This publication is the first of a number of reports that the Audit Commission intends to publish on equality and diversity. It forms part of the AC Knowledge series, which presents lessons emerging from audit, inspection and other research, including performance indicator (PI) data. This report concentrates on the performance of local councils, rather than on other public sector agencies, such as the police and health authorities. It looks at the different levels of satisfaction with council services expressed by women, disabled people and people from black and minority ethnic communities. It suggests critical success factors for local councils when dealing with equal opportunities, drawn from audit and inspection evidence, supplemented by interviews with local authorities. It focuses primarily on issues of gender, disability and race, as these are areas where there is a clear legislative framework and a number of statutory PIs. It is aimed at elected members, officers at every level working within local government, users of council services and Government.
The Audit Commission aims to demonstrate and promote best practice in equality and diversity, but, like many organisations, recognises its own limitations in terms of the knowledge, evidence base and models available to enable effective change in this field. In addition to the legislative framework, there is a broad consensus on the key principles of equality, but limited proven good practice in terms of outcomes. On many issues, there are options and choices for action, rather than prescriptions. This report focuses on analysing the existing information from PIs, audit and inspection. There is insufficient information to present a fully comprehensive picture, but there is enough to provide an initial snapshot of performance.
Future reports will assess the wider range of more complex delivery challenges facing the public sector and will contain new data, focusing on the delivery of outcomes that meet the needs of our diverse communities. Their brief will extend beyond the equality categories highlighted in this report, and will also include sexuality, age and faith, and the multiple forms of disadvantage faced by many citizens. Our reports will run in parallel with our own organisational development work to ensure that the Commission's workforce and activities have equality and diversity considerations at their heart.