Oxford Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Strategy

The Local Government Association has outlined four areas of focus for equality, diversity and inclusion. We already incorporate these cross-cutting themes into our work, and we are committed to further action to put these at the heart of all we do.

This strategy outlines our priorities in delivering each strand of work and the context that each of these operates in. We have outlined actions we are already committed to delivering, to demonstrate how we will deliver on our priorities. We will produce an Equalities Action Plan for this strategy with measurable targets and commitments which knit together to help create thriving communities.

Understanding and Working with our Communities

Context

Our Thriving Communities Strategy will outline some of the key approaches we will use to improve our understanding and engagement with our communities. Oxford is one of the most diverse cities in the South East, and that brings additional challenges in community engagement and inclusion.

A focus on equality, diversity and inclusion is central to our community relationships. It is vital to understand that protected groups may have differing needs and what we can do to meet those, to prevent unconscious discrimination and unfairness. We have established a multi-faith forum which meets on a regular basis with senior representatives from the council and faith groups. This is a forum to discuss opportunities and raise issues of concern and to work in partnership on these matters. We also work with faith groups at grassroots level on a day-to-day basis through our locality teams to understand and support their needs.

It is also important to understand the intersectionality or interconnected nature of social categorisations such as race, class and gender, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage. Intersectionality is the acknowledgement that everyone has their own unique experiences of discrimination and oppression, and we must consider everything and anything that can marginalise people – gender, race, class, sexual orientation, physical ability, etc.

We also recognise there is stark inequality in Oxford, and we aim to use our policies and services to rebalance that where possible– from providing social housing to youth work, welfare reform, parks and leisure. Our Housing, Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy is based on research into the community needs for housing, including disability needs, gender, family housing needs and risk of homelessness. We have used this understanding of our communities to ensure our housing strategy meets their needs.

We are also focused on tackling the impacts of child poverty, through our work to support families, our direct work through the Youth Ambition team, through locality hubs and projects like the Community Impact Zone. We recognise that there is an element of child poverty that relates to historic and institutional racial discrimination, and that must be tackled at a political and institutional level to create long-term change.

Priorities

• providing inclusive services: understanding and addressing barriers to accessing our services, community assets and community engagement
• promoting partnership working: use our relationships to work together and connect different communities so that we can jointly address issues and celebrate strengths; this approach is embedded in our new Community Impact Fund
• empowerment: building community capacity to lead and participate in projects that benefit or affect their communities. In practice, this means doing “with” rather than “to” and, where possible, focusing on what is strong in communities rather than what’s wrong- this approach is often termed asset-based community development (ABCD). ABCD approaches show that connecting people and creating more resident-to-resident relationships builds interdependence and reliance on each other. Connecting people to their shared interests, and enabling them to exchange skills and resources, helps communities identify and take action on the issues that are most important to them

Actions

As part of our work in this area, we will:

• review how we communicate, consult and engage with communities, looking at how this may need to adapt for different localities, diversities, interests and needs. This will include the need to report back to communities on outcomes as well as listening to needs, vulnerabilities and aspirations
• facilitate events that promote understanding and help bring communities together, using our community grant funding, partnerships and our elected members to support and promote these activities
• work with stakeholders and partners to support access to core service provision for migrant and refugee communities. This includes promoting and enhancing our online welcome pack for migrant communities and international students
• empower communities to help themselves, for example, by working with local organisations to support members of the community to become trustees, or become involved in the governance of community assets
• support community groups to access spaces and places where they can come together to enjoy common interests and create new friendships
• ensure our leisure centre activities are accessible, providing free swimming for under 17s, crèches, ladies only swimming sessions and targeted concessions
• continue work under our strategic plan to offer development opportunities for disadvantaged children and young people, through the council’s Youth Ambition programme and our apprenticeship policy
• continue to work with partners to tackle racism and hate language, including tackling the root causes, as part of delivering our commitments made in the Oxford Anti-Racism Charter
• contribute to wider thriving communities objectives such as addressing youth unemployment through active promotion of apprenticeships, the Rose Hill work hub and Oxford Living Wage
• enable people to exhibit and share their stories, cultures and histories in the newly redeveloped Museum of Oxford – the only museum in Oxford dedicated to telling the story of Oxford and its diverse communities
• work to find a suitable site for a burial ground so we can meet the future needs of Oxford’s diverse and faith-based communities
• through our grants, events surgeries and advice, we will support the LGBTQ+ community to access community facilities and create safe spaces for community activities for new and established groups to meet

Leadership and Organisational Commitment

Context

The council has a key role to play in demonstrating leadership in the city on equality, diversity and inclusion. As an organisation, we are responsible for providing investment and services that tackle inequalities; our councillors are elected to represent Oxford’s diverse communities and give them a voice in creating a more equal city.

EDI runs through all the council’s strategies and will be a key part of our business and service plans, and every employee’s individual performance plan.

The Council’s Strategy for 2020-2024 outlines some of the ways we will use our investment and economic influence to create a more inclusive economy, to tackle inequality and increase the opportunities for disadvantaged groups.

As well as working to tackle barriers to equality, we work with Thames Valley Police and other partners from the Oxford Safer Communities Partnership to reduce crime, anti-social behaviour and hate crime and to take legal action against individuals for these offences.

Priorities

• challenging discrimination: using our voice, our services and our economic influence to challenge prejudice and institutional discrimination
• improving service design: building in a strong equality, diversity and inclusion processes at the onset of policy and service design so that we meet the needs of all residents

Actions

We will show leadership in how we listen and communicate about diversity, as well as by the actions we take.

• we will continue to use our financial influence to encourage suppliers to meet demanding standards of equality and inclusion. The council is one of the major institutions in the city, and we spend significant money in the local economy. We already require our suppliers to show they operate to the highest standards in certain areas, such as tackling modern day slavery. We will look for further opportunities to embed high standards in our supply chain and actively encourage other Oxford employers to do the same
• work is underway to review our Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs), to ensure new policies and services fully consider the impact on protected groups. We aim to have strong EIAs and a clear process, actively supported by senior management, to make sure EDI issues are always considered at the earliest stage when we change or innovate in what we do
• as well as using EIAs to develop policies and services, we will monitor the equality outcomes of new or updated policies and services. We will use this monitoring to provide feedback on how those services and policies are delivered and learn and improve how our EIAs promote equality
• we have already embedded equality, diversity and inclusion requirements into our Community Grants criteria, and we will continue to monitor and prioritise equality outcomes as part of our grants process
• we set up a Residents Panel in 2019 to help us improve our understanding of the views of residents on issues where we are not running a formal consultation. We will review the size and demographics of our Residents Panel and be prepared to increase the size and membership of the panel if needed
• we are working on tackling harassment and violence against women in the city centre through the Safer Streets initiative with Thames Valley Police and our partners
• we will continue to act swiftly to tackle anti-social behaviour, for example, removing offensive graffiti from council buildings and public places within one working day
• our Anti-Social Behaviour Investigation Team treat all hate crime reports as a priority, working with the police and other partners to support victims and tackle the perpetrators
• we work with the police to support our communities during and in the aftermath of protests
• our Anti-Slavery Coordinator works in partnership across Oxfordshire to combat modern slavery, raising awareness, supporting victims and disrupting the exploiters
• our strategic lead for Domestic Abuse works with partners to support victims of honour-based violence, female genital mutilation and other forms of domestic and sexual abuse
• we will review how we inform and engage elected councillors on EDI issues, so that they are well informed and can actively engage with residents on these matters. We will support them as leaders in the local community by providing relevant, timely information about actions the council is taking on EDI matters
• engage and empower residents to take action on carbon reduction, support access funding and programmes to cut carbon, and involve them in how we will achieve Zero Carbon Oxford by 2040. We will use our own processes, partnerships, and community relationships to ensure that we cut carbon emissions in Oxford in a way that does not disadvantage low-income households in the city or sacrifice residents’ standard of living. We will take opportunities to enhance residents’ standard of living, especially those who are most vulnerable and have low-incomes, through our climate action
• use our programme of capital investment in building and infrastructure to set an example of high standards of inclusive design and planning for public spaces, community buildings and social housing. We will use stakeholder engagement, our Equalities Steering Group, and the public consultation process to listen to concerns around equality, diversity, and inclusion. We will apply and monitor EIAs from the early stages of project development

Responsive Services and Customer Care

Context

The needs of residents are at the heart of everything the council does, we have set out an ambition to build a world-class city for everyone. Oxford is a very diverse city and has stark inequalities, and it is vital that our services and our staff are able to respond and adapt to the needs of all residents. We are committed to high levels of customer care, and our People Strategy outlines the standards and values we expect our workforce to uphold for each other and for our customers.

Priorities

• ensuring no one is left behind: focusing extra planning and resources on those most likely to struggle to access our services
• focus on crisis prevention: provide early, joined-up services that support our customers to prevent the worst issues of inequality, including health inequalities, homelessness and debts
• provide modern, accessible services for changing customer needs: take the opportunities provided by digital technology to support self-service on demand, available at a time and place to suit the customer

Actions

To deliver these standards in our services and customer care we will:

• champion digital inclusion and accessibility as we move towards ‘digital by default’ services, working with partners to ensure there is access to devices, connectivity and skills development. Where appropriate, we will use council funding and infrastructure, such as free community centre Wi-Fi, to support residents to get online, so that no one is excluded as we move towards fully digital service delivery
• work with customers as we go cashless, to ensure the support is there to complete financial transactions with the council. We recognise that some people may need more support than others, and we aim to provide information, advice and support to ensure they are not disadvantaged as we make the transition
• continue to work with county council and health colleagues, and other key stakeholders, to understand the impact that shielding and social isolation has had on residents, and the additional needs this has created for those affected. As part of this work, we aim to help create routes for people to be referred for appropriate health or social support so that needs are met
• review the accessibility and effectiveness of the relocation of the council’s contact centre into the central library
• audit green spaces and community facility access to help us develop how we provide these fairly across the city. The pandemic highlighted how essential these spaces are for creating better outcomes for health, skills and positive social connections in areas of high deprivation. This audit will help us devise our approach for future provision of these spaces to support better outcomes and tackle deprivation
• ensure that we understand issues that disproportionately affect specific groups and may lead to homelessness. Early homeless prevention is a key part of our Housing, Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy, and we will work with the community and partner organisations tackling homelessness to address these issues and prevent homelessness. Learnings will be incorporated into EIAs for future housing policies, procedures and strategies
• review and improve how we engage with our social housing tenants and leaseholders. The Government’s Social Housing White Paper is expected to soon become legislation. The legislation will, amongst other things, require social housing landlords to provide high-quality engagement with their tenants. We are already reviewing and strengthening our approach to tenant engagement on our housing waiting list and will continue to put inclusion at the heart of this
• implement our Service Integration Project involving customer services, Housing, Community Services and Regulatory Services & Community Safety. The focus is on locality working specifically to address customers’ needs and provide a preventative approach for vulnerable people to stop them from falling into crisis. We will also provide a reactive response when required, with the aim to create long-term solutions to emergency needs

Diverse and Engaged Workforce

Context

We have outlined in our People Strategy how we will ensure that diversity and inclusion are prioritised internally. This includes commitments on recruitment, development and retention to ensure our workforce reflects the make-up of the city, and processes, leadership and governance to embed equality, diversity and inclusion within our policy-making and service delivery.

Priorities

• becoming an inclusive employer: setting and promoting policies and providing training across the organisation, that foster an inclusive working culture
• recruit and retain a diverse workforce: focus on recruiting, developing and promoting staff from a wider range of backgrounds to truly represent the city, including at senior level
• empower staff: create robust and transparent processes, policies and systems across the Council that improve staff ability to champion diversity and inclusion

Actions

Among the commitments we have made as part of this are:

• implement and embed the Council’s Equality Action Plan to ensure the council is regarded as an exemplar of good practice, through our staff Equalities Champions and the Equalities Steering Group
• cultivate leadership at all levels, so that all staff are able to develop and progress throughout their careers. We have made a clear commitment to a more diverse workforce at management level, with a focus on more managers who are female or from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic heritage
• improving our data collection to help us understand barriers and opportunities to recruiting, retaining and developing talented people from diverse backgrounds
• empowering employees to create staff networks that represent the interest and experiences of those with protected characteristics