Equalities
Strategic Equality Plan Annual Report 2024-2025
The Strategic Equality Plan (SEP) 2024-28 describes how we aim to continue our commitment to equality and how we will meet legal obligations contained within the Equality Act 2010. Within the Act, public bodies have an additional responsibility to meet the Public Sector Equality Duty through general and specific duties.
This annual report details how Pembrokeshire County Council has progressed against the Strategic Equality Plan 2024-28 objectives during the reporting period 01 April 2024 – 31 March 2025.
Previous Strategic Equality Plan annual reports have been reported within the Councils Annual Self-Assessment reporting, which has included the 2022-23 and 2023-24 annual reports. Under the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act we have a duty to report annually on performance through a process of self-assessment. Self-assessment is an evidence-based analysis, which draws on a range of internal and external sources of information to help us to understand how we are meeting performance requirements. We ask 3 key questions to assess performance as part of this framework:
- How well are we doing?
- How do we know?
- What can we do better and how?
This report incorporates the self-assessment framework that is used to detail progress against our Corporate Strategy 2025-30, which is approved by Council each autumn. The framework is used to report on Equalities performance in general and in relation to Poverty within this report. An update relating to the progress with the Anti-Racist Pembrokeshire County Council Action Plan Notice of Motion (NOM) is also provided and Equality in Employment data.
Public Sector Equality Duty
These open data spreadsheets should be published, and details of their location submitted to the High Priority Statistical Projects team in Welsh Government. Welsh Government will then signpost to this data from a single webpage on their website by August 2019. Guidance on publishing open data will be circulated, and a webinar organised to support public bodies in this task. Any further queries relating to open data spreadsheets can be sent to Stats.Info.desk@gov.wales, quoting “PSED open data”, along with the name of the public body, in the subject line.
Equalities
Under the public sector equality duty, which came into force in April 2011, public sector bodies must have due regard to the following when exercising their duties:
- Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Act
- Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not
- Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not
Protected characteristics are: age, disability, gender re-assignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex and sexual orientation.
In Wales, there are also a number of additional duties which include having a Strategic Equality Plan in place; engaging with those in protected characteristic groups; developing and publishing equality impact assessments, and providing employment statistics.
In addition, from April 2021, the Welsh Government will enact the socio-economic part of the Wales-specific duties. This means that, when making strategic decisions, the Council must consider how its decisions might help reduce inequalities associated with socio-economic disadvantage.
For further information please contact:-
Dan Shaw
Corporate Planning Manager
dan.shaw@pembrokeshire.gov.uk
01437 775857