What is equality and cohesion in Salford?
We all have an ethnicity, an age, a sexual identity, a gender. Many of us belong to a faith group, are married, or in a civil partnership, with an increasing number of us recognising that we have a disability. These factors can often mean we want and need different things from service providers.
It also means that when we say equality is important we are talking about an agenda that affects everyone in the city. But it is also a fact that belonging to one or more of these particular groups has often meant being less able to access and benefit from services, and to have experienced fewer opportunities and poorer outcomes.
The unique demographics, history and socio-economic patterns of the city inevitably generate a distinctive set of equality issues. Some of our most severe challenges are the result of intergenerational poverty and deprivation in particular areas of the city. For example, in Salford many children are at risk of living their adult lives in inequality because they are growing up in poverty. Almost 30% of children in Salford live in workless poverty, which is within the worst 10% of local authorities nationally. Likewise, the 2007 ONS Comparative Illness and Disability Ratio stated that 50 or 35% of Salford's 143 lower super output areas have illness and disability ratios more than double the median value for England and Wales and one was ranked more than three times the value. Issues like these illuminate what equalities means in Salford.
The second part of our work lies in promoting the recognition that whatever your life choices, heritage, physical appearance or age, you will be treated with as much respect and consideration as any other resident. As a recent government report put it:
"Equality…. is about how every one of us is treated at work, as a customer and consumer, and by our public services. It is about our sons and daughters, our parents and grandparents, our friends and neighbours, and the basic values of decency and respect we want for ourselves and for them, embedded in our democratic society."
(Discrimination Law Review, A Framework for Fairness, 2007).
Community cohesion
As a council we have a strong commitment to community cohesion. Community cohesion is about building positive and respectful relations between and across different groups in a community.
The Local Government Association defined a cohesive community as one where:
- there is a common vision and a sense of belonging for all communities
- the diversity of people's backgrounds and circumstances is appreciated and positively valued
- those from different backgrounds have similar life opportunities
- strong and positive relationships are being developed between people from different backgrounds and circumstances in the workplace, in schools and in neighbourhoods.
Cohesion is not just owned by Salford City Council, but is overseen by the strategic leads on community cohesion, which is a group of councillors and senior officers from a range of partner agencies. This is in recognition of the fact achieving thriving, welcoming communities cannot be achieved by one organisation in isolation.
Find out more about community cohesion in Salford.
This page was last updated on 24 March 2011
