The Chair to advise the Committee of any items on which members of the public have requested to speak and advise those members of the public present of the details of the Council’s public participation scheme.
For those members of the public who have submitted any questions or statements, please note, a three minute time limit applies to each speaker and you will be asked to speak before Councillors debate the issue.
Temporary measures during the Coronavirus Pandemic
Due to the Government guidance on measures to reduce the transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19), we will holding meetings in a virtual manner which will be live webcast on our website. Members of the public will still be able to register to speak and ask questions, which will then be read out by the Governance and Democracy Case Manager during Public Question Time and will either be answered by the Chair of the Committee, or the relevant Portfolio Holder, or be followed up with a written response.
Minutes:
Susan Glenn, founder and representative of the Facebook Taunton Disability Action Group, spoke on agenda item 11, Equalities and Diversity Update Report:-
Whilst we believed it important for all involved with the delivery of public services to be trained in the requirements of the Equality Act 2010, and other such laws and regulations that existed or came into existence, now or in the future. We also believed it imperative to have a top level with responsibility for providing joined up thinking, ensuring that the needs of the protected groups were understood, that any proposed changes which could affect those groups were put to wide consultation, enabling reasonable adjustments to be made, avoiding problems before they arose, protecting the council from adverse publicity and possible legal challenges if found wanting, whilst also ensuring the protected groups were indeed protected. This would ensure that any changes introduced were life enhancing, not life limiting by council putting barriers in the way of the protected groups, people who were already struggling with huge issues in just coping with day to day life. Our choices and joy of visiting the places we chose offered a means of distraction from our illness but was gradually being eroded, not by the illness/disease itself but by the choices made by the, mainly able bodied, council. The creation of a joint officer and member equalities group, as a mechanism for providing addition focus on equality matters, was very much welcomed, providing those responsible have a background or experience in disability issues so that we did not see a repeat of the barriers, now placed before disabled and older people, with the closure of East Street, resulting in the exclusion and the removal of equality of opportunity of many in the protected groups. Had such a top level been in place these barriers could have been avoided. This was an opportunity for SWT to be held up as an Equality positive Council, recognised by the various disability and older people agencies and positively promoted as an accessible place to visit, currently the reverse view was being promulgated.
Questions:
1. What assurance could we have that there would be early involvement of disability and other protected groups in new policies and initiatives, in particular those around active travel and pedestrianisation?
2. What mechanisms would put in place to bring our voices directly into decision making?
Thank you, Susan Glenn
Response from the Portfolio Holder for Community:-
1. Not specific to just active travel and pedestrianisation , our absolute intention was to engage as early as possible with local or national groups representing people with Protected Characteristics around policy matters and proposed changes, in order to help shape change and enable reasonable adjustments to be made where necessary.
One of the key purposes of the proposed equality group would be ensure this was done consistently, to share good practice and to provide challenge where required.
We were also looking into the creation of member champions, including Equality and Disability, which would help with accountability.
2. The proposed equality group would act as champions for those who might face disadvantage due to their particular protected characteristics and I am sure would wish, as an early action, to consider how we could even better ensure that the voices of groups representing those with protected characteristics were heard and fully considered as part of the decision making process.
A key part of this would be developing good quality Equality Impact Assessments which were built on engagement with groups representing people with protected characteristics, and provided evidence of the conversations that have taken place, the issues identified and the mitigation proposed.
Additionally, individuals or groups representing people with a protected characteristic would continue to be welcomed to participate in Council meetings and submit questions, show support or challenge as appropriate.