Torfaen County Borough CouncilAnnual Equality Report

2014 – 2015

OUR COUNCIL VALUES

“Supportive

Fair

Effective”

Our Equality Statement

“Torfaen County Borough Council is committed to achieving greater equality as an employer and in the performance of all aspects of its business. The Council will ensure that the community we serve and current and potential members of staff have equality of opportunity to access all our services and opportunities.

The Council will seek to ensure that no one receives less favourable treatment as a result of possessing a protected characteristic. Where it is evident that there is inequality of treatment or outcome the Council will actively take steps to address such inequality.

We will focus upon identifying the inequality issues within Torfaen and how we will work towards achieving better outcomes for people where there is evidence of inequality in our service provision. We believe all Torfaen citizens can expect to be treated fairly and with respect when using or coming into contact with Council services and we will work closely with the public and our partners to resolve issues where such standards are not evident.

Ensuring our services help and support vulnerable people within our communities is an important priority for the Council. We will work towards improving and maintaining our services so they assist and protect the rights of the people and groups covered by the Equality Act.”

Introduction

We can only provide an effective service to our community if we recognise the diversity that exists within our communities and enable our workforce to meet the needs and concerns of all our citizens.

Equality and fairness underpin the work and ethos of the Council at all levels. Despite the harsh economic circumstances that we have faced as a Council we have continued to strive to achieve fairness in all of our services and in all our activities.

The Council’s Annual Report on our progress on the ‘Equality Promise’ is one of the ways in which the Council makes visible the extent to which it is meeting its obligations to recognise diversity and promote greater equality. It tells much of the story of our progress in relation to the key equality objectives that the Council had set for itself but it still will not be the whole story. Many achievements have been made and progression made on issues that affect the broader well-being of our community and amongst these particularly those who face disadvantage through the promotion of our priorities under the Council’s Corporate Plan.

In this report we outline those issues activities that have had a greater significance to the Council’s progress in promoting greater equality and in meeting the Council’s responsibilities under the public duties contained within the Equality Act 2010 during 2014-2015.

Context

Following last years annual report on Torfaen County Borough Council progress on the Councils Equality Promise this report for the financial year 2014 - 2015 is focused on updating on the 9 Strategic Equality Objectives and exploring the work that is being done against the actions that sit under each one.

Despite the highly challenging financial circumstances that the public sector is operating in within during these times of austerity, the Council has still been able to make real progress in many areas of its the Equality Objectives, often through partnership working, harnessing local adaptability and integrating its work to develop a coherent approach in delivering its priorities to the community of Torfaen. The equality priorities that the Council have set, in recognising that there would be future broader impacts upon services and communities as a result of the current austerity measures have gone some way through the budget development process to limit those impacts although of course cannot fully eliminate them. In deciding those areas of activity that should be afforded some greater protection, both education and social care which represent a significant group of interest under the equality agenda were prioritised for this protection.

The Equality Duty

The Equality Act 2010 places a public sector duty upon Local Authorities to consider all individuals when carrying out their day to day work – in developing policy, in delivering services and in relation to their own employees. The Act requires public bodies to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations between different people when carrying out their activities.

The Equality Act 2010 makes it unlawful to discriminate against people with a ‘protected characteristic’. The protected characteristics are:

• Age

• Disability

• Gender reassignment

• Marriage and civil partnership

• Pregnancy and maternity

• Race

• Religion or belief

• Sex

• Sexual orientation

Our Equality Objectives and our Progress

Objective 1

‘We will work to reduce the percentage of young people in Torfaen, at the end of year 11, who are not in employment, education and training.’

Progress

We have succeeded in reducing the number of young people in Torfaen at the end of year 11 who are NEET. The latest statistics published by WG are April 2015 and show Torfaen as 2.2% against a Welsh average of 3.1%. This is a very good achievement as 5 years’ ago Torfaen was one of the worst performing LAs in Wales.

The PreVent 14-19 project was a key intervention in achieving this reduction and the project closed in December 2014 having met its targets.

Despite not having a replacement EU funded operation, the Council continued to invest in a core team to implement the WG Youth Engagement & Progression Framework and the Council continues to work with partners to meet the needs of young people who may be vulnerable to disengaging.

Further improvements have been made but the WG statistics for 2015 won’t be published until April 2016 so this data is unofficial and unverified but we believe we have made a further improvement on the 2.2%

Objective 2

“Implement targeted schemes to help those furthest away from work (Employment & Support Allowance- ESA claimants) affected by one or more of the welfare reform changes.”

Progress

Bridges into Work

The Bridges into Work project closed in May 2015, having achieved or exceeded all targets. The Council has been successful in securing further EU funding and Bridges into Work 2 commenced in August 2015. This operation is more tightly focused and eligible participants are only those who are over the age of 25 and are long term unemployed or economically inactive. Early indications from the operation are that the delivery model is being successful in engaging the target participants and we anticipate successful outcomes against the operation targets over the next year.

Welfare Reform – Advice Intervention

The Welfare Reform Project Group has continued to make considerable progress during 2014/15 in mitigating welfare reform and building resilience amongst residents of Torfaen.

We continued support for local food banks, and other “affordable” community services, and maintained our investment in Information and Advice services .We extended our commission of the CAB, specifically to support those clients who were facing a medical re-assessment process as part of the changes. In 14/15 this has meant that for each of the 53 appeals that were successful, typically each client received an additional award in excess of £5k.

The administration of Discretionary Housing Payments in Torfaen has been acknowledged as good practice and an important part of our approach to crisis management. The learning from the national Direct Payments Demonstration Project (which Bron Afon participated in) was considered to improve information and support for future changes to households, and enabled us to put in place additional Local Budgeting Support to those moving to Universal Credit . In partnership with housing organisations, a platinum band was created for people affected by the ‘Bedroom Tax’ giving them priority when smaller properties become available.

All partners worked together to understand the impact of sanctions and suspension of benefits so that early identification triggered support

We have maintained the Torfaen Benefit & Money Advice Network (BMAN) which has around 80 active members sharing information on their services and areas of speciality so the people of Torfaen are signposted to those services best able to support their current need. We worked collaboratively to develop two tools to support their work: the first is a signposting App and the second is an on-line training module targeted at front line staff across all public services in the Gwent area. This raised awareness of financial exclusion and provided staff with basic knowledge to identify members of the public they meet on a day to day basis and point them towards help and advice.

The work of the Council and partners to identify and tackle young people who are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET), has been very successful in reducing numbers and is reported elsewhere within this report. The contribution of this work in mitigating the impact of welfare reform and wider poverty is very important and therefore, acknowledged in this section too.

Communities First Employability Programme

The Communities First Employability Project, funded through the Welsh Government, helped local people from across Torfaen to access work placement, voluntary and training opportunities. Working seamlessly with partners, individuals were supported through work clubs or if there were more specific issues impacting

on individuals ability to find work, one to one support was provided to identify avenues to build on existing skills to increase sustainable employment. Over 130 residents out of a cohort of 280 were able to find work with a significant percentage >65% still in work after 6 months.

There was a particular focus on Youth Unemployment during the period in line with TCBC priorities to reduce numbers of NEETS with over 90 young people gaining work or Jobs Growth Wales placements. This was achieved with support both to the young people and employers.

Mental Health related issues were made to the life coach for one to one sessions supporting 54 individuals to increase confidence and mood awareness, through using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) tools and techniques. The majority of individuals receiving support had multiple barriers to employment e.g. physical or learning disability, health problem, criminal record, lone parent/childcare needs alone side having Depression, Anxiety or Low Confidence.

Financial Inclusion Project

The Communities First Financial Inclusion team provides budgeting help and information on affordable and free services in Torfaen. 1-1 appointments were made available across Torfaen with over 400 people accessed the service with >90% assisted to access benefits they were entitled to and with >92% developing a weekly budget. Simple things can make a big difference, such as planning purchases and thinking about how money might be saved to purchase an item or save for a special event, rather than having to find money to purchase an item at the last minute.

Access was promoted to a number of schemes which looked at reducing household bills by improving the energy rating of homes. Information was given to residents to enable them to reduce bills and increase efficiency over 250 residents were able to access the various schemes provided, with white goods, insulation and high efficiency lighting amongst the benefits.

Working with the digital inclusion team advice is provided to help residents save money on the internet. Providing advice and guidance to explore internet services, whelping with money saving and showing residents how to do it safely. Help was provided to browse price comparison sites to find the best deals, find offers and discounts and explore cashback sites. Also support was provided to helping residents claim all the money they are entitled to, using the Gov.uk website benefits calculator and online budgeting tools to maximise income.

Objective 3

“To continue to improve access to our buildings and services.”

Progress

In order to achieve this over a manageable and affordable term, the Council has committed to improve the Torfaen community’s built environment and the wider accessibility of the Council’s public buildings and places of work within affordable means. A prioritisation process has been developed so that improvements will be made within the available resources and that the improvements are targeted to provide the greatest community and inclusive benefit.

This prioritisation process continues to be operational and accessibility issues have been addressed within the Council’s renovation and repair programme. We have implemented a number of schemes, and typically these will be the provision of ramped access to buildings in lieu of steps across the Council’s building asset. It has also been applied to community settings effecting the mobility and access of disabled people on public highways and public walkways. For example, the introduction of dropped crossings using the Council’s own capital funding and via other funding sources for schemes including Safe Routes in Communities.

Objective 4

“To stream-line our current processes within the Disabled Facilities Grant service.”

Progress

The Council’s performance in respect of Disabled Facilities Grants (DFGs) has improved significantly during 2014. The DFG Improvement Board has continued to monitor progress with reviewing the policies and processes in place and has seen a marked reduction in the time it takes to deliver a DFG adaptation.

The all Wales benchmarking information below shows that the Council was in the highest quartile across Wales.

A number of initiatives have been implemented to continue the improvement programme most notably the introduction of a Low Cost Adaptation Grant in April 2015 resulting in. Following Welsh Government best practice guidance, this grant offers non means tested financial assistance for disabled people in respect of adaptation work below £5,000 and currently two thirds of all applications fall within this category. Systems have also been put in place to strengthen partnership working with both Dwr Cymru Welsh Water and the Council’s Planning Control resulting in streamlined processes for more major schemes. Waiting times for an OT

assessment have also reduced with the investment of additional staffing resources. As a result of these initiatives the average number of calendar days taken to deliver a DFG fell by 38.17% during 2014/15.

Objective 5

‘To Work collaboratively with registered social landlords and housing developers to deliver more affordable and appropriate housing to meet the diverse demands of the community.’

Progress

In recent years Torfaen Housing service has worked closely with its partners to deliver a range of housing that meets the needs of a wide range of Torfaen residents and provide them with housing that is both affordable and appropriate to their needs.

What follows are examples of the progress that has been made in Torfaen on this objective since April 14.

Lion’s Court - is used by the In One Place programme to provide accommodation for people who are cared for by Aneurin Bevan University Health Board and have complex care needs. The scheme currently accommodates 3 individuals who previously resided in long term hospital placements. One Client who moved into the scheme made such good progress that he has now moved into a general needs property and is supported to live independently in the community.

Hillside – Work is ongoing at present to identify tenants for the 6 flats for adults with learning disabilities, the properties will be available for occupation early August 2016.

Somerton House - 16 one bed flats have been developed to assist people with autism, physical and learning disabilities to live independently in the community. The scheme is nearing completion and prospective tenants will be moving in June 16.

Crownbridge – The scheme is now nearing completion Melin Homes have worked closely with social services and the family who will reside in the specifically adapted property for their child with complex disabilities.

Trevethin School – As part of the S106 affordable housing provision a 3 bed property has been adapted to assist a family with a child with complex care needs, the family will be moving in later in 2016.

Gypsy and Travellers - In recent years the Housing service have provided a number of service to the Gypsy and traveller community. Improvements include the amenity block on site, updating fencing, and fixing drainage issues. The improvement works make the site safer and provide better access to services for the residents.

During the period 1st April 14 – October 15 Supporting People funded a sub regional scoping exercise into the Housing related support needs of Gypsy Travellers. The outcomes of this are likely to be seen in early 16/17.

Common Housing Register – The Homeseeker partnership (TCBC and RSL partners) work together to deliver social housing to meet local/diverse needs, ensuring housing is allocated by awarding appropriate priority to certain groups, including those who require housing due to health issues/disability.

Objective 6

We will work toward narrowing the gap in educational participation and achievement for children for who it is demonstrable are disadvantaged in the education system.

Progress

In March 2013 Estyn expressed the view that since the inspection the authority had made limited progress against most of the recommendations left by the inspection team. The subsequent involvement of the Welsh Government appointed Recovery Board provided us with considerable expertise and additional support, and in partnership with the Board, The Council and Local Service Board (LSB) leaders we have made significant progress to satisfactorily address all of the recommendations.

The LA has robustly looked at its performance and the provision it has in place to support schools and has sufficiently addressed all shortcomings since the inspection of 2011. The LA, in partnership with the Education Achievement Service, Is

improving the consistency of challenge and support provided to schools and has worked closely with schools to raise expectations.

Further development is needed; however the LA is in a stronger position to secure continuous improvement. Good performance at Key Stage 4, particularly in English or Welsh and Mathematics is important because it opens up opportunities for learners in further education, training and or work which might otherwise not be there.

The story so far…….

The LA and its schools have achieved a sustained year on year improvement in performance in Key Stage 4 of 13.6% in Level 2 inclusive since 2011.

Torfaen performance increased by 3% from 53.4% in 2014 to 56.4% in 2015.

Torfaen is now ranked 13th in Wales for this measure up from 15th in 2014 and 16th in 2013.Torfaen is the second highest performing LA in South East Wales second to Monmouthshire.

86% of pupils have achieved the FPI slightly below the revised target of 86.6% (academic year 2014-2015)

84.3% of pupils achieved the KS2 CSI, slightly above the revised target of 83.6%;(academic year 2014-2015)

At KS3 81.9% of pupils achieved the CSI in line with the revised target of 81.5%.(academic year 2014-2015)

Many factors contribute to reasons why young people become disengaged from education, employment or training, including but not exclusively: poor outcomes at KS4, low self-esteem and low aspirations, low levels of attendance at school, behavioural issues, special educational needs, lack of parental engagement in learning, and insufficient volume of post 16 provision.

The Education Service is now tracking the performance of vulnerable groups to ensure that pupils achieve to their potential.

The story so far……

For the first year we have been able to track and compare pupil progress across all Special Needs Resource Bases (SNRBs)

Individual ALN data profiles have been developed for schools to track all aspects of ALN provision and to aid data driven conversations with the challenge advisors and LA ALN department to challenge schools on the achievement of individual pupils and groups of learners

During 14/15 we had 96 Gypsy Traveller pupils in Torfaen Schools. All pupils were supported by the Traveller Education service receiving additional support for attendance, attainment and to reduce exclusions. Attainment at Foundation phase was stable with 50% of pupils achieving the CSI. At Key Stage 2 50% of pupils achieved the CSI, an increase of 50% on performance in 20.In Key Stage 3 the pupils attaining CSI also increased by 11.1% to. At Key Stage 4 we saw a significant rise in attainment for GCSE results.57 pupils achieved a GCSE pass a 100% success rate. 100% of pupils moved onto education, employment or training post 16

The performance of pupils with SEN on the Code of Practice shows that; at Foundation Phase 67% of SEN pupils achieve at L5;at KS2 66% of pupils achieve the CSI indicator - Level 4 ;at KS3 49% achieve the CSI indicator

In May 2015 we had 260 pupils who have English as an additional language, with 258 of those pupils within the first 3 stages of language acquisition (ABC).There were 35 languages spoken by pupils in Torfaen schools. The most common languages are Bengali, Mandarin, Nepali, Polish and Tagalog. In 2014/15 3 pupils completed GCSE, AS and A2 examinations in their home language all achieved a pass, in Polish, Cantonese and Italian

The achievement of Minority-Ethnic (ME) pupils at Foundation Phase CSI for the three year trend 2013-2015 averages 89%.The achievement of ME pupils at KS2 CSI for the three year trend 2013-2015 averages CSI 85%. The achievement of ME pupils at KS3 CSI for the three year trend 2013-2015 averages 83%

In September 2013 we had 189 children who were LAC for whom Torfaen are corporate parents. In April 2015 this had risen to 209.The majority of these pupils attend school within Torfaen or the South East Wales consortium. Over half of the pupils Looked After are on the SEN register.

Torfaen scores are consistently higher than the Welsh average for looked after children in both Key Stage 2 and 3 and Key Stage 4.

At all key stages the performance of Free School Meal pupils in 2014 is above the Wales average. In 2014 the gap between attainment of FSM pupils and non FSM pupils has narrowed at all levels except KS2, which has widened by 0.7pp to 18.3%, above the Wales figure of 17.7%. The performance gap at FP and KS4 is narrower than the Wales average, and at similar levels to Wales at KS3.

Pupils who identify as Young Carers at Key Stage 2 both achieved level 5 CSI

The Education Service has worked hard to improve rates of school attendance as we know that any decrease in a pupil’s attendance can affect

performance detrimentally. Rates of attendance at primary level have continued to improve over a three year trend, from 93.6% in 2012/13 to 94.9% in 2014/15

Secondary attendance also continues to improve over the three year trend up from 92.5% in 2012/13 to 93.7% in 2014/15 Unauthorised absence was 0.8%in 13/14 and has remained at that level for 14/15, which placed us 3rd in Wales

Actions identified to sustain improvement:

Continue to make effective use of individual pupil and school performance data to improve performance at each key stage for all learners;

Address the underperformance of learners in literacy and numeracy through the development of an action plan with the EAS to accelerate improvement of L&N skills in Torfaen;

Develop protocols for sharing and analysing post-16 attainment across the full range of learning providers;

Continue to reduce the gender gap and under performance of boys across the key stages;

Continue to improve the performance of all vulnerable pupils including those eligible for free school meals and LAC;

Address the variability of performance in Welsh at KS4;

Work with the EAS to address the variability of performance in individual schools;

Sustain the reduction in NEETs;

Further improve the sharing of information on learning outcomes achieved out of school across the youth support service network.

In addition the Council has continued to deliver the first phase of its 21st Century Schools Programme, which overall will amount to an investment of more than £80million (half funded by Welsh Government) by 2018-2019 through a combination of new schools and significant building refurbishments.

Under activities outlined in the Council’s local Youth Engagement & Progression Framework Implementation Plan during 2014/15 significant progress was made in reducing the incidence of young people who are not in education, employment or training. The Children and Young People Improvement Board (CYPIB) considers that the processes and procedures that have been implemented and embedded will continue to improve outcomes there is evidence of good practice and good

outcomes at project level resulting from the assertive outreach approach through targeted interventions.

The story so far…..

There has been a consistent, significant reduction in Year 11 NEETs. Effective partnership working has secured continuous improvement in reducing the level of Year 11 NEETS. Over a 5 year period the authority has moved from 7% in 2010 to 2.2% in 2014. For the past two years it has been below the Wales average and it compares very well with other local authorities particularly when taking into account Torfaen’s socio-economic factors and that the authority has no ‘unknowns’

Effective use of data to identify young people at risk and to plan support and provision for young people 11-19;

Improved information sharing across services is ensuring targeted support and reducing potential duplication;

Strong ‘sign up’ by partner agencies to the reduction of NEET agenda

Actions identified to sustain improvement:

Continue to ensure data is up to date and is used effectively in targeting work with young people aged 11-19; and further develop processes for obtaining data and targeting support for 19-24 year olds;

Review information sharing processes and procedures to ensure all partners share appropriate information in order to improve the outcomes for young people and families;

Ensure all appropriate partner agencies are engaged in the reducing NEET agenda and that membership is reviewed regularly with all partners

The Families First early intervention programme is another programme activity

There is strong shared leadership of the early intervention and prevention strategy from senior sponsors within the local authority and Bron Afon Community Housing and a well- supported partnership approach to the development of this new strategy. All partners within the LSB, CYPIB and wider partnership framework are committed to the Team around the Family approach and most have fully engaged in lead worker training, an essential component in ensuring that children, young people and their families receive effective, well-coordinated and targeted support. The focus on early intervention and prevention reflects a major cultural change to providing services to children, young people and their families. .

Progress in developing the new approach, and barriers to progression, are routinely reported to the CYPIB and impact of the shift in culture is already evident.

Services within the local authority are refocusing the nature of their work and realigning their resources to support the development of the Team around the Family approach. The services involved include both grant and core funded teams e.g. Youth Service, Flying Start, Families First, Youth Engagement and Progression and Communities First. This improved collaboration reduces duplication of services and highlights gaps in provision. Through this process the needs of families are being identified including low level mental health issues, substance and alcohol misuse, large families and the impact of welfare reform

Overall partners within Torfaen work well together to improve outcomes for children and young people and their families.

The story so far…..

resulted in more school inspections citing partnership working as a key strengths;

achieved a significant reduction in the number of first time entrants to the youth justice system – 62% between 2011 and 2014;

improved tracking and re-engagement of NEET and at risk young people leading to a reduction in Year 11 NEETS from 7% in 2010 to 2.2% in 2014;

increased informal and non-formal learning opportunities and accreditation for young people across the Youth Support Services Network – over 1,700 young people achieved an accredited outcome in 14/15 an increase of 12% on the previous year;

provided an enriched curriculum and range of accreditation opportunities for pupils through Torfaen’s Youth Service Offer to Schools – 72.4% (42) pupils achieved a range of accredited outcomes including ASDAN PSD, BTEC and Youth Challenge.

achieved a significant increase in the number of referrals to Stop Smoking Champions – from 55 (Jan/Feb 2014) to 264 (Jan/Feb 2015); and,

positively impacted on the parenting capabilities of supported families, motivation, self-esteem and confidence levels, aspirations for the future, dealing with family finances, the performance at school and improved attendance of children, and relationships with friends and neighbours as a result of engagement in the Home Family Links programme.

The ongoing mapping of children and youth support services is developing well. All information is located and managed by the Family Information Service. This effectively provides a ‘one-stop-shop’ of information for families, officers, partners and decision makers. Using this source of information the CYPIB is better able to determine the breadth and range of provision, scope and capacity of service

providers, identify gaps/duplications in provision and sources of funding. As information has developed the Council has been able to target resources to enable continuous improvement in important policy areas such as NEETS, low birth weight babies, families with disabled parents and immediate support services. As the system becomes more robust it will greatly improve the capacity of the CYPIB to plan and commission services for children and young people in the future.

Actions identified to sustain improvement:

CYPIB will provide ongoing strong leadership of Torfaen’s improvement journey post recovery;

Fully embed the governance arrangements to ensure that services for children and young people are managed well and deliver improved outcomes for children and young people;

Make effective use of the learning from the Early Intervention and Prevention Project to plan and commission appropriate services for children and young people from 2017 onwards;

Maintain effective use of data to inform service planning, identification of priorities and to measure impact and value for money

Objective 7

“To work collaboratively with our partners to increase awareness and effectiveness of our response to the issues of domestic violence and hate crime.”

Key Objective- To ensure that victims of all types of hate incidents and crimes receive an appropriate response from police and partners that identifies vulnerability at an early stage; best supports them, and increases the chances of a successful prosecution.

MARAC Process

One of the key recommendations of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) inquiry into disability related harassment was for Police Forces to work in partnership with other organisations to better identify high risk victims, and to respond to and prevent disability related harassment at an early stage.

To help achieve this, all of the Partners have committed to including the development of a MARAC within their Strategic Equality Plans. A MARAC is model that has already been used successfully in dealing with high risk domestic abuse cases. It is a process which allows organisations to share information consistently, assess risk and plan appropriately to prevent further harm.

An all Wales post was funded to spend 12 months seeking to establish a consistent MARAC process across the Welsh Police Forces. At the end of this period it was concluded that the differences in operating models and numbers of hate crimes, it was not appropriate to adopt the same process across the Welsh Forces. However, it was recognised that all of the Forces were now more effectively managing high risk victims, and that each had an appropriate system of doing so. Within Gwent and Torfaen, this is achieved through weekly flagging of high risk cases centrally, and local case management groups that meet regularly and involve a range of agencies. Later in 2015, the Hate Crime Criminal Justice Board Cymru will commence monitoring the numbers of high risk cases being subjected to a MARAC process across the 4 Forces.

Training on Hate Crime

Last year we held training for all Communities First Staff (40 approx.) as a response to the national (cohesion) objective, to increase awareness amongst front line staff. This training focussed on increasing participant’s knowledge of the protected groups of hate crime to a level where they would be confident to report the matter; and support victims through understanding some of the barriers they face. The session looks at the definitions of the protected groups covered by hate crime legislation and the definition of a hate crime. There was also a greater emphasis placed on ‘Mate Crime’ and assisting participants develop new skills when working with victims who have a learning difficulty, so that the voice of victims are heard.

Below is an overview of the learning outcomes of the training. Feedback of all participants was excellent with all staff members showing an increase in confidents to support and signpost victims to the appropriate referral pathways.

The session combined practical learning methods, to stimulate debate and discussion amongst small groups as well as advice of what support is offered through the local and national agencies .

Learning outcomes:

A basic understanding of the protected groups covered by hate crime legislation

Greater awareness of Disability Hate Crime and Gender Transitioning

Awareness of the Section 146 (Criminal Justice Act 2003)

An observed awareness of the impact of hate crime for a victim and society

A greater awareness of the barriers to reporting hate crime and ways to increase reporting

Knowledge of the support available and their role within the process

Pre-attendance requirements:

If an e-learning corporate session is available to staff, make participants aware of the internal training and ask them to complete the module prior to attending the session

Awareness

In October 2014 Gwent Police launched a Hate Crime Toolkit, designed to be a single source of information around hate crime identification, investigation, victim support and prosecution. Since its launch, nearly 800 members of staff have accessed its content. Alongside the Toolkit they piloted a Hate Crime Support Officer (HCSO) scheme in Newport, where the majority of our hate incidents are reported. Our existing LGB&T Liaison Officers received 2 days of training which focussed on expanding their understanding and knowledge of other types of hate crime, and we began referring every hate incident reported in Newport to a trained HCSO.

As well as offering additional support to victims of hate incidents, a key part of the HCSO role is to offer guidance and advice to the investigating officer. At the end of a 12 week trial period, a sample of victims who had received support from an HCSO were contacted, and all expressed they had been happy with the service they had received, and most that their confidence in Gwent Police, and to report future incidents, had increased. HCSOs are now being rolled out across the rest of Gwent, including across Torfaen.

One area for concern has been the low numbers of disability hate crimes that are being identified and successfully prosecuted in Gwent. At the end of 2014, the Police and Crime Commissioner agreed to fund a specific training event for both Police Officers and CPS staff highlighting the complexities that are often associated with disability hate crime, and seeking to increase our performance in this area.

Hate Crime Awareness Week 2015 Week achieved a significant media profile; around 30 events were held within local communities across Gwent, and Twitter and Facebook were used extensively to link in with Welsh Government themed days. The week culminated in ‘Smashing the Barrier’, an event held in Cwmbran that was attended by over 100 Police Officers, disabled people, carers and support organisations which focussed on removing barriers to reporting disability hate crime and ensuring an effective response when reports are received. Gwent Police state the highest number of hate incidents for over 12 months was recorded during Hate Crime Awareness Week.

Reporting, Recording and Satisfaction

From reviewing previous Equality data, it was evident that partners were not collecting enough information around satisfaction levels of hate crime victims in order to understand how to improve the service we provide. To help do this better, Gwent Police recruited a Hate Crime Project Support Volunteer who aims to contact all of

victims of hate incidents to find out more about their experiences. Data from these surveys is now reviewed quarterly at Hate Crime Forum and informs a Police specific Hate Crime Action Plan.

Pleasingly, overall numbers of reported hate crimes have increased, although there is clearly still a problem with underreporting. This year we have focused on improving our recognition and recording of incidents at the first point of contact, including providing specific training to all of our Call Handlers, and we continue to monitor and scrutinize the recording of hate incidents as they are reported. Our 2014/15 data now shows an increase in the number of overall reported hate incidents across Torfaen:

Disability Race Religion Sexual Orientation

Transgender Total

13/14 3 24 1 5 0 33

14/15 5 25 0 5 1 36

Objective 8

“We will work to reduce any care disadvantage experienced by older people and promote greater opportunities for rehabilitation”

Progress

Adult Social Care has continued to work with older people to promote their independence and wellbeing in accordance with the preventative agenda and in readiness for the Social Care and Well-being Act 2014 which comes into force in April 2015. Through additional money made available through the Welsh Government Intermediate Care Fund we have introduced 3 ‘Community Connectors’ into the Borough working with all adults over 18 but primarily with older people. The focus of the connectors is to support older people in their own communities to access social activities, reducing social isolation and improving well being. Of the 111 referrals received from April 2015 to December 2015 approximately 68 older people accessed the service. At the end of the intervention 81% of people reported feeling more independent and 85% more confident.

An improvement in older people’s well-being compliments the ongoing work to increase physical independence for the frail elderly. The Personal Care and Community Resource teams have continued to provide short term reablement intervention with positive results. We have invested in additional resources by commissioning additional Intermediate Care beds across the Borough, the 8 beds

now in use provide an opportunity for older people to access rehabilitation and maintenance programmes in a safe environment as an alternative to hospital admissions. Prompt access to information, advice and support continues to be provided through the Duty Pod, 91% of the activity relates to older people. Referrals into the Duty Pod are screened and risk assessed in order to prioritise activity and ensure safe responses to service user needs. All emergencies are dealt with within 24-48 hours and all non urgent referrals within 5 working days. Approximately 48% of all referrals are dealt with by the duty pod directly minimising waiting times. During 2015 we created two additional Reablement Assistant posts within the Duty Pod, again these posts have been crucial in delivering timely assessments leading to practical advice on maintaining and promoting independence.

Other Notable Achievements during 2014 – 2015

The Local Service Board has reviewed the content of Torfaen Together, some of the progress made during the first 18 months of delivery (April 2013 to September 2014) are highlighted below:

Shared Outcomes

“Helping frail people live happily independent lives” – the project group responded to what older people told them and developed a new telephone service. “Be Independent” is a single number primarily for older people, their carers and families who do not know where to go for help or service. The Be Independent team answer the calls and spend time finding out peoples concerns, advising them of two or three options for the caller to follow up. At the launch, the Older People’s Commissioner described it as one of the best initiatives that she had seen in Wales.

“Enabling people to manage the impact of welfare reform” – the project group has worked in many areas over the last year to connect with people affected by welfare reform and provide a range of support to help them understand the changes and manage their income and expenditure. Work has included helping social housing tenants with direct payments to continue paying their rent and bills, crisis support through food parcels, clothing and household goods, debt management and employment support, to name just a few. The project group continues to work with people across our communities to understand the difficulties they face and respond using a number of services and approaches that help people to get through the hard times, prevent homelessness and build resilience

Single Plan Review

PSSU are currently in the process, with partners, of reviewing the outcomes and indicators within the single plan with the view of identifying a smaller number of key priorities to concentrate its activities. The LSB, in undertaking this review, has already identified and committed to focus on improving outcomes for children young

people and their families. This does not mean that the other outcomes in the Single Plan will be removed, however, for the next two years the LSB in prioritising activity around earlier identification, prevention and appropriate intervention of vulnerable children, young people and their families we believe this approach will improve the life chances for current and future citizens of Torfaen and impacts across a range of our shared outcomes.

We expect, in taking a more focussed and co-ordinated single public service approach that vulnerable households will be identified earlier and this will enable appropriate prevention and intervention services to take place at the right level and at the right time. As such we would hope that our vulnerable citizens lives will be appropriately supported leading to improved outcomes in their health and well being, educational attendance, achievement and attainment leading to improved employment opportunities and a reduction in overall crime, poverty and reliance on benefits. This is underway, and will be based around the Families First footprint of developing supportive services surrounding the ‘team around the family approach’.

Appendix 1.

Employee Equality Monitoring Data

Equality Monitoring Data - April 1st 2014 to 31st March 2015

Equality Information regarding Individuals who have applied for posts within Torfaen County Borough Council during this period

Number