Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) - Building closure due to lease end - Delta House Harrogate

Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) are public documents. EIAs accompanying reports going to County Councillors for decisions are published with the committee papers on our website and are available in hard copy at the relevant meeting. To help people to find completed EIAs we also publish them in the Equality and Diversity section of our website. This will help people to see for themselves how we have paid due regard in order to meet statutory requirements.

Section 1. Please describe briefly what this EIA is about. (e.g. are you starting a new service, changing how you do something, stopping doing something?)

Ending of the lease on the 29th September 2019 at Delta House in Harrogate, with staff and services utilising the building relocated to other buildings within the NYCC Property estate.

Section 2. Why is this being proposed? What are the aims? What does the authority hope to achieve by it? (e.g. to save money, meet increased demand, do things in a better way.)

The 2020 Property Programme will result in the transformation of the County Council’s property portfolio to achieve a reduction of £1.5 million in respect of revenue expenditure and to optimise the use of the property portfolio.

This will be achieved through:

• a reduction in the total floor area for the delivery and management of front line services
• the delivery of the 2020 Modern Council NWOW Programme

The overarching objectives of the 2020 Property Programme, are to achieve:

• the implementation of more efficient working practices within all of the County Council’s property
• a reduction in the total floor area occupied by the County Council, resulting in a reduction in revenue expenditure

Buildings which are leased are being reviewed as part of the Programme and where possible when these approach the end of their lease agreements these will not be extended, with the staff and services utilising the associated buildings moved to other locations within the Property estate. The relocation of the services to other locations will not have an impact on the delivery of front line services or staffing structure in relation to the properties.

Section 3. What will change? What will be different for customers and/or staff?

Services will be relocated to alternative locations within the NYCC Property estate, which will result in a change of location for customers and staff of the current services located within Delta House, Harrogate, to locations within the geographical area.

The following services currently deliver out of the building:

• Youth Justice Services and BSS – with staff (11.5 FTE) and services that are delivered from Delta House relocated to be delivered out of Oakbeck House, Harrogate.
• IRO Safeguarding and BSS – with staff (7.5 FTE) and services that are delivered from Delta House relocated to be delivered out of Jesmond House, Harrogate.

Communication will occur with any customers that visit the services to ensure that they are aware of their new location and where to visit the services in the future. The new locations are within the same town and will offer the same access to transportation links as previously.

Section 4. Involvement and consultation (What involvement and consultation has been done regarding the proposal and what are the results? What consultation will be needed and how will it be done?)

Consultation has occurred regularly with the services that are located within the building, so that they have been aware of the proposals and involved in the discussions around locations to be re-located to.

Communication will occur with any customers of the services to ensure that they are aware of their new location and where to visit them in the future as required by the individual services.

Section 5. What impact will this proposal have on council budgets? Will it be cost neutral, have increased cost or reduce costs?

Please explain briefly why this will be the result.

The ending of the lease contributes towards a reduction in Property’s revenue budget and the total floor space within the Corporate Accommodation Property portfolio, contributing towards Property’s overarching saving target.

Section 6. How will this proposal affect people with protected characteristics? 

Section 7. How will this proposal affect people who… 

Section 8. Will the proposal affect anyone more because of a combination of protected characteristics? (e.g. older women or young gay men) State what you think the effect may be and why, providing evidence from engagement, consultation and/or service user data or demographic information etc.

There is no anticipated adverse impact on a combination of any protected characteristics but it will be monitored through the process and this document will be updated if anything is raised which needs to be included.

Section 9. Next steps to address the anticipated impact. Select one of the following options and explain why this has been chosen. 

Section 10. If the proposal is to be implemented how will you find out how it is really affecting people? (How will you monitor and review the changes?)

Discussions will occur with members of the services that have been re-located following re- location to talk through any issues and concerns and monitor how things have gone etc.

Section 12. Action plan. List any actions you need to take which have been identified in this EIA, including post implementation review to find out how the outcomes have been achieved in practice and what impacts there have actually been on people with protected characteristics.