DCC Strategic Plan 2021 to 2025
Our Strategic Plan 2022 to 2025 focuses on how we will help the county to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, build on the resilience of local people and communities to create a fairer, healthier and more caring place, and grasp the opportunity to create a greener, more prosperous and inclusive future for all.
For the next four years we will
- Promote community cohesion, including reducing hate crime by improving awareness and response.
- Consider the findings of the Race Equality Audit and implement its findings.
We are committed to being
a trusted council…
that leads and collaborates well, makes good decisions, uses resources effectively and is financially resilient.
an inclusive council…
that is intolerant to prejudice and discrimination, invests in, develops and nurtures our workforce, and hears the voices of all our communities.
an innovative council…
that listens and learns, uses data well and transforms the way we work in order to improve our services to the people of Devon.
Find out more: Tackling poverty and inequality | Strategic Plan | Devon County Council
Devon Joint Declaration for Equality
The Joint Declaration for Equality sets out a vision for the area and recognises the importance of equality and diversity. Organisations across Devon are invited to sign up to show their commitment to quality.
Find out more: Devon Joint Declaration for Equality – Equality and Diversity
Equality objectives
Public sector organisations have a specific Public Sector Equality Duty (Equality Act 2010) to set out one or more objectives to achieve the General Duty to eliminate discrimination, advance equality and foster good relations.
DCC’s Equality Objectives are published online at Our corporate equality objectives – Equality and Diversity (devon.gov.uk)
We currently have an objective in place to “address systemic racism”. Our strategy for achieving this is detailed within this framework.
Why this is important to us
A Public Sector Duty to eliminate racial discrimination, advance racial equality and foster good community relations has been in place since 2000. This was introduced through the Race Relations (Amendment) Act which sets out to address the findings of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry. This duty was absorbed by the Equality Act 2010 and now applies to nine protected characteristics, including race.
However, in 2020 the Covid19 pandemic and the UK Black Lives Matter movement both highlighted that the pace of change has been too slow. There is still disparity in the services received by people depending on their ethnicity.
Differences in outcomes can be a result of bias. For example, medical research and interventions or safety features have often been designed around the average White man (or American White man, in many cases). This data bias can lead to inequalities – notably gender and race/ethnicity.
There are other reasons why people experience inequalities. These can include poor access to services (not available at the right time or difficult to reach) or negative service experiences due to lack of cultural competency, racial microaggressions or unlawful discrimination.
Examples of evidence of racial disparities:
Black women are four times more likely than White women to die in pregnancy or childbirth in the UK. Black people are eight times more likely to be subjected to community treatment orders than White people. Estimates of disability-free life expectancy are ten years lower for Bangladeshi men living in England compared to their White British counterparts.
https://www.nhsrho.org/publications/ethnic-health-inequalities-in-the-uk/
Black people are disproportionately victims of violent crime and homicide; in the UK for every White victim of homicide aged 16 to 24 in 2018/19, there were 24 Black victims.