Agenda item

This report provides an overview of the annual workforce equalities data and presents the accompanying report to be publicised.  In addition, the report also providesan overview of the pay gap data relating to gender, ethnicity and disability, prior to publication of this data by the Council by 30 March 2024.

Musrat Zaman (Director Human Resources & Organisational Development) introduced a report from the Corporate Director of Governance providing the Committee with an overview of Brent’s annual workforce equalities data and pay gap data relating to gender, ethnicity and disability.  Members noted that the 2022-23 annual workforce equalities data had been published in January 2024, as detailed within Appendix 1 of the report. In addition, the Gender, Ethnicity and Disability Pay Gap report provided a further breakdown of data (as detailed within Appendix 2 of the report) that was due to be published at the end of March 2024. Members were provided with a summary of the main headlines within the workforce equalities data analysis, as detailed within section 5.1 of the report. These included a breakdown of the age, gender, disability and ethnicity profile of the workforce based on working age population.

Members also noted the pay gap analysis over the past 3 years up to the period ending March 2023 broken down between gender, ethnicity and disability, as detailed within section 5.2 of the report. It was noted that for the first time this had included a split between sub-categories of data for Black, Asian, Mixed/Other employees and employees for whom ethnicity was unknown.  Details were also provided on the proportion of females, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) and disabled employees in each pay quartile during 2023, as detailed in section 5.3 of the report and as a percentage of the Council’s workforce, as detailed in section 5.13 of the report. Alongside the priority actions identified within the published Workforce Equalities report, the Pay Gap report had also identified several priority actions designed to address the pay gap issues during 2024-25, which had been set out within Appendix 2 of the report. The identified priorities included the following:

·             To continue monitoring both internal promotions and external appointments.

·             Quarterly and ongoing monitoring of new joiners’ starting salary for grades PO5 and above.

·             To gather and analyse recruitment data by gender and disability, in addition to ethnicity.

·             To adapt the London Council Race Equality Statement and Framework to create a bespoke Anti-Racism Action Plan for Brent in promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) best practice in the workforce by April 2024.

·             To review the EDI related learning and development in light of the EDI Strategy (April 2024) and stakeholder feedback to support the Council’s inclusion agenda including (for example) a review of recruitment and selection training for managers.

In addition to the priority areas identified, members were also advised of the establishment of an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Board which had been established as a means of co-ordinating and reviewing progress on all EDI related activity and actions across the organisation.

Members recognised the positive progress made and acknowledged the good practice in Brent in terms of the transparency arising from inclusion of details relating to ethnicity and disability within publication of the gender pay gap report.  The establishment of the EDI Board was also welcomed as part of the wider work being undertaken to champion and steer the organisation’s priorities on all matters relating to equity, diversity, and inclusion with members keen to receive a further 6- month update on the Board’s work in reviewing delivery of the priority actions identified within both the Workforce Equalities and Pay Gap reports.  In addition, members supported the work being undertaken to increase knowledge and engagement in relation to data disclosure by employees in relation to both ethnicity and disability with the importance also highlighted in relation to the work being undertaken to monitor the internal career progression of staff through the organisation and support being provided for the Staff Equality Networks.

In commending the progress being made, it was RESOLVED to:

(1)    Note and endorse the findings from the Brent Workforce Equalities Report April 2022 – March 2023.

(2)    Note and endorse the findings from the Gender, Ethnicity and Disability Pay Gap Report prior to its publication in March 2024.

(3)    To endorse the action plans contained in both the Brent Workforce Equalities & Gender, Ethnicity and Disability Pay Gap Reports.