Equality Impact Assessment - The One Council Strategic Business function

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Function being assessed:

1.The One Council Strategic Business function. This is the new corporate team being recommended in line with the One Council Operating model.

Is this a new function or a review of an existing function?

1.This is a review of a new function being created. This will be a corporate function which will deal with strategic business delivery across all directorates incorporating Strategic Planning and Performance Management, Commissioning and Procurement, Community Engagement and Governance and Assurance functions. The service team will deliver the functions that have been defined within the to-be design recommendations.

What are the aims/purposes of the function?

1. An integrated approach to managing resources (finance and people);
2. Fostering cross-team project working and collaboration across services, professional areas and partner organisations;
3. Cost effective and efficient provision of services;
4. Flexible to adapt to changing demands and priorities;
5. Appropriate use of new technology to streamline processes and avoid duplication;
6. Job roles that provide variety and challenge; and
7. “Teams with expertise” rather than “individuals with specialism”.

Is the function designed to meet specific needs such as the needs of minority ethnic groups, older people, disabled people etc?

1. The recommended strategic business model includes strategic planning and community engagement. Community engagement will include engaging with minority groups and identifying needs to feed into the strategic planning of services across the authority.
2. The business model also includes an equalities advice function and the new model enables this function to be supported and delivered corporately rather than to specific service areas.

What information has been gathered on this function? (Indicate the type of information gathered e.g. statistics, consultation, other monitoring information)? Attach a summary or refer to where the evidence can be found.

1.“As-Is” review was undertaken for the functions in scope. The aim of the “As-Is” was to  gather service information that informed and enabled us to understand the customer journeys, volume and type of work, identify issues and levels of skills required for the roles. The purpose of the reviews was to inform the recommendations and discussions with the project team in line with the project objectives. The “As-Is” output was shared with the service teams, and has been published on the Intranet (One Council OCP 7 project pages).

Does your analysis of the information show different outcomes for different groups (higher or lower uptake/failure to access/receive a poorer or inferior service)? If yes, indicate which groups and which aspects of the policy or function contribute to inequality?

1. There are specific services which have a higher proportion of take-up or outcomes for different customer groups. Some examples are within Planning and Transportation, there is a specific function to provide building accessibility advice; the equalities and community engagement function within community services specifically targets marginalised groups where health inequalities may be present (e.g. homeless, sensory impaired, through socio economic deprivation etc.); the Safer Kingston Partnership works with agencies and groups across the community on a number of agendas (including the transient population);  the equalities and access function within community services advises on minority and marginalised groups; the partnership and workforce development function within Children’s Services is the directorate lead on equalities and risk management and lead in monitoring risk as part of Every Child Matters.; Prevention & Integration, Integrated Disabled Children Service and Integrated Youth Service within Children’s Services deliver services to specific groups of children within the borough.
2. Currently the provision of service access for all customer groups is adequate and the relevant facilities exist in each customer access area to ensure that the defined standards are met.

Are these differences justified (e.g. are there legislative or other constraints)? If they are, explain in what way.

1. The differences are on account of resident profile and the specific customer groups that a certain service may be targeted towards.
2. The purpose of the recommendations is to ensure that the level of access currently offered to such user groups is not affected.

What action needs to be taken as a result of this Equality Impact Assessment to address any detrimental impacts or meet previously unidentified need? Include here any reasonable adjustments for access by disabled people. Include dates by which action will be taken. Attach an action plan if necessary.

1.As the recommendations for to-be design are to develop a team made up of generic pool of staff with multi-service knowledge (where practically possible), there is a need to ensure that the access provision for such customer groups meets (and exceeds) the required standards. This would involve ensuring, at the time of implementation, that the provision to deal with such customer groups is available and accessible across the service..

When will you evaluate the impact of action taken? Give review dates.

1. It is recommended that an assessment should be carried out within the first few months of implementation in order to ensure that the required access standards for all customer groups are being met.
2. It is expected that the Head of Strategic Business will ultimately own the action plan.

Assessment completed by:

Agilisys BPRE Team

July 15, 2010

Note on Customer Services Standards Assessment

The Customer Services Standards Assessment has not been carried out for the One Council Strategic Business function as this is a new team being formed based on the recommendations. The staff and services that will eventually form this team currently exist within different service areas of the Council. These service areas have already been covered as part of the Customer Services Assessment Gap analysis undertaken for each of the BPRE service areas – Environment, Housing, Children’s Services and Cultural Services & Lifelong Learning (Adult Services within Community Services currently undergoing a BPRE review).

Please refer to those documents in order to understand the gaps related to the Customer service standards accreditation in order to understand the impact on this new Strategic Business team.