Equality and diversity

The Derbyshire Safeguarding Adults Board is committed to embedding the core values of equality and diversity in all safeguarding adults work. The following equality and diversity vision statement has been adopted by both the Derbyshire and Derby Safeguarding Adults Boards.

"Derby Safeguarding Adults Board and Derbyshire Safeguarding Adults Board are committed to promoting equality. The SABs aspire to remove the barriers of institutional discrimination and oppression in safeguarding adults practice across the city and county.

"Safeguarding means protecting an adult's right to live in safety, free from abuse and neglect. Safeguarding adults is everybody's business. Everybody is different and diversity will be celebrated and respected. Everybody will be treated fairly, with accessible information, advice and support to help stay safe and maintain control of their lives."

The Board office produces leaflets and information in a variety of formats and languages to try to reach as many people in our community as possible. Currently available we have:

  • A British Sign Langauge version of the Vulnerable Adult Risk Management podcast
  • A British Sign Language version of the Derbyshire Safeguarding Adults Board's 'Identifying and reporting abuse and neglect' animated film.
  • Subtitled versions of the Derbyshire Safeguarding Adults Board's 'Identifying and reporting abuse and neglect' animated film in English, Polish, Romanian, Simplified Chinese and Urdu
  • Different language editions of the Derbyshire Safeguarding Adults Board's 'Advice if you or someone you know is being abused, neglected or exploited' leaflet, which is available in Polish, Romanian and Urdu in addition to English.
  • It is important that people with learning disabilities and autism, those who have cognitive difficulties, and also children and young adults, have positive opportunities to make and maintain friendships. We want to help them to do this, to reduce the risk of harm and exploitation in groups who may be less able to recognise the intentions of others. The British Sign Language version of our ‘Tricky Friends’ short animated film aims to help people to understand what good friendships are and when they might be harmful.

  • The East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU) has produced a fully signed British Sign Language video called ‘What is Cybercrime?’ to help warn the deaf community about cyber security, fraud and scams that could affect them.

If you would like to request some of our safeguarding information in an alternative format or language, please contact the Board office, email DerbyshireSAB@Derbyshire.gov.uk

Equality Act 2010

The Equality Act 2010 legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society. It replaced previous anti-discrimination laws with a single Act, making the law easier to understand and strengthening protection in some situations. It sets out the different ways in which it’s unlawful to treat someone. The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) has an overview of the Equality Act 2010 for social care.

Department of Health analysis of the impact on equality

The Department of Health’s Analysis of the Impact on Equality (AIE) report looks at safeguarding adults and the role of health services.

Resources from Safeguarding Adults Boards, partner agencies and professional organisations

An integral part of social care practice is protection and promotion of the rights of adults, children and families. Central to this is ensuring that people of all ages, with all of their diverse characteristics, have equality of opportunity and are not excluded or discriminated against. Visit the Research in Practice for Adults (RIPFA) information hub to read more articles.

Learning from a safeguarding adult review by Norfolk Safeguarding Adults Board (NSAB) identified care and nursing staff who were routinely subjected to racist and other abuse from patients in a private hospital setting. Read NSAB’s 7-minute briefing on managing racial abuse towards staff from people who lack capacity.

Cultural competence is guidance produced by Newcastle Safeguarding Children Board and Newcastle Safeguarding Adults Board to provide practitioners with a framework of best practice and support, which can be deployed when working in circumstances where there are concerns that cultural factors may be influencing patterns of risk

The British Association of Social Workers (BASW) has some useful Black, Asian and minority ethnic community resources, useful reading and guidance.

Trafford Strategic Safeguarding Partnership’s policy, procedures and practice guidance outlines the main issues in relation to equality, diversity and human rights which should be applied when implementing safeguarding adults procedures and process, as well as all other aspects of providing care and support services to adults.

Bias

Bias refers to conscious and unconscious forms of discrimination and stereotyping based on factors such as race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, ability, age. Gloucestershire County Council has gathered a series of videos to help unpack unconscious bias as well as other information about racism and allyship.

Everyone is talking about gender equality, but what does unconscious bias look like? Would you know it if you saw it? Would you know it if you had it? An addressing unconscious bias video from McKinsey and Company gives some examples.

Watch an excerpt from a Channel 4 documentary series, The School That Tried to End Racism, which follows a British school and its students uncovering and exploring hidden racial biases and the effect they may have.

The Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has kindly shared their presentation about unconscious bias in safeguarding adults training, which is attached to this page.

Allyship

Forbes has an article called Allyship – the key to unlocking the power of diversity, which is about actively promoting and aspiring to advance the culture of inclusion through intentional, positive and conscious efforts that everyone.

The Language of Us and Them poem

A poem by Mayer Shevin called The Language of Us and Them tries to demonstrate the power of words.