Examples of the range of GEM’s work

• Running workshops for thirteen District Councils in the North East to help them to raise their Equality Standard levels. The workshops were individually designed for equality officers, service managers and elected members based on research carried out to identify barriers to progress and identified opportunities for future collaborative actions.


• Training and consultancy for a council’s Cultural Services Management Team. This involved looking at the way the service could work more effectively with diverse communities and examining current practice and the changes needed to meet the requirements of the Equality Standard and the Audit Commission inspection regime.


• Organising and chairing a public sector and stakeholder conference on the Disability Equality Duty with DRC representation. Preparation and presentation of a handbook for managers in the public sector on recruitment and retention of disabled people to meet the requirements of the Disability Equality Duty.


• Training 300 managers of a County Council in how to undertake Equality Impact Assessment and to become assessors for EIAs carried out by the county council’s workforce. The workshops cover an introduction to legislation, an EIA toolkit, opportunities to practice assessments and identifying ways to consult and share information.


• Advising Equal Opportunities Commission on guidance to local government with regard to the Gender Equality Duty


• Digital Challenge Bid: Advising participants on the environmental aspects of the project, setting up new environmental projects, bringing together numbers of stakeholders to consult on environmental concerns, delivering an environmental impact assessment of the bid.


• Drafting a Charter for Equality for Women and Men in Local Life for the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe. The Charter covers all aspects of local and regional council work and has been adopted by over 500 authorities including Paris, Vienna and Frankfurt.


• Reviewing the Community Strategy for a Local Strategic Partnership in the West Midlands to integrate the Local Area Agreement and Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy into the revised sustainable community strategy and producing new high level strategic priorities and securing agreement on them.


• Chooseday: Bringing together public and private sector organisations to take part in a city-wide transport reduction scheme.