Introduction | News

Introduction

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

BME Resource Guide: Reaching and supporting diverse communities

A guide to meeting the needs of people with learning disabilities, and family carers, from newly arrived, Black, Asian and other Minority Ethnic Communities

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

New on website 22 June 2011

New report on rights around religion and belief

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

Updated 17 June 2011

Defend the Equality Act

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

On website 8 June 2011

Migration Impact Fund English Language & Citizenship Project - Report

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

On website 19 May 2011

Equality Stakeholder meeting - July 2011

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.

Equalities Action Group Seeks Rep

The EAG is seeking a disabled people's equality representative to sit on the EAG. The Equalities Action Group (EAG) brings together the contributions of equalities communities and professionals into a pool of expertise within the Bristol Partnership offering leadership, guidance and performance challenge.

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

Click here to view full report

Reports from the Equalities Consultation on Budget Proposals for 2011-12

Updated on website 1 October 2010

Bristol City Council Equality Stakeholder meetings