This article first appeared in The Times on 3 April 2009
Are all councils equal – or could some be more equal than others?
The Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA), a body that works to improve local government, plans to get councils to compete against one another to find who is the best at promoting equality among its residents. A competition called Peer Challenge will send senior council officers in to other councils to assess how well they do at ensuring all social groups in their area have equal chances in life. It is part of the Equality Framework, a document giving guidance on equality that has just been launched after extensive consultation with local councils, and which the IDeA hopes will redefine how councils view equality in their areas.
Traditionally, the focus on councils dealing with issues of equality and diversity has been on preventing discrimination on the grounds of gender, race or disability, and stopping ethnic minorities, disabled or older people from being marginalised, says Angela Mason, the national adviser for equality and diversity at the IDeA. But with the Equalities Bill going through Parliament, local government needs to change its approach, she believes.
She said: “There are lots of other vulnerable groups who are not covered by antidiscrimination law but who are actually doing pretty badly – the educational achievement of white working class boys, for example, or the progress on any measure of children in the care system.
“We are trying to say to councils, ‘Look widely at the opportunity of all the people in your community and see who’s not doing so well’.”
The framework, which replaces the former Equality Standard for Local Government, which was introduced in 2000, is designed to be a simple set of guidelines that will help councils to understand where they can improve. If equality law does change, it will probably promote a broader definition of equality, and with it a broader public duty for councils to promote equality in addition to the duties that already exist for race, disability and gender.
Those local authorities with the fullest understanding of their community make-up score highest on equality, Ms Mason says. But knowing the make-up of an area in detail (“equality mapping”) requires substantial data and evidence – meaning time and money. “A lot of councils haven’t invested enough in that area,” Ms Mason said.
As well as their existing responsibilities for education, local authorities will be given more responsibility for careers and skills, she said.
Ms Mason believes that local government has made more progress than other parts of the public sector, but says that there is still a “very long way to go”.
For some councils the problem is with leaders who do not see equality as a priority, while others do not have proper engagement or consultation methods worked out with their communities, she says.
The relatively nondiverse make-up of council staff means that most fail to reflect their communities. Women account for 20 per cent of council chief executives and a “tiny proportion” come from black and minority ethnic backgrounds. “I’d say that’s the biggest thing they still have to get right,” she said.
