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Equality and Diversity Strategy

The Children’s Services Equality and Diversity Action Plan helps us meet the Public Sector Equality Duty. It provides a framework to develop excellent equality, diversity and inclusion practice.

The action plan aims to support positive outcomes for:

  • the children and families we work with 
  • our staff

This covers people with the following "relevant protected characteristics":

  • age
  • disability
  • gender reassignment
  • marriage and civil partnership
  • pregnancy and maternity
  • race
  • religion or belief
  • sex
  • sexual orientation

In East Sussex we also include the following categories:

  • carers
  • Armed Forces

Children’s Services is working on priority actions. These relate to the four domains of the East Sussex County Council equality action plan.

A) Leadership on equality and demonstrating commitment

Continue to deliver equality learning and development offer for elected Members

Deliver team sessions on equality involving:

  • Senior Management Team
  • Heads of Service
  • Senior managers

B) Using data and engagement effectively to make improvements

Equality data monitoring:

1. Work with colleagues across East Sussex County Council to improve capabilities to:

  • record
  • analyse
  • report

routinely on equalities data.

2. Identify where there are gaps in equality data collected. Include proxy measures where appropriate.

3. Produce and disseminate equality data dashboards on outcomes for different groups of:

  • children
  • parents and carers

Public engagement:

1. Work with colleagues across East Sussex County Council to:

  • develop engagement with people sharing legally protected characteristics
  • improve services
  • inform equality impact assessments

2. Facilitate youth voice groups including:

  • Youth Cabinet
  • SEND Young Ambassadors
  • Children in Care Council
  • Social Care Reference Group

3. Commission external partners and work with NHS Sussex to involve young people in:

  • the Children and Young People's Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing Implementation Plan

C) Quality services taking into account diverse needs of local people

  • Strengthen the use of data and information from Equality Impact Assessments (EqIAs)
  • Ensure EqIAs inform service planning and delivery
  • Include resources for positive activities in the social prescribing projects for children and young people

D) Diverse workforce with equality confidence, knowledge and skills

  • Disseminate the resources produced for staff to support race equality in the workplace
  • Facilitate a Schools' and Colleges' Race Equality Network
  • Facilitate the LGBT + Schools' and Youth Network
  • Support the staff equality practitioners' groups to improve equality practice. This will be through training and action learning