Equality and diversity report

What we have achieved in 2022-23

Commissioning and procuring services

Corporate Commissioning and Procurement Strategy and approach to Social Value

Following approval of the Corporate Procurement Strategy 2022 and implementing our new approach to achieving and maximising Social Value in procurement activity the Council has received the equivalent of £4.1m in social value offers. We are in the process of developing a web page for the Council - The Gateshead Social Value Exchange.

The Gateshead Social Value Exchange has been created to allow local Voluntary Organisations, Social Enterprises, Schools and Community Groups to reap the wider benefits from contracts delivered in Gateshead.  The concept is simple.  Local Voluntary Organisations, Social Enterprises, Schools and Community Groups are encouraged to submit requests detailing what they need.  Procurers and suppliers can easily view this list and align their Social Value offers based on need.

What is The Gateshead Social Value Exchange - The Gateshead Social Value Exchange is designed to bring suppliers, schools, colleges, community groups and VCSEs together to build a better future and help Gateshead to Thrive.  The Gateshead Social Value Exchange will help to maximise Social Value benefits by delivering to the needs of the Borough of Gateshead.

What is Social Value - The Public Services (Social Value) Act (opens new window) came into force on 31 January 2013. It requires people who commission public services to think about how they can also secure wider social, economic, and environmental benefits for the people and communities of Gateshead. Gateshead Council are committed to delivering Social Value and want to encourage organisations to offer services and/or support across the Borough of Gateshead and to connect suppliers with schools, colleges, community groups, and VCSEs.

Suppliers, schools, colleges, community groups and VCSEs who are based within the Borough of Gateshead - are encouraged to submit requests detailing what you need.  Procurers and suppliers are encouraged to submit offers of support or requests. The Council can then align the Social Value offers based on need. 

As a Supplier, their contribution could make a huge impact in Gateshead whether you give up an hour of your time, several hours a week, commit to a one-off project or give donations in kind. We know that it isn't always easy to find the right organisation to support or how to match your skill (and time) with the right recipient.  You are therefore encouraged to submit offers of support which can then be aligned by the Council with the requests received.

The Council has recently appointed a Social Value Coordinator using the UKSPF fund, this is a fixed term post until March 2025.  This post will be responsible for the delivery and coordination of social value offers.

Integration of equality objectives into planned service outcomes

Corporate Equality objective

Our corporate Equality Objective agreed at Cabinet in April 2021 is; to establish an equality baseline and deeper understanding of the issues and needs for Gateshead by protected characteristic; to include our residents and our workforce, to support delivery of our strategic approach Thrive and the Council pledges.

Progress has been made on understanding our workforce, with the current workforce data (non-schools) published in Appendix 1 to this report. This is data from our people management system at 31.03.23 with self-reported protected characteristics from across our employees.

The 2021 Census data releases were analysed to develop topic briefings on our Gateshead population by protected characteristic. This will be further developed at a ward level with factsheets and locality mapping during 2023-24.

Service Design and Delivery

Digital Gateshead

Digital customer

We were early participants of the Local Digital Declaration in 2018 which commits us to "design services that best meet the needs of citizens" as its primary objective. The Local Digital Unit at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities invited Gateshead Council to participate in user research to find out how the Declaration can be improved 5 years on. We will adopt the findings of the research and refresh our commitment to the Digital Declaration during 2023. In June 2022, we recruited a dedicated Service Design Lead and a team of three Service Redesign Analysts. A key task for them is to establish a community of practice in service design across the Council. We actively involve our users in the design process from the very beginning because we know it's the people who use our services that are best able to improve them. Getting users involved at the beginning avoids any guesswork and ensures that we are creating services that serve the people who will be using them. We consult with our Digital panel, residents who participate in research that informs the delivery of our services, most recently how to structure the information on our website.

A focus this year was to assist our response to the cost-of-living crisis. This included the development of digital processes for Council Tax Energy Rebate, COVID Additional Relief Fund (CARF) and the distribution of the Household Support fund. Working with partners a network of places where Gateshead people can come together to stay warm was created and promoted online as a 'warm spaces directory' alongside information to access other support and services. In addition, a 'Brighten the Day' website was launched for Gateshead Council's Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme which provides food and an extensive programme of activities for children who usually get a free school meal.

Other initiatives included extending the number of online payments for our licensing teams. We have also implemented improved secure telephone payments for those residents who can't pay online. Application processes for skip permits and dropped kerbs were introduced as well as ongoing improvements to our successful blue badge application process.

Our digital services continue to have high self-service take up. Booking a slot to attend a Household Waste and Recycling centre is 98% online, garden waste subscriptions 84% and applying for a blue badge is 70% online. We still offer these services over the phone to those who are unable to access the internet. After the submission of an online service request, we ask for customer feedback. Of the 459,388 cases raised our customers rated them 4.41 out of 5 for 2022-23.

We maintain compliance of www.gateshead.gov.uk with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 with a particular focus on ensuring all documents are converted to HTML format to improve accessibility. Examples include the Climate Change Strategy 2022, Gateshead Health and Wellbeing Strategy and the Youth Justice Strategic Plan.

Digital Inclusion

Our Libraries Digital team promotes digital inclusion and access to IT for all. As part of this they led a programme of SIM card distribution in partnership with Good Things Foundation in 2022/23.  The Digital team worked with a number of partners including Peace of Mind, 2wayTenancy, Ukrainian refugees, Domestic Abuse Team, Working Gateshead, and Community Link Workers to distribute free SIM cards to people in need. The SIMs are allocated through the National Databank scheme and last 6 months with a free monthly allocation of 20gb data plus unlimited calls and texts.  85 SIM cards were gifted in total. The team offer support for switching SIMS, retaining original numbers, downloading necessary apps and take the opportunity to tell clients about other sessions that can be offered.

Election - accessibility

The Elections Act 2022 brought in additional duties to make sure that elections are as accessible as possible to all voters with disabilities. In particular to ensure that voters with disabilities attending polling stations are able to vote independently and in secret

Our election team is aware that disabled people face barriers to voting at a polling station where they might not have the support they need, or they encounter physical, visual, or psychological barriers for example.  We are also aware that not all disabilities are obvious, and some voters may have more than one disability.

In response to the new rules, our election team did the following for the local elections in May 2023:

• liaised directly with Gateshead disability and minority groups
• improved the website content informing voters what assistance was available
• produced a polling station support leaflet (circulated in advance to disability groups)
• produced new polling station posters
• provided an accessibility pack to election staff for use in each polling station which contained the following; tactile voting device, A5 size magnifier, Mencap easy read guide, pen and pencil with grips attached, portable lights and a portable doorbell (where needed).

Our election team will make further adjustments are required to ensure that voting continues to be as accessible as possible to all voters

Improving Customer Experience

Through 2022-23 we have continued to listen to customers and have adjusted the way we use our buildings to serve customers.  In the Civic Centre this has included re-opening a reception area in the centre of the building. With further plans in development for this area to improve the experience for all customers needing to make face-to-face contact with us.  By enhancing level access to facilities we endeavour to offer the best possible quality of service to all customers.

Libraries, Arts and Heritage

Our Libraries, Arts and Heritage service promotes equality and diversity through our events programming and through positive action to ensure diversity of our book stock. Libraries use high profile national activities such as Pride month, Stephen Lawrence Day, Holocaust Memorial Day, Black History Month, and Women's History Month to promote our diverse offer of stock to library customers. We also use these themes to select titles for reading groups (both adult and young people's) - we have a variety of books to promote discussion around race, sexuality, disability.

In addition, we have a monthly readers group for people with complex, long-term mental health conditions in partnership with Tyneside Women's Health. We hosted author visits from children's authors Onjali Q Rauf and Sufiya Ahmed in a conscious decision to include authors from minority backgrounds in our schools programme as part of Northern Children's Book Festival.

In 2022, our Library service began work in assisted living facilities to encourage use of our eBook platform Borrow box, and the Readers at Home library service as well as discussing books and reminiscing about Gateshead in the past. This is targeted work focused on people who have been socially isolated, are less mobile due to age/medical conditions, have dementia, some have learning difficulties.

Our Arts team delivered a family Mini Pride event at Gateshead Central Library in partnership with Curious Arts, an LGBTQ+ cultural organisation.  The event celebrated everything that's unique about families. Curious Arts are also delivering Wild and Curious as part of the Emerald Explorers programme, with outdoor activities for young people. The Arts team also supported GemArts with their Mini Mela in February half term at Gateshead Central Library and the Masala festival in July, which included an exhibition showcasing work by Mani Kambo and Sofia Barton and supporting public workshops and activities with Art Diamonds, a creative wellbeing programme for people of retirement age.

A broader programme of local history activities has been developed through new links with experts and publishers of diverse histories.  Memories of local LGBTQ women were made available via a new Sound and Film area in Gateshead Archive. Historians delivered sessions to Gateshead schools, residents and library staff to strengthen knowledge of Jewish, African/Caribbean and South Asian history as part of Gateshead History Festival. Research into the earliest records about people of African descent in Gateshead Archive collections was completed (covering the period 1600-1850) and has revealed documents relevant to people who were enslaved.  The research has been presented in a new teaching pack about Gateshead and the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans. The pack includes detail of local families and industrialists who were directly involved in holding enslaved people or who benefitted directly from the trade. More importantly, the pack includes information about the lives of the African and Caribbean residents in Gateshead discovered during the research.