As this is the first
newsletter from the ERG, here’s a round-up of our past four meetings:
In November 2016
the Chief Executive, Phil Norrey, met with us to describe changes to
organisational structures and challenges the Council is facing in respect of government
funding and other budget pressures. We expressed our support for the new
structure which, in particular, brought together Public Health, Economy,
Enterprise and Skills, Planning, Transportation and Environment, and a new
‘Communities’ team – recognising the links between employment, active and
supportive communities, mobility and wellbeing. View the new structure on the Devon County Council website
As a result of this
meeting we requested further sessions with Dr Virginia Pearson, the Chief Officer
for Communities, Public Health, Environment and Prosperity (this took place in
February 2017 – see below), and a session on integration between Children’s and
Adult Services, and Health (this will take place after the County Council
elections in May).
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We received an
explanation of the purpose of the new Communities Team. It has four strategic
themes:
- Doing things
differently
-
Connection
-
Control
(having control over your own life)
-
Reducing
inequalities.
We were given an
update on staff changes – we find it useful to know who’s who because we often
liaise with people in the organisation!
We heard about the
new ‘asset based approach’ which focusses on individual and community strengths
and resilience, and we were given an open invitation to go along to any
Communities team meeting.
At our meeting in
March we received a detailed overview of the range of work-streams that sit under
Adult Social Care’s approach to Promoting Independence. We were told about the
eight different work-streams and asked which ones we would like more detailed
sessions on. We chose the following which will be organised for the
summer/autumn:
-
Community
development and engagement in relation to people on the ‘edge of care’.
-
Mental
health.
-
How needs
are assessed (looking at the range of tools/assessments and how diversity
considerations are taken into account alongside physical/mental care).
We welcomed new
members on the ERG representing the older person’s strand – Age UK Devon.
We were joined by
John Smith (Head of Organisational Development) to hear about his new area
which incorporates Human Resources, Policy and Strategic Development, and
Organisational Change. We were also joined by Sara Cretney and given a detailed
description of the Purposeful Systems work that is being carried out. This is a
way of looking at people’s experiences ‘in the system’, ensuring that the
Council focuses on real need and the right outcomes to enable a person to live
well independently. We learnt about the
difference between ‘lagging measures’ and ‘leading measures’ and how properly
defining performance measures is critical to ensuring the Council has the right
focus – what matters to citizens.
- The ‘system’ is large, involving many organisations. Remember that we all need to know who’s who, and what organisations and services can and can’t do, otherwise people can end up ‘going round in circles’ when signposted.
- There are many organisations in the voluntary sector, and those supporting minority and disadvantaged groups may not have a local presence (i.e. they operate on a Devon-wide basis). Bear this in mind when having conversations about communities in local areas. Have conversations with a wide range of organisations, including those representing ‘communities of interest’ such as LGBT+ or Black and Minority Ethnic people, and not just a select few.
- Structural changes can enable, or be a barrier to, achieving equality and diversity – please do discuss major changes with the ERG.
Corporate Equality Officer
to:
- Include an assessment of community resilience
in the Impact Assessment process.
- Set up the Children/Adults/Health integration
meeting after the elections.
- Organise a ‘training day’ for all ERG members
so that we can hear about each other’s organisations and issues for the
protected characteristics we represent.
Adult Social Care
Equality lead to:
- Arrange the in-depth Promoting Independence
sessions.
Members of the ERG and other voluntary sector
organisations helped the County Council reach diverse groups of people to carry
out a community survey in the autumn/winter 2015. The complete set of results were
published by the summer 2016 and an Executive Summary, which details the
Council’s response to the issues raised, is now available.
Large print
versions are available on the website. An Easy Read version of the Executive
Summary is being developed. All the PDF documents should work with screen-readers.
https://new.devon.gov.uk/equality/2015communityinsight
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Exeter Pride is took place on Saturday May 13th and the
County Council’s Corporate Equality Officer hosted its first ever Talking Zone
in Exeter Library. This included three panel debates including one specifically
with and for young people led by XPlore LGBTQ Youth Group. As usual, it also raised its Rainbow Flag at its HQ
in Exeter to mark Pride, on Wednesday 10th May.
The County Council
has been working hard to improve services for LGBT+ people and has published an
LGBT+ Toolkit for all service providers, developed by the Corporate Equality
Officer and the Intercom Trust (the LGBT+ representative on the Equality
Reference Group).
https://new.devon.gov.uk/equality/lgbttoolkit
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Our next scheduled
meetings are:
·
18th July
·
20th
September
·
14th
November
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