Executive Summary of ourSingle Equality SchemeMore accessible version

NWDA KADM 12/08 21347

January 2009

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October 2008

Executive Summary

Equality is important

our regeneration programmes benefit the groups thatneed them most.

The Northwest Regional Development Agency thinksequality affects everyone who lives or does business inour area.

We want to make the region as successful as it can be.To do this, equality and diversity must be at the centre ofeverything we do.

Equality means treating everyone fairly. Diversity meanspeople with different backgrounds.

About our region

The Northwest of England is growing fast. There are bigcities, great countryside, successful businesses and acreative scene that is known all over the world.

Nearly 7 million people live here. There are over 230,000companies and it has the biggest regional economy inthe United Kingdom, worth £106 billion a year.

Benefits

Having people of different backgrounds has helpedour region.

Our diversity is celebrated with events such asManchester Pride and Black History Month.

• The gay, lesbian and bisexual ‘Pink Economy’ is worthabout £70 billion. Manchester, Liverpool and Blackpoolare some of the most popular areas for gay and lesbianculture in the country.

• Faith communities are groups around a religion. In ourregion, such communities bring up to £95 billion intosociety.

• There are 19,000 black and minority ethnic (BME)businesses, 104,000 people from BME backgroundsare workers in the region.

• Disabled adults in Britain spend £80 billion a year.

• Over 50s put in 23% of region’s economy.

“Equality and diversity is a big part of what makes the Northwest agood place to live and work. The Northwest Regional DevelopmentAgency is working hard to make the most of the region’s people”.

Steven BroomheadChief Executive

Northwest Regional Development Agency

Problems

Laws have been made to help stop discrimination, butwe still have a lot to do.

• Nearly 10% of 16 to 18 year olds were Not inEducation, Employment or Training. Nearly 2% morethan nationally.

• Too few people are in work.

• Big parts of the BME population live in deprived areas.

• Less than 50% of Muslims in the Northwest areeconomically active.

• Women are more likely than men to have noqualifications and earn less than men. By improvingequality, there will be a rise in gross income.

• Over 20% of people of working age are disabled.

• Disabled people are twice as likely to have noqualifications and not be economically active.

• By doing something about the barriers that stopdisabled people getting jobs, employers will have moretalent to choose from.

• There are more 45 to 64 year olds out of work in ourregion than nationally.

• There are more over 55-year olds in lower skilled jobs.

• Our population is getting older, so businesses need tosee that older workers can be a good thing.

• About 13% of workers have seen anti-gay bullyingat work.

Our Single Equality Scheme

The Northwest Regional Development Agency has aSingle Equality Scheme. It is our action plan of what wewill do about equality and runs from 1 October 2008 to30 September 2011.

The law says we should have Equality Schemes aboutdisability, gender and race. But we want to do more andthink all people including gay, lesbian, bisexual andtransgender communities, faith communities and peopleof all ages should have the same rights as others.

Doing this helps us to do something about peoplesuch as a disabled woman, who might face more thanone disadvantage.

Our Single Equality Scheme is a way of making sureequality and anti-discrimination is part of everythingwe do.

We have made it part of our corporate plan. We talkedand listened to a lot of people and groups to makethe Scheme.

Our corporate plan has definite goals under 3 mainthemes:

• Competitive business.

• Competitive people.

• Competitive places.

Our main aims

Everything in the Single Equality Scheme is important,but there are 4 main things:

• Making our systems and the way we do things better.

• Developing our workforce.

• Supporting the groups and businesses we work with.

• Understanding more about the area we work in.

Our action plan

The Single Equality Scheme has a list of things we willdo, how we will do them and what will happen becausewe have done them. We think the actions will help makethe Northwest a better place to live, work and dobusiness.

Checking what we have done

We have tried to make sure we concentrate on the mainthings and have the power and resources to do them. Bytalking and listening to the people involved such as ourBoard, all the NWDA Directorates, Managers and staff,everyone wants to make it work.

We have ways of checking that we are doing what wehave said we will. The Board will be responsible for theScheme and approve an equality and diversity reportevery year. This report will be put on our website andsent out.

It is important to say again that the Single EqualityScheme is not just a document on its own, but a part ofeverything we do.