Equality & Diversity

The Equality Act 2010 brings together, harmonises and extends current equality law. The Act brings together all previous equality legislation and includes a new public sector equality duty replacing separate duties relating to race, disability and gender equality.

The Council has a legal requirement to have due regard to the aims of the general equality duty and must publish information to demonstrate its compliance with the duty. This must be done by 31st January 2012, and at least annually thereafter. Please click here to view the Council's Equality Information.

As a major employer and provider of services, South Cambridgeshire District Council is committed to actively promoting equality and diversity, and working to combat discrimination across all nine protected characteristics of equality:

age
disability
gender reassignment
marriage and civil partnerships
pregnancy and maternity
race
religion/belief
sex
sexual orientation

We are fully committed to ensuring equality of access throughout all council services. Our updated Comprehensive Equalities Policy, adopted in July 2010, sets out our arrangements for meeting our statutory obligations over the next three years. It is our overarching Equality Policy, and it is reinforced with individual Race, Gender and Disability Equality Schemes, which will be superseded by a Single Equality Scheme in the future.

Single Equality Scheme 2011 - 2014

This is the Council's first Single Equality Scheme and has been prepared in response to the Equality Act 2010, which has two main purposes - to harmonise discrimination law and to strengthen the law to support progress on equality. It combines and supersedes our existing Disability, Gender and Race Equality Schemes; and brings together our objectives across the nine protected characteristics and the characteristic unique to South Cambridgeshire - 'Rurality.'

The Single Equality Scheme 2011 - 2014 will help improve our services and policies and make sure that the different needs of people are better understood. It will also help to ensure that our services are better targeted and will lead to improved customer satisfaction and better staff recruitment and retention.

Consultation on the draft Single Equality Scheme has now concluded. The final version of the Single Equality Scheme will be publicised here when formally adopted by the Council.

Equality and Diversity Officer [equality.schemes@scambs.gov.uk] (This link will open in a new window)
tel: 03450 450 500

Gypsy and Traveller Community Strategy

Gypsies and Travellers constitute South Cambridgeshire's largest minority ethnic community, comprising 1% of its population. As a local authority we have statutory responsibilities to eliminate discrimination and promote good community relations. This is something we can address in our role as an employer; as a provider of services; and through our influence with partners and the community.

The vision for the Gypsy and Traveller Community Strategy, our first focusing on Gypsy and Traveller communities, is:

To ensure that Gypsy and Traveller communities enjoy equality of service and are part of cohesive communities within which people from different backgrounds participate together and share equal rights and responsibilities.

The key priority areas for action are:

Raising awareness of Gypsy and Traveller culture, the duty to promote equality and practical ways to achieve this
Providing strategic direction and co-ordination
Establishing two-way engagement with Gypsy and Traveller communities
Promoting community cohesion
Improving partnership working
Improving access to, and experience of, services

The Gypsy and Traveller Community Strategy was adopted by Cabinet at their meeting on 11 February 2010.

Equality and Diversity Officer [equality.schemes@scambs.gov.uk] (This link will open in a new window)
tel: 03450 450 500