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Performance Standard: GS2.1 Equal opportunities

Self Assessment

You may wish to ask the following self-assessment questions about your approach to action planning on equality issues:

• Have we published documents that clearly and specifically set out our commitment and approach to equalities issues?

• Do we have comprehensive and up to date information on our population and related equalities issues?

• Do we link into local planning and information networks on equalities issues and are we represented by staff at appropriately senior levels?

• Have we carried out a needs/requirements assessment for all of the relevant equalities groups covering all aspects of our services?

• Have we translated the objectives in our equalities planning/policy documents into ambitious but realistic targets which relate to service outcomes and access to services?

• Do we include objectives and targets relating to equal access and outcomes for all service users in contracts with agents who deliver services on our behalf?

• Do we have agreement on these targets from our partners in any relevant local partnerships?

• Do we identify responsibility for achieving targets?

• And do we adequately resource the required action by giving staff appropriate training, support and time to carry them out?

• Do we communicate objectives, targets and actions to staff, actual or potential service users and more widely for public scrutiny?

• Do elected members or governing body members understand and actively endorse our approach to equalities?

• Do we reflect equalities objectives in managers’ individual performance agreements and do we appraise managers against these?

• Do our staff understand our commitments on equalities documents, and know that they are expected to put them into practice?

• (For local authorities only) Does our published Race Equality Scheme (from November 2002) address equality issues in our landlord, homelessness and factoring roles?

You may wish to ask the following self-assessment questions about your approach to consultation and participation on equality issues:

• Have we made a commitment to ongoing and systematic consultation with service users?

• Do we develop our equalities policies and approach in consultation with a range of individual service-users and/or representative groups?

• Have we committed resources and support to the set up of standing groups or forums or have we established links with equalities groups in the wider community, to facilitate ongoing contact and consultation?

• Have we made it easy for all parts of the community to feed in their views about our services and policies?

• Do we analyse collected information to identify patterns of responses by different groups within the community?

• Do we feed back to consultees, service-users and the wider community?

You may wish to ask the following self-assessment questions about your approach to monitoring equality issues:

• Do we have comprehensive systems to monitor equality issues?

• Does the information we collect allow us to assess our ongoing performance against our objectives and targets, including the effectiveness of mainstreaming?

• Do we collect qualitative and quantitative information from an appropriate range of sources, e.g.:

- Information on satisfaction with services across different groups?
- Analysis of complaints?
- Feedback from consultative groups?
- Numerical outputs such as houses allocated?

• Do we use self-classification methods wherever possible?

• Do our monitoring systems extend to contracts with agents and partnership arrangements in relation to service access and delivery targets?

• Do we consult with appropriate stakeholder and representative groups about what information will be collected and how it will be used?

• Do we report regularly to relevant staff, elected members/governing body members, partners and agents where appropriate, and service users and the wider community?

• Do we feed back results of monitoring exercises into the corporate and service-planning system?

• Do we regularly review and update objectives and targets using monitoring information?

• Do we use monitoring information to update service-user profiles?

You may wish to ask the following self-assessment questions about your approach to the review of equality issues in your delivery of services:

• Have we made a commitment to self-assessment, scrutiny and audit of equalities issues?

• How do we know that we comply with legislative requirements and statutory guidance on equalities issues?

• Do we review all areas of service delivery, with reference to the information we hold on:

- The profile and diverse needs of the target population?
- How this compares with the outcomes currently being achieved?

• Are our service and policy reviews carried out in consultation with affected service users and the wider community?

• Do we benchmark our performance against other comparable organisations?

• Do we identify and share examples of good practice in our service delivery?

• Do we know the demand for information in alternative formats?

• Do we provide good quality and easily accessible information on the services we deliver and how to access them, in formats, languages and locations which suit the needs of our target population?

• Is there evidence that we have mainstreamed equalities issues throughout all of our service areas?

• Have we taken action to identify any actual or potential disparities in service outcomes for equalities groups?

• Have we given consideration to any possible barriers to access or equal outcomes for individuals belonging to these groups?

• Can we demonstrate that our services are accessible to all sectors of our community?

• Can we demonstrate that there are no systematic or unjustifiable differences in quality of service provided to any particular group of service users?

• Have we taken action to respond to any gaps, disparities and concerns identified?

• Have we taken action to remove or reduce the impact of any barriers to access or equal outcomes?

• Do we have quick and effective procedures to respond to any incidence of discriminatory behaviour, harassment or attack on any member of an equalities group?

RSLs may wish to ask the following self-assessment questions about how their staff, governing body and wider membership reflect the communities they serve:

• Do our published policy and strategy documents on equalities issues include a commitment to equal recruitment and employment practices?

• Are our recruitment and employment practices in line with legislative requirements and the CRE’s Code of Practice on Employment?

• Do we advertise information about vacancies in ways which do not unfairly restrict the range of applicants?

• Are our staff who are involved in recruitment and human resource management appropriately trained on equalities issues?

• Do we have good information about the composition of our existing staff, governing body and wider membership and how this compares with our local population profile?

• Have we established targets and objectives designed to reduce or remove any disparities identified between the equalities profiles of our staff, governing body or membership and our local population?

• Have we agreed a course of action to achieve these targets and provided appropriate resources to support the implementation of these actions?

• Do we monitor our achievements or progress against our objectives and targets?

• Do we report regularly on our performance in relation to these targets and objectives to staff, governing body members, the wider membership and service users?

• Do we review and revise targets/objectives and the action which is being taken to achieve them?

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Self Assessment

Useful References and Websites

Performance and Contextual Information

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