DWFRS is committed to making a real difference to the lives of people in Dorset and Wiltshire. We want to reduce the level of risk and harm to our communities targeting those most at risk. We have used the protected characteristics outlined by the Equality Act 2010 to identify opportunities to enhance our services to better support our communities and our workforce.
DWFRS embraces the Equality Act 2010 and the Public Sector Equality Duty along with the requirements they place upon us to do the right thing for our staff and our communities. We are committed to providing services that do not discriminate against any section of our communities or staff groups, as well as seeking to identify ways in which to advance opportunities and foster good relations between all groups. How we achieve this is set out in our Community Safety Plan.
The diversity of our workforce remains a priority for us and in 2021 we reviewed our equality objective. We aspire to ‘improve the diversity of our workforce as a whole, compared to the last 5 years’. We have ambitions of creating a workforce that better reflects the communities we serve and to support us on this journey we use positive action.
To monitor the progress of our wider equality, diversity and inclusion action plan and assure our approach we have aligned our strategy to the 5 key areas set out in the LGA Fire and rescue service equality framework, these are:
- Leadership, partnership, and organisational commitment
- Effective Service Delivery
- Community knowledge and engagement
- Employment Health and Wellbeing
- Recruitment, training and selection for progression/promotion
Our equality objective and annual workforce report can be accessed here.
Our Core Code of Ethics can be viewed below: