Year 1 Review – Dudley Market
Directorate of Law and Property May 2004
Corporate Estate Services
Dudley Market.
Introduction
In response to the specific duties of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, the Council identified its polices and functions relevant to the duties of the Act and listed these in its race Equality Scheme. It is recognised that Dudley Market has a medium potential impact on the duties of the Act and undertook to review within the second year of the Scheme how the service provided by was meeting these duties.
Description of Service
Dudley Market is situated in Dudley town centre it is owned and managed by Dudley MBC. The Market is open six days every week and market stalls are rented out on a daily basis to self employed Market traders, who offer a wide variety of goods for sale. There are some 66 regular traders. The Market employs one market officer and one part-time Market manager. The income generated by the Market is paid into the general rate fund and goes towards supporting other services provided by the Council.
Monitoring
Monitoring of the ethnicity of all market traders is ongoing. Traders are asked to provide this information when completing the application form for a stall. However the ethnic categories contained in the application form do not correspond with the comprehensive list as identified in the Councils Race Equality Scheme and this will be addressed in the action plan. Dudley Market has a performance indicator to ensure that 30% of traders are from a minority ethnic background; the figure for 2003/04 was 27%.
Bi-annually the traders are asked to complete a quality of service survey. As a result of this review it has been identified that monitoring of the ethnicity of those traders who complete a survey is not currently undertaken and this will be addressed in the action plan.
Monitoring of service users (Market shoppers and non-shoppers). A number of questions were asked of the Dudley Borough Citizens in 2002. The results of this survey can be broken down to identify the ethnicity of those who responded to the survey whilst at the same time protecting their identity under the Data Protection Act. Of the 1,373 residents who responded 1.95% were from a minority ethnic background. This information will be used to inform decisions regarding future advertising and promotion of the Market.
One of the performance targets of Dudley Market is to establish shoppers’ satisfaction with the Market. To this end a survey of members of the public (Market shoppers and non-shoppers) will be carried out during 2004 / 05; this survey will include a question about the ethnicity of the service users.
Complaints are recorded and monitored using the Councils corporate complaints scheme. In the past two years no complaints of direct or indirect racial discrimination have been received.
Other Data/Research
Ethnic population data from the 2001 Census shows that 6.9% of the residents of Dudley Borough are from an ethnic minority background. In comparison, a total of 27% of all Dudley Market traders class themselves as being from an ethnic minority background and of those Dudley Market traders who reside within the Borough of Dudley, 6.67% class themselves from a minority ethnic background.
Research needs to be carried out to identify where and from what ethnic background market shoppers are from. This will be addressed when the survey of shoppers is carried out during 2004/05.
Consultation
All traders are invited to liaison meetings with Council officers. The meetings are held on a quarterly basis at a time most convenient to traders who are encouraged to submit agenda items for discussion. Minutes of the meetings are circulated to all traders. Should there be issues that arise at these meetings that may have the potential to affect traders who are not present, then consultation is carried out with every individual market trader. This consultation can assist in providing data to assess the impact of any proposed changes.
Consultation with shoppers will be undertaken during 2004/05 to ensure that we are providing a service to meet their needs and expectations.
Access to information and services
Members of staff have received training in cultural awareness and equality and diversity
Advertising is aimed at attracting shoppers and traders alike. Dudley Market is frequently advertised in local publications such as Express and Star and Dudley News and the advertisements contain contact names and telephone numbers. To attract new traders to the Market, adverts have been placed in specialist trade press.
Advertising in publications aimed at ethnic minority readers has been considered but the main publications have a national circulation and are specifically targeted at particular racial groups, this was considered to be inappropriate advertising when promoting a small local market to attract local shoppers and potential new traders. In the past adverts have been place in the Dudley Race Equality Council newsletter but no responses were received to this advert.
Details of general information and help and advice regarding how to become a market trader are accessible via the Internet on the Councils web site. Application forms for market stalls can be downloaded from this site.
A marketing strategy is currently being developed and as part of this exercise a community advertising campaign is being considered. This will take into consideration culturally appropriate advertising.
Dudley Market regulations booklet has been awarded the Crystal Mark for its clarity by the Plain English Campaign. The booklet is not available in other languages and due to the high costs of translation and printing, there are no plans for its translation.
Currently the booklet is produced on white paper in 12pt Ariel font, as a result of this review the following changes will be made to the booklet:
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A copy of the booklet will be made available 16pt bold print on yellow paper upon request.
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The booklet will be amended to include a short paragraph stating ”If you have difficulty in reading or understanding this booklet we can assist you”..
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A paragraph will be included regarding standards of appropriate and acceptable behaviour towards other traders, members of the public and Dudley MBC staff.
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A paragraph will be included stating that, should it be needed interpreters, will be provided by the Council when it is deemed necessary.
Resource Implications
All the activities detailed in the action plan will be carried out using the existing staffing resources, there will be little or no additional expenditure required.
Impact on Racial Groups
Dudley Market has a high profile in Dudley town centre it is important that people from all communities feel comfortable to shop or work on the Market. Dudley Market provides business opportunities for self employed persons from minority ethnic groups and taking into consideration the location of the Market and the fact that 27% of traders are from ethnic minority backgrounds this in itself promotes race equality.
