Members of the Equality and Human Rights Commission Wales Committee with Flintshire County Council staff and community groups at the reception
The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s Wales Committee held its 28th meeting at Flintshire County Hall in Mold.
The meeting, hosted by Flintshire Council on Wednesday 21 May, meant the Wales Committee has now met in every local authority area across country.
Committee members invited local residents, community groups and businesses to a lunchtime reception to discuss their views and personal stories about issues including how best to tackle hate crime and domestic abuse, the impact of welfare reform, access issues in town centres and the need for quality advice.
The Wales Committee connects with communities in order to set priorities based on knowledge and experience shared by local people. This enables the Committee to advise the Commission’s Board and the Welsh Government on equality and human rights in Wales.
The Wales Committee agreed as its first priority in 2007, the importance of representing the whole of Wales. Over the past six years it has travelled across Wales holding its meetings with a range of people, from senior public service and private sector leaders to front line volunteers and equality campaigners.
Ann Beynon, EHRC Wales Commissioner said: “Listening and understanding the views of Welsh people about equality and human rights helps us ensure that we are connected to communities across Wales and we can reflect their voices in the work of the Commission.
“In Mold, we listened and learned about the experiences of the 150,000 people living in Flintshire. We are very grateful to Flintshire Council for hosting our Wales Committee meeting, which marks the last of the Welsh local authority areas for us to visit. We have been fortunate to be hosted by many public bodies across Wales over the last six years and this has enabled us to build strong and productive partnerships across Welsh public service to build a fairer Wales.”
Councillor Billy Mullin, Cabinet Member for Corporate Management said: “We are delighted to host the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s (EHRC) committee meeting. Flintshire County Council takes seriously its responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 and is committed to developing an inclusive workplace and providing high quality services that meet the needs of our diverse community.
“The EHRC has commissioned invaluable research which is creating a better understanding about inequalities in Wales and ways in which these can be tackled. This is contributing to the Council’s equality objectives and Strategic Equality Plan which aims to reduce inequalities in Flintshire.”
For more information visit www.equalityhumanrights.com/wales
