Equalities and diversity in Lambeth

Lambeth is one of the most diverse boroughs in the country and equalities is at the heart of our approach.

Lambeth retains a strong political commitment to equalities, fairness and social justice in the face of significant financial challenges. We believe the way to make a real difference is to ensure that equalities and tackling inequality is a part of everything we do. The Future Lambeth borough plan outlines our key strategic equalities objectives and commitments to fairness, inclusion and sustainability.

As a public sector body, we have legal obligation under the Equality Act 2010 to have ‘due regard’ for advancing equality. This includes: * eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Act; * advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it; and * foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.

For more detailed information about the Equality Duty 2010

Our Cabinet Member for Equalities and Culture Sonia Winifred is responsible for the council’s equalities and diversity ambitions and embedding equalities into all parts of the council’s work including the way in which we procure our services from providers.

In autumn 2016 Cllr Lib Peck established the Equality Commission to seek to understand more about the nature of inequality within the borough. It will also help identify where the council, its partners and the wider community might have most influence in tackling inequality across the borough. The recommendations by this external Commission to the council will inform our equalities practice going forward.

Read more about the Equality Commission.

Equalities information and social research

We have a robust approach to data – both qualitative and quantitative, and we have undertaken research to explore in depth, the needs, views and lives of our rich diverse communities. Download the Lambeth Council's residents survey findings. This data and insight drives our commissioning process. We work with our communities, cooperatively to ensure their voice is a core part of that process. Our monitoring guidance helps standardise the way we collect equalities information across the organisation.

Equalities and decision-making

Equality considerations are part of our everyday activities. At a time of drastically reducing resources we believe it is even more important to have a robust focus on potential impacts (both positive and negative) of the decisions that we make. We host meetings with our unions to consider equalities in the workplace. Our corporate Equalities Impact Assessments (EIA) panel meets monthly to look at equality analysis on some of the toughest decisions the council has to take. In addition to the protected characteristics outlined in the Equality Act (2010) we also consider 3 additional local characteristics - socio economic, health and English as a second language as part of our equalities impact assessment process. Our annual cumulative impact assessment approach seeks to understand the impact of changes in national and local policy, and local change more widely, on residents with protected characteristics.

Details of published EIAs

Equalities and performance

In 2015 Lambeth successfully applied for and achieved an Excellence rating for its approach to equalities from the Local Government Association (LGA). We produced a Lambeth Equalities Excellence Narrative report and some Lambeth Equalities Excellence case studies. In 2016 Lambeth was praised for its approach to equalities in the recent LGA Corporate Peer Challenge assessment report

If you have any questions about our approach to equalities, diversity or human rights contact equalities@lambeth.gov.uk

Downloads

Attachment Size
State of the Borough 2014 1.29 MB
Lambeth Council's residents survey findings 856.55 KB
LCA Equalities Peer Excellence Review Narrative, 2015 1.45 MB
LGA Equalities Peer Excellence Review Case Studies, 2015 809.21 KB
Lambeth Equalities Insight report, 2013 702.84 KB
Lambeth peer challenge feedback 265.44 KB
Lambeth Equalities Monitoring Policy - June 2022 453.9 KB