Council should improve community links

12:30am Thursday 21st August 2008

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MALVERN Hills District Council needs to improve the way it engages with the local community and particularly with members of black and minority ethnic groups.

That is what members of its executive committee will be told at their meeting on Tuesday.

The council is aiming to increase its Equalities Standard for Local Government rating and officers are recommending the council relaunches its existing policy on equality and diversity in a bid to stimulate an improvement.

The council’s head of performance and policy John Williams says, in his report to the committee, a draft independent evaluation of the council’s work on complying with the law and promoting equalities and diversity says the council needs to challenge the perception among some senior officers and councillors that diversity is not an issue for the council as there is a low black and minority ethnic group population.

The draft report also recommends the gender balance at top management level needs to be addressed by providing opportunities for secondments of senior female officers from other authorities.

Other recommendations include better engagement with young people using innovative communication like text messaging; raising staff awareness of all groups protected by law from discrimination and back to basics training for all staff and councillors.

Mr Williams says: “The recent publication of the statutory guidance on strong, safe and prosperous communitities; the consultation document on Comprehensive Assessment Areas and the White Paper Communities in Control all point to the need for the council to improve at engaging with local communities and in particular those that enjoy legal protection from discrimination.”