Minutes for Community Cohesion and Equalities Forum meeting, Sep 22 2009, 2.00PM official page

RESOLVED

That Mr F Downes be elected Chairman of the Community Cohesion and Equalities Forum for the ensuing year.

Mr F Downes in the Chair

RESOLVED

That Mr K Ramdeholl be elected Vice-Chairman for the ensuing year.

Apologies were received from Mr M Holt, Ms M Butler, Mr K Ramdeholl, Mr S Choudhry, Mrs P Pearce, Mr N Gibson, Mr R Pushman, Mrs M Clayton and Mr P Hodson.

To declare any personal and prejudicial interests

Mrs L Clarke declared a personal interest as a Member of the Women’s Local Government Society.

of the meeting held on 10 March 2009 to be confirmed

The minutes of the meeting held on 10 March 2009 were confirmed as a correct record.

Mr J Tripp asked for Mr P Hodson to clarity the following point which appears on page 3 of the minutes:

“The results observed that none of the organisations provided a statutory function although a number contributed to these”.

He said that REC’s do provide a statutory function.

Action: Mr P Hodson to respond.

To receive and confirm.

Members had received the Terms of Reference for the Forum.

It was highlighted that the Forum name was incorrect on the document.

Action: Clerk to amend

It was proposed that the Forum should keep the current Terms of Reference and look at in further detail at a future meeting of the Forum.

A Member said that in their opinion the Forum should be much more about action and not just a debating forum and that there is a real need to look at the Terms of Reference in greater detail.

In discussion a Member said that Point 3, under item 3 should read:

“To provide a channel of communication and consultation with the county’s communities” not community as detailed, commenting that there are several communities within Buckinghamshire.

The Chairman accepted the amendment and agreed that the Terms of Reference be tabled for a future meeting of the Forum.

Action: Clerk to amend

Members had received a report from Mrs Y Thomas, Policy and Equalities Manager for Buckinghamshire County Council (BCC).

The Officer highlighted that the report outlines what BCC are doing in schools and made the following points:

• Since September 2007 schools have had a duty to promote Community Cohesion and Ofsted have been inspecting schools on their duty to promote Community Cohesion since December 2008.
• In 2009 Buckinghamshire was part of an Ofsted pilot inspection and generally speaking most schools did well.
• Community Cohesion and Equalities will be an area monitored during an Ofsted inspection and will affect the overall grade a school receives. This represents a significant change in the inspection framework.
• Officers have been working with and supporting schools.
• Senior Managers in schools have received training on ‘Meeting Schools Equalities and Cohesion Duty’.
• The Local Authority (LA) has put forward and been successful in securing funding for two projects to develop work on Community Cohesion through
• 1. School linking between schools in the County
  2. Inter-faith dialogue – RE Connecting Faiths set up by the Standing Advisory Committee on Religious Education (SACRE)

• Three secondary schools The Grange, Chesham High and Highcrest have all received funding from the Thames Valley Police to work in collaboration with other secondary schools locally on PVE. These schools were selected to lead on this work in their area based on work where they were already doing within their communities.
• A series of workshops for Headteachers has been planned in collaboration with Thames Valley Police and these are currently being rolled out to schools. The workshops have been offered to maintained schools and Independent schools in Buckinghamshire.
• A conference for 6^th Formers titled ‘Sharing Identity-In Difference – Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE)’ was held in June 2009 good feedback was received from both students and teachers.

Following discussion Members then made the following points:

A Member enquired if there was any feedback on the conference and the Officer said that the young people involved had raised concerns that adults were making things worse and that in fact young people did not have any issues in engaging with people who were different. They also commented that

PVE was not just about young Muslims becoming radicalised it was a wider issue and should include looking at the rise of the British National Party (BNP) and animal protestors.

Mr J Williams commented that the work with schools was impressive and enquired how the Fire Service could assist and ensuring a consistent message is given out. Mrs Y Thomas said she would contact Mr J Williams to discuss and highlighted that she works closely with schools and police officers.

Action: Mrs Y Thomas

Members discussed the recruitment of BME governors and the Officer advised that they have trained community members and approached community groups such as the Muslim parents association to help with the recruitment of more BME governors.

Mrs Y Thomas, Policy and Equalities Manager for Buckinghamshire County Council (BCC) Childrens’ and Young People’s Services gave a presentation on Racist Incidents in Buckinghamshire Schools - Report on 2007-2008 returns.

The main headlines from the report were as follows:

• 100% schools had submitted their annual returns
• There had been a decrease in the number of primary schools reporting incidents compared to the past three years and the lowest since reporting began.
• There had been a decrease in the number of secondary schools reporting incidents compared to last year, although this still represented an increase from 2005/6.
• The most common type of incident in both primary and secondary schools was ‘racist comments’ followed by ‘verbal abuse’.

The Officer explained that it is the responsibility of schools to report racial incidents. Reporting is based on a perception of what is understood to be a racial incident by an onlooker or the person involved in the incident and there may sometimes be a lack of knowledge regarding what is a racial incident. Training in this area had been carried out in schools.

Mrs Thomas advised that for the first time the information for Chiltern and South Bucks had been reported as separate districts. The Officer commented that all districts with the exception of Chiltern had seen a reduction in the number of reported incidents and Officers had worked with a school in the Chiltern area.

Some schools were still not reporting racist incidents and send in Nil returns. Officers continue to encourage schools to take up training on an ongoing basis.

The Committee was advised that an online reporting system will be introduced. This will mean incidents can be logged as and when they happen. This will be good for the County Council as it will enable Officers to see when incidents are occurring and identify possible trends such as time of day or year. It was highlighted that most primary school incidents happen in the playground and for secondary schools these are in the classroom as a result more training has been targeted at play assistants for primary schools and for teachers in secondary schools.

Members made the following points in relation to the report:

• A watchful eye needed to be kept on the level of incidents within Special Schools. The Officer advised that this was very challenging as behaviour may also be a major issue.
• A Member asked that as data is now being divided into individual district areas whether any particular District Council stood out. The Officer said there was not one district which stood out but what was noted was that schools which were more diverse had fewer incidents whereas schools which were more mono-diverse had more reporting.
• Are we improving? In response the Officer advised that the number of schools with nil returns was going down which suggested that there had been a trend of embedding and improvements could be seen.

The Officer was thanked for a very comprehensive report.

Mr P Nanji, Principal Leisure and Communities Officer, Chiltern District Council gave a presentation on Chilterns Community Cohesion Plan 2009-2012.

The presentation highlighted the following points:

• The Officer informed the Committee that this was a plan about delivering community led projects in partnership with a broad range of agencies that meet the needs and aspirations of the local community.
• The proposed plan consisted of six themes including reducing health inequalities, community engagement, building community capacity, supporting economic prosperity and improving leisure/culture.
• What different service make can be demonstrated through;
• • Outcomes (LAA/Place Survey)
  • Targets
  • Partnerships

• Addressing sustainability is a big challenge
• The consultation is coming to an end in November and a formal draft plan is to be circulated early in 2010.

The plan was due to go to Cabinet for approval in December 2009 but it is now anticipated this will be early next year.

Members made the following comments:

• Education is not included as one of the plans themes. Education and learning are important and should add to the strategy as a whole. Mr P Nanji agreed that learning and education in its broadest sense should be included within the plan and this would be considered when drawing up a final version.
• Mrs Y Thomas commented that Chesham High School and Chesham Community College will be arranging an exhibition looking at intergenerational work.
• Community involvement is welcome and it is important to raise Health and Inequalities. The PCT reported in 2006 that life expectancy figures in Buckinghamshire had changed.
• Does Chiltern receive Community Cohesion funding? It was highlighted that only Wycombe is the only District Council within Buckinghamshire which received such funding based on the outcome of the BVPI Survey carried out in 2006.
• The District Council should liaise more with Chiltern REC and Mr P Nanji noted this suggested.

The Officer was thanked for updating the Committee.

Papers:

a)     Report

b)     Draft response to Specific Equalities Duties  - To Follow

Member had received a report the purpose of which was to provide the Forum with an overview of the Equality Bill and outlines the policy proposals for the specific duties to support the new Equality Duty.

Mrs A Sarchet introduced the report and invited Members to NOTE the report and AGREE that it wishes to respond to the Government’s consultation proposals for the specific equalities duties. The Forum was also asked to AGREE the contents of its response, which includes the results of the consultation exercise carried out by the BCC Cohesion and Equalities Team.

The report highlighted the following points:

• The new Bill will create a public sector single equality duty on listed public authorities when carrying out their functions and on other persons when carrying out public functions.
• There are four key principles which underpin the new specific duties:
• • Use of evidence
  • Consultation and involvement
  • Transparency
  • Capability

• The Government’s proposals for public authorities include the following:
• • Develop and publicly set out their equality objects taking into account certain priority areas
  • Set out the steps they will take towards achieving the equality objectives over a standard three year period and be required to implement the steps it has set unless reasonable or impracticable to do so.
  • Review their equality objectives at least every three years
  • Have a specific duty to report annually on progress against their equality objectives

The Officer commented that the report was originally due to be discussed at the June meeting of the Forum but due to a high number of apologies received that meeting was cancelled. The consultation process on the specific duties closes on 30 September 2009. To date the County’s Cohesion and Equalities Team have prepared two consultations questionnaires, one focussing on the procurement proposals and one of the remaining issues, which, together with supporting information, were sent to colleagues through the Bucks Equalities Network, other relevant officers within the County Council and the community and voluntary sector. In addition a workshop was arranged with officers who have a procurement and/or commissioning role so that the procurement proposals could be discussed.

The Officer advised that the Cohesion and Equalities Team had collated the responses and drafted a response.

A Member asked how many questionnaires were sent out in total and the Officer advised that over 100 questionnaires went sent out and 11 responses were received.

The Chairman asked that if any Member had any comments to send them to Mrs A Sarchet by 5pm on Monday 28 September 2009.

The Chairman was asked to clarify who the response was to be submitted on behalf. The Chairman confirmed in agreement with Members the response would be a joint response on behalf of Buckinghamshire County Council and the Forum.

Members NOTED the report and AGREED that it wishes to respond to the Government’s consultation proposals for the specific equalities duties. The Forum was also asked to AGREE the contents of its response, which includes the results of the consultation exercise carried out by the BCC Cohesion and Equalities Team.

Members had received a Performance Update from Angie Sarchet, BCC, Community Cohesion and Equalities Manager.

Angie Sarchet introduced the report and highlighted the following:

N101- Place Survey

Members were informed that results indicated that a higher percentage of people now feel people from different backgrounds get on well together and a lower percentage feel that they do not. Results for all Bucks, Aylesbury, Chiltern and South Bucks are above that reported nationally (76%), and the result for Wycombe is on a par with it.

The Officer commented that the BME categories as defined have changed and this made trend analysis impossible.

Responses from female respondents has increased from 62% to 79.6%.

Analysis of the Place Survey results show that respondents under 21 and those aged 21-30 reported significantly higher levels of disagreement compared to the overall figure of 20%.

NI01-Delivery Plan Performance Update

The consultation around reviewing the role of the Racial Equality Councils (RECs) has been delayed but this will be compensated for by extending the consultation period by eight weeks so that it closes in January.

The exclusion report is usually received at the September meeting of the Forum. However, the Officer who would normally produce and present the report was unable to attend the meeting and this item will be moved to the December meeting.

CCEF Action Plan

Assessing the impact of new migrants on localities – this action has been included in the research project with ICOCO and therefore no longer needs to remain as a stand alone action.

The Officer highlighted that it had been two years since the action plan was drawn up and that there had been considerable change in Forum membership during that time.  It was proposed that a half day conference be scheduled for early Summer 2010, which would provide opportunity for an in-depth discussion of the findings of the ICOCO research report and review the role of the Forum, including taking account of earlier comments made at the meeting.

NI04-Place Survey

The overall score suggests people in the three upper age bandings all agree that they are able to influence decision significantly more whilst those in age back Under 21 reported significantly less agreement.

NI35-Building resilience to extremism

The two funded districts (Aylesbury and Wycombe) had self assessed against the indicator and their targets for improvement were highlighted. Buckinghamshire has undertaken a self assessment as a process for identifying improvements that would support the work of partners and has set its own improvement targets.

Following a successful partnership bid for funding to the CLG £50k has been awarded and training will be rolled out.

In March 2009 the Government published a revised version of its counter terrorism strategy, commonly known at Contest 2. The revised strategy sets out its strategic context looking at issues such as the background to international terrorism and the UK, its impact, the current threat and how this has changed.

In response to the report Members made the following comments:

• Page 6, item 6 comments about reviewing the role of the RECs. Wycombe REC provides immigration advice and translation services daily. There is talk about altering method of funding but primary funding is needed.
• In relation to pg 47, item 19, Mr N Hussain commented that another County Councillor Mr R Khan and he had recently been interviewed by newsnight regarding their work on community cohesion within Buckinghamshire since the terrorist activities in Wycombe, which included re-establishing links with Thames Valley Police. He said that the media coverage had been positive.

The Forum NOTED the report.

Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue

The Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Equality and Diversity Strategy which was previously presented to the Forum has now been embedded in the service. The service still needs to be looking externally at the equality impact and a community impact assessment will be undertaken to quantify and qualify data.

Members were informed that the South East Fire Improvement Partnership are holding an Operational and Diversity event for Fire and Rescue services on 23 September 2009 at MK Dons stadium in Milton Keynes. Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue will be launching their Community Cohesion Strategy and Community Engagement guidance at the conference. Copies of the documents will be circulated to Members for information.

Action: Mr J Williams to forward documents to Clerk for circulation to Members

Thames Valley Police

Inspector Sarah Poolman informed the Forum that she had been in post since August.

Thames Valley Police continue to work closely with District Councils in relation to the prevent agenda and improving communication.

A prevent engagement officer for Buckinghamshire has been recruited and officers are currently working closely with Wycombe REC and the Equalities Forum.

Sir Christopher Prentice, Ambassador to Iraq will be visiting Wycombe for an event which is to be held at Bucks New University and is aimed at young muslims as part of efforts to tackle extremism and promote cohesion.

Mr N Hussain highlighted that he is Chairman of Aylesbury Independent Advisory Group and that he is attending a National Independent Advisory Group conference in November.

Chiltern REC

Buckinghamshire Consortium has agreed its constitution.

Buckinghamshire Forum of Faiths

Mr P Lawson reported that following the application to the ‘Faith In Action’ programme for funding, they had been awarded £12k. The project is for 2010-11 and the aim is to have one set up in each of the district areas. Members can contact Mr P Lawson in the first instance.

Aylesbury Vale District Council

The Institute of Community Cohesion (ICoCo) has completed their baseline review, which had identified a number of issues and recommendations and identified the following four priorities:

• Integrating new and existing communities
• Tackling disadvantage
• Young people and intergenerational tensions
• Empowering and modernising the voluntary sector

A report on the review will be included on the December agenda for the Forum.

The grants review has been completed. From 2010 applications would be considered against an outcomes framework. If any Member requires further information please contact Ms S Moffat smoffat@aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk

Wycombe District Council

Wycombe District Council received 3 years funding (2008-2011) from CLG to support projects to improve community cohesion in Wycombe District. 

In 2008-2009, the funding programme supported projects delivering (i) cohesion through sports, (ii) cohesion through arts and (iii) intergenerational work.

There is £146k available and for the remaining two years the council is requesting applications to run projects up until March 2011 that will contribute to at least one Wycombe-One Community themes, these are:

Improving cohesion:

The information is on the website www.wycombe-one.org/ and the deadline for applications is 9 November 2009.

Members had received the report detailing the planned future agenda items for the future meetings of the Forum.

A Member asked how they could contribute to the work plan and were advised to contact Mrs A Sarchet.

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday 15 December 2009, 10.00am, Large Dining Room, Judges Lodgings, Aylesbury.

Provisional dates for 2010

Tuesday 30 March, 10am, Committee Room 1, Wycombe District Council

Tuesday 29 June, 10am, Council Chamber, South Bucks District Council

Tuesday 21 September, 10am, Mezzanine 3, County Hall, Aylesbury

Tuesday 7 December, 10am, Large Committee Room, Chiltern District Council

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday 15 December 2009, 10.00am, Large Dining Room, Judges Lodgings, Aylesbury.

 2010

Tuesday 30 March, 10am, Committee Room 1, Wycombe District Council

Tuesday 29 June, 10am, Council Chamber, South Bucks District Council

Tuesday 21 September, 10am, Mezzanine 3, County Hall, Aylesbury

Tuesday 7 December, 10am, Large Committee Room, Chiltern District Council