Equality and Diversity Framework

Published: 2017

Contents

Purpose of Equality and Diversity Framework
Strategic context:Belfast City Council working in partnership to deliver the Community Plan
Corporate context: Belfast City Council’s corporate plan
Framework priorities
Priority A: Leadership, Partnership and Organisational Commitment
Priority B: Understanding our communities through information and consultation
Priority C: Services accessible to all
Priority D: Skilled and diverse workforce
Glossary

Purpose of Equality and Diversity Framework

This Equality and Diversity Framework runs from April 2017 until March 2021. The framework is a strategic level document outlining how we will promote equality and diversity in our ambitions to create a city in which people love to live, learn, invest, work and visit.

This framework also contributes to our compliance with Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998.

Strategic context: Belfast City Council working in partnership to deliver the Community Plan

Belfast City Council is the city’s lead partner in Community Planning. The council is responsible for establishing the process of community planning and for ensuring the development and implementation of the city’s first community plan, The Belfast Agenda.

The Belfast Agenda seeks to improve the lives and wellbeing outcomes of all citizens in Belfast and to ensure the city is a place where people want to work, study, visit and invest.

The Belfast Agenda has identified five long term aspirations for the city:

• Everyone in Belfast benefits from a thriving and prosperous economy

• Belfast is a welcoming, safe, fair and inclusive city for all

• Everyone in Belfast fulfils their potential

• Everyone in Belfast experiences good health and wellbeing

• Belfast is a vibrant, attractive, connected and environmentally friendly city

The Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 2014 and the supporting statutory community planning guidance highlight the need to promote equality of opportunity as a key objective for community plans. The Belfast Agenda explicitly identifies ‘equality and good relations’ as one of its underpinning shared values and seeks to address key inequalities across the city.

This Equality and Diversity Framework outlines actions that the council will deliver with its community planning partners as part of the Belfast Agenda, through the community planning process, and how we mainstream equality and good relations in our actions.

Corporate context: Belfast City Council's corporate plan

Belfast City Council is committed to promoting equality and diversity in all areas of the work we do. For us, addressing inequalities is about what we can do to create a fairer society and recognises that equality and good relations are issues for us all.

We don’t all start from the same place and to create a fairer, peaceful society we need to recognise the diversity in our communities. We need to continue to consider how the characteristics protected by Section 75 may have on the life chances of members of all of our communities and better understand the relationship between these characteristics and the role that socioeconomic status has in creating, or contributing to, inequalities. Good relations is also an important area of our work, as we seek to increasingly be recognised as a city that values diversity and encourages civic participation.

This Equality and Diversity Framework sets out the actions to be delivered by Belfast City Council and demonstrates how we will utilise the framework to help us to respond to new thinking on equality outcomes and the new challenges.

Framework priorities

The Equality and Diversity Framework is built around four priorities in how we will tackle inequalities and promote diversity in our city:

• Leadership, partnership and organisational commitment

• Understanding our communities through data and consultation

• Delivering services accessible to all

• Developing a skilled and diverse workforce

Each priority includes a series of actions with a timescale, strategic owner and the equality and diversity-related outcome which should be achieved.

Priority A: Leadership, partnership and organisational commitment

We know that strategic leadership – both political and managerial – is key to improving equality and good relations outcomes, and promoting diversity. This organisational commitment goes hand in hand with working in partnership to make the best use of our resources in an ever challenging environment. Fairness in how we comply with legislation, procure goods and services and communicate with our rate payers will highlight Belfast’s growth as a diverse city.

Priority B: Understanding our communities through information and consultation

Our society is becoming more diverse. Today it is impossible to assume we know the composition of our communities – we have to find that out through gathering information known as data. The prosperity and cohesion of all people and communities can be affected by age, gender, marital status; if you have, or have not, a disability or dependents, religious and/ or racial background, political opinion and different sexual orientations. It is also important to understand the different needs within communities, for examples there are many forms of disability, and like the other Section 75 characteristics, every individual straddles all of the groups in some way, with great differences, as well as similarities between socio-economic groups.

Consultation and engagement with our communities will also help us to understand their needs better and we need to use different ways of involving communities and neighbourhoods.

Priority C: Services accessible to all

Providing services, whether provided directly, procured or commissioned, remains central to what we do and through the Equality Action Plan this priority will be central to how we do business.  

Priority D: Skilled and diverse workforce

The ability to deliver responsive services to increasingly diverse communities will depend in a large part on the composition, skills, understanding and commitment of a workforce in how we build their capacity and understanding of the need to promote equality and diversity. Through the development of a workforce which is broadly representative of the communities it serves the council will deliver better outcomes for all.

Glossary

Abbreviations in tables are: 

EDO: Equality and Diversity Officer
HR/OD: Human Resources and Organisational Development
GRU:Good Relations Unit