The Wandsworth Local Strategic Partnership is committed to equal opportunities in its role as a key planning and co-ordination body serving the community of Wandsworth. This commitment builds on that of the individual partner organisations and their responsibilities under relevant equality legislation for the promotion of equality of opportunity in service provision, training and employment.

The vision of the WLSP is to improve the quality of life for everyone living and working in the Borough. As such the Partnership is committed to working together and with the local community to ensure a strong sense of community cohesion across the Borough. In achieving this aim the WLSP will ensure that any decisions or action it takes has regard to disability, gender, race/ethnicity and other dimensions of disadvantage and discrimination including age, sexuality and religion or belief.

The WLSP’s approach to equality of opportunity will be demonstrated in its efforts to:-

• Build a commitment to equality into its strategic aims;
• Integrate the principles, strategies and practice of equal opportunity into its work;
• Ensure partners tackle discrimination and harassment in employment, service planning and provision;
• Ensure that all partners understand their duty to promote good relations, challenge stereotypes and promote equality of opportunity; and
• Encourage all WLSP partners to reflect these aims in the execution of all their functions, and via their own policies and strategies.

In practical terms the WLSP will:-

• Ensure the WLSP is inclusive either through direct representation or formal communication/consultation mechanisms.
• Work in partnership to plan for, establish, promote and disseminate fair and accessible services.
• Incorporate appropriate targets into its strategic plans, including the Local Area Agreement;
• Make best use of monitoring data available from all sources and partners to inform planning, decision-making and service provision.
• Use effective consultation to obtain the views of the whole community, with particular attention to traditionally hard to reach or marginalised groups.
• Ensure that the meetings and documents of the WLSP are publicly accessible and that requests for additional support to access meetings or papers are responded to appropriately;
• Request all partners to be proactive and positive in their promotion of equality.
• Include progress against the above objectives are included in the proposed annual report on the work of the partnership.