ANNUAL EQUALITY STATEMENT
Year end 31 March 2003
The Committee’s Equality Scheme states that the Committee will review
both the action taken during the year to promote equality of opportunity and
the progress of the implementation of the Equality Scheme.
The Committee re-affirms its commitment to the fulfilment of its duties
under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 in that it will have due
regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity –
In addition, without prejudice to its obligations above, NILGOSC shall,
in carrying out its functions, have regard to the desirability of promoting
good relations between persons of different religious belief, political opinion
or racial group.
NILGOSC has demonstrated its commitment to the promotion of equality of
opportunity during 2002/2003 by its support from the most senior levels of the
organisation.
The NILGOSC Corporate Plan for 2002-03 included
objectives relating to Equality and Community Relations. The Committee approved the Plan in October
2002 and the Senior Management Team, on a quarterly basis, has monitored the
implementation of objectives.
The Equality Scheme was approved by the Equality Commission and
publicised in May 2001. Progress on the
implementation of the scheme since then is detailed below:
1.
NILGOSC published its annual statement for the year 2001-2002 in its
Annual Report and Financial Statements in October 2002. The statement was also
reproduced in the Members’ Report, a summary of the Annual Report, which was
distributed to all members and pensioners (almost 70,000 copies). The annual
statement was also made available on the NILGOSC website.
2.
The Good Relations Working Group drafted a Community Relations
policy. This was issued to all staff
at a staff conference in April 2002.
The policy was screened for impact assessment in June 2002 and approved
by the Committee in October 2002.
3.
The impact assessment of the Administration of the Local Government
Pension Scheme and the Premature Retirement Scheme was completed in June 2002
and published in October 2002. As a result of this assessment:
§
A communication leaflet was sent to all
Scheme members and pensioners. This leaflet
outlined the various means of communication in use and highlighted alternative
formats available. It invited those
preferring an alternative means of communication to advise accordingly in order
than future communications could be tailored to meet those needs.
§
In September 2002 NILGOSC undertook
research with a focus group of pensioners and members to ascertain if they
would be willing to provide information relating to the 9 affected groups as
specified in the Northern Ireland Act.
Those consulted were happy to provide such information (provided it
remained anonymous) in general with the exception of political opinion and
sexual orientation. It is anticipated
that NILGOSC will have completed an analysis of the composition among a
representative sample of Scheme members by December 2003. Results will be used to identify if there is
potential for an employer to not make membership of the Scheme available to its
entire staff.
§
NILGOSC will also undertake a
feasibility study on the use of a lo-call telephone charging system. Such a system would ensure that there would
not be any adverse monetary impact on callers from outside of the Belfast area.
4.
Specific training for those managers responsible for the implementation
of the Equality Scheme was undertaken as well as for staff who are members of
the Customer Care Group. The remaining
staff attended a major conference on Equality with guest speakers from the
Equality Commission, Disability Action, NI Council for Ethnic Minorities,
Community Relations Council and the Human Rights Commission. The annual staff conference is used to
provide further training and update all staff on equality issues. Awareness training for new members of staff
has been incorporated into the induction procedure.
5.
NILGOSC introduced a policy ‘Use of Irish in Official Business’ in
August 2002. The policy was issued to
all staff and incorporated in the Staff Handbook.
6.
NILGOSC did not receive any complaints regarding equality issues in
2002-2003 or any requests for information in alternative formats.