Surrey County Council Full Equality Impact Assessment

Transcription

1 1. Context of the Service or Policy Surrey County Council Full Equality Impact Assessment Service or Policy being assessed Surrey Arts Assessor: Karl Newman Date July 2008 What are the aims of the service or policy? (NB this should set out the aims and objectives of the policy or service) Surrey Arts aims to: Improved participation in, and access to cultural activities across Surrey Improve engagement and learning through the arts Inspire communities and individuals through the past, present and future cultural offer Improve access in and across the arts Improve engagement and learning Provide learning opportunities Improve physical / mental well being through engagement in arts and cultural activities Act as a leader and champion for the arts Organise outreach programmes and events Organise regular arts based groups / classes Provide information and signpost to the arts in Surrey Apply for grants and seek sponsorship in support of arts activity in Surrey Manage staff, resources and service delivery well Meet national standards Income generate Manage staff well Who are the beneficiaries /users of this service or policy? (NB this should address needs of client groups and a review of barriers to policy or services) Potentially everybody.

2 Historically our service has been largely targeted at children and young people. The service has operated on a fee-paying basis. However, increasingly we are developing programmes, often in partnership, that benefit adults, people with disabilities and families on lower incomes and we aim to increase the diversity, range and reach of our programmes. For example, the government funded Instrumental and Vocal teaching programmes (known as the Wider Opportunities Scheme) aims to give all young people (KS2) a free opportunity to engage in learning to play a musical instrument and sing as part of the school curriculum. We manage this scheme on behalf of Surrey Schools. What is the existing situation in relation to minority and excluded groups in which this service/policy operates? (NB this will require declaring what information is currently captured with respect to E&D Monitoring (all seven strands) of this service or policy. It is also important to show the relevance of capturing this data.) Staff data provided by the staff survey in 2007 shows that (across Libraries and Culture) Gender Male 12% Female 86% DNR 2% Age Under 18 1% % % % 65+ 1% Did not reply 2% Disability Yes 3% No 92% DNR 4% Ethnic Group Asian Less than 1% Black Less than 1% Mixed Less than 1% Other Less than 1% White 92% DNR 6%

3 Faith Christian 64% Jewish Less than 1% None 25% DNR 10% Sexual Orientation Bisexual 1% Gay man 1% Heterosexual 71% Lesbian Less than 1% DNR 27%

4 Is there potential for this service/policy to have a negative or differential impact on minority and excluded groups or on race relations and community cohesion? Please complete the summary of negative impact identified by equality and diversity strand: Age Belief / Faith Disability Gender Because most of our services are aimed at children and young people through teaching in schools it is likely that adults and older people consider that we don t offer services appropriate to their age. Our customer survey is aimed at children and young people and only really focuses on the music side of our service and is therefore currently neither a true reflection of our services or inclusive of people that are not school age. We don t believe there to be any discrimination on the grounds of faith. However as a service we currently don t have the knowledge or awareness of arts and cultural activities across the county related to religious activity and this is an area for development. Not all of our information is easily accessible to people with disabilities. Our website is not easily accessible to all although it does comply with SCC guidelines Some of the buildings we use, whilst being legally compliant, may not be that disability friendly. Signage should be improved so that it is clear for all. We don t consider that any of our services discriminate on the basis of gender. Sexual Orientation Race We don t consider that any of our services or policies discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation. We don t consider that any of our services directly or in-directly discriminate against anyone on the grounds of race although we do acknowledge that the range of services we offer either directly or indirectly through partner organisations don t yet reflect the racial diversity within Surrey. Trans Gender/ Sexual We don t consider that any of our services or policies discriminate on the basis of trans gender / sexual orientation. HR issues only:

5 2. Is there potential for this service/policy to have a positive impact, such as tackling discrimination, promoting equality of opportunity and / or promoting good community relations, for minority and excluded groups? Please complete the summary of positive impact identified by equality and diversity strand, NB this would include positive initiatives delivery by the service or through the policy for the equality strands listed below: Age Belief / Faith Disability Gender Projects that are designed to extend activities to people of all ages. For example the grant funded dance project Tea Time to Dance is a trans generational project that brings together young and old. We make provision with regard to diet, dress and custom if required whenever running courses, concert tours, lessons, exhibitions etc. Employment: Surrey Arts has job-carved a part time position in the Surrey Wardrobe for a person with a learning disability (the first service in SCC to have done so) and we are currently considering developing a similar post within our admin team. We actively lead or support projects that benefit people with disabilities and address disability issues. Current examples include Poetry in Motion; (Deaf people), Colebrook Chronicles (people with learning disabilities) and Dance for All (people with learning disabilities) Surrey Arts supports the development of the Lockwood Arts Group, an independent group of professional community artists who seek to create new ways to extend inclusive and integrated work practices so to offer more arts opportunities to people with disabilities. Surrey Arts supports the work of the Surrey Integrated Arts Consortium, an umbrella organisation that seeks to support and promote the work and inclusion of deaf and disabled artists in Surrey. Surrey Arts supports the work of numerous disability arts organisations working across Surrey. Surrey Arts works in Surrey s Special schools and provides learning and performing opportunities to many children with disabilities in Surrey. Challenging gender stereotypes in the arts. We support boys dance classes and are currently supporting the establishment of a county boys dance company. Where an art-form traditionally appeals to one gender rather than another we will create programmes to encourage greater participation by all. Sexual Orientation Race Surrey Arts is currently developing pilot projects in drama and contemporary music with Traveller communities in Surrey in partnership with the Traveller Education service. Trans Gender/ Sexual HR issues only: In creating a position for someone with a learning disability we followed advice from HR and the Employability Service following a presentation at County Hall. In following the recommended procedure however, there has been some

6 uncertainty about the legality of the process.

7 4. Give details of involvement, consultation and or research undertaken for each relevant equality and diversity strand, upon which this policy/service has had an impact either internally or externally: Age The Tea Time to dance project (a trans generational dance project) is a piece of action research Belief / Faith Disability Arts Partnership Surrey Arts and Health research. (Charlotte Gardiner from Waverley Borough Council led on this research on behalf of the partnership). The research was conducted through a series of action / research project and included work with mental health groups, deaf groups and stroke patients (poetry work pioneered by Wendy French at Dyscover). The Colebrook Chronicles project (written to help people with learning disability navigate changes to their day services) is an action research project. Person Centred Planning (a Learning Disability Development Fund project) led by Lockwood Artists Group explored the potential to use artistic processes to find out the needs and wants of individual people with learning disabilities Gender Sexual Orientation Race HR issues only:

8 1. Given your answers to the previous questions, how will your service or policy be revised to mitigate, reduce or eliminate negative impacts and enhance positive impacts? (NB this is in effect the Recommendations to improve this policy) 1. We will redesign our customer survey and application forms so that they are more inclusive of all our customers and potential customers and much less focussed on children and young people. 2. Conduct research into religious festivals and communities in Surrey to increase our knowledge and awareness. 3. Make information accessible to people with learning disabilities. We will do this as we will have someone with a learning disability working with us as part of our team and so will have to carefully consider communication needs. We will use this experience to begin to change our website and other publicity materials and we will develop links with About Us a dedicated website for people with learning disabilities in Surrey and the Surrey Integrated Arts Consortium website. 4. Explore the possibility to create a further admin-based position for a person with learning disabilities within our existing fte.. 5. Review all of our signage / print / web based material as it is updated to ensure it enhances our accessibility and uses - for example - large clear print and symbols. From autumn 2008, we will host Cranstock Day Service users on site at Surrey Arts, which gives us a further opportunity to understand the communication needs of this service user group.

9 2. Actions required to implement the EIA recommendations: Issue Action Expected outcome Who Deadline for action 1. New customer survey 2. Review signage in Wardrobe and Art Suite areas 3. Create link to About Us and SIAC websites 4. Conduct initial desk-research into religious communities and festivals in Surrey To design and distribute a new customer survey that truly reflects the diversity of current activity To make signage around the Surrey Arts site clear for all To make our services known to people with disabilities through linking with websites used by people with disabilities To raise awareness of cultural diversity across Surrey so as to improve service planning. Accurate customer feedback that assists with service planning. Create more welcoming environment for all and reduce e the number of misdirected enquiries Greater levels of interest and engagement in our services by disabled people Re-directed and new, bespoke services and opportunities created that meet the needs of and reflect the interests of bme and faith communities in Surrey. John Holmes, Operations Manager John Holmes, Operations Manager Karl Newman. Community Arts Manager John Holmes, Operations Manager December 2009 July 2009 September 2009 March 2010 NB these actions should have SMART Targets

10 NB these actions should be reported to the DIG and where relevant incorporated into the Equality and Diversity Action Plan, Service Plans and or personal objectives of key staff.

11 7. If no actions are to be taken with respect to the recommendations please give reasons below: Action plan review date: _January 2010 Name of person responsible for review: Karl Newman_ EIA Assessor(s): Name Head of Service: _Ralph Howard Signed: Date Completed: 16 th March, Signed hard copy and electronic version to be kept in your team for audit purposes 2. Send an electronic copy to the SCC Web Operations Team for publication on the SCC website 3. Send Action Plan to DIG for review at its next meeting. Date sent to Web Operations Team: 17 th March 2009