1. Workforce data and staff support

• Enhance the data quality held on ICB staff via ESR, through an updated data cleansed system to improve data recording and monitoring.
• WRES/WDES delivery of annual submissions to NHSE and implementation of action plans.
• GPG reporting – dependant on the workforce numbers (threshold 250 staff), the new ICB will need to consider submitting gender pay gap data and so be responding to this data with an action plan.
• Introduce staff networks to support the development of different protected characteristics.

2. Visible leaders to champion EDHR

• Leaders to be at the forefront of improving engagement with vulnerable groups/populations with regards to service change.
• Managers to be more involved in implementing EDHR actions/initiatives as part of their roles and responsibilities.
• Senior staff to be involved with the new Lincolnshire ICB Equality Forum –set up to support the implementation EIHR objectives and monitoring and review of outcomes.
• Support providers to address barriers to accessing services to by patients

3. EDHR training

• Assess current EDHR training provision and staff professional development
• Improve the contents and uptake of EDHR mandatory training for all staff
• Introduce more face to face EIHR related training to support the work of staff from leaders to front line staff.

4. Standards and Charter Marks

• EDS version 3 – All future work will be done in line with the new framework which will be released in 2020 by NHS England and piloted over the year
• Disability Confident – to obtain Leader Status by 2022
• Identify other relevant EDHR Charter Marks and assess/update new ICB policies and practices towards achieving these.

5. Equality Objective for Lincolnshire ICB to support BAME staff and communities in response to national reports.

Objective: Implement actions within the new NHS Lincolnshire ICB to assess the disproportionate impact of Covid 19 on BAME staff and communities in line with the associated health inequalities issues raised in the PHE disparities report.

Actions with regards to the workforce:-

• Collect/analyse workforce data trends paying specific attention to higher bands and create initiatives to address the under-representation of BAME staff at executive/senior level – relate to WRES work;
• Encourage the participation of BAME staff in the decision making process of the ICB, through

ICBs and NHS England play key roles in addressing equality and health inequalities; as commissioners, as employers and as local and national system leaders, in creating high quality care for all. ICBs and NHS England have two separate key duties, one on equality and one on health inequalities. Both require informed consideration by decision makers, but it is important to appreciate that they are two distinct duties.

Equality Act 2010 – Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED)

As an authorised public sector organisation, NHS Lincolnshire ICB is required by the Equality Act 2010 and Human Rights Act 1998 to work in ways that ensure equality and inclusion is embedded into all of its functions. It is the intention of the ICB to eliminate unfair and unlawful discriminatory practices in line with current equality and Human Rights legislation. There are a number of duties which the ICB must address:

1. In the exercise of its functions NHS Lincolnshire ICB must have due regard to the need to:
   1. Eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under the Equality Act 2010;       
   2.  Advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it;
   3. Foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.

1. The ICB must prepare and publish one or more equality objectives at intervals of not greater than 4 years and each objective must be specific and measurable.
2. The ICB must publish information, not later than 30 March each year, to demonstrate compliance with the PSED. The information published must relate to persons who share a relevant protected characteristic who are:

1. Its employees (only when employing 150 people or more)
2. Other persons affected by its policies and practices.

The characteristics which are protected under the Equality Act 2010 are:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender
• Gender reassignment
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Race
• Religion or belief
• Sexual orientation
• Marriage and civil partnership (but only in regard to the first aim – eliminating discrimination and harassment)

Health and Social Care Act 2012 – Health Inequalities Duty

The Health and Social Care Act 2012 introduced the first legal duties on addressing health inequalities, with specific duties on NHS England and ICBs. Under the Act, NHS Lincolnshire ICB has duties to:

• Have regard to the need to reduce inequalities between patients in access to health services and the outcomes achieved;
• Exercise its functions with a view to securing that health services are provided in an integrated way that would improve quality, reduce inequalities in access to those services or reduce inequalities in the outcomes achieved;
• Include in an annual commissioning plan an explanation of how they propose to discharge their duty to have regard to the need to reduce inequalities;
• Include in an annual report an assessment of how effectively they discharged their duty to have regard to the need to reduce inequalities

More information about meeting the equality and health inequalities legal duties can be found on the NHS England website.

The EDS was developed as a product by the Equality and Diversity Council of the NHS Commissioning Board (now NHS England). More information about the EDS can be found on the NHS England website. The Equality Act 2010 requires ICBs to annually publish information which demonstrates the progress they are making against Equality, Inclusion and Human Rights. EDS2/equality reports and related documents are published below:

Equality Delivery System 2 (EDS2) – Including Annual Equality Reporting

2022

Equality summary report of outcomes for April 2021 – March 2022

2021

Equality Delivery System 2 (EDS2) summary report April 2020 – March 2021

The NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard has been in place for a number of years and places obligations on both Commissioners and Providers of services. ICBs and Provider organisations are required to publish an annual update template showing outcomes for White and BAME staff and develop action plans to address any issues that emerge. NHS Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board is also required to monitor and assure itself that those organisations providing services on its behalf have implemented the standard. The ICB’s reporting template and action plans can be found below:

Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) Report 2021-2022 including the WRES Action Plan for 2022-23

WRES Action Plan 2021-22

WRES Report Publication 2021

WRES Report Publication 2020 

The WRES technical guidance documents and all other WRES resources are available via the NHS England equality web page.

The Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) is a set of ten specific measures (metrics) that will enable NHS organisations to compare the experiences of disabled and non-disabled staff. This information will then be used to develop a local action plan, and enable NHS organisations to demonstrate progress against the indicators of disability equality. The WDES came into force across NHS Trusts and Foundation Trusts on 1 April 2019 and is restricted to those organisations for the first two years. The implementation of the WDES will enable NHS organisations to better understand the experiences of their disabled staff. It will support positive change for existing employees, and enable a more inclusive environment for disabled people working in the NHS. Like WRES on which the WDES is in part modelled, it will also allow NHS Lincolnshire ICB to identify good practice.

The WDES Technical Guidance and other resources are available via the NHS England website.

The Accessible Information Standard aims to make sure that people who have a disability, impairment or sensory loss get information that they can access and understand, and any communication support that they need from health and care services. The Standard tells health and social care organisations how they should make sure that patients and service users, and their carers and parents, can access and understand the information they are given. This includes making sure that people get information in accessible formats. The Standard also tells organisations how they should make sure that people get support from a communication professional if they need it, and about changing working practices to support effective communication.

AIS Information sheet for Providers of Health and Social Care and ICB’s

AIS Summary Information sheet