Our core values are:
- Quality
- Equality
- Access
- Partnership
Central to these values is a commitment to combating all forms of discrimination and promoting equality of opportunity.
We will prevent discrimination against service users and employees as set out under the Equality Act 2010 in respect of:
- age
- disability
- gender reassignment
- race
- religion and belief
- sex
- sexual orientation
- marriage and civil partnership
- pregnancy and maternity
Equality outcomes and mainstreaming
We have published our equality outcomes and equality mainstreaming report which state how we will fulfil our commitment to promoting equality of opportunity, eliminating discrimination and promoting good relations between communities.
External forum
To support these objectives and importantly to put in place effective consultation and involvement structures we have developed external Equalities Forum to help assist in mainstreaming equality into our practice.
LGBT+ Race and Disability network
We have developed three employee networks for race, disability and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and more (LGBT+) to support employees in the work place, share best practice and to be part of the development of our Integrated Impact assessments for internal policies. It is our intention to develop further employee networks in the future.
Further network information
If you would like further information or want to join one of the networks please contact us using the details at the bottom of the page.
Anti-Racism Statement – October 2024
We are committed to ensuring that we denounce all forms of prejudice and discrimination and stand in unity with all members of the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities, both in our workforce and across East Ayrshire, to make certain there is no place for racism.
We will ensure all our communities feel safe and that we have safe and supportive work environments in which our employees can thrive with equality and inclusion at the heart of everything we do.
We are committed to being an anti-racist organisation. We acknowledge that racism and racial discrimination exists and that these have an adverse impact on our own organisation and the communities we serve. We are therefore making a clear statement that we will not tolerate racism or discrimination.
We will work to eliminate systemic racial discrimination and improve the experiences of our employees, future employees, partnership organisations and wider communities.
We will listen and ensure that we:
- take a zero tolerance approach – tackling and challenging racism in all its forms and reviewing our processes, policies, procedures and behaviours using an anti-racist lens
- provide strong leadership and deliver the improvements required through our Elected Members and Corporate Management Team
- measure our progress and the impact of our actions in a transparent way through our employee networks and Equality Outcomes
- recognise and use inclusive language and embed it into our communication channels
- do more to recognise the value of ethnic diversity within our workforce and the communities we serve by celebrating our differences and raising awareness
- make inclusion central to our values and behaviours
We recognise that it is essential to seek out, listen to and acknowledge the experiences of those affected by racism. By doing this, we will continue to move closer to our commitment of being an anti-racist Council.