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Equalities and Diversity 1 in Children’s Services (Bedfordshire) A position paper August 2008 Work in Equalities and Diversity (E&D) lacks consistency and co-ordination across Children’s Services, although there are some pockets of endeavour and excellence. This is mirrored at a corporate level. Although there is some goodwill, there is limited leadership commitment and insufficient officer capacity to carry out activities which would ensure consistent approaches, build expertise and embed good practice as mainstream. Expectations of Children’s Services Numerous pieces of legislation and guidance make it clear that Children's Services is expected to consider E&D within its own service delivery, and also to guide, monitor and where necessary challenge the schools within its boundaries. Internally within the County Council, Children's Services is expected to • Eliminate unlawful discrimination and the possibility of discrimination • actively promote equality of opportunity • promote good relations between people of different and diverse groups In addition, with regard to schools Children's Services is expected to • provide support and guidance on all E&D issues, in particular race equality but also gender and disability • ensure that racist incidents are recorded and properly dealt with • provide appropriate training for schools on E&D, in particular racism and racist incidents but also on disability • identify, set up and promote good practice on equality issues • collect data on racist incidents (statutory) and bullying incidents (recommended) and report on these. In addition to complying with general requirements, schools are individually expected to • ensure that diverse pupils and staff of the school are not discriminated against, and actively promote equality of opportunity • prepare written policies on race equality, gender equality and disability equality, either as separate pieces (equalities schemes) or in a combined Equality Plan, including an Action Plan. • develop a community cohesion plan • assess the impact of other policies on diverse groups, including staff and parents • make information about their policies freely available and to publish any monitoring • consider in their SEF (self assessment form for OFSTED) the progress made on their action plans • record and take action on all racist incidents and report this to the Local Authority • implement an Antibullying policy to ensure children are free from harassment The governors of the school have direct responsibility for ensuring that the school is complying with all requirements in respect of E&D. 1 Equalities and Diversity is generally considered to mean : Equalities – removing discrimination and ensuring equality of opportunity, removing the barriers that limit what people can do and can be Diversity – promoting and recognising different needs, situations and goals as a positive. The balance between recognising diversity while still maintaining equality can be challenging. There are 6 strands of E&D : ethnicity/race, sexuality, gender, age, disability and faith/religion. Thus far race, gender and disability have been prioritised nationally but the others are also developing.