Equality Information

Equality and Diversity Information

Introduction - Equality Statement

Welcome to Essex Police Authority’s Equality webpage. The authority is responsible for securing and maintaining an efficient and effective police service for the people of Essex. We are independent of the police and act as a critical friend, supporting and challenging the actions and performance of the force as appropriate.

Essex Police Authority’s vision for equality and diversity is that every person and every employee who receives, or is affected by the authority’s activities and services should perceive their experience to be fair and equitable.

The authority expects all people of Essex, whether a resident, visitor or someone who works in the county, to be treated fairly and with dignity, free from harassment, bullying, victimisation or discrimination.

The authority wishes to be open and transparent in the way in which all its functions, policies, roles and responsibilities are delivered, and conducts Equality Impact Assessments on all functions and policies to ensure the way they are designed, developed or delivered does not disproportionately disadvantage any particular protected groups and that wherever possible equality is promoted.

Essex Police Authority Equality objectives

To ensure Essex Police Authority meets its equality duties we will:

1.      Monitor and scrutinize the performance of Essex Police to ensure it is fulfilling its equality commitments and meeting its statutory equality duties through the Authority’s minuted HR and Diversity panel, which is held quarterly.

2.      Ensure our commitment to equality and diversity is incorporated into the aims and objectives of all relevant policies, strategies and plans. Equality performance will be monitored through equality impact screening and where appropriate by full assessment and by the Authority's quarterly HR and Diversity Panel.

3.      Over the next four years, develop a greater understanding of the communities within Essex and to ensure the Authority is accessible to and actively engages with all sections of its communities through its annual pubic engagement process and surveys.

4.      The Authority and it’s officers are supporting Members through the Transition Board, to develop a system whereby the management of equality and diversity processes will pass seamlessly to the office of the Police and Crime Commissioner in November 2012.

EssexPolice Authority Equality scheme

The Essex Police Authority Equality Scheme is the repository for our equality information. The scheme includes information on the approach of the authority to the general and specific equality duties and how the authority intends to address them. The scheme also includes a comprehensive action plan to indicate how it intends to progress these issues.

All the authority’s policies, functions, projects and proposals are and will continue to be, subject to equality relevance analysis. If necessary there will be a full equality impact assessment and examples of the forms used and a full description of the process are included within the scheme.   

Please use the link at the bottom of the page to take you to our Equality Scheme.

Diversity of Survey Responses

Diversity data collected by Essex Police Authority (EPA) and the Force, from surveys conducted April to October 2011 was combined and analysed, including comparison to population data. It should be noted that data is not always directly comparable but should provide a proxy indicator of differences between the proportion of a particular group of people consulted by EPA and the proportion of this group in the community.

Gender

The male to female ratio of respondents was marginal at 1:1.15.

Analysis of the data identified an information gap:

• A need for a better balance in age representation.

This has been addressed by the development of a new survey which contains more demographic information. This will be used to ensure the Authority achieves a better representation of the population of Essex, including an improved balance in age representation.

EPA member composition

The Authority comprises 17 members as follows:

Male 13 Female 4

White British/Other 16   BME 1

Disabled 0

There will be little opportunity to change the composition of the Authority prior to the election of the Police and Crime Commissioner.

Click Essex Police Authority Equality Scheme to find our Equality Information.

Essex Police

Essex Police Authority monitors the equality information published by Essex Police to ensure the force complies with the general and specific duties. You can access Essex Police Equality Information through the Equality Information page on their website. If you wish to go to the Essex Police website, click here.