Slough Borough Council has today, (27 November 2024), published an independent peer review into the council’s commitment, planning and actions relating to equalities, diversity and inclusion.
The report, from the Local Government Association (LGA) who visited the town in September following an invitation from the council, lays out the authority’s strengths and weaknesses in the areas of customer care, its own workforce and its delivery against equalities objectives.
The review – completed by both senior officers and elected members appointed by the LGA – was asked to assess the council as part of its improvement journey and so its findings could be fed into the current creation of what is known as a target operating model (TOM) for the future ways of working for the council and its services.
The review team was also asked specifically to cover the council’s approach to race, racism and racial inequality and its understanding and addressing of any structural and systemic racial inequality.
Some of the key findings include:
- Leadership (officer and members) are committed to advancing equality
- Equality can be viewed through the narrow lens of race, ethnicity and religion and there is a need to widen that lens to incorporate other inequalities
- There are some green shoots of change at the council; staff and partners are wanting to be part of the work to deliver a more inclusive Slough
- The approach to community engagement is underdeveloped and should form part of the new target operating model
- There is limited diversity at the most senior levels of the council and a feeling there needs to be more commitment to developing existing Slough staff
- Equalities needs to be central to the work of the council’s improvement and recovery board
- The organisational and financial challenges the council is still facing are continuing to have an adverse effect on the feeling of wellbeing amongst staff
- Organisations in the Council for Voluntary Services (CVS) in Slough don’t feel treated as equal partners by the council and want to engage at a more strategic level.
Will Tuckley, chief executive, said: “Considering Slough’s make up, equalities, diversity and inclusion has not been high enough on the priorities, and our actions, planning and services need to reflect the commitment we all have.
“The council has been through a period of intense change, change that has not always been positive, nor which has had inclusiveness at its core.
“With this report, with our commitment as highlighted in the report, and with our continued journey of improvement, we will be taking actions both big and small to provide reassurance to our staff, our partners and our residents, showing Slough is a place for all and that our shared dedication to the town binds us together.”
The council is prioritising its response to the review by focusing on the following actions:
- Developing the role and voice of staff in workforce equality- by strengthening existing networks and encouraging new ones
- Establishing a board led by the Chief Executive, and involving senior officers and staff groups, to oversee actions being progressed on workforce equality and delivering Slough's equality objectives
- Forging a stronger link between improvement and recovery, the council’s operating model and its culture to ensure equality is at the heart of the way Slough Borough Council improves, changes and transforms.
- Developing proactive plans to delivery equality objectives as part of driving delivery of corporate priorities, tackling health inequalities and taking forward workforce plans
- Improve our understanding of needs and of who is using our services through more proactive resident engagement about equality issues and improving equality data collection
A full response and action plan will be published next year.
Councillor Dexter Smith, leader of the council, said: “Slough is a place which has been, and continues to be, built on people coming here from across the country and across the world to find good jobs.
“Slough is known for being welcoming to all, not just tolerant but embracing differences with the council at the forefront, leading the way.
“In times of crisis, it is easy to take the values of Slough and the council for granted but as this report highlights, we need to do more.
“We can do more and we must do more to ensure our plans, our staff, our services are available and accessible, that we talk to more people more often in ways that work for them and that our future is guided and created with our staff, our partners and our residents in mind.”
He added: “We will be scrutinising every line of this report and looking at all the recommendations in detail with action plans coming forward very soon.
“I would like to thank the LGA representatives for both coming to Slough and helping us make sure equalities, diversity and inclusion is at the forefront of our plans for the future.”
The full review report can be found on our equalities pages.