Including Everyone - the Mid Beds Equality & Diversity Plan

The Equality and Diversity Plan 2006-09 was adopted by the Executive in November 2006. This followed a period of consultation with members of the public and community groups on the council's new duty to publish a Disability Equality Scheme, in addition to the Race Equality Scheme. The plan exists to ensure that the council's employment practices and its service provision are operated in a manner that complies with the spirit and the requirement of all current equality legislation.

The annual progress report as at December 2007 is available below:

Transgender Consultation - February 2008 

Public service providers have a responsibility to provide services for everyone. To ensure services meet the needs of the local population, service providers consult communities about issues and solutions. We also have a legal duty to actively tackle discrimination and promote equality of opportunity for everyone in the community.

In order to meet this duty and ensure that services are appropriate, local public service providers in Bedfordshire joined together to organise an event where they could really begin to understand Transgender issues both as employers and service providers. The issues and actions discussed in this report are not necessarily specific to Bedfordshire and could be useful to other public service providers across the country. Please follow the link below to download the report:

Consultation on Disability Equality Scheme

The council appreciates the help it received with developing our first Disability Equality Scheme. The council has produced a Consultation Summary containing the responses it received via the consultation questionnaire relating to the draft Disability Equality Scheme.

Gender Equality Consultation

The new Gender Equality Duty became law on 6 April 2007. Mid Beds is currently preparing its first gender equality scheme after consulting with the public, interested groups and stakeholders on what should be included in the scheme and what targets should be a priority. Further information can be accessed on the Gender Equalities webpage.

Mid Beds Equalities Action Team (M-BEAT)

This group used to be called the Equalities Opportunities Working Group. It is a group of staff from all departments of the council; together with a representative form Bedford Race Equality Council and a Member Champion, Councillor Anita Lewis (Potton and Wensley). The team aims to drive forward the council's commitment to the promotion of equality of opportunity in employment and equal access to service delivery.

The group meets approximately six times a year and steers the Equality and Diversity Action Plans. The overriding target is to maintain a level 2 of the Equalities Standard for Local Government until April 2009 and to deliver equal access for everyone.

M-BEAT News:

Bedford Race Equality Council (BREC) Newsletters:

External links: