Equality South West Newsletter

News from Equality South West: Thursday 10th February 2011                                                                                      

Please find below various publications, reports, events, consultations, newsletters etc which I trust you will find interesting:

ESW The Equality Standard

The Equality Standard from Equality South West is a cost-effective, practical, non-bureaucratic and easy-to-use- framework that enables employers to benchmark their progress in terms of equality policy and practice for their staff and customers.

The Standard is a tool thatnot only helps employers to understand and comply with equality laws and best practice, it also enables them to show they actively promote equality – giving them a competitive advantage in bidding for public contracts.      ESW’s Equality Standard is relevant for all organisations of all sizes and sectors (commercial, public sector and not-for-profit).

For more information please visit Equality Standard or contact standard@equalitysouthwest.org.uk

 General

Forthcoming opening of ‘Resistance’ at Taunton’s Brewhouse, of particular interest to anyone with an interest for social justice. Full details click here: The Brewhouse.

Response from Compass Disability Services on the release of the Think Local, Act Personal document on the future of social care. To read more click here:  Compass Press Release

GEO has published new guidance for the provisions of the Act commencing in April 2011 Click here to view: Equality Duty Positive Action and Positive Action

Publication of Codes of Practice on Employment, Equal Pay, and Services, Public Functions and Associations available here: EHRC

Public Bodies Bill - Second Briefing from the Equality and Diversity Forum is available here: EDF

Equality and Diversity Forum leaflet How to use the Equality Act 2010: A guide for voluntary and community organisations available here: EDF

A plain English guide to the Localism Billhas just been produced by DCLG click here to view:DCLG

Public Duties to come into force on 6th April,  the guidance and regulations documents are available here:Equality South West

ESW Events

ESW Equality Act Seminars for April are available to book here:

Wednesday 6th April – Taunton: Here

Tuesday 12th April – Bristol: Here

More dates and locations are available:Equality South West

Due to the ever-growing size of this e:bulletin external events are now all uploaded on to our website, there are a variety of events across the region on a number of different topics, for more details please follow the links below:

  • For events taking place in February please see: February
  • And for events in March see: March

If you have any Equality and Diversity events that you would like include on the Equality South West Website please complete the details of the event here: Event Form

Opportunities

The Community Organiser scheme that South Gloucestershire Council are currently promoting would like to know anyone who wants to make a difference in their community.  Full details are available here: Better Community

Free Training for all click here:Training For All

Invitation to Tender for New ESW Website
ESW invites tenders for the redesign our new website. Click here  to view the tender specification as a word document, or here as a pdf document.  The deadline for proposals is 12 noon on Friday 18th February 2011.

Are you a lone mother with a mixed race/mixed ethnic child?  Do you live in the Bristol area?  Are you interested in speaking about your experiences? If so then please think about taking part in a research project aimed at the everyday experiences of mothers in Bristol who are bringing up children from mixed racial or ethnic backgrounds, living separately from their children’s father. The researcher is offering a £10 High Street Gift Voucher for those who participate.  For more information, and to find out how to contact a member of the research staff, please visit http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/families/insidersandoutsiders/index.shtml

Campaigns

Pledge your support to the BME VCS and A Shared Vision to strengthen our voice and raise awareness of the challenges and opportunities lying ahead. The time has come to build solidarity to achieve better outcomes for BME and disadvantaged communities.  A shared vision has been previewed at the Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative 2010 party conferences. V4CE hosted a series of fringe events focusing on ‘Equality, fairness and the Big Society’. Bringing together leading voices from across the BME VCS and Government, the events raised awareness of the A shared vision by asking ‘how do we make Big Society equal?’ Voice4Change England call on the Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) and wider voluntary and community sector to join us and seize the opportunities we have identified to collaborate, to communicate and to celebrate our work. To pledge your support click here: Support

Broken Rainbow UK launched the Rainbow Ribbon campaign to get the message ‘LGBT people experience domestic violence too...’ out there.   For full details of the campaign and how to support and how to support Broken Rainbow visit: Rainbow Ribbon

Surveys

The cuts are coming...

Here at Equality South West we know that vital support services are going to receive cuts to their funding. Some will result in the closure of services altogether and we have already seen this happening across the South West.

We are involved in a national project to monitor the social impact of public sector budget cuts on frontline services and support. We have already been able to lend our support to some small organisations whilst key decisions about funding for their services are being made and in most cases this has lead to public bodies reviewing their decisions and the impact cuts will have on vulnerable people.

We want to encourage all of our partners to let us know about funding decisions and cuts taking place in your local area and how that’s impacting on jobs, service delivery, and capacity. You can report details by clicking here and providing some brief information about the situation. Alternatively, you can contact ESW in person and confidentially.

Voluntary Sector Cuts is a new collaborative project which maps intelligence about voluntary groups experiencing reductions in public sector funding.  To record any cuts please click here: Voluntary Sector Cuts

Advocacy charity SEAP (Support Empower Advocate Promote) would like to learn about Polish, Portuguese or Chinese communities’ experiences of the National Health Service (NHS). To take part in our project please click here to access our Health Questionnaire.  Link http://www.seap.org.uk/bmehealth.php

Only four weeks to go to share your views on care at home by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.  Click here for full details: EHRC

Consultation

 Runnymede is holding a series of NGO consultation events across the UK on racial discrimination. These meetings are part of our 'Tell the World' project to influence the UN's body on race (CERD, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination) To have your say on the key issues affecting black and minority ethnic communities in your area. Click here: Runnymede Trust

The Office of National Statistics has released the second phase of their consultation on outputs, it is an important part for the 2011 Census in England and Wales. The consultation is open to everyone, including members of the public. Government departments, unitary, county and district councils, metropolitan boroughs and other large census user organisations should discuss their requirements internally before making a joint submission. Specific guidance and information about how to proceed can be downloaded from this page here: 2011-census consultations

 Weymouth and Portland Borough Council and Dorset Police have published a draft strategy, which outlines recommendations to improve the diversity, safety and sustainability of the town centre’s evening and night-time economy, making it an even safer and more enjoyable place to be. You can take part in the consultation here: www.weymouth.gov.uk/afterdark

The Home Office is seeking to identify the impact of the Coalition Government’s changing agenda and the economic situation on the Voluntary and Community Sector.  Click hereto take part in the consultation.

Newsletters

For the latest news, events and reports from the Equality and Diversity Forum please see: EDF

Sustainability South West new year newsletter is available here: Sustainability South West 

The latest e-zine from the Marchmont Observatory is now available here: Marchmont

The South West Observatory Autumn Newsletter can be read here:SWO

Equality and Human Rights News can be read here: EHRC

Shaping Our Lives Winter 2010 Newsletter is available here: Shaping Our Lives

Runnymede February 2011 newsletter is available here: Runnymede

Clinks supports the Voluntary and Community Sector working with offenders in England and Wales. Full details are here: clinks

Capacity Builders newsletter is available at: Capacity Builders

Migrants Rights Network news: Migrant Rights News

The first edition of the EMBAN (Ethnic Minority Business Advocacy Network) newsletter can be found here: EMDA

Voluntary Youth Organisations Network – South West Monthly Newsletter is available here: Learning South West

End Violence Against Women latest news is available here: End Violence Against Women

The latest news and information from the Equality and Human Rights Commission can be found here: EHRC

Thompsons Labour and European Law Review can be found here:  Thompsons

UKREN Newsletter is available here: UKREN

Previous versions of the Equality South West E:Bulletin are now available on our website – please see: Equality South West

Recruitment

Develop - Enhancing Community Support – Development Manager - £27,573 pa, pro rata - 30 hours per week Full details

You must be able to demonstrate a clear commitment to the promotion of equalities and delivery of information, research and training whilst being responsible for determining our strategic direction. An in-depth understanding of equalities and experience of championing a cause would be an advantage. In return we offer 28 days annual leave and contribution of 6% to a pension scheme.

Equality and Human Rights Commission – Chief Executive, London -  Further details are available at Guardian Jobs

ViSTAjobs - Social enterprise recruitment service for the voluntary, community and public sector: www.vistajobs.org.uk

ESW Membership Scheme

 We have launched the Equality South West Membership Scheme! For further details and to join please see our website available here: ESW Membership

If you would like to be added to our distribution list please see our website for a contact form:www.equalitysouthwest.org.uk. Additionally if you have any articles, publications or events that you would like included in our E:Bulletin please send them to: info@equalitysouthwest.org.uk.

ViSTA, The Town Hall, Bow Street, Langport, Somerset, TA10 9PR
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UK Learning Provider Reference Number: 10020323