Forest Heath District Council is committed to eliminating discrimination and promoting equality for all by considering equality and diversity when developing our plans, policies and services. This also applies to our recruitment policies and how we treat our employees. 

Suffolk Speaks, which is a countywide consultation partnership, has set up an online forum to discuss equalities issues. If you would like to comment please click here to view the forum.  

We have published a Comprehensive Equality Policy and Plan which replaces our Diversity Strategy and outlines the approach we are taking to improve equality and eliminate discrimination.

Our Race Equality Scheme has recently been reviewed and details how we work towards our race equality duties. The consultation asking for comments on the scheme has now closed. The draft scheme is still available to download below. Amendments will be considered by the Councils Community Services Committee soon.

We have published a Disability Equality Scheme which outlines our approach to eliminating discrimination in the way we deliver our services and policies in relation to people with disabilities. We have involved disabled people and their representatives to help us identify issues and solutions. A copy of the scheme and summaries of the results of the questionnaire and workshops can be downloaded below. The actions identified to implement the scheme have been included in the Comprehensive Equality Plan. This can be found in Appendix 4 of the Comprehensive Equality Policy.

The Gender Equality Scheme is also available to download below. This outlines our approach to eliminating discrimation due to gender related innequalities.

Equality policies and associated information can be downloaded from the documents section below.

For further information or to give us feedback, please contact us:
Telephone: 01638 719301
Email: consultation@forest-heath.gov.uk

Draft Race Equality Scheme 2007/10
Gender Equality Scheme 2007/10
Comprehensive Equality Policy and Plan 2007/10
Disability Equality Scheme 2007/10
Disability Equality Scheme - EasyRead summary
Disability in Forest Heath 2006  - Workshops summary

A Fairer Suffolk - Gender Equality Duty
A Fairer Suffolk - Gender Equality Duty (Large Print)
A Fairer Suffolk - Disability Equality Duty
A Fairer Suffolk - Disability Equality Duty (EasyRead)
A Fairer Suffolk - Race Equality Duty (English)
A Fairer Suffolk - Race Equality Duty (Portuguese)

Optua - Countywide charity representing people with disabilities
Gateopener - provides free information to disabled people and their carers
No Limits - website for disabled young people
West Suffolk Disability Resource Centre
West Suffolk Voluntary Association for the Blind
Commission for Equality and Human Rights
Suffolk Inter-Faith Resource (SIFRE)
Ipswich and Suffolk Council for Racial Equality (ISCRE)
Migrant Gateway - provides information, guidance and advice to migrant workers