Race Relations Act Monitoring information
As part of our commitment to meeting the requirements of the Race Relations Act, Nottinghamshire County Council Adult Social Care and Health undertakes a wide range of monitoring and evaluation to various degrees in relation to the ethnic background of:
The Nottinghamshire County Council human resources information systems are managed by the Employee Services Centre who provide the data required for workforce equalities monitoring. Management information reports are reviewed by the Equality and Diversity Steering Group and Senior Management Team who are responsible for addressing equalities issues within the department. Corrective actions that have been agreed to address these issues are managed through the departmental Equality and Diversity Action Plan.
A range of equalities information is made available to employees via the Adult Social Care and Health intranet and the council wide ‘Diversity and Equality’ area on the council’s intranet.
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Applicants for jobs
Equalities monitoring forms are included within every application pack sent out to prospective employees. These forms ask applicants to provide a wide range of information such as their ethnic origin, gender, age group and any disabilities that they have. These forms are collated and the information that they contain is maintained by our Employee Services Centre. We are taking action to reduce the number of applicants whose ethnicity is unknown to ensure the continued accuracy of our reporting. Each year we review our recruitment practices in terms of equality.
The ethnic breakdown of job applicants, short listed candidates and appointed employees (2007/08) [PDF 70KB]
The ethnic breakdown of job applicants, short listed candidates and appointed employees (2007/08) [WORD 70KB] 
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Current employees
As part of the department’s performance management arrangements an annual assessment is made through national Best Value performance indicators (BV11b and BV17a) of the percentage of employees from black or ethnic minority backgrounds working within the department. This result is then compared with the economically active ethnic minority population within Nottinghamshire. The most recent figures show that 4.59% of employees within the department are from minority ethnic communities in comparison to 6.7% of the economically active population of the county being from ethnic minority communities.
The ethnic breakdown of our current staff (2007/08) [PDF 24KB]
The ethnic breakdown of our current staff (2007/08) [WORD 47KB]
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Applicants and attendees of learning and development training
All employees applying to take part on a training course are required to provide information about their ethnic background for monitoring purposes. As part of our monitoring arrangements a sample is taken during the year to assess applicants for training.
We also monitor employees who receive training. This information can be cross referenced to the data regarding applicants for training. The most recent sample information is compiled from key courses undertaken during the last financial year (2007/08).
The ethnic breakdown of applicants and attendees for training (2007/08) [PDF 184KB]
The ethnic breakdown of applicants and attendees for training (2007/08) [XLS 58KB] 
The departmental Learning and Development Unit plays a leading role in the promotion and understanding of equality issues. Raising the awareness of diversity issues and promoting diversity within the department continues to be a central theme of our learning and development programme. Where courses relate to managerial performance, planning or skill development, the inherent equality issues are made explicit and explored whenever relevant.
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Applications for promotion
On an annual basis information is collected and assessed by ethnic group of all promotions attained during the year. The most recent monitoring information which relates to 2007/08 is available.
Ethnic breakdown of promoted staff (2007/08) [PDF 27KB]
Ethnic breakdown of promoted staff (2007/08) [WORD 49KB]
Breaking the Glass Ceiling project
'Breaking The Glass Ceiling' is a proactive attempt to identify and address the specific issues and blockages which interfere with the natural progression of BME staff into positions of higher management in our organisation. It is initiated and led by our Black Staff Managers’ Group, a subgroup of our Corporate Black Workers Support Group, with full support from our Senior Management Team and aims to increase the number and proportion of BME staff represented in the middle and upper management tiers of the department.
We are now in the process of implementation monitored by the Strategic Director, Equality and Diversity Steering Group and CBWSG through their regular meetings. The action points include:
- increased black staff participation in shadowing schemes
- individually tailored training for black managers
- establishing a black staff peer support scheme including a database of black managers to involve in network support meetings
- special training for black staff in recruitment and selection
- informing, encouraging and supporting appropriate black employees to apply for more senior jobs
- promoting greater involvement of black staff in existing mentoring schemes
- appointing a lead black manager to oversee the change process and offer personal support and guidance to individual staff.
This project now sits within the Equality and Diversity Steering Group and will expand to embrace all the equality strands.
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Employees who benefit or are disadvantaged from performance appraisal
There are two main ways in which performance appraisal is undertaken within the department on a regular basis.
- Supervision sessions are regularly held between managers and employees, and as part of the discussion managers are expected to address performance issues with employees.
- All managers and employees undertake an annual Employee Performance & Development Review (EPDR). These reviews are also a formal process and a full review takes place on an annual basis and is re-visited after six months. The focus of this review is on the objectives that the employee is required to achieve during the year, performance in relation to their objectives for the previous year and to discuss any learning or development that is required to achieve these objectives.
We have a rolling programme of audits for these processes. We assess the way in which the supervision and employee performance and development reviews are used and any issues around inequality in the way in which these systems are implemented.
A leaflet ‘Supervision for You’ informs employees on the supervision and EPDR processes and the mechanisms for employees to address any issues they have with the supervision they receive. The leaflet is issued to all new employees and is available via the intranet for all existing employees.
Supervision for You [PDF 1.2MB] (Please note this is large file and may take a while to download).
During 2006/07 we carried out a Supervision and Employee Performance and Development Review audit. The audit provided an opportunity for employees to express their views on their experience of the process and included an analysis of responses in terms of ethnic background.
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Employees who are involved in grievances or harassment or have disciplinary action taken against them.
The ethnic background of employees involved in grievances or disciplinary action is recorded. This information is confidential but overall data is provided for monitoring purposes. A breakdown of the most recent information in relation to 2007/08 is available.
Ethnic breakdown of staff involved in discipline/grievance/harassment procedures (2007/08) [PDF 52KB]
Ethnic breakdown of staff involved in discipline/grievance/harassment procedures (2007/08) [WORD 109KB]
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Mediation Support and Advice Service
A Mediation Support and Advice Service is available to all employees that need to talk about, resolve and reach agreements in the area of workplace conflict. The service is accessible through either self referral or referral by another party e.g. Trade Union Rep, Personnel Officer, a colleague etc.
The service is available to help with disagreements about - race issues; dignity at work issues; bullying; working styles; roles and responsibilities; personality clashes; communication difficulties; etc.
Management information reports for the period April 2007 to March 2008 show that 9 per cent of service users were BME.
Information about the service is made available on the Managers Resource Centre and Working for NCC Support Support for Staff intranet pages. Information is also available through a published leaflet entitled 'Employee Mediation Helping you Decide [PDF 413KB]
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Corporate Black Workers Support Group
BME employees can seek independent support on grievance, harassment or disciplinary procedures through the Corporate Black Workers Support Group (CBWSG).
The activities of the the CBWSG include:
- development of information and support networks for black staff
- providing advice, assistance and representation to group members involved in disciplinary case, grievances and/or Employment Tribunals
- providing a forum for debate and discussion of issues affecting black employees
- acting as a consultation body on issues affecting service delivery to the wider black community.
The CBWSG are in the process of launching the new Corporate Black Workers' Support Group which aims to have a united approach in changing the structural barriers experienced by black staff across all departments in the County Council.
The Deputy Leader Councillor is the political champion for the CBWSG and the Strategic Director Adult Social Care and Health is the strategic champion.
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Employees who leave their jobs with the authority
Employees who leave the authority are asked to take part in an exit interview with their manager. This is designed to identify the reasons why people leave the authority. Some employees who leave are also sent a short exit questionnaire. This provides feedback on the reasons why they left the department directly to the Workforce Planning team.
We look in more detail at the reasons for leaving on our exit questionnaires and have complimented this work through the running of a number of focus groups looking at recruitment and retention issues. The most recent information in relation to leavers by ethnic category is available.
Ethnic breakdown of leavers (2007/08) [WORD 50KB]
Ethnic breakdown of leavers (2007/08) [PDF 27KB]
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Further information
More detailed information regarding equalities is available on request. Please contact:
Performance ImprovementTeam
Adult Social Care and Health
Nottinghamshire County Council
County Hall
West Bridgford
NG2 7QP
tel: 0115 9772813
e-mail: performance.improvement-team@nottscc.gov.uk
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Related information
Equality and diversity
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Adult social care and health 
