Safer Lives, brighter futures: Draft Equality plan 2012-16 · Move away from silo thinking and look...

Safer Lives, brighter futures: Draft Equality plan 2012-16

Consultation Report: March 2012

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1 Background

1.1 To comply with the requirements of the Public Sector Equality Duty we are required to produce

and publish new equality objectives by 6 April 2012. This also coincides with the end date of the

Single Equality Scheme, Making the Connections, which is 31 March 2012. The purpose of the

objectives is to identify what we need to achieve in order to satisfy the aims of the general equality

duty which are to:

Eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited

by or under the Equality Act 2010

Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic

and people who do not share it

Foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those

who do not share it.

1.2 The Service has committed to achieving the Excellent level of the Fire and Rescue Service

Equality Framework by 2014, so the agreed objectives must help us to reach that goal.

1.3 Guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission states that equality objectives should

be specific and measurable and developed through engagement with the public and with employees

and other key stakeholders.

2 Summary of feedback

2.1 In the four community focus groups a number of positive comments were made about the Service

and our community engagement. These included the following comments:

There is a huge amount of respect for the fire service in the community

The fire service is seen as a role model in the community

The fire service has a trusted brand – trusted by communities

The fire service is trying to understand communities unlike many other public sector bodies

Clear distinctions are made in the community between fire and police and fire are more trusted

Some individual employees are doing great community work in their areas

The fire service are on a positive direction of travel

Work to develop a lesbian, gay and bisexual network is seen as a positive step

Support for Exeter Pride has been good

Community Safety days are seen as positive events.

2.2 Across all the consultation, internal and external, a number of the objectives and actions in the

plan were given support and emphasised as being particularly important. These included:

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Importance of continuing partnership working

Continue with community engagement work, ensuring resources are allocated

Considering individual needs in response operations

Encouraging more women to apply for operational roles.

2.3 A number of issues were raised as requiring further development and have been put forward as

proposed amendments to the draft plan. These are detailed in the draft plan in bold. In brief, the key

amendments are as follows:

We propose including three new objectives:

To improve equalities in the Service and Nationally in the Fire and Rescue Service for

Transgender people by raising awareness and developing policy and guidance

To promote key messages about disability and operational firefighting in recruitment

To ensure that the needs and views of disabled people are considered in community and

workplace activities.

We will incorporate the following into the action plan to help meet the existing objectives:

We will ensure through an evaluation protocol that Community and Voluntary Sector groups we

want to engage with meet our own equality standards, core values and human rights.

We will establish four voluntary Community Forums, geographically spread across the two

counties, for regularly monitoring equality progress and for ongoing consultation

We will ensure that key corporate publications are produced in ‘Easy Read’ formats

We will introduce a standard approach to equality monitoring incorporating consultation advice

We will review internal bullying and harassment investigation arrangements

More clarity has been added to the plan around the review of the positive action strategy which

will include regular monitoring of the diversity of the workforce in terms of attraction,

recruitment, progression and retention, with benchmarked targets to be set against the highest

performers in the Service nationally.

2.4 Although the proposal of a Hate Crime policy was widely supported and remains in the plan, the

only removal from the plan, following consultation is the preparation of some stations as third party

Hate Crime reporting centres.

3 Methodology

3.1 The Community & Workplace Equalities team developed a consultation and engagement plan

which allowed for a consultation period of six weeks from Monday 23 January to Friday 2 March 2012.

Draft objectives were prepared, drawn from a number of sources including:

Review of the objectives in Making the Connections

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Peer assessment report following their visit in November 2011

Requirements of the Excellent level of the Fire & Rescue Service Equalities Framework

Equality monitoring data from Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service, the south west and

nationally.

3.2 A full version of the draft Equality Plan was produced, together with a summary version that just

contained background information and the draft aims and objectives.

The objectives of the consultation and engagement programme were to provide an opportunity for

stakeholders to:

provide feedback on the draft equality objectives

suggest new or alternative objectives

propose ideas and solutions for how the objectives could be implemented

indicate their interest in remaining involved in developing and monitoring equality and diversity

activities.

3.3 A feedback form was made available which asked four questions:

1. How far do you think the draft objectives will help us to understand and consider individual needs in

delivering our services and therefore achieving our aim of making the area safer for all?

2. Are there any objectives that should be added or amended?

3. What actions or activities could we carry out in order to achieve the objectives?

4. Are there any other comments you would like to make?

5. Would you be interested in getting more involved in our equalities work? If so, please provide your

contact details and we will be in touch.

3.4 Stakeholder contact

The following individuals and groups were invited to discuss and comment on the draft plan:

Internal

External

Senior Management Board

Service Delivery Group

Service Improvement Group

Corporate Equalities Group

Community/representative groups at four

focus groups held in Bideford, Plymouth,

Taunton and Service HQ

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Representative Bodies

All employees

Internal networks:

Well@work group, WANDS (Women’s Action

Network Devon & Somerset), Gay Fire

Association

Key partners e.g. Police, Ambulance

General public

Other Fire and Rescue Services via the

Chief Fire Officers Association discussion

forum

Equality networks including Devon Equality

Partnership

The five peer assessors

Asian Fire Service Association

National Disabled Fire Association

3.5 The draft documents, feedback form and information about timescales and how feedback could be

provided was made available on the Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service website. Feedback

could be provided by email, post, telephone and fax. There was a link from the home page to the draft

documents throughout the six week consultation period.The consultation documents were also

available from Devon Consultation Finder.

3.6 The Community & Workplace Equalities team sent emails to all their community contacts, directing

them to the draft documents on the website and inviting them to attend one of the four community

focus groups. The same email was also sent to groups, requesting that they forward it to their own

community contacts.

3.7 Publicity

A press release was issued at the start of the consultation period which resulted in several newspaper

and online articles and one local radio interview. The news story also appeared on the Devon &

Somerset Fire & Rescue Service website and on the Facebook page. It was also publicised on

Grapevine, the online network for people from different cultures living in Devon.

Notification of the consultation was automatically attached to the bottom of all external emails sent by

Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service employees.

Internally, the consultation was publicised on the Intranet, in the weekly Service Update and through

posters.

3.8 Responses to the consultation

A total of 22 people attended the four community focus groups which each lasted for an hour and a

half and were held in Bideford, Plymouth, Taunton and Service HQ. They included representatives

from the following organisations:

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Bideford Bay Children’s Centre

Citizens Advice Bureau

Community Foundation (Village Agent Project)

Devon County Council (Learning Disabilities)

Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service

Exeter Pride

Gender Trust

MIND

Plymouth City Council (Social Inclusion Unit)

Plymouth & Devon Race Equality Council

Plymouth People First

Police Independent Advisory Group

Probation Service

Somerset Race Equality Council

Teignbridge District Council

Transgender Advisor

The discussion groups encouraged responses around four questions:

How can we understand our communities better?

How can we develop our approach to hate crime awareness and reporting?

What steps can we take to improve the diversity of our workforce?

How can we ensure that individual needs are met in response operations?

3.9 Three people living with learning disabilities attended the Plymouth focus group. Separate

materials were made available for them including a consultation document that used simple language

and pictures. They considered three questions:

1. Firefighters spend a lot of time talking to people to explain how to stop fires from happening. They

also explain what you should do if a fire starts near to where you are. What would be the best way for

you learn all about this?

2. If you wanted to speak to the Fire Service about something to do with fire and how safe you feel,

what would be the best way for you?

3. A hate crime is where one person harms another person because they think they are different. This

could be by harming them or by name calling, bullying etc. If you, or a friend, were upset by name

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calling or bulling, who would you tell about it? Would you think about talking to a firefighter, for

example by going to a nearby fire station?

Their comments have been included in the table of feedback below, however they provided their

responses in pictorial form:

3.91 In addition to the community focus groups we received three individual responses from:

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Devon Humanists

Independent Transgender Advisor

Disability Forward

3.92 Internally, the Corporate Equalities Group considered the draft plan on 29 February. Attendees

were:

Amy Clack

Dave Church

Hazel Elderfield

Jonathan Chalk

Louise Doherty

Malcolm Carmichael

Martin Carnell (Fire Officers Association)

Miranda Marklew

Nik Brock (Unison)

Sean Cook (Retained Firefighters Union)

The group discussed issues around:

Core Values

Understanding our communities

Collection and use of internal and external data

Hate crime awareness and reporting

Bullying and harassment

3.93 A separate response to the consultation was received from the Fire Brigades Union.

3.94 All the responses to the consultation have been summarised in the following table, together with

responses from the Community & Workplace Equalities Manager.

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Draft Equality Plan

Consultation Feedback Report

Comments Source Response

Partnership working:

Page numbers refer to the Equality Plan

Continue to participate in and develop partnerships, joined-up working and other networks. Be prepared to share data with trusted partners. Move away from silo thinking and look for holistic solutions, for example, could other agencies carry out brief home safety visits and report concerns to FRS.

Community Focus Groups

Objectives in the ‘Knowing our Communities’ section of the plan make developing partnerships and sharing data strategic imperatives. Within this a volunteer Community Safety Advocates model is being developed.

Not all community and voluntary sector organisations have high equality and diversity standards. Sometimes the aims and agendas of organisations can lead to actions which do not respect the rights of other people. In partnership working the Service should seek to set the lead standard in equality and diversity or expect partners to demonstrate high standards of their own.

Devon Humanists As part of the action in the ‘Knowing our communities’ section; to develop a partnership protocol for Community and Voluntary Sector Groups we will ensure that our equality standards are laid out and questions asked of groups we want to engage with to ensure they meet our core values and human rights. This is now reflected in the plan on page 23.

Understanding our communities:

Ensure that we have enough time, resources and skills to build and maintain relationships with community groups, particularly those with protected characteristics. Are infrequent, ad-hoc visits enough to change behaviours? To be effective these relationships need to be developed over time and require resources and commitment.


Our Targeting and Evaluation will ensure that our engagement is proportionate to those most at risk, and we will continue to build our knowledge and identify new risks with more sustained relationships. We have altered the equality action plan to include four regular Community Forums to monitor our equalities work and to help us identify any new risk factors and important links to community groups and networks (page 26) Using

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the new protocol tool described on page 23, we will evaluate our existing relationships. We also use a project prioritisation tool which considers equalities and impact on society.

The Service needs to engage more with communities and be more creative about the methods used. To be inclusive we can’t expect people to come to us in the places we want and at the times most convenient for us.


We have altered the equality action plan to include four regular Community Forums to monitor our equalities work and to help us identify any new risk factors, improve consultation on our annual strategic objectives and identify important links to community groups and networks.(page 26) We will also develop and provide community engagement workshops for front line staff. We are currently reviewing our consultation arrangements to improve access.

The Participatory Budgeting pilots have been a real success and have involved the Service engaging with representatives from diverse groups. This is a new approach and it needs to be developed and expanded in order to reach more groups. The prospect of grants provides the honey pot but the events have led to new contacts being made and the Service facilitating networking between other community groups.


Evaluation of the Participatory Budgeting pilots will inform the next steps for this initiative.

There was real strength of feeling that community safety advocates should be recruited from within communities and surprise that this wasn’t occurring already. This will really help the organisation to understand and gain access to many different communities and reduce risk. This issue must be addressed.


Local Service Groups will now be looking to develop volunteers from communities with the support of the Community Safety department. We do have Community Advocates already, for example two Road Traffic Collision Advocates who are young women engaging with their peers in Road Traffic Collision Reduction Education work, this is particularly useful to have

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credibility and access to the young women who statistically are more likely to be killed or seriously injured as passengers.

The Evaluation Toolkit developed and used by community safety is a positive initiative but needs expanding across the whole organisation to get maximum benefit.


This is an action in the plan, page 22, to embed evaluation and also to embed Equality Risks and Benefits Analysis principles in the evaluation toolkit.

We are getting better at collecting and sharing data internally but data sharing with external agencies is an issue due to our lack of security. This means that we don’t know as much about our vulnerable groups as we should do. There is a project underway to improve this but it is long term with maybe the possibility of a few quick wins. This ability to share data externally is a real priority.


The existing Information Governance project will improve the ability to share data with agencies such as the Police –it is one of the major project benefits, we will ascertain the timescales and report back to the Corporate Equalities Group. We are working with both the West Midlands FRS and Merseyside FRS in seeking to access data from the Department of Work and Pensions and PDCS. If we can secure this data it will enable us to overlap current data and accurately identify some of the most vulnerable in our communities.

There is inconsistency in the way we gather and use data across the organisation. Different groups use it to a greater or lesser extent and in different ways. There needs to be one standard across the organisation.


The action to create a data hub on page 22 will be expanded to include introducing a standard approach and include the Performance team in the approach.

People from public sector organisations often do not have the awareness or confidence in dealing with people from different faiths or from other diverse backgrounds. This could be due to not wanting to offend people from different cultures by saying or doing the wrong thing. However, this gets in the way of them providing a proper service. Employees need to have more exposure to people from diverse backgrounds to gain more confidence and understanding.

Devon Humanists Our new Equalities training policy includes the provision of quarterly seminars on specific communities, delivered by people from those communities. To date, Gypsies and Travellers and Learning Disabilities. We promote community and voluntary sector run courses, including deaf

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awareness and understanding Islam. We produce a range of engagement guides, developed in consultation with the communities. In the future we will be working closely with the Plymouth and Devon Race Equality council to provide a secondment to that agency and specific race training for Plymouth watch managers. This is in response to reports of rising racism in the city of Plymouth. We will continue our seminars and expand them to other geographical areas of the service, and continue to work with communities to provide engagement guides. These actions are currently represented in the plan.(pages 28, 34, 35)

There is little written evidence of engagement with disability groups or staff when compared to other public bodies. Although there are certain groups, e.g. learning disability groups, that are engaging, others should be sought out.

Transgender Advisor We have created a new objective:

To ensure the needs of disabled people are considered in community and workplace activities.(page 20)

In the workplace and the community, we plan to expand our engagement with disability groups. We helped establish the National Disabled Fire Association in 2009 and continue to support and use the organisation as an advice and consultation partner. We have established a dyslexia support group, and the equality plan includes an action to scope the establishment of a disability staff forum (page 43).We also engage on a strategic and local level with disability groups but this needs to

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be more sustained. We have altered the equality action plan to include four regular Community Forums to monitor our equalities work and to help us identify any new risk factors and important links to community groups and networks (page 26) and this will include disability groups in each of the four local forums across the service area.

Fire fighters spend a lot of time talking to people to explain how to stop fires from happening. They also explain what you should do if a fire starts near to where you are. What would be the best way for you learn all about this?

Visits to a fire station

Signs

Group talks

Home Safety Visits

Information using pictures, easy read and Plain English

Use simple, single words or symbols

DVDs

A DVD is being created by Plymouth People First on fire safety

Fire service to come out to group

Individual visit with family member or advocacy partner.

Feedback from three people with learning disabilities who attended the Plymouth focus group

We will produce easy read versions of our plans and Fire Safety advice. We are helping Plymouth People first to make a DVD on Fire Safety. Producing Easy Read versions of our literature is a now a new action in the plan, on page 38.

Effective communications:

When working with particular communities, we could give more thought to the most effective communication methods. Many people have poor literacy or language skills or other learning difficulties. We should be more familiar with alternative communication methods such as Talking Boards, Total Communication etc. and confident to use them when appropriate.


Producing Easy Read versions of our literature and exploring Talking Boards and Total communication is a now a new action in the plan, on page 38.

Getting the language right in communications, both internally and Devon Humanists We produced a readable, attractive and

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externally, is crucial in helping people to understand equality and diversity. It is important to “make it real” for people.

relevant overview of the previous Equality scheme, ‘Making the Connections’, called ‘Considering Needs’, which was well received by communities and employees. We will be creating a similar version for this plan, and this has been added to the action plan, page 32. Our new Equalities training policy makes course content role relevant and uses Fire Service case studies. We use simple key messages in our Equalities communication to underline the business case to make equalities relevant.

If you wanted to speak to the Fire Service about something to do with fire and how safe you feel, what would be the best way for you?

Dial 999

Test smoke alarms

Have an escape plan

Know which way to go to get out of the building

Use the internet

Read information leaflets using pictures, easy read and Plain English

Do we have a special non-emergency number for fire like 101?


We have a non-emergency line for Home Safety Visit advice but we will consider the benefits of a non- emergency enquiry line. This is not in the Equality Plan but will be talked about at our Service Improvement Group. We will also ask other communities if this is a good idea.

Gender reassignment is one of the protected characteristics and, to date, we have not engaged with this community. We need to consider the best ways of doing that and ensure that we are aware of any particular lifestyle risks and that transgender people feel able to access all our services.


We began to explore lifestyle/hate crime risks with the local Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender advocacy charity Intercom Trust, but we recognise the need to engage directly with Trans people as it is a community we know little about. We aim to change this and will encourage Trans people to engage with us in a way that suits them, hopefully regularly on our

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planned four local Community Forums (page 26).

There is a very serious gap in the Fire Service’s engagement with the Trans community – in fact until this week there is no evidence whatsoever that there has been any engagement with the Trans community. This appears to be a serious problem across the country and no coherent policy, or policy guidance exists. The only reference being made to Transgender is on www.idea.co.uk and this is mentioning the Sefton NHS project which is likely to be inappropriate to the Fire Service. If any policy does exist within the UK Fire Service it is not embedded, and is piecemeal, this is of very great concern. There needs to be comprehensive and very urgent liaison with the Transgender community if the Fire Service still intends to try for excellent status in 2013. At present I do not believe it will achieve it as there are other areas e.g. disability where the service needs to engage with its users more as well.

Transgender Advisor This has created a new objective for the plan:

To improve equalities for Transgender people in the Service and nationally in the Fire and Rescue Service by raising awareness and developing policy and guidance

(Page 20) We will, in partnership and consultation with the Trans community, develop an awareness guide and deliver a Seminar as part of our series of specific community seminars. This is reflected in the action plan on page 46. As this has been identified as a national problem, we will develop a Transgender policy for our service, and to be considered by the Chief Fire Officer’s Association as national good practice. This consideration has been added to the plan on page 46.

Equality monitoring:

Think about how you are asking people to provide this information. Saying it is a legal duty is not effective. It is important to explain why you are gathering the information and how it will be used. Make it real for

Devon Humanists We explain why we are gathering information in relevant terms, but we need to standardise this message and

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people and their jobs and family relations.

the collection of equality monitoring across all functions of the service. This has been added to the plan on page 36.

In surveys or equality monitoring, asking the question, what is your faith, encourages people to provide answers that are not accurate and therefore distort the results and provide statistics that are not valid. For example, some people may state they are Christian because they identify themselves with a Christian culture, not that they have any particular religious beliefs. The Humanist’s recommendation is that the first question is “Do you regard yourself as belonging to any particular religion or belief?” Yes/no, followed by a list of religions/beliefs for those who answer yes. This approach has been adopted by the D&C Police and the results of the recent employee equality monitoring are now more consistent with the British Social Attitudes Survey.

Devon Humanists This is very useful feedback and will be adopted in a standardisation of equality monitoring across the service on page 36.

Considering individual needs in Response Operations:

In preparation for response, could awareness be raised, for example of mental health or learning disability issues that may affect a member of the public before, during or following an incident.


An action has been brought forward from ‘Making the Connections’ to consider these needs in operational response training (page 46). Each of our training school offerings are being reviewed with our Equality Risks and Benefits Analysis and an action resulting from these analyses will be to include these considerations in operational response training. We are also producing flash cards for Makaton and BSL users which will be available to operational crews.(page 31)

Following a major incident, could the outcomes be more effectively communicated to the public and to firefighters involved. Also, could we either offer or signpost further support to communities where an incident occurs, not just the families of those involved.


We will develop a signposting system on our website for those who may be affected. This has been added to the plan (page 38.)

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Hate crime awareness and reporting:

The general view was that this is a serious, major issue and that we should work with others to increase awareness and reporting. Ideas put forward included:

Being very clear about our role and what, specifically, we can offer that others are unable to do.

Ultimately it is the role of the police to deal more effectively with hate crime. What can we do to support them in this.

The general view on having some fire stations as third party reporting centres was that it could be introduced, however, it may be seen as tokenism as it is unlikely that anyone would use this method. No individual or group was particularly enthusiastic about this idea.

If an arson incident is suspected as being linked to hate crime could we offer to report it.

Log incidents which we believe to have a hate crime link and monitor and share this data. The general view was that this is the main area we should be working on.

Training for employees on the prevalence of hate crime, what we can do about it and how we can encourage people to report it.

Increased role in signposting people to the right agencies.

Focus on what we can do to break the acceptance that hate incidents are unavoidable.


We will develop our awareness and training and recording around Hate Crime, but several sources of consultation have advised us to focus on this and we have removed the suggestion of using stations as third party reporting centres.(page 24) We will explore how can use our data management systems to record incidents with a suspected link to hate crime and will monitor and analyse the data.

The Somerset Hate Crime forum is one example of public sector and community and voluntary groups coming together around a single issue and the Service is represented on this group. They have commissioned a Community and Voluntary Sector organisation to plan and deliver a reporting process on behalf of the group and raise awareness.


This information will be used to develop our approach to Hate Crime. This is a specific project for Community Safety. (page 24)

Not in favour of fire stations becoming centres for third party hate crime reporting as there would be too many complications around making sure


We will develop our awareness and training and recording around Hate Crime, (page 24) but several sources of

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someone was present, training etc. It was also felt to be unlikely that someone would use this route.

consultation have advised us to focus on this and we have removed the suggestion of using stations as third party reporting centres.

The Fire service still has an important position as role models to help with community cohesion and hate crime awareness, for example through initiatives such as Phoenix. We should use our brand more. Helping people to recognise the consequences of their actions and the impact it has on other people.


We will continue our work raising self esteem and improving life chances with projects such as phoenix and, for example, a planned secondment to Plymouth and Devon Race Equality Council aims to work with the local Football team as part of Football Association’s ‘Kick it out’ anti racism campaign.

Awareness raising within the organisation was felt to be the way forward. It was felt that few people understand what hate crime is or would recognise it when it occurs. A direct link needs to be made for crews involved in incidents which are hate crime related.


This will form part of the Hate Crime awareness action page 24.

Speak to police first about what existing structures are in place for reporting and awareness raising.


This will be incorporated into the Hate Crime awareness action, page 24.

A hate crime is where one person harms another person because they think they are different. This could be by harming them or by name calling, bullying etc. If you, or a friend, were upset by name calling or bulling, who would you tell about it? Would you think about talking to a firefighter, for example by going to a nearby fire station?

We would not think about going to speak to a fire fighter

We would go to the police

We might talk to a trusted person at Plymouth People First

We might report it at a place where we see the Safe Place logo. (Keeping Safe initiative)


We want people to go to the police if they have been harmed. We are going to make sure firefighters know what hate crime is and can help to stop it, but people should report it to the police.

Diversity of the workforce:

Challenge the perception that it is not a role for women. This is a national Community Focus Please see the response to the Fire

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issue so could we use influence at CFOA to have a national media campaign. Encourage use of volunteer advocates as this is likely to encourage more women. Tailor messages to audiences and hold taster sessions. Publicise the standards that are required of a firefighter so women understand that it can be a career for them.

Groups Brigades Union below.

At local authority level however, the Fire Brigades Union sought to make

sure that there is no backing off from the modest [recruitment of women

and black and minority ethnic] targets set in the Community & Local

Government strategy. We are clear that Fire & Rescue Authorities must

show commitment to making sure that the work to improve the

recruitment, retention and progression of Women and Black and Ethnic

Minority members continues.

The Union subsequently wrote to the Service seeking your assurance

that the targets would still be pursued and that the Fire and Rescue

Service, as a matter of urgency, will implement an effective monitoring

system. The targets within Devon & Somerset Fire 7 Rescue Service

were that by 2013 a minimum of 18% of new entrants to the operational

service to be women and 7.3%, would be from minority ethnic

backgrounds. The Service stated its commitment to these targets and

accepted the grant, which came with it.

The draft report outlines that to date the Service has a current

percentage of all Black, Asian and minority staff of 1.18% (page 18 Draft

Equality Plan). The draft report outlines that to date women make up only

3.35% of the operational workforce, which is currently below the national

average which is 4%.

Although the target date is 2013 it has to be said that the figures to date

represent a failure in travel by the Service. The targets were set out in a

full Governmental Strategy almost 4 years ago. The Service committed

to these targets and accepted a very large amount of finance when doing

Fire Brigades Union We welcome the considered feedback from the Fire Brigades Union and look forward to working more closely with them in equalities matters in the future, in line with the objective to work more closely together with representative bodies in the Equality plan (page 16). Since the Fire Service has moved to a more localised equalities agenda, informed by the new Public Sector Equality Duty, the commitment to recruit more women and Black Asian and Minority Ethnic communities has strengthened. We have developed inclusive literature, a film and a positive action toolkit which is being rolled out. We established a women’s network to help identify and address any cultural issues within the service which could impact on retention and progression. Due to the economic climate, which wasn’t foreseen when targets were set nationally, operational recruitment is largely in retained stations only, which limits the opportunity to refresh the workforce diversity. This makes the use of positive action in each and every recruitment drive even more crucial. We will be reviewing the positive action strategy to ensure it is embedded in the

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so. To be so far from the target with only a year to go must put a

successful outcome in 2013 in doubt. Not only does the draft report fail to

offer a reassurance as to how the targets will be met it also fails to

properly address the issue in any substantial or meaningful way.

It is disappointing to see that in the draft equality plan under the heading

“Where can we improve further?” There is no consideration for

improving the policies and procedures within the Service which would

encourage more under represented groups to apply and help to retain

those already employed by the Service.

In order to support the recruitment and retention of women within the Fire

& Rescue Service it is important for the Service to incorporate the

appropriate, supportive policies. As has previously been stated the Fire

Brigades Union have written best practice documents on maternity,

paternity, adoption as well as facilities. The Service needs to engage

with the Union and work together to provide inclusive policies and

practices which will only better the conditions of service for their under

represented workforce.

The Union has concerns that the targets set out in the strategy have now

either been set aside by the Service or dismissed all together. We look

forward to receiving confirmation that this is not the case.

recruitment policy and code of practice and monitoring our workforce make up more regularly. This is reflected in the equality plan.(page 39) We have gone below the national average in terms of women in operational roles largely because of recent leavers from the retained workforce. Exit information did not reveal any cultural reason for the disproportionate number of women leaving, but it has been recognised that the exit strategy needs to be looked at to be able to analysis reasons for leaving in more detail. Our new positive action strategy will monitor attraction, recruitment, progression and retention, and return to work rates following maternity to give us the whole ’story’ around women in the operational service. The national target was that in 2013, the percentage of new joiners to the operational service who are women should be 18%. The government removed this target, but the Service is still committed to increasing the number of women in operational roles:

We still aim to look at our performance against this target in our 2013 operational recruitment, but we are working

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to develop more intelligent targets by benchmarking with the highest performers in the Service Nationally.

This is likely to produce a more intelligent and challenging targets for the recruitment of women to 2016 which will be monitored by our Service Improvement Group and by the monitoring groups established to hold the organisation to account for its equality performance, the Corporate Equalities Group and the Community Forums.

The Black Asian and Minority Ethnic target, also set in a time of growth, is more challenging in the current economic climate. The Black Asian and Minority Ethnic diversity of the local working age population presented an average figure across Devon and Somerset of 5.29% in 2009, however, this ranges from 13% in urban areas such as Exeter, to almost 0% in some rural areas, such as Sedgemoor. This presents real challenges when turnover is low and most recruitment is in rural areas, within five miles or five minutes of a station. This means that each and every opportunity must be promoted using the positive action toolkit – literature and guidance on how to attract more applications for under-

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represented groups. The service is still committed to achieving a reflection of the Black Asian and Minority Ethnic community in the workforce:

We will look at our performance across the workforce against the original national target in 2013

The recruitment of community advocates provides a good opportunity for us to increase the workforce diversity, by introducing the career opportunities through established community networks. A substantial piece of work we are undertaking with the Plymouth and Devon Race Equality Council will place an operational secondment in the charity to improve links with Black Asian and Minority Ethnic communities for fire Safety advocates and recruitment

We will reassess the working age population and set localised targets to meet the local community make up for 2016

The review of the Positive Action strategy will aim to capitalise on every recruitment opportunity

We will continue to monitor attraction, recruitment and progression for Black Asian and Minority Ethnic communities and

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this will be monitored by the aforementioned groups

We will re-run our diversity monitoring to gain a more accurate picture of the make-up of the workforce

We look forward to working more closely with the Fire Brigades Union and other representative bodies in this matter, either through membership of our Corporate Equalities Group which will monitor performance of the objectives or by any other means most suitable to the union. We would like to reassure the Fire Brigade’s Union that the removal of national directives has not diluted the Service’s approach to Equalities; it has in fact strengthened and empowered the service to have its equalities performance externally assessed and to set a target to meet Excellent in the Equality Framework for Fire and Rescue Services in 2014.

Core Values:

Do employees know what the core values are? It is difficult to remember them all. Should they be more prominent e.g. displayed on coasters in the workplace? Subliminal messages are more likely to be effective. What is their value – we are not assessed against them, there is more emphasis on Personal Qualities and Attributes. We need to give more


An action to promote the Core Values has been amended to ‘Review the Core Values’ (page 32) This reflects the feedback that the current Core Values were nationally

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examples to bring them to life e.g. show examples of how we value our people. They can appear negative as if suggesting we wouldn’t behave in this way in any case. There needs to be more recognition that we are already doing these things.

imposed and people don’t feel any ownership of them. The review project will look at each value in turn and determine how they can be used to set and uphold our own behavioural standards.

Is the link clear between core values and disciplinary procedures? There should be a direct link. The core values are emphasised for uniformed staff through Personal Qualities and Attributes but not so much for non-uniformed.


Personal Qualities and Attributes are in fact measured at Personal Performance and Development meetings for all staff. The link between disciplinary and Core Values will be explored in the review project.(page 32)

Difficult to demonstrate that we value equality when there are still different standards in Devon and Somerset following combination. Different standards in response plus in roles such as Control and Operational Response. Control roles seem to be open to firefighters but not the other way around. This sort of inconsistency undermines the core values and people lose faith.


It is important that the Core Values are demonstrated in how the Service behaves and the review project will examine any incongruent messages.(page 32)

Should we review the core values and possibly develop new ones with the involvement of all employees? This could be a possibility. It would be important to ensure that fire fighters really understood the need, importance and relevance of them. It could be a good time to review them as the Personal Qualities and Attributes need reviewing in line with Excellence. Also, are the current core values still relevant for a commercial environment? We could leave the core values but just use the four main headings and expand them with examples to make them meaningful. There are too many words at present. People should be encouraged to consider the consequences of actions/behaviours. Give examples of what happens when you get the core values right and what happens when you get them wrong.


An action to promote the Core values has been amended to ‘Review the Core Values’ (page 32) This reflects the feedback that the current Core Values were nationally imposed and people don’t feel any ownership of them. The review project will look at each value in turn and determine how they can be used to set and uphold our own behavioural standards.

Bullying & Harassment:

Issues with under-reporting. Some people could be reluctant to do so, particularly if it involves their manager. Some people have had bad


Bullying and Harassment is to be addressed with an awareness

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experiences and feel they have not received appropriate support. campaign informed by the staff survey results 2010.(page 44,45)

The discipline investigation process does not encourage people to make a complaint. The process is woolly. Provide guidance for witnesses.


An action to review investigation arrangements has been added to the plan (page 47)

People carrying out the investigation and providing support have their own jobs to do so have limited time. There should be a separate investigation team with sufficient time and resources.


An action to review investigation arrangements has been added to the plan (page 47)

Command style management could be seen as bullying. Fine line between managing effectively and firmly and bullying. More clarity needed about what is effective management and what is bullying.


Bullying and Harassment is to be addressed with an awareness campaign informed by the staff survey results 2010. There should not be a fine line, bullying is very different to effective management and there is evidence that staff need more guidance on the definitions. This will form part of the campaign.(page 45)

Some confusing terminology – bullying, harassment, whistleblowing etc. People are confused – need clarity and what is acceptable/unacceptable behaviour.


Bullying and Harassment is to be addressed with an awareness campaign informed by the staff survey results 2010. There should not be a fine line, bullying is very different to effective management and there is evidence that staff need more guidance on the definitions. This will form part of the campaign.(page 45)

A positive step would be to publicise more widely the outcomes of discipline cases.


Bullying and Harassment is to be addressed with an awareness campaign informed by the staff survey results 2010 (page 45).There are sensitivities to publishing individual cases for both victim and accused in Bullying and Harassment cases.

Agreed that more training is required and that everyone should go Corporate Equalities The new Equalities training policy

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through the equality and diversity e-learning package.

Group requires all staff to complete an updated Equality and Diversity e-learning package as a minimum.

Equalities training:

The Service not only needs to deliver equality training for the workforce as stated in its’ “key equality commitments” but also needs to provide training for managers in equality impact assessing policies. This cannot be a tick box exercise and managers need to have a full understanding of the equality impact assessment process. This should be embedded in all managerial training and the Service needs to highlight the extreme importance of this.

Fire Brigades Union We introduced a new methodology for Equality Impact Assessment, the Equality Risks and Benefits Analysis in 2011. We are currently delivering workshops to managers and policy authors. We will have completed six workshops, by April 1st with the next tranche planned for May/June. Evaluations have been very strong following training and we are already receiving much improved analysis. (page 42)This training is to be embedded in new manager’s induction training and as a result of your feedback we will now include it as a mandatory course for managers writing policy/developing project business cases in the new Equality training policy. We have developed lots of guidance for this process and it is embedded in the policy design process, project business cases and process re-engineering. It is also to be embedded in the Community Safety initiative evaluation toolkit.(page 22)

Work/life balance:

The Union has also previously raised concerns regarding the commitment of the Service towards a proper work/life balance and it is good to see that the service has now committed to improving this

Fire Brigades Union All new policy proposals are subject the Equality Risks and Benefits Analysis, which takes account of not only the

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balance for staff. This objective must be embedded within initial policy making in order to ensure that proposals which would have an adverse effect on work/life balance, such as the recent “day crew plus” plan, are not proposed in future. The Union would also propose a review of policies, which include multiple contracts of employment within the service to ensure that they match the objective contained within the plan.

protected characteristics, but also associated caring responsibilities and ‘community considerations’ and human rights, which range from having a criminal conviction to part time working, rural living, etc. The Service encourages work/life balance through the Well at Work group and flexible working policies, giving employees greater choice about the hours they work and often where they work.

Equalities performance monitoring:

Disability:

On page 20 there is no Objective in relation to disabled people re recruitment or retention, the very least that might be included is to increase a culture of openness and transparency re disability. On page 27 nothing is mentioned in relation to disability although BAME and woman's network is, DSFRS might already have established community links with disabled people and their orgs and/or representatives involved in the Corporate Equalities Group in which case ignore my comment but if not it might be an idea to include an action on this.

National Disabled Fire Association

Two new objectives (page 20):

To promote key messages about disability and operational firefighting in recruitment has now been included.

(This will be reflected in the action to review the positive action strategy.)

To ensure the needs of disabled people are considered in community and workplace activities

In the workplace and community, we plan to expand our engagement with disability groups. We helped establish the National Disabled Fire Association in 2009 and continue to support and use the organisation as consultation partner. We have established a

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dyslexia support group, and the equality plan includes and action to scope the establishment of a disability staff forum (page 43).We also engage on a strategic and local level with disability groups but this needs to be more sustained. We have altered the equality action plan to include four regular Community Forums to monitor our equalities work and to help us identify any new risk factors and important links to community groups and networks (page 26) and this we will aim to include disability groups in each of the four local forums across the service area.

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