Wolverhampton Equality and Diversity Forum: Evaluation Report

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1 Wolverhampton Equality and Diversity Forum: Evaluation Report Polly Goodwin and Ruth Wilson, Equalities in Education, October 204

2 CONTENTS Page Part : Introduction 2. About the Forum 2.2 Policy context 3.3 Research methodology 4 Part 2: Findings 6 2. Activities of the Forum Participant organisations experience of the Forum Capacity building 2.4 Sharing of learning Change resulting from the work of the Forum 8 Part 3: Recommendations and ways forward 2 3. Joint work on specific cross-cutting issues Fostering good relations Relationship with the statutory sector Representation on the Forum Capacity building Funding Planning and prioritising List of next steps 28 Appendix: List of organisations and protected characteristics 29

3 2 Part : Context. About the Forum The Wolverhampton Equality and Diversity Forum (EDF) was established in 200 with the aim of: promoting dialogue and understanding between organisations and individuals representing local people who share protected characteristics covered by the Public Sector Equality Duty (age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation) introduced by The Equality Act 200 ensuring that debate around policy and service provision in Wolverhampton takes into account the cross-cutting nature of equality issues. Set up by Wolverhampton Network Consortium (WNC), the Forum grew out of earlier cross cutting work funded by the Working Neighbourhoods Fund which supported under-represented groups. During the last year of this funding an Equality and Diversity worker was appointed to work with these groups, and she set up what was originally called the Communities of Interest group, which became the EDF. The EDF s constitution was adopted at a meeting of the Forum in June 20. WNC funded the Forum initially, during which time it: set up micro task and finish groups on specific issues, e.g. removing barriers to support the Roma community in applying for housing benefit delivered a training the trainer package on equality and diversity for individuals attending the Forum carried out cross-cutting work focusing on hate crime funded under the Breaking the Cycle project Originally the EDF was attended by voluntary and community organisations (VCOs) only; the direct involvement of the statutory sector came later. Originally it was made up of voluntary sector organisations then quite soon it became apparent we needed the statutory sector on board or else we weren t actually going to make any differences One of the functions of WNC was to support small voluntary and community organisations to establish themselves and grow, and an example of this was Wolverhampton LGBT Network, which received support from WNC to bid for funding to employ a General Manager, who in turn has helped to build up the organisation and raise its profile in the City. In July 203, Wolverhampton City Council awarded the EDF 33,772 to fund a citywide equalities project over a twelve month period. The project comprised two elements: The establishment of an Equality Matters Panel to be the focal point and doing arm of the wider EDF

4 3 Focused capacity building work and training by the EDF with individual micro networks and their members, to enable marginalised communities to participate in consultation and decision-making, and become active citizens A requirement of the funding was external evaluation, and this report is the outcome of that process. In October 203, WNC closed down. At this point there was EDF at risk of closure, but there was a lot of commitment among its member organisations to keeping it going, particularly as they had recently been awarded the funding from the City Council. They came to the decision that they would try to find a way to carry it forward by appointing one of the member organisations to undertake the facilitation of the Forum. Expressions of interest were asked for, and two member organisations were interviewed with a view to taking over the administration of the Council-funded equality project in the short term, and also the facilitation of the EDF for the foreseeable future. LGBT Wolverhampton was selected to fulfil this function and took over the role of servicing the Forum in December 203. Currently the Forum has 33 member voluntary and community organisations (see Appendix for a full list and the protected characteristics they represent). Equality officers from the Local Authority attend the Forum regularly and in addition the following statutory bodies have also been represented at least once at EDF meetings: National Health Service, Police, Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals, Wolverhampton City Council (other than the equality and diversity team) and Wolverhampton Homes..2 Policy context The Equality Act 200 introduced the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) which places on all public bodies a general duty in all their functions to have due regard to the need to: Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Act Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not

5 All three elements of the General Duty apply to the eight protected characteristics of age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. The first element, the requirement to eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation, also applies to marriage and civil partnership. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) summarises the purpose of the PSED as follows: The broad purpose of the equality duty is to integrate consideration of equality and good relations into the day-to-day business of public authorities The general equality duty therefore requires organisations to consider how they could positively contribute to the advancement of equality and good relations. It requires equality considerations to be reflected into the design of policies and the delivery of services, including internal policies, and for these issues to be kept under review. (See EHRC website) The General Duty of the PSED came into force on 5 April 20. Wolverhampton EDF had been established the previous year, and its mission statement is very much in line with the main thrusts of the PSED: 4 The EDF aims to bring together Communities of Interest and other interested parties and decision-makers, relevant invited people, and Compact members to challenge inequality and discrimination in our City, to work for more equitable service provision, to strengthen good relations between people and to promote human rights. EDF mission statement Locally, Wolverhampton City Council priorities for 205 include a commitment to identifying ways of mainstreaming, promoting and advancing best equalities practice (p22). The Council s equalities priorities include: All services: Take practical steps to ensure services are accessible and appropriate for all communities Commissioning: All contracts include a requirement to deliver an effective and appropriate service fairly and equitably Engagement: Increase opportunities and strengthen mechanisms for under-represented communities / groups to be involved in developing policies and making decisions that affect them Impact: Assess the equality implications of all of our services, functions, policies and procedures 7 September 204, Wolverhampton City Council Leader s City Address.

6 5.3 Research methodology The Review of Wolverhampton Equality and Diversity Forum took place during August to October 204. The Forum works within a very limited budget and therefore the budget for the evaluation was also limited. The methodology was designed to allow as many members of the equality and diversity forum as possible to engage in the evaluation whilst remaining affordable for the Forum. The information contained in this evaluation report presents the findings from the following activity: Online survey An online survey, open to all s, was distributed by , which also told people about how they could complete the survey over the phone with one of the research team should they prefer to do so. Organisations could complete more than one survey should they chose to do so. The survey asked organisations to reflect on the following: Their experience of the Forum, including meetings and events organised by the Forum Whether engagement with the Forum has developed personal and organisational capacity How organisations have been able to cascade and share the learning within their own organisation and through their networks What has changed as a result - both for the organisations involved, the statutory agencies and the wider community 8 people from 5 different organisations completed the survey - 6 from voluntary and community organisations (VCOs) who are members of the Forum and two from statutory organisations. The only organisation to complete more than one survey return was the LGBT network, from which three people completed surveys. Statutory sector respondents were not asked about which groups or groups of people their organisations supported, as they are required to be open to all sections of the community. Voluntary organisations responding to the survey told us that they worked with or supported the following groups of people: 6 returns identified that their groups were open to anyone from the general population. 4 returns were from groups that worked with predominately with people from one protected characteristic. 6 returns were from groups that work with, or support, people from more than one protected characteristic. Those completing the online survey that identified their group represented people from one or more protected characteristics were asked about the groups they represent at the forum. The main characteristics represented at the EDF (from the online survey returns) are gender, race, age, gender reassignment and sexual orientation. However those completing the online survey identified that they also represent religion and belief and disability.

7 6 Focus groups Two focus groups were held, on the afternoon and evening of the same day, and were attended both by people from voluntary organisations and from the Local Authority. Focus group participants were asked about: What worked well and which activities and approaches that the EDF should continue with, or do more of Where changes or improvements could be made to the Forum What the EDF should do in the future Semi-structured interviews The evaluation team conducted two face to face interviews and three phone interviews with people from health, the local authority and the voluntary and community sector, including people involved in facilitating the Forum. Part 2: Findings 2. Activities of the Forum During the period that is the focus of this evaluation, activities of the Forum were concentrated largely on achieving the outcomes of the Equality Matters Project, for which the EDF received the funding from the Local Authority. These were 2 : Establish an Equality Matters Panel to be a focal point and doing arm of the EDF Meetings to be chaired by representatives from member organisations from among themselves on a rolling programme Support and develop the capacity of community representatives, particularly from marginalised communities, to enable them to participate in the Equality Matters Panel Ensure there is representation from all the 9 protected characteristics on the EDF so that all perspectives are fed into the Equality Matters Panel Ensure the EDF adopts an inclusive approach in the development and implementation of its work programme Assist new groups and networks to develop skills, good practice and confidence by mentoring them and sharing skills across the membership of the EDF Support delivery of the equalities agenda in Wolverhampton by working with the Council s Equalities Champion and improving the relationship between the EDF and the City Council Two Equality Matters panels were set up, each with five members, to focus on specific areas of work with different sections of the City Council, one to work to improve City Direct services and the other to feed into the review of the Children and Young People s Plan. The EDF meetings, which had previously been chaired by the representative from WNC, elected chairs from the membership on a rolling programme. This suggests that the Forum has reached the stage where 2 This list is taken from the Grant Continuation Confirmation Letter from the Community Initiatives Team, 7/2/204

8 they no longer require a neutral chair, because people attending meetings are able to work cooperatively and trust members from other groups to chair the meetings fairly. Five EDF meetings were held during this period. The main activities the EDF carried out in support of these outcomes were: Mystery shop of City Direct services involving people from Albanian, Romanian and Roma communities Setting up of Equality Matters panel to review Children and Young People s Plan Equality and diversity train the trainer training delivered to representatives from member organisations Training for micro networks on: o Capacity building for women from minority ethnic communities o Increasing confidence o Life skills, safeguarding and accessing services for minority groups Working group set up to look at identifying barriers to internet-based resources and address issues around restricted access to services relating to sexuality, gender identity and domestic violence Holding an Equality and Diversity Conference which took place in June 204 Developing a website for EDF for wider access to information, support and resources Now that the funding for the Equality Matters project has been spent the EDF has no current source of income. The Forum has capital of about 50 because some workshop facilitators who had been paid for the Conference donated some of their fee to the EDF. Costs are kept low, with room hire at 25 for the meetings, when free meeting rooms cannot be sourced. Wolverhampton LGBT Network contributes their worker s time to facilitate the group, and her post is now funded until February 205. If the LGBT Network were unable to secure funding for this post at that point the EDF would need to repeat the process of asking for expressions of interest and selecting another organisation to facilitate the group Participant organisations experience of the Forum Across survey respondents, focus group attendees and interviewees, people valued their contact with the Forum. When asked to sum up their perceptions of the EDF, participants in the focus group used very positive language, indicating that members of the group work well as a team and that the Forum helps to focus on issues that the different organisations involved have in common. Participants from the voluntary sector showed a strong commitment to keeping the Forum going, and were also aware that there were areas that need further development. Participants from the statutory sector valued the Forum for the opportunity it provides for consultation and engagement. Don t let it die It s an important network with committed members, which is still developing in spite of difficult circumstances Survey response

9 8 Of those people who responded to the survey, nine organisations from across the statutory and voluntary sector regularly attend EDF meetings and three attend when they can. Eight people responding to the survey had attended the conference. Networking When asked about their experiences of the Forum, people identified that networking opportunities and information sharing were important for them both personally and organisationally. Members valued the opportunity to: Share good practice, knowledge and information, for example about events, contacts or funding opportunities Understand what other organisations are doing and when appropriate link in with other pieces of work Ask each other s advice and support each other Discuss issues that affect a range of different groups, e.g. the impact of changes to the benefit system is currently a big issues for a number of member organisations Speak with one voice on particular issues, e.g. recently the EDF wrote a letter to the Council challenging the fairness of cuts to services It s the opportunity to understand what others are doing, what strands of work are going on, opportunity to link with those areas of work potentially, to share good practice, to share knowledge and information those things that good networks do. Facilitation of the Forum Survey respondents, interviewees and participants in the focus groups were positive about the work undertaken by Wolverhampton LGBT Network in facilitating the Forum. Several people took the opportunity to place their thanks to the Network and its General Manager on record. Thanks to the LGBT Network for taking on the co-ordination. A good and important job well done Survey response Impact on the statutory sector One of the important aspects of the Equality and Diversity Forum is its relationship with the statutory sector. Member organisations see it as an opportunity to have an impact on the statutory sector in terms of raising awareness of equality and diversity issues in service provision

10 and building consideration of equalities into policy and decision making. Statutory bodies see it as an opportunity to engage with a range people from under-represented groups at the same time. This is the first time that Wolverhampton has had a group with representation from all protected characteristics, and neither the researchers nor the people contributing to this evaluation who work or have worked in other local authorities have come across similar groups elsewhere. Having a Forum representing the full range of protected characteristics could clearly be useful for statutory bodies in terms of being a cost effective means of consultation, but it also potentially raises the level of the discussion in terms of people having an opportunity to consider issues from a number of different perspectives and in more depth. You get that cross-fertilisation of ideas that you wouldn t get if you were consulting with them individually. So it s a unit cost thing and it s also a cross fertilisation of ideas that means that your responses and your policies, if you can take the points on board they are much more nuanced solutions you get to. Statutory sector representative 9 The Forum s strength is that there is no hierarchy of protected groups. The ethos and philosophy of the group is that all members work together. Statutory sector representative One point brought up by a survey respondent was that in order for the Forum to increase its effectiveness as a voice for equality and diversity in the City it needs to strengthen its credibility and presence, not just with the voluntary and community sector but also with the statutory and private sectors. This was echoed by one of the statutory sector representatives who commented that it is important that the useful debates and discussion that takes place at meetings is translated into action and that one step towards this would be to formalise the ways in which there is communication between the EDF and, for example, the Council s Equality Advisory Group. The majority view of how the relationship between the Forum and the statutory sector should operate ideally was that: It should be possible for the Forum to continue with good assertive scrutiny of public sector services It should act as scrutineer and critical friend on equality and diversity matters in a practical and supportive way It could offer real and tangible benefits to public bodies Representation from different protected characteristics For the Forum to be as effective as possible it is important that all protected characteristics are represented. Focus group participants and interviewees reported that membership of the forum is still wide and there is a core group of very committed members who are regular attenders.

11 The breadth of attendance at meetings, however, has decreased somewhat. It was felt that one of the main reasons for this was capacity issues, in that smaller organisations, and those that have lost funding recently, have fewer resources and need to prioritise their organisations core business. This means that investing time in networks like EDF by necessity become a lower priority. There are two areas where it would be particularly useful to increase representation. The first is Gypsy Roma Traveller (GRT) and Eastern European communities, although currently one EDF member does work with these groups and brings their issues and concerns to the EDF. The other is disability groups. One disability network used to send a representative but they have lost funding and no longer have a paid worker. There was general consensus that it would be beneficial to publicise the EDF more widely and target organisations linked to protected characteristics that are currently less well represented in the Forum. 0 I think there s far more organisations out there who could be part of it, and I think it s about promoting the equality and diversity forum Areas for development It is clearly important, both to member organisations and to statutory sector representatives, that the EDF should ensure that it is not perceived just as a talking shop, but as an organisation that delivers tangible benefits in terms of promoting equality and diversity across the City. Various themes emerged from the focus groups, interviews and survey in terms of areas for development for the Forum: Now that the Equality Matters funding has finished, this would be a good moment to review the position of the EDF and agree specific priorities for action The relationship between the Forum and the statutory bodies is crucial, and it is important to consider how this can work most effectively in the future In order to advance equalities across the City the EDF could make the case using a variety of different approaches: o The moral arguments for promoting equalities o The statutory case, particularly the Public Sector Equality Duty o The business case The Forum dissipates energy by trying to take on too many issues that energy needs to be channelled into specific areas Statutory sector The Forum doesn't explain how equality and diversity needs to be at the heart of an organisations business case...and if this is done properly it can save public money Statutory sector

12 2.3 Capacity building Joint activity One of the key features of the EDF has been the way that larger and more established organisations have supported smaller and newer groups and helped them to build capacity through networking and through joint activity. Networking at the meetings enables member organisations to share skills and information, for example opportunities to bid for funding. Between meetings, Wolverhampton LGBT Network consider that part of their role as facilitators of the Forum is to put people together who are in a position to help each other, when appropriate. As part of the survey we asked people which events and activities delivered through the EDF in which they have been involved. Chart summarises their responses: Chart : Engaging with Forum events and sharing the information Safeguarding training I took part in this Life skills training 3 2 Increasing confidence training 5 Already used this in own organisation Confidence and capacity building for women from 4 2 Will be using in own organisation in future Equality and Diversity Train the Trainer training I've shared the information in my organisation Mystery shop (for people new to the country) Equality Matters Panel: People new to the country accessing I've shared the information with other groups, networks and organisations 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 00% Based on 5 survey responses In the past support for small VCOs was very much part of WNC s brief. One key example of this was Wolverhampton LGBT Network, which existed in a small way before but without a high profile within the City. WNC helped them to build their own capacity and skills, and supported them to bid for funding for a paid worker. The organisation has established itself and has just successfully organised Wolverhampton's third annual Pride and are now in a position to support and build the capacity and skills of other organisations through their facilitation of the EDF. This is the model of support for small VCOs that the EDF is keen to continue.

13 2 WNC was able to do this because they had a paid equality and diversity officer who, as well as her work with the LGBT Network, gave a lot of attention to some of the newer communities in Wolverhampton, helping them to network together and also with people from the statutory sector. Another positive outcome of collective action by member organisations is that it can provide an opportunity for small groups to make their opinions or concerns heard by a wider audience. Ten organisations that responded to the survey felt that being part of the EDF has helped them have a stronger voice. Training opportunities As well as informal capacity building through small organisations working alongside larger more established ones, there has been support provided through formal training sessions. The most extensive training was the two day equality and diversity training the trainer course, which was attended by representatives from 28 organisations. Small organisations have also received: Safeguarding training Support with governance Confidence building training One of the requirements of the Equality Matters funding was that the chairing of EDF meetings should be conducted according to a rolling programme; this is another way in which skills of people attended are being developed. Changes within the Forum Perhaps the most important way in which the Forum has had an impact on individuals attending meetings and member organisations is through the informal training and awareness raising that has taken place as people have come to understand more about each other s issues and concerns. Individual members have learned about barriers faced by other individuals and groups who work with people who share a different protected characteristic. The EDF has opened my eyes I think my own awareness has been raised by coming to EDF meetings I m able to make more people aware through the Forum of the issues the children and young people I work with face This individual learning has allowed people attending meetings to recognise that a lot of the barriers faced by the people their organisation chiefly deals with are the same for other groups. This has led to a much more co-operative approach, as the different communities of interest have come together to look at equalities in the City in a more holistic way.

14 3 Largely the axes to grind have been put aside Statutory sector representative [The EDF is doing a] good job of beginning to create this us rather than nine separate communities of interest Statutory sector representative Getting them all sitting around a table to stop all the my need is greater than yours, and to realise that OK, you ve got barriers, they re probably different barriers to the women s network or they re probably different barriers to the BME network, but do you know what? If you look at them, a lot of the barriers are the same. This gradual change within the Forum has involved building trust between the different member organisations. An example given by one interviewee was that Women of Wolverhampton (WOW) are working on increasing involvement of women in politics, and when the LGBT Network cascades information about this work through to all their groups they are able to feel confident that if lesbian, bi or trans women get involved as a result WOW will be welcoming to them. Appointing LGBT Wolverhampton to facilitate the group is evidence that the EDF has moved forward in terms of working collaboratively rather than seeing themselves as in competition. This is important because it shows that the other groups have trust in a group which represents people who share a protected characteristic (in this case sexual orientation or gender identity) to run the Forum, whereas previously it was WNC which didn t represent a particular group. It shows that they ve got trust in one specific under-represented protected characteristic group. Whereas the reason [WNC] came on board, was because people would say I m not having them run the equality and diversity forum, or I m not having them LGBT Network have got a fabulous web of systems in place, they ve got a good reputation. So I think that s had a massive impact, that s an achievement in itself. This applies to other work carried out by the Forum, for example the co-ordinator from EYES now attends the Children s Trust Board as the representative from the EDF.

15 4 2.4 Sharing of learning In addition to individuals attending the Forum accessing formal training and informally learning more about the barriers faced by each group we asked people about how this learning is shared in the organisations and their networks. The knowledge and information shared through EDF has the potential to reach much larger numbers of individuals and community groups than just those on the Forum's mailing list. Firstly, as part of the survey we asked the VCOs who responded to tell us how many people were involved in running the organisation at both at board level and management committee level, the number of staff they had and the number of volunteers who were involved. The 5 different organisations 3 are in regular contact with: 5 people who are involved in the running of the organisation at board or management committee level 70 regular volunteers, although several groups also have volunteers that they didn't count in the survey that are brought together for specific tasks and events 55 full time staff 7 part time staff The majority of organisations involved in the focus groups, the semi structured interviews and those responding to the survey had been engaged with the Forum for 2 months or more. 3 organisations told us that they were in touch with over 9,500 beneficiaries. 4 organisations told us that they were in touch with at least 95 organisations through their organisational networks. Secondly, in terms of how learning is shared, as part of the online survey respondents were asked to think about whether being involved with the EDF had increased their own, their organisations or the organisations within their networks knowledge about protected characteristics. As you can see from Chart 2 below, people and organisations have gained more knowledge and understanding about protected characteristics, and there is evidence to show that this knowledge and information is being shared widely both within their organisations and across networks associated with their organisation. 3 Given that the Wolverhampton LGBT Forum completed 3 returns in presenting these figures only the information contained in the manager s survey has been included. 5 organisations all responded to the question on management committee numbers, 4 organisations responded to the question on volunteers, and staff.

16 5 Chart 2: Increased knowledge about protected characteristics Sexual orientation 5 7 Religion and belief Race Gender reassignment Organisations in our network Organisation Gender 3 7 Own Disability 6 7 Age Based on 2 survey responses The Forum has worked to strengthen, build on and extend members knowledge and skills around the following: Securing funding for their organisation. The law around equality and discrimination. What services are available locally and how people access these services. The support that is available for people who have experienced discrimination or harassment because they belong to a protected characteristic group. Sharing experiences both personal experiences (what it means on a day to day basis to face or experience discrimination) and organisational - we're doing this, we did this and this worked and so on. Reponses from 4 people are shown in Chart 3. Survey findings show that people are sharing information both within their own organisation and across their networks

17 6 Chart 3: Sharing learning and knowledge How to get funding for your group The law about equality and discrimination Services that are available locally and how to access them. Support that's available for people who experience hate crime or harassment Networks Organisation Own Other people's experiences Based on 4 survey responses Fewer people that responded to the survey attended the conference, and although 8 people said they had attended the conference 7 people completed the questions relating to the conference. The survey asked people about the workshops that they'd attended: Workshop Reviewing the WCC Children and Young People's Plan Accessing services from the internet for minority groups Exploring barriers to employment for disabled people Increasing economic activity through use of IT and social media Improving skills for writing funding bids Exploring social enterprise to increase services and income Working on joint funding bid for continuation of EDF Ensuring minority groups are aware of services provided by WCC Developing a website for EDF Sharing of learning This was attended by two survey respondents, one of whom had shared the information within their own organisation, and one of whom had shared the information with organisations in their network. Three survey respondents attended this workshop but no-one has yet shared the information internally or externally Three survey respondents attended this, one of whom said that they would be sharing this information internally in the future None of the respondents to the survey attended this workshop One survey respondent attended this workshop One survey respondent attended this workshop and will be sharing the information internally in the future One respondent attended this workshop Two survey respondents had attended this workshop and both had used and shared the information internally as well as sharing it with organisations in their networks The new EDF website was developed during the day as a collaborative piece of work:

18 Given the relatively small numbers of people attending each workshop further analysis has not been carried out. However we know from both focus group and interviews that people valued the conference as an opportunity to network, work together and share information. Attendees were generally positive about the conference, although some expressed disappointment about the numbers attending. 7 It was an enjoyable event with good information Survey response It was one of the positive ways of sharing information in more detail It was a vibrant event, but I don t think in terms of numbers it achieved what it set out to do Statutory sector Organisations have been able to cascade and share the learning within their own organisation and through their networks in different ways. Some of the larger organisations are made up of networks of smaller organisations with well-established communication routes. One EDF member described how in their organisation when a project comes along volunteers are asked to make up a working party. One of the conditions of attendance at the Equality and Diversity Training the Trainer training was that learning should be cascaded back into the attendees organisations. One focus group member described how increased knowledge can have a wider impact as they had taken information or learning from attendance at the Forum and implemented good practice in other work, not necessarily for the organisation they are representing on the Forum. Sharing of learning in statutory sector One model for sharing learning on equality and diversity issues in the statutory sector is for the EDF to be represented on particular strategic bodies. An example of this is the Children s Trust Board, which used to have used to a representative from a BME group, but now has n EDF representative, whose role is to consider the needs of all under-represented groups. Focus group participants cited this as an example of where a statutory body has moved on in terms of wanting to build equalities in at the policy and decision-making stage. Another model is for people from a range of statutory sector departments to come and do a workshop with s in order to consult them on equality and diversity issues relating to the people they represent. One recent example of this has been a workshop run by a Local Authority officer from City Direct services Another model is for public sector officers who attend the Forum meetings to report back through their internal channels of communication. With the City Council, equalities officers who attend the Forum report back any issues arising to the cross-party Equalities Advisory Group, which is chaired by the Equalities Champion who also often attends EDF meetings. One possibility suggested during the course of the evaluation was that it might be useful to formalise this arrangement, for example by the Equalities Advisory Group having a standing agenda item on this.

19 8 I think perhaps going forward it would be good to perhaps improve that communication channel between those two groups Statutory sector A public sector representative also mentioned that the EDF plays a role in terms of community cohesion issues; it helps Council to know if there s an impending hot spot. That s the advantage for us as a Council because it s part of what we re charged with Statutory sector representative 2.5 Change resulting from the work of the Forum Changes to member organisations The survey asked people to reflect on what had changed as a result of the work of the EDF and ten survey respondents identified that they had made changes within their own organisation as a direct result of being involved in the EDF. These included: Better equality Law understanding, improved Equality statement, policy cascaded. Train the Trainer equality training to all volunteers thereby increasing knowledge and improving our practice Survey respondent Implementation of equality and diversity briefing sessions Survey respondent Increased awareness of equalities across the protected characteristics improved our ability to equalities issues addressed Survey respondent Others in interviews and focus groups talked about their organisations (in both the public and voluntary sectors) being more receptive to the equalities agenda. A survey respondent from the public sector talked about improvements in commissioning as a result of heightened awareness of the equalities agenda. Another mentioned working inside their organisation to change the mind-set of our elders.

20 9 Changes to public services Survey respondents (6) and others in interviews and focus groups noted that changes had been made to statutory services. One person gave a list of specific improvements to the City Council s services and equalities practice: Website in different languages Hate crime and LGBT issues are now included in training for all frontline staff Equalities officers and the Equality Champion attend EDF meetings and take issues back to the Council The council and libraries adjusted their computer firewalls to ensure people could access support information for domestic violence and LGBT issues. This was a piece of work carried out by the EDF working with councillors. Other survey respondents also commented on: improved practice in Wolverhampton City Council s customer services better equality impact assessments Focus group participants also felt there had been an impact on the way Customer Services Direct think about equalities issues, and that they are more open to equality and diversity issues than they were previously as a result of work the Forum did with them about 8 months ago. Interviewees and participants in the focus groups, both public and voluntary sector, referred to the work done by the EDF with Direct Services, which included the mystery shopper initiative, and felt that this had had an impact. I think that they have had quite an input in terms of the way Customer Services Direct think about equalities issues Statutory sector s who were interviewed and who took place in the focus group had a lot of confidence in Wolverhampton Homes equality circle, which they are proud to have been involved in, and see as an excellent model of equality analysis that they would like to promote to other statutory bodies in the City. This model was shared at the Conference, and as a result the Children s Trust Board has agreed to adopt it. Wolverhampton Homes has a process that s the best that I ve seen for carrying out equality impact assessments. It s a tool that s very robust That s been done for about 2 ½ years now, and over that period what we ve noticed is officers are now getting it. Quite often now when the report comes all the answers are already in there. It s been considered and well thought out and it s almost now been embedded in the process.

21 20 Changes in the wider community Five survey respondents felt that changes had been made within the wider community because of the work of the EDF. These changes included: Reducing competition between groups and organisations working with and supporting people with protected characteristics Somewhat more indirectly one respondent felt that there had been changes to NHS commissioning as a result of sharing information from the Forum In the voluntary and community sector as a whole there is now more awareness of LGBT issues Wolverhampton Voluntary Sector Council and The Volunteer Centre now have appropriate monitoring forms that ask sexuality and gender identity questions. Other non LGBT groups are now more aware of LGBT issues and have a better understanding of the Equalities Act rights and responsibilities. It fosters community cohesion working side by side with other minority groups This greater awareness of LGBT issues is significant in terms of building community cohesion. One interviewee also linked this with work done in the past by the EDF and previously WNC with Eastern European and Roma communities, commenting that it was a similar process of raising awareness of the barriers faced by particular groups and getting the wider public to understand. It was about fighting to get people to understand Getting the wider public to understand that these were groups that had been identified as needing most support Two interviewees talked about the most recent Wolverhampton Pride, which took place in September, as exemplifying the improved relationship between different voluntary and community groups in the City. I do think it makes a huge difference to community cohesion, breaking down barriers between protected characteristics. For instance [the EDF representative] from the Inter Faith Network walked with [the general manager of LGBT Network] at Pride. I think that s huge.

22 2 s and local authority equality officers at Wolverhampton Pride Part 3: Recommendations and ways forward In the focus groups, interviews and survey we asked people for their views about what the priorities of the EDF should be in the future. Seven key themes emerged: Joint work on specific cross-cutting issues Fostering good relations Relationship with the statutory sector Representation on the Forum Capacity building Funding Planning and prioritising 3. Joint work on specific cross-cutting issues There was general agreement that work on cross-cutting issues, for example hate crime, had been successful in the past and was something people felt should continue. It is important to recognise that such work may cut across several protected characteristics but be more applicable to some than others, for example the work on hate crime applied more to LGBT, race and disability equality groups, whereas violence against women is treated as a separate issue. This means that it is important that a particular cross-cutting issue that doesn t include all groups is not the only work going on in the Forum at any one time. There were several mentions of inter-generational work, and a feeling that this may be an area for which it might be possible to attract funding. Several people commented that it would be

23 22 advantageous for different partners from the Forum to work together on funding bids for joint work, and that collaborative work is more likely to attract funding. A key area at the moment, both for organisations and statutory sector partners, is cuts to services due to austerity measures. From the point of view of the statutory sector this is an area in which they are keen to work with the Forum, to make sure that when services are cut particular vulnerable groups are not disadvantaged more than others. From the point of view of s they are also keen to make sure the adverse impact of cuts in services on the communities they represent is highlighted and kept to a minimum. Managing the financial times going forward is incredibly difficult. We ve got a huge task consulting with our community and making sure that the difficult decisions that we make are perhaps the least worst decisions, if that makes sense. Making sure we ve got our best equality analysis, evidence, we have information. That s one area I d like to see the EDF and the council working closer together. Statutory sector representative There s more need now to keep the Equality and Diversity Forum going than ever. Because every day the services are going, people are becoming more vulnerable. There s more barriers being created, there s fewer opportunities for people, there s less jobs, there s more discrimination. Everything s happening because the services are cut I think they re going to be needed more than ever. 3.2 Fostering good relations Another area which s felt would be productive was in supporting events organised by member organisations. As mentioned earlier several groups other than the LGBT Network had recently taken part in the Wolverhampton Pride march. An example that was mentioned of a future opportunity to bring all the groups together is the Youth Arts festival that EYES are organising in the City. There was general agreement that events such as these are opportunities to celebrate diversity, and that this kind of occasion has an impact on community cohesion. It was felt that food, music and arts events were a useful way of celebrating diversity in Wolverhampton and these activities bring people from different communities together. They were considered to be useful in helping to keep positive relationships between the member organisations of the EDF and also within the wider community. Other ideas suggested along these lines were: To run a public awareness-raising campaign in conjunction with community cohesion forum to celebrate the diversity within Wolverhampton

24 Raise the profile of the EDF by linking in with opportunities like Black History Month, Holocaust Memorial Day Link with the local football club for the Kick Racism out of Football week of action Using the EDF website to advertise work that each organisation is doing so all are aware of events they can contribute to Relationship with statutory sector We found a strong feeling that the relationship between the EDF and the statutory sector is absolutely key to the future success of the Forum, if it is to move beyond being a useful network for members and increase the impact it is having on promoting equalities across the City. There were a range of different views expressed about the nature of that relationship now, some of them contradictory, including: the EDF need to be less adversarial and more challenging the relationship is too cosy to be challenging statutory organisations value the input of the Forum and this is evident from attendance at meetings and follow up on issues discussed statutory organisations do not take the Forum seriously statutory organisations will only take action on equalities if they are made to, not if they are advised to the EDF needs to focus more on the business case for equality representatives from statutory sector who attend the group are sympathetic but there is less understanding at a higher level attending EDF meetings can be uncomfortable for representatives from statutory sector representatives from statutory sector take action on issues raised at the Forum when there is something they can do, it is not just a box ticking exercise for them There was a greater consensus about how the relationship should work going forward. People reported that City Direct has benefitted from working with the Forum and they felt a lot of other departments of statutory services would too. People felt that they would like to strengthen the partnership between the EDF and the local authority, and have more involvement with the health service and other public bodies. One person talked about an equal partnership with statutory sector representatives and those from the voluntary and community sector all considering themselves members of the EDF. The majority view, however, seemed to be that the Forum should be led by VCOs, supported by statutory sector representatives. This is the model described in the Forum s constitution: The EDF will be an active community and voluntary sector led forum which will bring together all communities of interest with Equality and Diversity representatives from the public sector to address inequality issues collectively. Two main approaches emerged from the survey responses, focus groups and interviews, about how the relationship with public bodies would be most productive. The first of these was the EDF

25 acting as a consultative body. This was particularly seen as important by the statutory sector in three ways: Consultation related to the financial crisis: For example each Directorate in the City Council is going through their own proposal of how to make savings. One person commented that the EDF should have a direct relationship with all parts of the Council, not necessarily always going through the equality representatives who attend the Forum. Consultation on new initiatives: For example the NHS is currently consulting on the Equality Delivery System (EDS) which is a voluntary tool at the moment and the consultation is about mandating this for both providers and commissioners, looking at both internal and external aspects. EDS may be applied to pathways for care which would make it much more meaningful for patients, for example those with learning disabilities or mental health service users. Scrutinising public bodies about equalities practice in specific areas: For example scrutinising NHS England and provider Trusts about Workforce Equality Standards for example how many Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) staff are employed and how BAME communities are reflected at Board level. 24 The second approach was around the role of the EDF in influencing and shaping an agenda in terms of promoting the building in of equalities at an early stage of policy development and decision making. If local authority officers do not have a means of communication with communities of interest they will not be aware of their issues and will just write No equalities implications when asked for an equality analysis. Focus group participants told us that they see the work being done with the Children s Trust as a positive step forward in this respect. One public sector representative commented that it was important that the EDF did not write people s Equality Impact Assessments for them, but let them write them and then review and challenge them afterwards. This could be seen as more of a training role for the Forum. I think what we do in the very near future will start to speak for itself Challenge key agencies, sectors to tell us what they plan to do to embed equalities within their own practice Survey respondent Both these approaches could also be presented in terms of the business case for equalities. For example: Making the wrong decision about where to cut services because the needs of particular communities had not been properly considered could leave a public body open to expensive legal action, e.g. the Southall Black Sisters case (R (Kaur and Shah) v London Borough of Ealing in 2008) Building in equalities at an early stage and carrying out thorough equality analysis of introducing a new policy or practise can also help to avoid costly mistakes, for example good equality practice in terms of commissioning decisions can potentially widen the field of possible organisations or individuals being considered and, as a result, give the commissioners more options.

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