National Assembly continues to build on equalities success

27 September 2013

The National Assembly for Wales has published its Annual Equality Report 2012-13.

It is the first Annual Equality Report for the National Assembly’s Equality Plan 2012-2016.

The Report provides information on the progress that the Assembly has made in achieving its equality objectives of engaging with the people of Wales, supporting our staff, supporting Assembly Members and embedding equality in everything that we do.

The Assembly’s work in this field has led to it being recognised as an exemplar organisation, including increasing its score in Stonewall’s UK Workplace Equality Index 2013, achieving the Action on Hearing Loss Louder than Words charter mark and being recognised as one of the the top ten family-friendly places to work in the UK by Top Employers for Working Families.

“I am proud of the National Assembly for Wales’s record on equalities issues,” said Presiding Officer, Rosemary Butler AM.

“I have spent the past two years campaigning for more women to get involved in public life through my #POWiPL campaign because women in senior influencing roles in Wales remain under-represented.

“I have just launched our nationwide @YourAssembly survey to find out how we can engage better with young people and we have recently made changes to the entrance of our Ty Hywel building to make access easier for disabled people.

“These are key projects that we are implementing in order to deliver equality of access to the political process for everyone in Wales but we will not rest on our laurels and continue to strive to make further improvements.”

Highlights of the year include:

• Continuing to promote equality to Assembly Members, our staff and the public through equality bulletins, blog articles, an increased use of social media and having a number of events for Equality and Diversity Week;

• Welcoming a diverse range of visitors to our estate for tours and an array of events and exhibitions;

• Undertaking an access audit to increase the accessibility of our estate;

• Making reasonable adjustments as required for Assembly Members, our staff and visitors;

• Engaging with people across Wales at meetings, events and consultations to gather their input into the development of Assembly Business;

• Developing policies to support the needs of Assembly Members, our staff and visitors;

• Having staff support networks to support staff and assist in the development of our policies. In 2012 we launched our networks for women and members of staff from black and minority ethnic backgrounds;

• Undertaking regular staff surveys;

• Providing mandatory equality training for all staff;

• Dramatically increasing our equality monitoring data for staff;

• Achieving external recognition for being a good employer – Investors in People Gold standard; Stonewall Top 100 Employers; top ten family-friendly employers and Action on Hearing Loss Louder Than Words charter;

• Running an apprenticeship scheme; and

• Holding a series of regional events and a national conference to examine the under-representation of women in public life.

The National Assembly Commissioner with responsibility for equalities issues, Sandy Mewies AM added: “Our new Equality Plan, published last year, outlines how we will continue to promote equality so that our services, information and buildings are accessible to all.

“We must not be complacent. We have achieved many things during the first year of this new strategy but there is still much work to be done.

“We aim to be an exemplar organisation in the way that we support our staff, Assembly Members and the public that we serve.”

The services that the Assembly offers to the public relate to the accessibility of the estate and providing information in an accessible way.

Throughout this reporting period the Assembly has continued to make improvements in the accessibility of our services, by:

• undertaking an access audit of our buildings;

• promoting the availability of information in alternative formats;

• promoting the use of the Text Relay service to people with a speech or hearing impairment;

• ensuring Assembly proceedings are accessible;

• increasing the accessibility of our website; and

• promoting our accessible facilities and services for visitors.

A copy of the report is available here.