North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Candidates Talk About Equality Issues

Candidates hoping to succeed controversy-hit Philip Allott as North Yorkshire’s Police, Fire an Crime Commissioner have pledged to increase efforts to tackle equality issues facing North Yorkshire’s police and fire services.

However, ahead of York and North Yorkshire residents going to the polls on Thursday, there are stark differences in the way hopefuls for the £74,000-a-year role believe equality concerns, both inside and outside the services, should be addressed.

The latest published workforce profile for the fire service from 2018 shows 95 per cent of operational officers are male, and 84 per cent described themselves as white British.

While the service says it supports staff to respect individual values and differences and takes an active part in diversity events, such
as Pride, just one per cent of staff said they were homosexual in the profile.

Among the many equality issues North Yorkshire Police is trying to tackle includes a gender gap that is significantly above the national average, despite its chief officer team comprising more women than men.

The force has said it is committed to setting challenging equality objectives, but the five challengers following Mr Allott resigning over women’s safety comments all insist more could be being done by both services.

Hannah Barham-Brown, of the Women’s Equality Party said ending gender-based violence would be her top priority, and would work to identify issues that most affect women in North Yorkshire.

She said:

“Equality is not something that can take place just inside or out of the services – it’s a collective, communal movement that requires the participation and contribution of every member of the community.”

Independent Keith Tordoff said he would ensure hate crime and hate incidents were being dealt with properly to protect marginalised groups. He said:

“With confidence in the police, recruiting from diverse and ethnic backgrounds will be more likely for the police and fire service of North Yorkshire. ”

Labour candidate Emma Scott-Spivey said equality would be at the heart of all the work she does, adding it would be

“hardwired into my police, fire and crime plan and it will be something that I will expect the services I oversee to reflect”.

She said:

“As will a zero tolerance approach to crime, including hate crime, that targets protected groups. I will be the voice for all people but most of all for those whose views are not being heard.”

Making the services “genuinely inclusive places to work where diversity is championed” is vital, said Liberal Democrat James Barker, before adding North Yorkshire

“is ahead of the game in some respects in that it was one of the first forces in the country to record misogyny as a hate crime”.

He said:

“We need to protect and support all of North Yorkshire’s diverse communities, and I will ensure that guidance and training is introduced to make services trans inclusive and implement a strategy to provide specialist BAME and LGBT+ services.”

Conservative candidate Zoe Metcalfe said she would work with the services to ensure the correct recruitment strategies are in place. Mrs Metcalfe said:

“There can be no room for inequalities in North Yorkshire and I will ensure the commissioner’s office leads the way on equality issues and will work with senior figures within the services so they do likewise.”

The announcement of the election results will take place on 26 November – the day after voters go to the polls.

The candidates standing in the election are:

• Hannah Barham-Brown - Women's Equality Party       
• James Barker - Liberal Democrats
• Zoe Metcalfe - Conservative Party
• Emma Scott-Spivey - Labour Party
• Keith Tordoff - Independent

Information about the candidates can be found at www.choosemypcc.org.uk/area/north-yorkshire

The supplementary vote system will be used for the election. This means people vote for their first and second choice candidates on their ballot paper.

Details of how the supplementary vote system will work at the election count can be found at

https://www.selby.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Documents/Explanation%20on%20Supplementary%20Voting%20for%20PFCC.pdf

There will be additional provisions at polling stations on the day of the election in order to make them Covid secure for voters and staff.