Vale of White Horse District Council
Abbey House, Abbey Close,
Abingdon, OX14 3JE
Email: comments@whitehorsedc.gov.uk
Telephone: 01235 520202

Vale of White Horse District Council

What are the Council's plans to increase access to its services?

Equality and Diversity Scheme 2008/09 – 2010/11

Building on what we’ve already achieved to provide accessible services for everybody, this scheme states our overall commitment and approach to equal opportunities.

This scheme also contains a detailed action plan which sets out all of the things we will be going to do over the next three years to improve access to our services and employment opportunities.  

In accordance with legislation, it pays particular attention to the needs of disabled people and women as they may find it more difficult to access local services. Our Race Equality Scheme has also been incorporated into this document.

The scheme and an executive summary can be downloaded from the right of the page. Hard copies are available upon request and we can also provide the scheme in alternative formats and languages - please contact our Equalities Officer using the contact details on the right.

We are making good progress towards delivering the actions we set ourselves for this year (2008/09). You can see what we’ve achieved by downloading a copy of our six month progress update (April – September 2008) from the right of this page.

Corporate Equalities Action Plan 2007/08

This plan brought together all our equality and diversity activities for the year into one single document, helping us to approach our work in this area in a co-ordinated way. 

All the actions in the plan have been achieved and the completed plan can be downloaded from the right of the page.

Some of the key things we have achieved in 2007/08:

• We reviewed 15 of our services to see how accessible they are to local people and identified areas for action (via the Equality Impact Assessment process - see below for more information about this)
• We provided equality and diversity training for staff and councillors
• Through focus groups, we sought feedback from residents about access to Council services and used the information to help us shape our work
• We took a lead role in producing the Embrace partnership’s newsletters for local black and minority ethnic businesses in Abingdon and Didcot. Embrace works to promote good relations between different cultures and communities in Southern Oxfordshire – please see our page on The Embrace Partnership for more details about this work.
• We developed and published our Equality and Diversity Scheme 2008/09 – 2010/11 which sets out how the Council will continue to provide accessible services and opportunities for residents, staff and councillors. See above for more information about this scheme.

Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs)

These assessments enable staff to take a step back from their day-to-day work and consider the accessibility of their services.

In 2007/08, the Council completed assessments on fifteen of its functions/services. A summary of the key findings can be downloaded from the righthand side of the page.

The summary also includes the list of the Council services/functions which will be assessed in 2008/09.