Equal opportunities
The Council is committed to delivering fair, accessible and
relevant services, which recognise the different communities within
the borough.
Under amendments to the Local Government Act 1988 the Council is
now free to seek information from suppliers on equal opportunities
and workforce codes of practice where they are relevant to
contractual quality and efficiency.
There is also a requirement under The Public Sector Equality
Duty (Equality Act 2010), to not only promote equality and
eliminate discrimination but also to ensure that such
work is transparent and outcome based. Therefore, the Council
will ask for details of the supplier’s policies and procedures for
ensuring equal opportunities.
The Council’s Equality Scheme was agreed in May 2005, and
updates the previous Race Equality Scheme. The scheme includes a
section on procurement and sets out the commitment that officers
responsible for contracting will consider equalities issues
throughout the procurement process. The Equality Scheme is
currently under review and will be revised following the
publication of Equality Objectives in April 2012.
Overall, the Council wishes to use its role as a community
leader and its considerable purchasing power to forward its
commitment to promoting equality and respecting diversity. Equal
opportunities will be, however, considered specifically in light of
each procurement opportunity.
The outcomes we seek as a Council are:
- to achieve a consistent approach to equality and diversity in
the delivery of our services
- to ensure that our tendering and selection processes positively
address and include equality considerations