Voscur is committed to encouraging and promoting good Equalities practice, and supporting Equalities communities in Bristol. You will find on our Equalities web pages news, events, good practice documents and information to help you in your work.

Throughout the year we will publish information about Black History Month, (LGBT) Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History month, International Women’s Day, Refugee Week and other events.

If you would like us to include any other Equalities information then please contact us at the office on (0117) 909 9949 or email: ruth@voscur.org

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New on website 8 September 2011

There is an opportunity to update the BME Resource Guide which was launched by the Valuing People Now team together with other BME resources at the Department of Health earlier this year in February.

View the resource via this link http://www.hft.org.uk/Family_Carer_Support/BME_Resource_Guide

To download an update form (word document), please click here

Deadline to submit updates: 16 September 2011

A review of research evidence commissioned by the Equality and Human Rights Commission indicates there are different perceptions about the legal protections for religion or belief and about the level of discrimination towards different religions or beliefs.

Evidence in the report shows that people’s understanding of their rights around religion or belief is not always matched by recent changes to equality law. The Commission is concerned that this could be preventing people from using their rights.

People are protected from discrimination based on their religion or belief in many settings, such as when shopping, eating out or playing sport as well as at work. The law protects people who do not have a religious belief, such as atheists or humanists; as well as people who have a religious belief.

Religion or belief is specifically protected by the Equality Act 2010. People were protected from religious discrimination in the workplace from 2003 and in the provision of goods and services from 2006.

Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Trevor Phillips said:

"Our business is defending the believer. The law we're here to implement recognises that a religious or belief identity is, for the majority of people in Britain, an essential element of being a fulfilled human being and plays an important part in our society.

"Religion or belief is as much part of our identity as other characteristics such as race, gender, or being a parent. People should not be penalised or treated in a discriminatory way because of it.

“My worry is there are people who may feel they're being treated unfairly because of their faith and who in fact may be being treated unfairly because of their faith but for some reason feel they can't get our support in getting justice.

“We’ve already undertaken a number of legal cases about religion or belief discrimination, but want to do more to build a body of case law in this area. We are in the process of meeting with faith and belief groups to get a better sense of what the issues are for their members.”

A copy of the report (research report 73) can be found website at: http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/publications/our-research/research-reports/research-reports-71

The Government has launched a new website to encourage the public to tell them where to cut red tape. One of the first areas to be examined includes the Equality Act – and one of the suggestions requiring comment is whether to scrap the Act altogether to cut unnecessary bureaucracy on business and the public sector.

The full Red Tape Challenge period will run until April 2012, and ‘Equalities’ will remain a cross-cutting topic for comment throughout that time. However, the government turns a special ‘spotlight’ on the Equality Act 2010 from 9 June 2011 for three weeks. This three-week exercise is intended to draw out from business people experiences they have had in complying with specific requirements of equality law, and ideas they have for ironing out any difficulties. The reason for the spotlight is that so far they have overwhelmingly heard from individuals and organisations defending the Act against the suggestion that it might be scrapped. Little has been heard from businesses, and the broad-brush responses from non-business people have failed to produce the ideas, or the level of detail that the government was looking for.

Civil society organisations, and equality groups and individuals who are protected by equality legislation need to respond during this spotlight period with specific reasons for their support for particular measures.

· This should include any specific experiences of protection, support or improvement that equality measures contained in this and previous legislation have provided. If you have submitted comments before, please send them in again, but if possible provide greater detail and cite specific measures (such as the Public Duty) that have helped.

For further information and to leave comments in support of the Equality Act click here

As a result of fast-paced population change, there is mounting evidence that public services in Bristol have experienced significant pressures. The pressures experienced by public services are often due to an inability to make services accessible and understood, particularly to migrants with low level English language skills. Failure to address such pressures can result in migrants suffering social and economic disadvantage and impede the engagement of migrants in communities and as citizens.
The Migration Impact Fund English Language and Citizenship Project has been designed to support new migrants to improve their English language skills whilst accessing information, advice & guidance to access services, learning, employment and volunteering opportunities.
The evaluation report is looking at achievements of the project and has listed recommendations to improve meeting the needs of new communities.

To download the evaluation report click here

Representatives of race equality groups are invited to an equalities stakeholder meeting with the city council on Thursday 7 July. The meeting will take place from 10.00-12.00 at the Council House. Tea and coffee will be provided.

The purpose of the meeting will be to:
a) report on the council's progress on equalities, including its performance in the first year of the implementation of the Single Equality Scheme.
b) report on the timeline for the consultation for the EqIA on the budget process.
c) listen to any particular issues that have arisen in the last year.
More information will be available nearer the date of the meeting.

You may feel that your organisation would like to send a representative to more than one of the equalities stakeholder meetings. Please click here for a flyer listing all of the meetings so that you can let the council know if you or someone else from your organisation would like to attend more than one meeting, however, please note that numbers are limited for each meeting.

Please contact the equalities team to book your place at equalities.team@bristol.gov.uk , or 0117 922 2329.

This representative will work as part of the EAG to support the Bristol Partnership in delivering the Bristol 20:20 Plan. The role of the representative will be to communicate issues that relate to the collective experiences of disabled and to provide a broad equalities perspective. For details click here

On Monday 6 December 2010 the council presented its interim equalities impact assessments on budget proposals for 2011-12. Over 80 people attended from a range of groups, organisations and communities.

The 5 Council departments which presented on their proposed spending cuts were:

• Children and Young People's Services

• Neighbourhoods

• City Development

• Health and Social Care

• Central directorates and Human Resources

On hearing the Council's proposals many attendees provided useful feedback; there were particular concerns about potential major impacts of budget cuts and funding reductions on voluntary and community sector organisations.

The presentations, and a report of comments submitted on the day can be viewed here:
http://www.bristol.gov.uk/ccm/content/Community-Living/Equality-Diversity/index-pages/equalities-current-events-and-projects.en

Bristol City Council is holding events to report back on the progress of the Single Equalities Scheme after its first six months and to re-consider the priorities of each group. You are invited to attend one or all of the following meetings.

- Older People (including Carers): Monday 11 October, 11am - 1pm
- Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans: Monday 11 October, 6pm - 8pm
- Race: Tuesday 12 October, 6pm - 8pm
- Youth Parliament: Wednesday 13 October, 5pm - 7pm
- Religion or Belief: Monday 18 October, 11am - 1pm
- Gender: Wednesday 20 October, 2pm - 4pm
- Disabled people, Friday 22 October, 11am - 1pm (BSL interpreters will be present at this meeting)

The purpose of the  meetings is to:
a) Feedback on our progress in the first six months of the implementation of the Single Equality Scheme
b) Consult with you as to what you feel are the priorities for each equalities community for the coming year.

The council is working to improve its knowledge and understanding of the needs of our citizens, and our findings to date are highlighted here. The purpose of these draft profiles is to ensure that the main issues and concerns for equalities communities in the city are easily available and that they match the quality of information we have on our neighbourhoods. We have drafted a series of profiles for each equalities community covering the same issues:  population estimates, housing, employment rates, health needs, educational achievement and some community organisations.  We have also drafted a maximum of five key priorities for each profile to try to inform decision makers what these might be for each equalities community.

If you are unable to attend the meeting please do email any comments your organisation may have concerning the relevant community priorities.

Please let us know which of the meetings your organisation would like to attend.  Please note that numbers are limited for each meeting.

Venue: the Council House, tea and coffee provided.

To book please contact: email / 0117 922 2329.

If you require a BSL signer or have other access needs that we do not know about, please also contact the Equalities Team.