Equality Diversity Inclusion 30 Dec 20 FF - Flipbook - Page 6
Equality, Diversity
& Inclusion
Understanding our communities
Disability
In relation to the Equality Act, a person has a
disability if they have “a mental or physical
impairment that has a substantial and long-term
adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal
day-to-day activities.”
In 2014 The Ofce for Disability Issues and
Department for Work and Pensions estimated that
there were 11.6 million disabled people in the UK,
5.7 million of which were adults of working age, 5.1
million over state pension age and 0.8 million
children.
transgender residents. However we are working to
improve the data available to us as well as providing
support to our trans staff.
Age
The shift in the age balance of the population
covered by the Trust in Swindon is part of a broader
national and international pattern. However, there
are a higher proportion of people aged over 65 in
our local population as compared with the national
picture.
Sexual Orientation
The population of disabled people includes
wheelchair users, blind people and deaf people –
these are an important minority of the total, but the
majority of disabled people have other (often less
visible) impairments.
Although there is no hard data on the number of
lesbians, gay men and bisexuals in the UK as no
national census has ever asked people to dene their
sexuality, government actuaries estimate that 6% of
the population is lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB). This
represents around 3.6 million people – or 1 in 16.
Among adults, trends show increasing numbers of
people who have mental illness and behavioural
disorders, while the number of people reporting
physical impairments is decreasing.
The total of marital and civil partnership status for
Swindon was 182,138. The largest group were
married, at 49% (81,617).
Although older people are more likely to be disabled
than younger people, trends show an increasing
number of children with complex needs, Autistic
Spectrum Disorders or mental health issues.
Research indicates that people with disabilities are
disadvantaged in a wide range of areas when
compared to those without disabilities. Disabled
people are more likely to achieve lower outcomes in
terms of employment, income and education. They
are more likely to face discrimination and negative
attitudes, and often experience problems with
housing and transport.
Gender
The gender prole of Swindon broadly reects the
national picture with the split between male and
female being 50:50.
The lives of older women are often very different
from those of older men. On average, women live
longer but have lower incomes and are more likely
to be disabled. Because women are also often
younger than their partners, more women than men
live alone in their later years. Traditionally, women
have also left the labour market earlier, though this
is likely to change over time.
The number of transgender people is not accurately
known. We know that this is something that is often
kept hidden because of widespread historical lack of
awareness and social stigma with regard to
transgender issues. Therefore it is only possible to
collect statistics on the numbers of declared trans
people and the gures we have are therefore likely
to not be accurate. We do not yet have the means to
gather reliable data on the numbers or needs of our
4
Registered same-sex civil partnerships, as a new legal
partnership status, are a small proportion of the
total, just 0.25%.
Religion/Belief
The question on religious afliation in the census
was introduced in 2011 and is voluntary. Those
afliated with the Christian religion remained the
largest groups in Swindon (56%), with no religion
(30%), Muslim (2%) and Hindu (1%).
Ethnicity
The change in the structure of ethnicity in Swindon
is perhaps one of the most striking developments in
the population between 2001 and 2011. If we dene
Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Groups broadly as
everyone except people who report themselves as
being White British (so BME Groups include White
Irish and White Europeans), the proportion of BME
people in Swindon has in approximate terms,
doubled from 8.5% (15,344 people) in 2001 to 15.4%
(32,128 people) in 2011. The Asian/Asian British
group, moreover, tripled in size (from 3,837 to
12,411, 2.1% to 5.9%). These increases are mainly a
result of inward migration from Africa, Eastern
Europe, Southern Asia and South America.
Marriage and Civil Partnership
The number of single people rose from 2001 to 2011
(from 28.6% to 32.4%), while correspondingly the
number of married people delined (from 53% to
48.6%).
We expect to see an updated view of our
communities following the 2021 Census and annual
data collected by local authorities which has been
delayed in 2020 due to the impacts of Covid-19.