of which is attached to the signed minutes) on treasury management. The Council set and reported on prudential and treasury management indicators, with quarterly updates for monitoring purposes. Examples were provided in the appendices. The Council had not taken on any new borrowing since March 2019.  The Council could only borrow for capital purposes and funding was done through the General Fund and the Housing & Revenues Account. Current forecasting confirmed no new borrowing would be required for the financial year 2023 – 2024.

A Panel Member was pleased with the report but stated he was concerned about the debt the Council still had, whilst recognising efforts had been made to pay off some of the debt. He stated residents paid a lot for their Council tax and wanted them to have quality services.

The Cabinet Member forResources stated that the Council monitored its spending cautiously and had made efforts to pay off the borrowing. She said the reasons for the borrowing were the administrations ambitious plans for the City and to contribute to the City’s economic development. She stated this was done due to a lack of financial strategy and support from the National Government since 2010. She stated that the definitions were different, that “borrowing” was not the same as ”debt”. She said that borrowing was to fund capital projects and done in accordance with programs.

A Panel Member asked how the Council protected itself from the volatility of the markets, such as rises in interest rates.

The Chief Accountant said all borrowing was based upon fixed term agreements and was informed by external advisors.  She said they had benefitted from interest rates going up. Investments were short term and on double A rated money markets. Treasury Management always set informed budget plans which considered possible future projections.

The Cabinet Member for Resources stated that the Reserves were earmarked for any issues to cover.