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Policies Screened Council Policies/Procedures 2003-2004 Council is required by the legislation (Northern Ireland Act 1998) and its subsequent compliance with its adopted Equality Scheme, to screen all new or adapted policies and procedures. In undertaking such screening exercises, consultation is mandatory with all effected individuals and organizations. This can be done at the time of screening of each individual policy, or at a later date when all screened policies can be clustered and consulted on generally. During the last year the following policies were screened, the outcome of each exercise being summarized. It would now be the intention to collectively consult on each of these policies in order to establish a Year 1 evaluation and to allow for effective monitoring of the processes. The Four Screening questions, which are asked during the process, are:
The screening procedure should lead to one of two conclusions:
All policies have been screened by the Policy Officer with the Council Officer who has responsibility for the development of and/or delivery of the specific policy. Fraud – Policy Statement and Response Plan For further information please contact Lisa Adair, T: +44 (0) 28 9335 8003 The policy has not been adopted by Council since the screening was completed. There is therefore no ratifying minute. There was not seen to be a necessity to subject the Policy to a full Impact Assessment, although the policy may need altered in light of future, related Impact Assessments.
No-smoking Policy – Carrickfergus Leisure Centre (Adopted as an extension of the Workplace Smoking Policy) Although the introduction of this policy will impact on some customers, the decision to make the entire building a smoke-free area is mitigated on the grounds of both Health and Safety and Health Promotion. No further Assessment is required.
Creditors Invoice Policy For further information please contact Lisa Adair, T: +44 (0) 28 9335 8003 The Policy does not appear to have an impact on any of the nine category groupings and is applied in a consistent manner. No further Assessment is required.
Car parking policy – Council yard (Policy is an Extension of the Previous associated Policy) The policy, which designates particular spaces for particular people i.e. disabled, Chief Executive, Councillors, appears to be restrictive yet fair to most nine category groupings having specific regard to accessibility requirements. However, there is no designation of spaces having regard to dependency e.g., mothers and babies, carers etc. This could be revisited at a future date to meet with good practice objectives.
Staff Uniform Policy For further information please contact Lisa Adair, T: +44 (0) 28 9335 8003 A Draft policy was formulated but the screening exercise was aborted as little information had been collected from the relevant stakeholders. The decision was taken to provide a staff uniform and later roll out a screened policy developed in conjunction with the relevant stakeholders.
Environmental Health Enforcement Policy For further information please contact Lisa Adair, T: +44 (0) 28 9335 8003 This policy is driven by statutory requirements and, during the screening process, no evidence was found to suggest that further assessment was needed.
Re-organisation of Council Departments (Policy available on request due to the size of the Document) The screening exercise highlighted enough concerns, including concerns about the lack of collated data, to suggest that further assessment of the newly implemented policy would be required. The policy is due to be Impact Assessed in Year 2 of the process.
Contractual Cross-cutting Policy For further information please contact Lisa Adair, T: +44 (0) 28 9335 8003 The Policy, applied consistently throughout Council, would not appear to have any negative impact on the nine categories, and requires no further assessment.
Carrickfergus Graffiti Policy For further information please contact Lisa Adair, T: +44 (0) 28 9335 8003 If applied consistently throughout the Borough, the Policy would not appear to have any negative impact on the nine categories and therefore requires no further assessment.
Policy on Financial Donations and Contributions Made under Sections 107, 108, 111 and 115 of the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972 For further information please contact Lisa Adair, T: +44 (0) 28 9335 8003 The policy was not found to overtly impact on any of the nine categories, however, a commitment was built into the policy to the effect that; ‘Council is bound, within the confines of its approved Equality Scheme, to have regard to the promotion of equality of opportunity and good relations. Applicants will be expected to accept these principles and refrain from pursuing activities which may prevent compliance.’ This caveat was inserted to further embed the mainstreaming of the duties. For further information, please contact Lisa Adair T: + 44 (0) 28 9335 8003
Freedom of Information The Freedom of Information Act gives people the right to obtain access to as much information as possible, bearing in mind the need to keep certain information confidential. Carrickfergus Borough Council is committed to providing accountable, local government and public services and has openness and accountability as two of its core values (see our Corporate Business Plans 2002, 2003). In order to underscore such openness, Council meetings and monthly meetings of the standing committees of each of the 5 Departments are open to the public (with the exception of Staff Matters and other items the Council is required to treat as confidential, which are discussed “In Committee”). The Freedom of Information Act (2000) was devised to further enhance the provision quality information to ratepayers. Under the Act, the Council is required to produce a Publication Scheme, outlining the different categories of information that it makes available to the public on a routine basis. The Council's Publication Scheme was approved by the Information Commission in 2003 and is now operational. If you have a general enquiry regarding the Council's obligations under the Freedom of Information Act (2000), please contact the Council's Freedom of Information Officer, Lynn Gordon. T: + 44 (0) 28 9335 8013 E: lynn.gordon@carrickfergus.org To download a copy of our Freedom of Information Publication, please click here. (This document is in Word format)
Equality in Carrickfergus Borough For further information please contact Lisa Adair
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