Equality and Inclusion

Fareham Borough Council welcomes the diversity of its population and is committed to ensuring that all those who live and work here are able to participate in the democratic, social economic and cultural life of the Borough.  Developing strong and inclusive communities is a key Council objective and an essential part of improving the local economy, protecting the environment and safeguarding the quality of life for all the Borough’s residents and businesses.

New Legislation

The Equality Act came into force April 2010 which contained the public sector equality duty that came into force in September 2011. This requires all public bodies to publish their equality information on an annual basis starting from January 2012. Fareham Borough Council have collated that equality information into the 'Equality Report 2012' below.  

Equality Report 2012    

Equality Objectives

What are Equality Objectives?

They are improvements the Council plans to make to ensure that the services it provides are accessible to everyone who wishes to use them, and that it treats everyone fairly and considers of their needs.

Why do we need Equality Objectives?

The Equality Act 2010 is the new Equality Legislation introduced in April 2010. Part of the Act says that all Councils should review the services it provides to the public to make sure they are accessible to everyone who wishes to use them, and that they treat people fairly and consider their needs. If improvements can be made then the Council must plan to make those improvements over the next four years.

How did we decide what our draft Equality Objectives should be?

The Council has looked at the outcomes from some of the service reviews it has carried out and the feedback residents, employees, and customers have given over recent years. This found that there are some improvements (equality objectives), that the Council can make.

What are our draft Equality Objectives?

• Improve the way we use customer information to help decide Council priorities.
• Look at the ways in which the Council collects and listens to the views of the public so that they can be improved, and we can show that we have taken into account what people have said.
• Improve how the Council talks to and listens to its customers, starting with a redesign of the Council's website.

Update 

We asked for your comments and feedback to see if you thought these were the right objectives for the Council. We did this by way of and online survey and articles in Fareham Today and directly contacting local community groups. We have analysed the feedback and the results are as follows:

355 responses were received and they were on the whole, very supportive, the analysis of the responses is set out below.

Objective 1

Yes              338 (95.2%)
No               17 (4.8%)

Objective 2

Yes              343 (96.9%)
No               11 (3.1%)

Objective 3

Yes              301 (85.3%)
No                52 (14.7%)

Over 95% of the responses agreed with objective one, feedback from the 4% that disagreed was largely about the lack of measurable action plans to demonstrate achievement. The Council will decide on a proportionate approach of monitoring and measuring implementation and/or improvements made once the objectives have been finalised.

Almost 97% of the responses agreed with objective two, feedback from the 3% that disagreed said they felt the Council did not listen to their views and would not change in the future. All three of these objectives were borne from residents and customers feedback, which the Council has listened to and accepts that it can improve in this area.

Over 85% of the responses agreed with objective three, feedback from the 14% that disagreed was mainly regarding concern that not everyone can access a computer or indeed wants to. The Council acknowledges this and is looking to improve all forms of communication, the website being the first step in this process.

The objectives and the consultation responses were approved by the Executive Committee on the 2nd April 2012 and are now awaiting the seven day call in period for any further feedback to the Committees decision. Following this the Council will publish the final objectives later this month (April 2012) along with a four year plan of how the Council will make those improvements. The plan will be reviewed each year to make sure we are on target, and that the Council is still dealing with issues relevant to the community.