We are demonstrating this ongoing commitment through:
- Appointing a Senior Policy Officer for Anti-Racism – coordinating work on racial equality within the council and in Leicestershire communities.
- Signing up to the Race at Work Charter and committing to seven calls to action – including appointing an executive sponsor for race, capturing ethnicity data, and publicising our progress.
- Leadership in Colour – a new programme for Black, Asian and Multi-Ethnic Employees to learn about themselves and develop their leadership skills.
- The Black, Asian and Multi-Ethnic Network – the network helps employees feel empowered, supported, as well as helping us to develop and implement good working practices that reflect the diversity of our staff and residents.
- Leicestershire Equalities Challenge Group – a partnership of people and organisations across the county that have a strong interest in maximising the equality of outcomes in Leicestershire.
- Our zero-tolerance approach to discrimination and racism.
- A corporate anti-racism task and finish group – representatives from all council departments meet fortnightly to discuss the action plan and figure out next steps.
This work on anti-racism will help us further tackle inequalities in the county and build on the progress we have already made to become an anti-racist organisation.
Person:Councillor Pam Posnett, Cabinet member for community and staff relations
I'm proud that we have committed to be an anti-racist organisation, and that we are now putting in place a wide range of initiatives and actions that will really bring this commitment to life.
Person:Gordon McFarlane, Assistant director for corporate resources
Our aspiration to become an anti-racist organisation is underpinned by our values and commitment to the principles of diversity, equality of opportunity and inclusion. It is so important that we adhere to these principles at all times and ensure we put equity and fairness at the heart of everything we do and work to eliminate inequality and racism.
Person:Jane Moore, executive sponsor for Race and Director for children and family services
Our key areas of work
Leadership and management
- Supporting equality and diversity is everyone’s responsibility
- Communicate the council’s anti-racist actions internally
Workplace and culture
- Ensure Black, Asian, and Multi-Ethnic employees are represented at all levels
- Continue to collaborate with the staff network to improve the experience of our Black, Asian and Multi-Ethnic staff
Workplaces have a significant role in ensuring that race equality is part of the everyday practice, tackling stereotypes, supporting cultural differences, and enabling development opportunities. See:
Anti-racism audit tool for the workplace
It is imperative that workplaces can recognise and value diverse cultures promoting independence, tackling racist hate crime, and bullying.
Use our online assessment tool
The Anti-Racism Audit is an online assessment tool that will help you as an organisation understand where your organisation sits in becoming an ‘anti-racist organisation’ identifying areas of your workforce that require improvement, as well as providing feedback on what your staff feel supports the organisation with an anti-racist approach.
Your organisation will receive a link that is shared across your organisation, we recommend allowing as many colleagues as possible to complete this audit to enable a holistic organisational response.
The audit will provide anonymised data, and individual responses are not recorded. For information on how we store your data, please visit our privacy policy.
The audit will take approximately 45 minutes to complete and must be completed within a single session.
The audit is RAG (red, amber, green) rated. You only need to put one response per question in the relevant field. You do not need to complete all the fields.
Request the audit tool
For more information, or to request the audit tool, please email AntiRacismAudit@leics.gov.uk
Community and partnership
- Develop strong relationships with Black, Asian and Multi-Ethnic community groups and organisations
- Promote and celebrate the contribution of Black, Asian and Multi-Ethnic people to Leicestershire
- Ensure our suppliers are anti-racist
