The council's policies and practices on disability equality

Please can you provide UNISON with the following information regarding your council's policies and practices on disability equality (as defined by the Equality Act 2010):

1. Disability employment schemes provide essential support for disabled people to find and maintain employment. Is your council signed up to one or more disability employment schemes, such as Disability Confident?

a. Yes - Please provide details about each scheme that you are signed up to.
b. No

2. Please provide a copy of your policy and procedures in place that outline the council's approach to the identification and implementation of reasonable adjustments for disabled employees in accordance with the Equality Act 2010.

3. Does your council provide training or education for managers and employees relating to disability awareness and about the process for the implementation of reasonable adjustments for the councils' disabled employees in accordance with the Equality Act 2010?

a. Yes - Please provide details or any documents that you provide to managers and employees.
b. No

4. Do your procurement policies require private contracts to demonstrate a commitment to promote disability equality and provide regular reports on how they are achieving this? If yes - do you also ask which disability employment schemes they have signed up to?

1. Yes – Disability Confident

2. All of the Councils policies are available to the public via the Council’s external website Page 1 - Employment Policies - Lincolnshire County Council

3. Yes, Reasonable Adjustment Form to help formalise and monitor agreed reasonable adjustments for employees

4. Children’s Services response The Supplier Self-Declaration Contract Assurance requires them to confirm they have an "Equality & Diversity Policy (for both staff and service delivery), Equal Opportunities Policy & Equality Practice Policy Framework including Access Plan, in line with the Disability Discrimination Act 2010 (where applicable)" and to provide a copy, along with the next planned review date. They complete the form annually and need to advise if the policy has been updated since the last iteration, supplying a copy where it has been. Monitoring of compliance forms part of the Joint Evaluation Toolkit.

This could be quarterly, termly, or annually, depending on the contract in question. Terms and Conditions routinely include clauses around Equality and Diversity. An example might be: Equality The Supplier must not discriminate against or between any person(s) on the grounds of age, disability, gender or gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation or any other non-medical characteristics except as permitted by the Law in the provision of the Services.

In performing this Contract, the Supplier must comply with the Equality Act 2010 and have due regard to the obligations in section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 to: eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by the Equality Act 2010; advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (as defined in the Equality Act 2010) and persons who do not share it; and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (as defined in the Equality Act 2010) and persons who do not share it, and for the avoidance of doubt this obligation shall apply whether or not the Supplier is a public authority for the purposes of section 149 of the Equality Act 2010.