Question 1 – Received from Matthew Francis
On the 24 January, the Mayor was asked by Councillor Whiting why she had taken the decision to disallow motion one, regarding the conflict in Gaza. The Mayor stated one reason, in that she did not believe it complied with Paragraph 7.12 (e) of Section 4 of the Gedling Borough Council Constitution. It has since come to light, through an information request, that the Mayor also disallowed motion one, because she believed that it could cause untold damage to the reputation of the council amongst certain communities if voted on and reported in the press, and she also believed it held the possibility of threats to the personal security of members of the council or the public.
In the spirit of honesty and transparency, when asked by Councillor Whiting for the reasons behind the disallowing of motion one, why did you not make these other two reasons known to the council, and the public at large?
Question 2 – Received by Auvil
Graham
I emailed Michael Payne, copying in John Clarke, on 31 January and
received a reply on 8 April. The reply does not answer my
question.
In my original email I noted of nearly 50 councillors, officers, and members of the public in attendance at the full council meeting of January 2024, apart from myself there was only one other person from a visible ethnic minority.
Given the deputy leader’s response to a constituent’s question at that meeting in which he said the council takes its responsibility for equality and diversity seriously and that all protected characteristics are equally important, I question the validity of that statement.
According to the most recent equality monitoring data (2021) only 4.4% of the council’s employees were from visible minorities against a population of about 10%. I don’t have the current figures even though the delay in answering my question was apparently to ensure up-to-date information. I am not aware of any non-white councillors on GBC.
I had asked that given the councils stated commitment to equality I would be very grateful to know how GBC intends to make the council more representative ethnically of the public it serves and efforts to engage the council’s minority ethnic population in all activities including local democracy. The reply from the leader and deputy leader does not, unfortunately, answer my question. Indeed, it does not specifically address under-representation of minority ethnic people at all. I would be grateful for a clear answer.
How does GBC intend to make the council more
representative ethnically of the public it serves and engage the
council’s minority ethnic population in all activities,
including local democracy?
Minutes:
Two questions were received and both questioners were in attendance to ask their questions. The questions and answers are as follows:
Question 1 – Asked by Matthew Francis
On the 24 January, the Mayor was asked by Councillor Whiting why she had taken the decision to disallow motion one, regarding the conflict in Gaza. The Mayor stated one reason, in that she did not believe it complied with Paragraph 7.12 (e) of Section 4 of the Gedling Borough Council Constitution. It has since come to light, through an information request, that the Mayor also disallowed motion one, because she believed that it could cause untold damage to the reputation of the council amongst certain communities if voted on and reported in the press, and she also believed it held the possibility of threats to the personal security of members of the council or the public.
In the spirit of honesty and transparency, when asked by Councillor Whiting for the reasons behind the disallowing of motion one, why did you not make these other two reasons known to the council, and the public at large?
Answer 1 – given by the Mayor, Cllr Julie Najuk
When I was considering the motion from the independent members in relation to the conflict in Gaza, back in January, I did hold the view, as outlined in the question, that the motion could damage the Council’s reputation and cause a security risk to members, in addition to the view that it did not accord with the constitution. I emailed my views to the Chief Executive explaining the motion was disallowed.
I have authority as Mayor, to determine the validity of motions under para 7.12 (e) of the constitution. In exercise of that specific power, the constitutional grounds for refusal of the motion on which I relied, were that the motion did not, in my opinion, comply with para 7.12 (e) of section 4 of the Constitution, in that I did not consider it was relevant to a matter in relation to which the Council had powers and responsibilities or which affects the borough, as the motion related to national foreign policy.
Whilst I expressed wider reasons privately, I have exercised my mayoral authority, in line with paragraph 7.12 (e) of the constitution and that is the reason I gave, in line with that authority in a public meeting.
Question 2 – Asked by Auvil Graham
I emailed Michael Payne, copying in John Clarke, on 31 January and received a reply on 8 April. The reply does not answer my question.
In my original email I noted of nearly 50 councillors, officers, and members of the public in attendance at the full council meeting of January 2024, apart from myself there was only one other person from a visible ethnic minority.
Given the deputy leader’s response to a constituent’s question at that meeting in which he said the council takes its responsibility for equality and diversity seriously and that all protected characteristics are equally important, I question the validity of that statement.
According to the most recent equality monitoring data (2021) only 4.4% of the council’s employees were from visible minorities against a population of about 10%. I don’t have the current figures even though the delay in answering my question was apparently to ensure up-to-date information. I am not aware of any non-white councillors on GBC.
I had asked that given the councils stated commitment to equality I would be very grateful to know how GBC intends to make the council more representative ethnically of the public it serves and efforts to engage the council’s minority ethnic population in all activities including local democracy. The reply from the leader and deputy leader does not, unfortunately, answer my question. Indeed, it does not specifically address under-representation of minority ethnic people at all. I would be grateful for a clear answer.
How does GBC intend to make the council more representative ethnically of the public it serves and engage the council’s minority ethnic population in all activities, including local democracy?
Answer 2 – given by Councillor Michael Payne
Thank you, Mr Graham, for your question this evening and your earlier letter about the important issue you have raised. I share your concerns about the need for greater progress on improving the representation of ethnic minorities within the Council’s workforce and among its elected representatives.
In the interest of transparency, I will read your original letter and the response from the Leader of the Council and myself. I will then respond to your question this evening. Mr Graham’s original letter to the Leader of the Council and I read:
Dear Michael
I listened with great interest to your eloquent response to a written question at last week’s full council meeting regarding age discrimination. In it you stated that the council takes ‘its responsibility for equality and diversity very seriously’ going on to say that all protected characteristics are equally important.
You will be more aware than I that Gedling Borough Council currently has no visibly non-white councillors. To my knowledge it never has. This was of course evident to me at last week’s meeting, but I also noted that of the nearly 50 councillors, officers, and members of the public in attendance, only 1 other apart from myself was from a visible ethnic minority. I don’t know the status of the person, but I believe she is an officer. I find this disappointing and hope that this disparity is also of concern to the council.
Further, I note that according to the most recent equality monitoring data (2021) only 4.4% of the council’s employees were from visible minorities against a population of about 10%.
Given your stated commitment to equality I would be very grateful to know how GBC intends to make the council more representative ethnicity of the public it serves and efforts to engage the council’s minority ethnic population in all activities including local democracy. I note that you said a consultation on a new equality policy and action plan will commence shortly. Please can you advise however what is happening now and on the council’s success in this regard. Kind regards, Auvil Graham.
The response from the Leader of the Council and myself was as follows:
Dear Auvil
Thank you for your email of 31 January 2024 in which you ask about the measures that the Council is taking to ensure that it is representative of the community that it serves. Please accept our apologies for the delay in responding - we were keen to share the most up to date and accurate information possible with you. We share your passion and commitment to the issues you have taken the time to raise with us.
Firstly, we would start by saying that although there have been elected Members of Gedling Borough Council from a visible ethnic minority in the past, much more needs to be done to make progress on increasing representations from ethnic minorities on the Council. We would certainly welcome and support this and would be pleased to learn of potential candidates of an ethnic minority who wished to be considered for vacant ward positions as they arose. We have both worked hard to encourage, support and campaign for council candidates in our own political party who are from diverse backgrounds - including those from ethnic minorities. We were extremely disappointed none of them were elected in the recent May 2024 council elections, but we have continued to support them as individuals since the elections and will continue to do so.
In terms of the Council more widely, it really is quite timely that you ask the question and we are really pleased and proud to be able to tell you of the good work that is currently in place as well as the imminent developments that you mention in your email although again, we would start by recognising your concerns that the proportion of employees is not yet representative of the visible ethnic minority population within the borough. Examples of the current measures that we have in place to try to help move us towards being more representative include:
- In addition to job advertisements appearing openly in the Council’s jobs web page, all external job vacancies are also targeted directly to around 40 different individuals and community groups representing or working with potentially under-represented applicants: organisations such as PATRA for example.
- All managers who undertake recruitment are trained to ensure that they understand and apply fair process.
- Over the last year or so all office-based employees have undergone equality, diversity and inclusion training that also includes reference to unconscious bias. This is now being rolled out to the remainder of the workforce that does not have easy access to the e-learning training programme.
- The Council has now established an internal officer group called GIGS (the Gedling Inclusion Group Support) which comprises around ten employees from across the Council, all of whom have volunteered to take part in the group which aims to support the Council’s work with a focus on all protected characteristics covered within the Equality Act 2010.
This is a new network group and I know that the members of the group are excited by the prospect of being genuinely able to contribute to the development of the Council’s ambitions to improve equality, diversity and inclusion.
As you mentioned in your email, there are other work strands that are also currently being developed. The current framework that was in place for the three years leading up to 2023 contained around 70 equality-related actions almost all of which have now been completed. The revised and updated Council Equality Policy is now going through a period of consultation from which actions will be developed linking to the Local Government Association’s Equality Framework under which the Council hopes to move from its “developing” status to “achieving” status during the life of the Gedling Plan 2023-27. Service Plans are currently being developed for 2024-25 and each service area has been mandated to include at least one material equality-related action that will help support the Council to make positive improvement for its employees, residents and service users.
Once again, thank you for your interest. Hopefully this response gives a flavour of the measures of support that are currently in place as well as those that are being developed. We would of course be more than happy to meet with you to discuss these issues further and hear your feedback and suggestions.
Kind regards
Councillor John Clarke
Leader of Gedling Borough Council
Cllr Michael Payne
Deputy Leader of Gedling Borough Council
The simple truth is, too many individuals from black and ethnic minority groups still face discrimination and disadvantage in both getting into and progressing at work.
People of all ethnicities and backgrounds should have equality of access, treatment and outcomes, throughout the employee lifecycle. From getting a job, to accessing training and receiving a promotion, employees should feel empowered and be able to realise their full potential at work.
The Council has made progress in tackling some of these challenges but there is always more to do.
I have therefore asked the Council’s Strategic Equalities and Diversity Group and senior management to commission an independent review of the Council’s recruitment and retention procedures, policies and culture with a specific focus on the issue of the council’s staff being representative of the community it services, including the representation of ethnic minorities within our workforce.
There are a wide range of important studies and reports into the issues facing black people and other ethnic minorities in the workplace, which the Council’s senior management and Strategic Equalities and Diversity Group could examine - the 2017 McGregor-Smith Review into issues affecting black and minority ethnic (BME) groups in the workplace, the CIPD’s race inclusion reports and the 2016 Parker Review into ethnicity of UK Boards, amongst others.
From a personal perspective, I will continue to do everything I can to support people from ethnic minorities who wish to stand for public office too and to engage with our ethnic minority communities across Gedling Borough.
I am also keen to listen and hear Mr Graham’s own suggestions about how further progress can be made on this important issue, I would therefore reiterate the invitation from the Leader of the Council and myself to meet with Mr Graham to listen to his concerns and suggestions regarding how further progress can be made.
Once again thank you to Mr Graham for taking the time to write and ask a question about this important issue.