Equality and Diversity

Our Diverse Community

North West Leicestershire is a diverse community made up of many different groups and individuals. As a Council we value and celebrate that diversity and believe it essential to try to understand the different contributions, perspectives and experience that people in our community have.

We also recognise, not everyone's experience is equal and there are many forms of discrimination which affect peoples lives. We know that some individuals or groups of people generally experience more discrimination than others.

This discrimination can be on the basis of their ethnic group (race), gender, disability, sexual orientation, age or religion. We know that people can also be excluded through class, poverty and other factors such as poor health, education.

This is why as a Council, we believe everyone in North West Leicestershire deserves excellent "Fair and Equitable public services", which reflects their individual needs and circumstances.

Equalities in North West Leicestershire means that it is a place where:

• Diversity is seen as a strength
• People's differences are understood and respected
• Everyone has a responsibility to promote good relations between all local communities
• Services are fully accessible
• The workforce reflects the community we serve
• There is zero tolerance of unlawful discrimination and harassment of any kind
• Everyone is able to access the opportunities and life chances on offer

Current Legislation

The following section gives a brief summary of the current legislation with regard to creating a society which is at ease with its diversity,
where every individual has the opportunity to achieve their potential, and where people treat each other with dignity and respect.
More about current legislation

Why Does the Council Need to Ask Such Personal Questions?

Ever wondered why we ask you so many personal questions? 

We are not just being nosey - asking these questions can help us to improve the services we deliver to our communities and to you. 

If through monitoring, we find certain groups of people aren’t using particular services, we can address this to ensure everyone gets fair and equal access to our services – regardless of their age, disability, gender, race, religion / belief or sexual orientation.

We need to be confident in asking these questions of our residents or customers in our day-to–day roles, whether over the phone or in person.  

It is useful to remember:

• Information provided by you is confidential under Data Protection legislation.  
• Information is not passed onto anyone else and is not used to check citizenship status or nationality.  
• You are not obliged to provide this information……….but it is the Council’s duty to ask all these questions. 

10 Reasons why you should tick those little boxes (in easy read format).

Equality Framework for Local Government

What is the Equality Framework for Local Government?

The Equality Framework for Local Government (EFLG) replaced the Equality Standard for Local Government when it came into effect on the 1st April 2009. More about the Equality Framework

Equality Impact Assessment

Equality Impact Assessments or EIA's are a way of finding out whether our services or policies will affect some communities or groups of people differently. More about the Equality Impact Assessment.

Completed Equality Impact Assessments

Follow this link to view our completed Equality Impact Assessments.

Interpretation and Translation

Documents prepared by the council are available in large print, Braille, on audio cassette or computer disk.
We can also provide information in languages other than English. More about Interpretation and Translation