Equality, diversity and inclusion

West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board is committed to addressing Inequality and improving outcomes for the people of West Yorkshire who use our services and our colleagues. One way we can demonstrate this is by our commitment to the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Section 149 of the Equalities Act is known as the 'public sector equality duty'. The general equality duty applies to all public authorities which includes NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board [ICB]. Those subject to the general equality duty must, in the exercise of their functions, have due regard to the need to:

• Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Act.
• Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.
• Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.

The general equality duty covers the following protected characteristics: age (including children and young people), disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

In addition, the Public Sector Equality Duty includes some specific duties, created by secondary legislation in the form of the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017, which replaced the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) Regulations 2011.

In England, each listed authority is required to:

1. Publish gender pay gap information. Since 2017, public authorities with 250 or more employees are required to publish information annually relating to the gender pay gap in their organisation. This must be published for a period of at least three years beginning with the date of publication. Publishing and monitoring pay gaps will help employers to understand the reasons for any gap and to consider whether they need to develop action plans to tackle the causes of any such gap. The deadline for publishing this information is 30 March each year.

2. Publish information to demonstrate its compliance with the general equality duty. This should have been done by 30 March 2018 and each year after, no later than one year after the last publication. This information must include, in particular, information relating to people who share a protected characteristic who are its employees, and people affected by its policies and practices.

3. Each listed authority must prepare and publish one or more objectives that it thinks it needs to achieve to further any of the aims of the general equality duty. This has to be done by 30 March, at least every four years and the objectives must be specific and measurable.

How West Yorkshire ICB meets the Public Sector Equality Duty

• NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board 2023/24 Gender pay gap report

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Annual Report 2024

This report provides an overview of the work undertaken by the West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) to demonstrate and provide assurance that it has discharged its statutory and legislative responsibilities for equality, in particular that it is compliant with the Public Sector Equality Duty.

• NHS West Yorkshire ICB Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Annual Report 2024 (pdf)
• Bradford District and Craven Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Annual Report 2024 (pdf)
• Calderdale Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Annual Report 2024 (pdf)
• Kirklees Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Annual Report 2024 (pdf)
• Leeds Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Annual Report 2024 (pdf)
• Wakefield District Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Annual Report 2024 (pdf)

Previous reports

• NHS West Yorkshire ICB Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Annual Report 2023 (pdf)

NHS organisations within the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion.

The Equality Delivery System (EDS22) is a toolkit designed by the Department of Health to help NHS organisations to improve the services they provide for their local communities, consider health inequalities in their local area and provide better working environments that are free of discrimination, as set out in the  Equality Act 2010. This work must include involvement and partnership working with local partners and local communities. The EDS helps NHS organisations meet their Public Sector Equality Duty.

Since its launch in 2011 the NHS Equality Delivery System 2 has been used across the partnership within the NHS to:

• Assess our performance in addressing our Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) priorities.
• Provide opportunities for stakeholders to analyse our performance data and input into that assessment.
• Assist with identifying our EDI priorities for the future.
• Provide opportunities to work in partnership to deliver and assess those priorities consistently.

In 2022 NHS England launched a new Equality Delivery System 22 framework following a review of the EDS2. EDS 2022 is a tool designed for both NHS commissioners and NHS providers. 

We remain committed to using the EDS frameworks to support consistent assessment and involvement of all our communities in our EDI work.

The EDS comprises eleven outcomes spread across three Domains, which are:

1. Commissioned or provided services
2. Workforce health and well-being
3. Inclusive leadership.

Each outcome is scored and rated by the ICB, patients, the public, the VCSE sector, workforce and trade union colleagues. The potential scores are as follows:

• Undeveloped activity If score under 8, adding all outcome scores in all Domains.
• Developing activity If score between 8 and 21, adding all outcome scores in all Domains.
• Achieving activity If score between 22 and 30, adding all outcome scores in all Domains.
• Excelling activity If score 31 and above, adding all outcome scores in all Domains.

Scores are then added together to provide organisations with an overall score, or an EDS Organisation Rating.

Our Approach in West Yorkshire

Within the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership, it has been agreed that organisations will use the EDS22 to assess their performance. Participating organisations have agreed that for EDS22 partners will work together to:

• Share and compare data and information.
• Engage and involve stakeholders in EDS22 processes together.
• Peer-review our assessment processes and outcomes to promote consistency of approach and score.
• Share and co-create the materials needed to implement the EDS22 to ensure effective use of our resources.

Completion of EDS22 involved active conversations with patients, public, staff, staff networks, trade unions and Healthwatch West Yorkshire to review and develop our services, workforce and leadership.

Domain 1 assesses commissioned and provider services. The ICB worked in partnership with provider organisations, patients and the public at the five West Yorkshire places:

• Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield reviewed the personalisation of maternity services.
• Leeds focused on Children and Young People’s mental health services.
• Bradford reviewed respiratory services.

For Domains 2 and 3, the EDI Team worked closely with the People Team to gather all the data and analyse it effectively. West Yorkshire ICB involved staff and trade unions to provide a robust check and challenge and to identify gaps and potential improvements.

Healthwatch West Yorkshire representatives provided further Independent Review on our Leadership [Domain 3].

Scoring across the ICB, workforce and trade union representatives resulted in some variation, with some outcomes scored as 1 and some as 3, but all were averaged for our overall score.

For a comprehensive outline of our approach, ratings and feedback, you can go to our full NHS West Yorkshire ICB EDS22 Report.

Evidence Collated

Comprehensive evidence was collated in partnership with colleagues and partners across all the Domains. Check and challenge was provided by partners, colleagues, trade union representatives and for Domain 3, an independent peer review provided by West Yorkshire Healthwatch.

For summaries of evidence by Domain, please read or download our 'Summary of evidence and objectives by domain'.

Domain 1 Evidence - Commissioned or provided services

• Domain 1 Rating - We scored ourselves 2 in all Outcomes – ‘Achieving’

Domain 2 Evidence - Workforce health and well-being

• Domain 2 Rating - We scored ourselves 2 in all Outcomes – ‘Achieving’

Domain 3 Evidence - Inclusive leadership

• Domain 2 Rating - We scored ourselves 2 in all Outcomes – ‘Achieving’

For a comprehensive collation of all evidence provided, you can review our Full Reporting Template. 

Objectives identified across domains

Following the involvement and peer review activity, objectives were identified for each Domain.  These will be refined over the coming months.

For summaries of objectives identified by Domain, please read or download our 'Summary of evidence and objectives by domain'.

• Domain 1 Objectives - Commissioned or provided services
• Domain 2 Objectives - Workforce health and well-being
• Domain 3 Objectives - Inclusive leadership

For a comprehensive collation of our objectives identified to date, you can review our Full Reporting Template.

Next Steps

We will continue to refine these actions and ensure they are aligned with other EDI actions from workforce reports, staff experience and improvement plans, (e.g. Workforce Disability Equality Standard, Gender Pay Gap). These will then be prioritised to identify specific organisational EDI objectives and the SMART actions required to deliver EDI improvement. 

West Yorkshire ICB will review this first EDS22 implementation to capture lessons learnt, internally and with partners and other stakeholders to help us improve future delivery and participation.

This evaluation will enable the ICB to work more effectively with partners to implement EDS22.

West Yorkshire ICB wishes to thank all those involved in the completion of the EDS22 process.

The Workforce Race Equality Scheme (WRES) requires NHS organisations to demonstrate progress against nine indicators of workforce equality.

• ​​​​​Workforce Race Equality Scheme (WRES) report 2023

The Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) is a set of ten specific measures that supports NHS organisations to compare the experiences of disabled and non-disabled staff.

• WYICB Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) Report 2023

The Accessible Information Standard establishes a framework so patients and service users (carers and parents) who have information or communication needs relating to a disability, impairment or sensory loss, receive accessible information and communication support when accessing NHS or adult social services.

In 2023 NHS England introduced the NHS EDI Workforce Improvement Plan which include 6 High Impact Actions with a number of specific objectives, for example:

• High impact action 1: Chief executives, chairs and board members must have specific and measurable EDI objectives to which they will be individually and collectively accountable.