Equality and Diversity: RESPECT FOR PEOPLE

At South Kesteven District Council we believe in a fair society that gives everyone an equal chance to learn, work and live free from discrimination, harassment, bullying and prejudice. We believe that the diversity within our communities is an asset to our district and makes South Kesteven a great place to live and work.

Our Vision and Priorities

As a council it is our vision to ensure that you, as a resident of South Kesteven, receive brilliant services. We want South Kesteven to be a place of diversity, fairness and equality, and this is reflected in our four priorities:

  • Customer First – Putting the customer at the heart of what we do
  • Quality Living – Protection and improvement of our environment, improvement of health and well being and working with our partners to create communities where people are safe and feel safe
  • Open for Business – Develop strong, vibrant and inclusive communities with a strong economy
  • Quality Organisation – A council delivering brilliant services – further improve performance and satisfaction levels, transforming the business and gaining value for money.

Whether dealing with our own staff or with members of the public, we aim to treat everyone with respect and we aim to be an organisation that values cultural richness and diversity. We want to ensure we provide services to all our residents and visitors fairly and equally irrespective of gender, race, disability, ethnic origin, age, religion/belief, or sexual orientation. We will, therefore, take the needs of all our residents into account when looking at the services, schemes and policies of the authority.

Obligations and responsibilities

Our council also recognises its statutory obligations and responsibilities: in particular the requirements of the Race Relations (Amendment Act) 2000, the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 and the Equality Act 2006. These require us to eliminate unlawful discrimination, promote equality of opportunity and promote good relations between persons of different groups.

Under this legislation we are required to produce Equality Schemes for race, disability and gender. A further Bill is expected during 2009, the Single Equality Bill 2009, when additional statutory obligations and responsibilities are expected in relation to age, religion/belief and sexual orientation. Because of this, the council has decided to produce a Single Equality Scheme to make sure that all equality and diversity issues are addressed. Our Single Equality Scheme will ensure that equality and diversity issues become an integral part of the authority’s work and that these issues are dealt with in a systematic way.

This council, together with all the other councils in Lincolnshire, is working towards the Equality Framework for Local Government. This Framework has been designed as a tool to make sure that local authorities consider all equality issues at all levels of council policy and practice, in terms of both service delivery and employment.

If you have any queries or would like any further information about our work on equality and diversity please let us know.

Contact: Elaine Claridge or Joyce Slater.