Agenda item

To consider a report

34.1     Mr R Jones, the Service’s Diversity Adviser, submitted the 2017/18 Public Sector Equality Duty report to the Group for approval. This was the sixth annual report produced by the Service to fulfil its duty under the Equality Act 2010 and covered the period 1 April 2017- 31 March 2018.

34.2     The report set out the Service’s equality objectives, the profile of the community that it served, the workforce it had in place and the services that it provided.        

34.3     It was noted that the Service had been awarded the status of being a “Disability Confident” organisation in recognition of its approach to disability, and retained this status upon being assessed in 2018.

34.4     The Service’s workforce consisted of 417 fte firefighters, with 561 staff in total. 29 staff fulfilled more than one role so that the Service had the equivalent of 590 posts.           

34.5     Female staff made up 7.1% of operational staff, which was higher than both the England average (5.7%) and the non-metropolitan average (5.3%). Whilst the Service performed well in comparison to other Fire and Rescue Services, its aim was to become more representative of the community that it served.

34.6     Staff from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds (BAME) made up 4.1% of operational staff. This was comparable to the England average and better that the non-metropolitan average. Work continued through the Service’s positive action campaign which sought to improve the representativeness and diversity of the Service’s workforce.

34.7     60 members of staff had left the Service during the year, the majority as a result of retirement. A number of RDS staff had left the Service citing the need for more flexible working arrangements. This was being reviewed by the Service and improvements to the work-life balance of on-call fire fighters would be implemented.

34.8     In response to a question, the Policy and Challenge Group was advised that exit interviews were voluntary and individuals could request that these be undertaken by their line manager, HR or the Chief Fire Officer.

34.9     Turnover was very low, with 4% for whole-time firefighters and Green Book staff.

34.10   In relation to the services provided, the Diversity Adviser reported that there had been a reduction in the overall number of incidents attended by the Service, although there had been a slight increase in both fires and road traffic collisions attended.

34.11   The number of Home Fire Safety Checks and Safe and Well visits had decreased in 2017/18. Targets had been introduced to increase the number of Safe and Well visits and to introduce more robust quality assurance procedures.

34.12   The Service continued to receive high levels of customer satisfaction and measures were in place to improve the number of surveys completed following Safe and Well visits, as this had recently decreased and it was difficult to obtain feedback after certain incidents, such as road traffic collisions.

34.13   The Diversity Adviser concluded by highlighting the following:

·      The recruitment process continued to improve the diversity of the Service’s workforce and the percentages of females and individuals from BAME backgrounds employed by the Service compared favourably to national averages.

·      The number of staff leavers had fallen, the majority of who left the Service as a result of retirement.

·      Retention of female and BAME staff was high.

·      Plans were in place to collect demographic data from every Safe and Well visit.

34.14   In response to a question about asking individuals for their sexual orientation, Members were advised that this was a requirement as it was one of the protected characteristics under the Equality Act. It was noted that the number of people deciding to answer this question had increased and this demonstrated that these individuals had greater confidence that they would not be discriminated against.

34.15   Members commented favourably on the content of the report and it was agreed that the report should be promoted more widely. The Diversity Adviser reported that the report would be published on the Service website and agreed to investigate how it could best be promoted.

RESOLVED:

1.         That the report be approved.

2.         That the Diversity Adviser considers ways that the report can be promoted to the public.