Subject: Anti-Racism Pledge Update
Date of meeting: 10 March 2022
Report of: Executive Director Housing, Neighbourhoods and Communities
Contact Officer: Name: Emma Mcdermott
Tel: 01273 291577
Email: emma.mcdermott@brighton-hove.gov.uk
Ward(s) affected: All
1.1 The initial report on actions being taken by the council towards becoming an anti-racist council was presented at TECC committee on 29th July 2020 and an update was presented on 19th November 2020. At this meeting officers were instructed to provide brief updates as a standing item at every TECC committee meeting.
2.1 That Committee notes the report.
2.2 That Committee delegates authority to the Executive Director for Housing, Neighbourhoods and Communities to award the £110,000 – previously allocated to the World Reimagined Project - in accordance with the broad principles set out at paragraph 3.7.5. and with oversight from the cross-party Members Advisory Group for the council’s Voluntary Community Sector grant programme.
2.3 That Committee approves the use of funds allocated to the cultural programme of the World Reimagined Project to establish a budget of £50,000 for uses outlined in paragraph 3.7.5 which will be part of the ABCD Plan for Cultural Recovery.
3.1 This report should be read in context of the previous reports starting with the report to a special TECC committee meeting in in June 2020 through to the last report in November 2021.
3.2 Updates are noted where specific activities or progress has been made.
3.3 Engagement
3.3.1 The eighth meeting of the anti-racism Community Advisory Group is scheduled for for 16th March. The meeting is with council officers from the Families, Children and Learning directorate to discuss the council’s anti- racism project on children social work, fostering and adoption. It will also receive an update on the council’s anti-racism strategy in schools work.
3.3.2 The council’s community engagement officer focused on working with the BME residents and groups, continues to reach out and build trust and confidence with groups and residents in the city. Alongside direct outreach to residents and groups the officer is producing a 6-weekly bulletin to BME groups in the city to facilitate networking and information sharing between groups and provide information about the council of relevance to the groups. The officer is working with groups to enable community-led and community specific discussions about their experience of racism and racial inequality. Funding has been made available to enable these community-led discussions. First two projects receiving funding are with BARCO and Bridging the Change.
3.3.3 The community engagement officer has also established a monthly meeting with other community engagement colleagues to facilitate internal discussions about anti-racism. Colleagues have discussed topics such as micro-aggressions, white privilege and institutional racism, with particular focus on how these concepts manifest at a local level in order to inform future engagement. The meeting has also provided a platform for members of the community to share their work and expertise with the team. Guest speakers have included a representative from BARCO, with representatives from Brighton & Hove Jewish Community booked for March and further slots available for others in the next financial year.
3.4 Education and young people
3.4.1 With the commencement of the anti-racist education advisor, two governance bodies were established to support the strategy: A community advisory group to provide direction and scrutiny made up of community representatives, parents and carers and young people with lived experience of racism. An implementation group also formed comprised of education leaders and educators, tasked with providing direction and enabling implementation of the strategy. The strategy racial literacy training continued tobe rolled out with some settings opting for setting-specific training. A group of primary educators has been working on a racial literacy curriculum framework for KS1 and KS2 and sharing good practice across settings. A group of educators were supported to develop PHSE resources for World Afro Day and anti-bullying week. A pupils of colour mentoring project was piloted in a secondary school alongside a pilot project to improve responses to racist incidents.
An updated version of the strategy and accompanying roadmap will be shared with the Children and Young People’s Skills Committee in March 2022.
Work continues with families that experience racism through the anti-racist project in the Children’s Safeguarding & Care service. It is chaired by one of our Black social workers. The project has developed an action plan with staff and this includes workstreams on the voice of children and families and practice with families. There is also a programme of bespoke learning events and regular anti-racist practice discussions to support staff. This work is well supported by our Practitioner for Anti-Racist Practice.
3.5 Council workforce
3.5.1 The 6-month Diverse Talent development programme launched in January 2022. The initial programme is being offered to 16 BME staff, to support their career progression, as council workforce data shows that BME staff are not proportionately represented in roles graded SO1/2 and above. The learning outcomes include:
· Prepare and develop for staff for their next role within the council
· Develop their knowledge, experience, skills and confidence to be part of an inclusive culture and influence for change in the organisation if you choose to do so
· Deepen their self-awareness and leverage their strengths
· Learn about key management and leadership theories
· Develop their communication, presentation and interpersonal skills
· Understand organisational context, to help you shape and influence your own career progression
The first session has been delivered and well received. Sponsors from Leadership Network have been identified and matching will take place at the second session in February.
A new eLearning module for staff on Allyship was launched in February.
The programme of Anti Racist training for this financial year has concluded, with a programme for 22/23 being commissioned.
HR Diversity Recruitment Consultant actions include:
· Collaborating with the council’s Adult Education Hub and other community partners to support employability skills training, for example, Next Steps for ESOL learners
· Attendance at virtual Universities careers fairs (Nov 2021 and Feb 2022)
· Delivering fortnightly inclusive recruitment surgeries to offer timely advice to recruiting managers, such as inclusive advert writing, promotion of roles on social media and developing inclusive shortlisting questions
3.7 Our Legacy
3.7.1 The council has allocated funding of £10,000 to the first phase of the ‘Our Legacy’ project which entails tendering for a series of expert facilitated session that engage with all city stakeholders on enslavement and colonisation, responses from Brighton & Hove to the slave trade and colonialism, and future memorial and celebration of our city. The purpose of the commission is to independently scope, plan, deliver and evaluate a programme of strategic forums and community engagement activities for the development of the ‘Our Legacy’ project. This initiative aims to examine local heritage and history to discover more about shared colonial legacy- exploring the extent to which the prosperity which helped build the city was dependent upon colonial exploitation. Our legacy as a city sits within a contested arena, with deeply held views concerning our common colonial history and links with enslavement and its impact on our past and present from a range of perspectives, and with some critical areas lacking an informed consensus. Therefore, a sensitive, thoughtfully planned and inclusive approach to the debate and any significant future action is required.
3.7.3 Small scale projects have been taking place. Firstly, following a detailed engagement exercise with local residents, primary school and community groups the council has officially renamed its new temporary accommodation on Hartington Road Manoj House. Local people had the opportunity to submit their suggestions to a local panel of residents, school representatives and ward councilors who generated a short-list and made the final recommendation to the council for sign-off. Plans are underway for a celebration and unveiling of the new name in due course.
3.7.4 The name ‘Manoj House’ is in commemoration and respect for Manoj Natha- Hansen who was a teacher at St Martin’s Primary School. Sadly, he died suddenly in September 2020. He was a teacher for eighteen years and specialised in Special Educational Needs. Manoj won awards from the National Education Union for his campaigning work for minority groups working in education. Family members have been involved and are supportive of the decision.
3.7.3 Discussion is taking place with representatives of the Coombe Rd Local Action team around the “South Africa Streets” a collection of streets off Lewes Road named for places, events and people connected to the second Boer War. Working with residents we are considering the potential for arts/public realm interventions to explore the meaning and impact of this remembrance for our city.
3.7.4 In January 2022 the organisers of the World Reimagined (TWR) announced that they won’t be progressing their art education project as originally planned for the city. A trail of large-scale globe sculptures to challenge understanding of the transatlantic slave trade and its impact had been due to come to the city between August – October 2022. There will still be opportunities for local artists and schools to be involved with other elements of the scheme.
3.7.5 The £160,000 committed to the city’s participation has been retained and ringfenced to support the ambition of the Council’s anti- racism work to see an ever-stronger Black, Asian and ethnic minority led community and voluntary group sector as well as supporting cultural recovery work that aligns with this. Further discussions and co-production with communities is necessary before firm decisions are made on use of this funding. Member oversight of the £110,000 funding to support the BME VCS will be via the well-established cross-party Members Advisory Group which oversees the council’s VCS grant programme. An update on the funding will be provided to TECC committee as part of the standing item on Anti- Racism Pledge update. Existing grant making protocols and processes will followed to award the funding.
3.7.6 The allocation of £50,000 from TWR budget will support the ABCD Plan for Cultural Recovery to further develop an inclusive cultural offer. The recovery plan supports a clear set of values and principles that make the city a better place to work for Cultural Workers and to tries to ensure that no one is left out or left behind. Key areas for support have been identified. These are: anti-racism, intersectionality, inclusivity, collaboration, empathy, dignity, respect, bravery, boldness, paying people on time and openness.
3.7.7 The ABCD Governance Board will develop a call for a number of small projects in 2022/23 which address the issues in paragraph 3.7.5 above, enabling the city’s creative sector to respond through arts projects to further the council’s aims expressed in our pledge to become anti-racist and which will cultivate inclusive cultural leadership and programming.
3.8 BME community and voluntary sector
From the council’s annual VCS grant’s programme - the Communities Fund 2021/22 - 23 grants were awarded to 21 BME groups/organisations to the value of £77,080. This out of a total budget of £384,146 and 76 awards made to date.
This is broken down into Communities Fund rounds 1-3 grants of £65,700 and BME Engagement Fund at £11,380.
3.9 Emergency food
The council has allocated funding of £15,000 for an exploratory piece of research on the emergency food access needs of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities and Refugees & Asylum Seekers. The aim is for the city to have a better understanding of the different communities access needs and of best practice by providers in meeting needs, and to make recommendations on strengthening organisations providing support. The commi ssion aims to reduce inequality and address immediate concerns about malnutrition, health and wellbeing. The project is scheduled to start April 2022 and report in early Autumn 2022.
3.10 Community Safety
The Local Authority is
currently working with three local services and the
Police to develop Hate Crime Third Party Reporting Centres, with
a proposed opening
date of 1 April 2022. These centres will run for a
year as a pilot.
It is acknowledged as good practice to have such reporting
mechanisms in place, so as to
allow people to report Hate Crime to non-
statutory bodies and to receive support. The reports made to these
centres will be shared with Police and/or the
council’s Safer Communities Team with
the reporters consent. These
reporting centres are being funded through
COMF
funding of £60,000.
The reporting centres will be based
at:
• Possibility People, Montague
House
• Racial Harassment Forum,
BMECP, Fleet Street
• Rainbow Hub, Ledward
Centre
The model that will be used is based
on research undertaken by the Safer Communities Team into areas
where third party reporting has been successfully implemented, and
consultation with local community groups and
organisations.
A working group is currently
finalising the reporting and monitoring systems, a local directory
of relevant support services, producing publicity that will
advertise the reporting centres, and devising training for staff
who will be working in the reporting centres and receiving Hate
Crime reports. This working group will meet quarterly to review and
evaluate the success of the project with the objective of securing
further funding to make the centres
sustainable.
3.11 Civic Leadership
Partial funding has been identified to support a civic leadership programme delivered by Operation Black Vote. Officers have confirmed that the provider is still in a position to run the programme.
Subject to identification of sufficient funding the programme is expected to commence late Spring 2022
4.1 The progress outlined above is on actions undertaken in response to the council’s pledge to become an anti-racist council, anti-racism Notices of Motion and petitions accepted by full council/committees and previously Member agreed work under the Fair & Inclusive Action Plan.
6.1 TECC committee requested a standing item on every agenda updating on progress towards the council’s anti-racism commitments.
6.2 This report updates on progress and the contents are for Members to note.
7.1 Project management and leadership of the work is being carried out as part of core business of the Communities, Equality and Third Sector (CETS) team. A budget of £10,000 has been allocated from the CETS initiatives budget to support the work. Financial implications arising from the other actions identified in the report will be considered by the relevant service as part of their standard budget management processes and decisions on allocation of funding will be made in line with council’s budget setting process.
The £0.160m funding referred to in paragraph 3.7.4 of the report was allocated and ring-fenced as part of the 2020/21 TBM outturn report to P&R Committee in July 2021.
Name of finance officer consulted: Mike Bentley Date consulted 15/02/22.
8.1 There are no legal implications arising from this report. All the actions proposed are in line with the Council’s powers and duties, in particular under the Equality Act 2010.
Name of lawyer consulted: Alice Rowland Date consulted: 10/02/22
9.1 The intention of this work is to address identified racial inequalities and racism experienced by people who live in, work in and visit the city. The range of engagement planned with people who share other characteristics in addition to their ethnicity will ensure that perspectives are heard from a wide range of people. This will enable the development of tailored and bespoke actions to address all forms of racism, where it is based on ethnicity, skin color or any other attribute.
9.2 The work is central to the council’s legal duties under the Equality Act 2010 to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between communities, as well as to encourage civic engagement by under-represented groups. It also complements and supports the council’s Fair & Inclusive Action Plan in addressing the findings of the review of race equality by Global HPO.
10.1 No sustainability implication arise from this report.
Social Value and procurement implications
11.1 No direct social value and procurement implications arise from this report.
Crime & disorder implications:
11.2 Crime and disorder implications are covered in section 3.10 above.
Public Health implications:
11.3 No direct public health implications arising from the report.