Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Deputy Andrien Meyers (Chair), Caroline Haines, Florence Keelson-Anfu, Deputy Alastair Moss, Deputy Brian Mooney, and Catherine McGuinness.

Judith Pleasance observed the meeting virtually.

There were no declarations.

To approve the public minutes and non public summary of the meeting held on 11 December 2023.

RESOLVED – That the public minutes and non-public summary of the previous meeting, held on 11 December 2023, be approved as a correct record.

The Deputy Chair (in the Chair) informed Members that she would like to consider Item 14, Confidential Minutes, and Item 15, EDI Transition 2.0, immediately following Item 3, Minutes, as it concerned information which was relevant to the agenda.

The Committee agreed to go into confidential session.

RESOLVED – That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

To approve the confidential minutes of the last meeting held on 11 December 2023.

RESOLVED – That the Confidential Minutes of the previous meeting, held on 11 December 2023, be approved as a correct record.

Report of the Chief Strategy Officer.

The Committee received a confidential report of the Chief Strategy Officer, concerning an update on EDI Transition 2.0.

Following conclusion of this item, the Committee agreed to consider the public section of the agenda, with the public being re-admitted into the meeting.

Report of the Chief Stratgey Officer.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Strategy Officer, concerning the approval to publish the updated Equality Objectives to meet the City Corporation’s responsibilities under the Public Sector Equality Duty.

RESOLVED – That Members:

·       Endorse the revised Equality Objectives to enable their publication (on our website and intranet) in March 2024, thereby fulfilling our responsibility under the Public Sector Equality Duty.

·       Note the Equality Objectives (2024-2029) will cover a five-year period to coincide with the Corporation Plan and People Strategy. However, there will be a review in 2028 to comply with the duty of publishing every four years.

·       Note that activity to develop relevant equity, equality, diversity, and inclusion (EEDI) datasets for the Objectives is required to develop robust performance metrics.

Report of the Chief Strategy Officer.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Strategy Officer, concerning an update on the recommendations of the Tackling Racism Taskforce (TRT) and to close the recommendations that were outstanding. The other recommendations had either been completed, were ‘business as usual’, or had been integrated into work across the City Corporation to tackle racism and advance race equality.

A concern was raised on those objectives which had not yet been met, and uncertainty on whether the ‘business as usual’ would not meet the aims of the TRT. The response was that at the highest level, the Corporate Plan had EEDI targets including race equality, the progress of which would be published annually. These would also reference the TRT’s recommendations. The People Strategy had targeted projects within its programmatic structure. The Committee would be sighted on its activities at a future meeting. With regards to the work with schools, this was owned by the Executive Director of Community and Children’s Services, recognising that this was broader than COLAT, but the officer would be the single point of contact.

Members raised that they were concerned of accountability during the transitional period, and if there could be any work to address this during this period. Officers would report back on this at the next Committee meeting.

RESOLVED – That Members endorse the recommendation to close the TRT as a discreet activity as all recommendations have been completed or progressed by departments as part of wider activities to advance race equality.

Report of the Chief Strategy Officer.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Strategy Officer, concerning approving the City Corporation’s 2023 Equality Information Report for the period 1^st April 2022 to 31^st March 2023.

RESOLVED – That Members:

·       Endorse the 2023 Equality Information report provided at Appendix 1 to enable its publication (on our website and intranet) by 30^th March thereby fulfilling our legislative responsibility.

·       Note that improving the quality of the equality data for employees and service users will be a priority activity going forward.

·       Note that Gender Pay Gap information for the Corporation will be published on the Government portal by 30^th March 2024, as required by legislation, with a report to the Corporate Services Committee in April.

Report of the Chief Strategy Officer.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Strategy Officer, concerning a Compliance Health Check to ensure that the City Corporation was compliant at a strategic level in its equality duties and commitments, and to set out initial priorities for action and vulnerabilities.

RESOLVED – That the report be received, and its contents noted.

Report of the Chief Strategy Officer.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Strategy Officer, concerning the Social Mobility Index (SMI) annual benchmarking and assessment for performance in eight areas on social mobility outcomes and the drivers behind social mobility.

Members noted that the City Corporation had declined in ranking since 2022 and queried how the City Corporation aimed to improve that ranking. The Committee heard that the Social Mobility Foundation, who worked with the City Corporation on the SMI, had a higher number of organisations join in recent years, who often undertook targeted and holistic work which improved their ranking. However, the City Corporation could have provided a stronger case covering all the work undertaken across the organisation. It was noted that the Socio-Economic Taskforce (2020-22) had recommendations for a 5-point pathway for organisations to boost socio-economic diversity and for these to be undertaken under Progress Together. The City Corporation had access to these resources to learn best practices from other firms to improve ranking. The actions suggested in the report aimed to improve the City Corporation’s ranking within the Index.

It was noted that the Appendices detailed the feedback and scores on performance for each of the eight areas, which included more specific actions. Some of the actions were achievable whilst others were more challenging, and it was wished to focus on the areas in which the City Corporation scored lower, and to produce a clear action plan.

RESOLVED – That the report be received, and its contents noted, including:

·       City Corporation SMI rankings from 2018-2023.

·       The 2023 Social Mobility Employer Index report (Appendix 1).

·       The SMI suggested areas of focus for the Corporation to explore in response to the 2023 submission (Appendix 2).

Report of the Chief Strategy Officer.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Strategy Officer, concerning a Diversity Calendar 2024-2025, an internal resource highlighting significant dates, facilitating awareness, understanding, and planning around team members’ specific needs and special occasions.

A Member queried how the City Corporation determined which occasions to celebrate. The response was that some events were the responsibility of the Civic Affairs Sub-Committee under its annual calendar, which had some staff training budgets. The action now was to look at where there were gaps, and to clarify the source of funding, but noting that the Civic Affairs Sub-Committee were aiming to have a strategic overview approach to events. It was noted that a representation would be made to the Civic Affairs Sub-Committee in relation to Easter.

The Committee noted that there was an officer working group which had an action to look at events, including attendance, criteria, purpose, and outcomes. The Civic Affairs Sub-Committee would be made aware of this officer working group at its next meeting.

It was further noted that duplication should be avoided with events held by staff networks. The Committee heard that a staff Social Mobility Network would formally launch in June 2024.

RESOLVED – That the report be received, and its contents noted.

The Committee received one public question. A Member raised that they had recently attended a meeting of the City of London School for Girls Board of Governors meeting. At this meeting, a survey was circulated on the Board of Governors, which only had a focus on race to the exclusion of other protected characteristics. The Member had raised the exclusion of other protected characteristics as a concern and agreed to query this at a meeting of the Equality, Diversity, & Inclusion Sub-Committee. It was agreed that this question would be taken away and the Member would be followed up with outside of the meeting.

There were no public items of urgent business.

MOTION: That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

RESOLVED – That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

There were no non-public questions.

There were no other non-public items of urgent business.