 Equality and diversity is really important to the county council. Both
for the way we deliver services to residents and business owners and of course
for our employees.
So, to ensure we stay up to date with developments we’ve updated our
equality and diversity policy because there have been changes to the law in recent years and people have begun to
think differently about equality.
If you’re a manager who designs, delivers or commissions services,
please have a look at the policy and have a think about how to apply it to
services and employees.
We’ve also launched a new strategy and action plan which sets out our
priorities to:
- Ensure fair and open decision making
- Advance equality of opportunity for disabled
people
- Acknowledge and support carers, including young
carers
- Reduce rural isolation and improve access to
services
- Create safe communities for everyone – by
tackling issues such as domestic violence, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, or
the harassment of vulnerable or disabled people
- Promote and celebrate cultural diversity
- Improve health and wellbeing, including mental
wellbeing
- Develop a skilled and diverse workforce.
If you’d like to find out more, take a look at our website.
Kind regards
Barry
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Employees at our White Hall outdoor education centre near Buxton are setting an example by cycling to work. The centre runs mountain bike courses, has a cycle trail in the grounds and also delivers courses for mountain bike leaders – so they were keen to practice what they preach and get on their bikes.
There are quite a few hills to climb to get to the centre which is 400m above sea level and around a third of employees are cycling to work three times a week.
Three of the 10 staff who are cycling to work have taken advantage of our Cycle to Work scheme to buy electric cycles. The scheme can save you between 26% and 36% on the cost of a new bike – conventional or electric.
Between these 10 staff, they’re cycling almost 21,000 miles a year, saving more than £300 a year in vehicle costs and stopping 8.5 tonnes of CO2 going into the air we breathe. Not to mention the physical and mental health benefits.
If you think cycling to work could be for you, look out for Cycle to Work day on Wednesday 15 August and visit cycletoworkday.org where you can pledge to ride to work and win prizes.
 Pictured from left to right: Dan Riley, Tom Wild, Darran Hawkins and Fiona Thomson from White Hall.
Just a reminder that the electric cycle demonstration is being held tomorrow
(9 August) on the terrace at County Hall in Matlock between 12 and 2pm. If you
work at or near County Hall or you’re visiting, come and have a go on an
electric cycle and find out more about the Cycle to Work scheme.
If you can’t make it, you can find out how you can save money on bikes,
including electric ones on our website.
The Springboard
programme starts in September. It’s available to women employees on
grades 1 to 10.
More than 1,000 of our employees
have completed the course and many have described it as ‘life-changing’. It
helps employees take more control of their lives by giving them the confidence
and skills to develop their potential.
It’s a series of four workshops
held over four days between September and December. There will be inspirational
guest speakers and the opportunity to develop new skills and network with other
employees.
The next programme is being held
in the Members’ Room at County Hall, Matlock, on the following
dates:
- Tuesday 25
September
- Wednesday 17
October
- Thursday 15
November
- Wednesday 5
December
The course will cost your
department £80 and you’ll need your manager’s permission to attend. To
apply for a place you’ll need to follow your department’s training
application process.
For more information please
contact Di Gee-Burch – 01629 538088 or Mary Moore – 01629 536925, who will deliver the programme. There’s
also more information on Dnet.
Springboard is one of a wide range of training and
development courses we offer employees. To see the whole programme please visit
our website.
The Derbyshire Learning Programme – our list of courses
and workshops – has been updated for the autumn. You can find the learning
programme on Dnet. The new courses include:
- Coping
with stress workshop
- Deaf
awareness workshop
- Dementia
Friends information sessions
- EDRM
basic training workshops
- Managing
mental health (for managers)
- Microsoft
Excel, Outlook and Word courses
- Planning
ahead for retirement workshops
- Springboard
women’s development programme (for female employees up to and including
Grade 10).
- Time management
workshop
Booking is through the departmental training application process.
For more information contact Mary Moore
in HR – 01629 536925.
Do you enjoy
working for Derbyshire County Council but would like a new challenge?
We’re currently
investing in our children’s social work service and are recruiting for new
social workers.
Even if you
don’t have a social work background you can still set your sights on a career
helping us transform the lives of vulnerable children in Derbyshire.
We recruit some
of our social workers through national charity Frontline which offers
fully-funded postgraduate child protection social work diploma and master’s
qualifications and it has new courses starting soon.
Applications
open next month and Frontline is hosting a Career Changer information evening
in Birmingham on Thursday 23 August to help fill them.
If you have a
degree and are interested in a career with our social work team you can find
out more about Frontline training by emailing rob.quarton@thefrontline.org.uk
or calling 07917 326 932.
Meanwhile, if
you know an experienced, newly-qualified or graduate children’s social worker
who may be interested in working for Derbyshire we’d love to hear from them. They
can find out more and apply here www.derbyshire.gov.uk/socialworkjobs
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