Birmingham’s residents and all local businesses are being urged to share their views on the council’s proposals to address the inequalities that affect all communities in the city.
The events of the past few months, including the socio-economic crisis created by coronavirus, have shown the extent to which predjudice and discrimination impact our society.
The Leader of the council, Ian Ward has pledged to ensure the council’s workforce reflects the communities they serve.
“We are working to introduce a ‘Rooney rule’ for shortlists to address the current, visible imbalance in gender and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic representation across the authority and ensuring all council interview panels are similarly representative.”
Ian Ward
A virtual public consultation opened on the 6th of October, and runs until the 14th of December. The feedback will be presented to Cabinet in January 2021.
Birmingham City Council will use the feedback to work alongside citizens and communities.
John Cotton, Cabinet Member for Social Inclusion, Community Safety and Equalities at Birmingham City Council said:
“We live in one of Britain’s most diverse cities and yet opportunities for too many of our citizens continue to be limited as a result of their race, class, gender, economic circumstances or a combination of these factors.”
John Cotton
All consultation material will be available via the council’s Birmingham Be Heard consultation website at birminghambeheard.org.uk
The council are also welcoming written submissions raising concerns which can be sent to the Cohesion and Equalities Team on the council.
The consultation closes at 11.59pm on 14 December 2020.