Agenda item

Equality of Care Experienced People

It was moved by Councillor Qaseem,

Seconded by Councillor Gill,

“Care experienced people face significant barriers that impact them throughout their lives, including discrimination and stigma in accessing services such as housing, education, employment, and criminal justice to name but a few. The public Sector Equality Duty does not currently treat Care Experience as a protected characteristic, and as such Slough Borough Council does not include Care Experience when conducting Equality Impact Assessments of its policies.

As Corporate Parents we have duties and responsibilities to act in the best interests of our Care Experienced Young people and Children Looked After.

Slough Borough Council therefore resolves to;

1. To formally support the Show Us You Care Too campaign and write to government calling for care experience to be made a protected characteristic as part of the Government’s Independent Review into children’s social care; 
2. That when making any decisions in relation to its policies or formulating its Council Plan it recognises that Care Experienced people are a vulnerable group who face discrimination. 
3. That it recognises that councils have a duty to put the needs of vulnerable people at the heart of decision-making through co-production and collaboration. 
4. That in the delivery of the Public Sector Equality Duty the Council includes Care Experience in the publication and review of Equality Objectives and the annual publication of information relating to people who share a Protected Characteristic in services and employment. 
5. That this Council will treat Care Experience as if it were a Protected Characteristic so that future services and policies made and adopted by the Council should be assessed through Equality Impact Assessments to determine the impact of changes on people with care experience, alongside those who formally share a Protected Characteristic 
6. For the Council to proactively seek out and listen to the voices of Care Experienced people when developing new policies based on their views.”

It was moved by Councillor Kelly, as an amendment,

Seconded by Councillor Bedi,

“Care experienced people face significant barriers that impact them throughout their lives; despite the resilience of many care experienced people, society too often does not take their needs into account; including care experienced people often facediscrimination and stigma in accessing services such as housing, education, employment, and criminal justice to name but a few. The public Sector Equality Duty does not currently treat Care Experience as a protected characteristic, and as such Slough Borough Council does not include Care Experience when conducting Equality Impact Assessments of its policies.

As Corporate Parents we have collectiveduties and responsibilities to act in the best interests of our Care Experienced Young people and Children Looked After.

All Corporate Parents should commit to hearing the voices of looked after children and young people and to consider their needs in formulating Council policies.

Slough Borough Council therefore resolves to;

1. To formally support the Show Us You Care Too campaign and write to government calling for care experience to be made a protected characteristic as part of the Government’s Independent Review into children’s social care;
2.  That when making any decisions in relation to its policies or formulating its Council Plan it recognises that Care Experienced people are a vulnerable group who face discrimination.
3. That it recognises that councils have a duty to put the needs of vulnerable people at the heart of decision-making through co-production and collaboration.
4. That in the delivery of the Public Sector Equality Duty the Council includes Care Experience in the publication and review of Equality Objectives and the annual publication of information relating to people who share a Protected Characteristic in services and employment.
5. That this Council will treat Care Experience as if it were a Protected Characteristic so that future services and policies made and adopted by the Council should be assessed through Equality Impact Assessments to determine the impact of changes on people with care experience, alongside those who formally share a Protected Characteristic
6. For the Council to proactively seek out and listen to the voices of Care Experienced people when developing new policies based on their view.”

The amendments to the motion were put to the vote and carried with 37 votes for and 1 abstention and the amended motion became the substantive motion.

The substantive motion was put to the vote and carried with 37 votes for and 1 abstention.

Resolved  -

Care experienced people face significant barriers that impact them throughout their lives; despite the resilience of many care experienced people, society too often does not take their needs into account; care experienced people often face discrimination and stigma in accessing services such as housing, education, employment, and criminal justice to name but a few. The public Sector Equality Duty does not currently treat Care Experience as a protected characteristic, and as such Slough Borough Council does not include Care Experience when conducting Equality Impact Assessments of its policies.

 As Corporate Parents we have collective duties and responsibilities to act in the best interests of our Care Experienced Young people and Children Looked After.

All Corporate Parents should commit to hearing the voices of looked after children and young people and to consider their needs in formulating Council policies.

Slough Borough Council therefore resolves to;

1. To formally support the Show Us You Care Too campaign and write to government calling for care experience to be made a protected characteristic as part of the Government’s Independent Review into children’s social care;
2.  That when making any decisions in relation to its policies or formulating its Council Plan it recognises that Care Experienced people are a vulnerable group who face discrimination.
3. That it recognises that councils have a duty to put the needs of vulnerable people at the heart of decision-making through co-production and collaboration.
4. That in the delivery of the Public Sector Equality Duty the Council includes Care Experience in the publication and review of Equality Objectives and the annual publication of information relating to people who share a Protected Characteristic in services and employment.
5. That this Council will treat Care Experience as if it were a Protected Characteristic so that future services and policies made and adopted by the Council should be assessed through Equality Impact Assessments to determine the impact of changes on people with care experience, alongside those who formally share a Protected Characteristic
6. For the Council to proactively seek out and listen to the voices of Care Experienced people when developing new policies based on their view

Bus Lanes and efficient traffic flows at major junctions

It was moved by Councillor Shaik,

Seconded by Councillor Iftakhar,

“Council acknowledges the importance of delivering Best Value for residents of Slough, and demonstrating evidence based decision making which achieve positive outcomes for residents and recognises the importance of sustainable transport and the vital role which local bus services provides. Council also acknowledges that the residents of Slough have had serious concerns about the implementation and impact of the Bus Lanes across slough.

Council therefore requests Cabinet to:

·  Review the implementation of the Bus lanes at the earliest opportunity and will use this to ascertain the current usage of the bus lanes to understand it’s true impact on the local environment and journey times and to;

·  Explore options to encourage sustainable travel, reduce congestion and deliver positive outcomes for the residents of Slough;

·  To support a review of traffic flows at major junctions to understand how we can facilitate reduced journey times for Slough residents and increase road safety.”

It was moved by Councillor Sabah, as an amendment,

Seconded by Councillor Ajaib,

“Council fully recognises the importance of providing and promoting sustainable transport options and the vital role which local bus services provides. Council also acknowledges that the residents of Slough have mixed views about the implementation and impact of the bus lanes across Slough. 

Council therefore requests Cabinet to: 

• Instruct officers to review the operation of the bus lanes, ascertain the impact they have had on; journey times, passenger use and environmental impact.

• Recognise that there is still a lack of understanding about when the bus lanes is in operation and therefore increase communication with residents as to its operation times.
• Undertake a cost/benefit analysis of keeping the bus lanes in situ vs removing them, to include all economic, financial, and environmental factors. 
• Explore additional measures to encourage take up of sustainable travel, reduce congestion and deliver positive outcomes for the residents of Slough by launching and promoting new modes of sustainable transport.
• Instruct officers to undertake a review of traffic flows at major junctions, including the operation and suitability of the current responsive system and priority junction signalling and road collision data, to identify ways in which changes can help facilitate reduced journey times for Slough residents and increased road safety.” 

The amendments to the motion were put to the vote and not carried with 17 votes for, 20 against and 1 abstention.

The original motion was put to the vote and carried with 37 votes for and 1 abstention.

Resolved -

Council acknowledges the importance of delivering Best Value for residents of Slough, and demonstrating evidence based decision making which achieve positive outcomes for residents and recognises the importance of sustainable transport and the vital role which local bus services provides. Council also acknowledges that the residents of Slough have had serious concerns about the implementation and impact of the Bus Lanes across slough.

Council therefore requests Cabinet to:

·  Review the implementation of the Bus lanes at the earliest opportunity and will use this to ascertain the current usage of the bus lanes to understand it’s true impact on the local environment and journey times and to;

·  Explore options to encourage sustainable travel, reduce congestion and deliver positive outcomes for the residents of Slough;

·  To support a review of traffic flows at major junctions to understand how we can facilitate reduced journey times for Slough residents and increase road safety.