Equality and diversity is so much more than just “treating everyone the same” …
Equality and diversity enhances everyday life and simple changes to normal activities can ensure all individuals are included and given equal opportunities to achieve. Our newsletter offers updates on E&D, Safeguarding, Prevent Duty, Mental Health Awareness, and Health and Safety, as either found in the news or highlighted as our topic of the month.
In this issue:
- Equality and Diversity in the News
- Prevent Duty
- Safeguarding and Mental Health Awareness
- Health and Safety
Equality and Diversity in the News
Acceptance of people with disabilities has been a hot topic especially in the media as River Island has included a young boy with down’s syndrome in their kids range. The Customer director Josie Cartridge has stated that they want to support inclusivity and they hope that by being more inclusive they can help achieve wider acceptance for people with disabilities.
Keeping with the media/modelling theme, a girl with down’s syndrome landed a modelling contract after her mums Facebook post went viral, Kate Grant was then selected to walk the catwalk at Belfast fashion week. Both stories help to dispel the myth that those with disabilities can’t be successful in the fashion industry.
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The Independent reported on the large gaps in income and living standards between different ethnic groups, for example Bangladeshi households bring in on average £8900 less than the average white British household, Pakistani households bring in on average £8700 less than the average white British household.
Similarly, the gaps in pay and employment opportunities for women has been estimated to take 217 years to close which has increased from the 170 years that was calculated in 2016.
The Prevent Duty
Along with schools and colleges being provided with Prevent training Wolverhampton University will be the first that also provides this training to students before they go into any health-related placement. This training will enable students to recognise vulnerabilities that could leave people susceptible to radicalisation.
This is a huge step for the Prevent Duty as nurses and those in the health care sector are often heavily involved in safeguarding those that are likely to be vulnerable.
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The BBC has reported that the number of Prevent referrals from the public has doubled in four months increasing from 100 to 200 referrals. In total there were around 6,300 referrals to Prevent in 2016-17 however only 1 in 10 came from the public. The leader of the Prevent Strategy, Simon Cole, stated that they wanted to encourage more people to report anything that they thought was suspicious particularly if it is seen in friends or family as it is often easier for them to spot a change in someone’s behaviour but harder for them to come forward and report it. This is what Simon wants to change if we as a country are going to successfully stop radicalisation of vulnerable people.
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Prevent and Channel
Part of the prevent strategy is Channel, this is where the police work with public bodies such as school, NHS staff or local councils to identify those that are at risk of being drawn into terrorism, assess the risk they might be and then develop tailored support for those that have been referred. Not everyone that is referred to Channel is deemed suitable for the programme, there is a filtering process as some people that get referred may not really be at risk or may have been wrongly or maliciously referred. Channel is about helping those that are at risk channelling their energy into something other than radicalised behaviour.
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Remember those all-important contact numbers:
Anti-Terrorism Hotline: 0800 789 321
Crime Stoppers: 0800 555 111
And above all, be vigilant! If in doubt report anything suspicious to 101 or 999.
Safeguarding and Mental Health Awareness
#MeToo
The #metoo movement has allowed women to stand up in solidarity, in particular regarding sexual harassment. A Survey across the EU of 42,000 women showed that between 45% and 55% of women have experienced some form of sexual harassment since the age of 15.
There has also been a rise in the number of women that are seeking legal advice about how to pursue sexual harassment claims. This increase, in both legal advice and responses to the #metoo movement, has been seen since claims that have been made against public figures have been made visible to the public, the #metoo movement has shown that women have been silent on this topic for decades as some of the stories that people have shared are from when they were very young all the way through to recent events.
#Metoo also shows that there is a definite need for safeguarding not only young girls but men and women of all ages from sexual harassment and all public bodies and employers should be trained in how to deal with all aspects of safeguarding and how to report any incidents or grievances.
Safeguarding training and its aftermath
Since the government has pushed for safeguarding training for all of those that have contact with children and young people, the number of safeguarding referrals has increased meaning that the number of cases that social workers must deal with has also increased. However, funding to child social services has been cut by £2bn, along with many social worker vacancies and long-term sickness being very common, the caseloads for social workers is high and they are often reallocated between workers.
The system focuses on severe cases such as physical or sexual abuse rather than cases of neglect due to poverty, parent/guardian having mental health or substance abuse problems. Cases of neglect are often allocated as a child in need instead of a child needing a protection plan, those that are allocated as a child in need receive less practical support for both child and parent/guardian. Some cases of neglect due to parental mental health or substance misuse problems often then lead to more focus on helping the parent rather than the child.
Health and Safety
A food wholesaler fined £60,000 for health and safety breach, one of the directors has also been told to pay £2,500 costs and put on a conditional discharge for neglecting his duty to protect staff. There were many breaches, including no forklift operations risk assessment, keys left in trucks and employees not wearing high visibility jackets.
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The National trust has been accused of vandalising and desecrating an industrial heritage site in Cornwall which is used as a filming location for Poldark, it has been given the same historical importance as Stonehenge. The National Trust has recently had to carry out health and safety works at the site; however many locals, visitors and industrial heritage enthusiasts have become enraged to the point that some have even cancelled their membership.
http://www.devonlive.com/news/row-over-national-trust-desecrating-737703
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With Remembrance Day just around the corner, the home of the tank, the city of Lincoln, planned to have a replica Mark IV British tank as part of the Remembrance Day parade. But plans had to be scrapped after Lincoln Council’s safety advisory group insisted they make changes to the 30-tonne vehicle as it may pose a danger to shoppers.
Really good course, excellent presentation, concise and very informative. Thank you for a really enjoyable day (which I wasn't excepting) once again thank you.
Perfect