The Chairperson raised an issue which he felt would be remiss if it was not mentioned within an Equalities Committee, that is the FIFA World Cup that took place in Qatar. The Chairperson consulted with the monitoring officer the day before the meeting. He expressed his congratulations to the Welsh men's football team and the FA of Wales for their successful campaign in the World Cup. He stated he felt it was important that they did not ignore what had been created by the authorities in Qatar and the duplicity of FIFA in holding it in such a repressive nation. He said that football had not always been a place where LGBTQ+ people have felt welcome, however the work, including the Welsh FA, had much to change with the culture and attitudes in the game. He stated that support for LGBTQ people isn't something that can be rolled out when convenient. Consideration had to be given to people whose human rights are being violated by a nation, as they had been given a global platform that demonstrated intolerance and this shouldn't be acceptable in 2022. FIFA should be using its influence to improve human rights, not to ignore them.

The Chairperson then invited the Consultation, Engagement and Equalities Manager to submit the report.

The Consultation, Engagement and Equalities Manager stated that the purpose of the report was to provide an update on the work completed within the Strategic Equality plan 2022-2024 and the period 2021-2022 and went through the report.

The Chairperson invited questions on the report.

The Deputy Leader queried that as it was White Ribbon Day the week of the meeting whether BCBC held accreditation as an employer as it previously did.

The CEE Manager responded that BCBC’s accreditation has lapsed, but the domestic violence team manager is looking into renewing accreditation for the 2023.

The Deputy Leader also queried with reference to unconscious bias, critical thinking and hidden disabilities with 24 delegates attending the training, out of a head count of employees where BCBC has 1232 males and 4655 female in a head count, she queried if 24 was an aspirational figure or if the thought was to be putting this through the workforce a bit more.

 The Group Manager Human Resources and Organisational Development,  stated that there had been other training taking place that was not detailed in the report. The report is a “snapshot”. The Group Manager Human Resources and Organisational Development accepted that the numbers looked extremely low when compared to the overall size of the Council's workforce. She pointed out that it is not reflective of training that had been undertaken previously by other by employees and as such is not cumulative figure.

The figures reflect what had occurred during the reporting period on specific courses highlighted as part of the SEP, she assured members that if required, at a further date, HR could bring a more detailed report on training attendance.

The Chairperson added that he and the CCE Manager have had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12