To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 7 September 2021.

Decision

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 7 September 2021 as a correct record.

Report of the City Solicitor

This report provides an overview of the data and activity in Manchester in relation to Race and Ethnicity, linked to life chances, COVID-19 impacts, crime and community participation.  This is one of a series of ‘deep dive’ reports that the Committee requested into different aspects of equalities.

The Committee received a report of the City Solicitor which provided an overview of the data and activity in Manchester in relation to Race and Ethnicity, linked to life chances, COVID-19 impacts, crime and community participation. This was one of a series of ‘deep dive’ reports that the Committee requested into different aspects of equalities.

The main points and themes within the report included:

• Data relating to race and ethnicity in Manchester, including geographical data and information on educational attainment;
• Work to improve life chances;
• How the city’s diversity was celebrated; and
• The impact of COVID-19.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• What aspects of this related to the Council’s climate change aims;
• What was being done to address the inequalities which had led to Black and South Asian people been hit hardest by COVID-19;
• The economic recovery of BAME communities following the pandemic;
• That the report should have included a focus on Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) women and the impact of the pandemic on them;
• That the Kashmiri community should be specifically referenced in the report, noting the Motion to Council in April 2015 calling for this to be included as a category in equality monitoring and for more work to take place to engage with this community;
• Concern about some of the statistics on educational attainment within the report, whether they could be further broken down by gender, to see the impact of the intersection of race and gender, and whether there were any more recent figures since 2019;
• That, in addition to work to improve educational attainment for these groups, schools should conduct a race review of their workforce, similar to the one conducted by the Council, noting that teaching staff and senior leadership within schools were disproportionately white; and
• Uptake of applications for compensation for those affected by the Windrush scandal and work to encourage eligible Manchester residents to apply.

The Deputy Leader outlined the ways in which climate change linked in with work to create a more equal city and improve people’s lives, including tackling poor housing, making homes more energy efficient, creating, and preparing people for, jobs in the green economy and encouraging a healthy lifestyle, including walking and cycling. 

The Director of Policy, Performance and Reform informed Members that health and social care partners were working on a recovery framework and that inequalities based on race and ethnicity were central to this work.  He also informed Members about the COVID Health Equity Manchester Group, which was working with those communities.  He highlighted that the Health Scrutiny Committee would be looking at health inequalities at its meeting the following day.

In response to questions about domestic abuse and the intersection of race and gender, the Strategic Lead (Business Change, Reform and Innovation) advised that intersectionality was an area that the Council would be looking at and that issues relating to intersectionality would be pulled together in the Communities of Identity report which would be submitted to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41.

Presentation of Chief Superintendent Paul Savill, GMP

This presentation provides an update following the HMICFRS Victim Services Inspection and the presentation delivered to the Committee’s meeting in March 2021.

The Committee received a presentation of Chief Superintendent Paul Savill, GMP, which provided an update following the HMICFRS Victim Services Inspection and the presentation delivered to the Committee’s meeting in March 2021.

The main points and themes within the presentation included:

• Progress made in responding to the concerns raised in the HMICFRS Victim Services Inspection report of December 2020;
• An accelerated cause for concern raised in the most recent inspection relating to the timeliness of GMP’s response to incidents where the subject of the public contact might be at continuing risk of harm; and
• How GMP was going to address those causes of concern in a more sustainable way, including the Plan on a Page.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• To welcome the detailed presentation and plans to strengthen the neighbourhood policing teams;
• That the Chief Officer team did not reflect the diversity of the city;
• Concern that people were not reporting crimes and that GMP was not receiving useful intelligence because of people struggling to get through on the 101 non-emergency police number;
• Domestic abuse training, including whether specific training would be provided on domestic abuse affecting BAME women;
• The triaging of domestic abuse cases; and
• Whether some of the concerns that Members had, such as about GMP’s IT system and the number of police officers, should be directed to the Mayor of Greater Manchester, rather than to GMP.

Chief Superintendent Savill recognised that there were currently no women in the Chief Officer team, although there were now two Assistant Chief Constables from BAME communities and he advised that he would feed back the Member’s concerns. He informed the Committee that the new Chief Constable was leading on GMP’s Inclusion and Diversity Strategy.  He supported the Member’s comment about the importance of people being able to get through on the 101 number, stating that he and Chief Superintendent Chris Gibson, who oversaw the Operational Communications Branch (OCB), provided mutual challenge to each other.  He advised that he welcomed feedback from Members on this and that Chief Superintendent Gibson could attend a future meeting, if the Committee wished. 

Chief Superintendent Savill assured the Committee that GMP’s domestic abuse training for officers would reflect the diverse communities within the city and informed Members that officers were provided with a toolkit of different support services so they could work with the victim to identify and refer them to a service which met their needs.  He advised that the triaging of domestic abuse cases was subject to internal scrutiny and he outlined how cases were assessed and responded to, using the Domestic Abuse Safeguarding scores.

Chief Superintendent Savill explained that there were three parts to GMP’s iOPS (Integrated Operational Policing System) IT system and that the part which was of concern was PoliceWorks.  He advised Members that the Chief Constable had commissioned an external review of PoliceWorks and the outcome of this review was expected soon.  The Community Safety Lead reported that all Greater  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42.

Report of the Strategic Director – Neighbourhoods

The report provides an overview on the leisure centre recovery position in Manchester, following the most recent restart on Monday 12 April 2021.  The report sets out the performance of the various sport and leisure centres compared to their pre-pandemic levels. The report details usage data, lesson and course uptake information and health and fitness patronage.  The report also highlights demographic data and how this has changed during the pandemic for protected characteristic groups.

The Committee received a report of the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) which provided an overview on the leisure centre recovery position in Manchester, following the most recent restart on 12 April 2021.  The report set out the performance of the various sport and leisure centres compared to their pre-pandemic levels.  The report detailed usage data, lesson and course uptake information and health and fitness patronage.  The report also highlighted demographic data and how this had changed during the pandemic for protected characteristic groups.

The main points and themes within the report included:

• Background information;
• Current position;
• Participation and usage levels;
• Equalities information; and
• Next steps.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• A suggestion for family days at leisure centres to promote the activities and facilities available;
• Was data on BAME leisure centre users broken down by gender available, to ensure that activities were accessible to BAME women;
• Request for information on the provision of women-only classes;
• What was being done to encourage people from areas of higher deprivation to return to leisure facilities; and
• The impact of the forthcoming temporary closure of the Aquatics Centre for refurbishment work.

In response to a question from the Chair, the Head of Parks, Leisure, Events and Youth outlined work that had been carried out across the city’s leisure facilities to reduce their carbon footprint and advised that this would continue to be a focus for the service in future.  A Member asked for further information on this work to be included in a future report.

The Head of Parks, Leisure, Events and Youth reported that family days had been held previously and agreed that they were an effective way to engage people with leisure facilities.  He reported that he would speak to leisure operators about arranging more family days when he met with them the following week.  He advised that all the demographic data that the service currently held had been included in the report.  He reported that participation by women and ethnic minorities had increased from pre-pandemic levels.  He advised that, when they had re-opened, pools were not operating the full range of sessions due to social distancing but that, with demand increasing, more women-only sessions were being re-introduced.  A Member highlighted the increase in use of Whalley Range Sports Stadium and its strong women only offer and suggested that their approach be replicated elsewhere.  In response to a Member’s question on pre-operative transgender women and women-only swimming sessions, the Head of Parks, Leisure, Events and Youth advised that he would look into this and respond to the Member.

In response to a Member’s question, the Head of Parks, Leisure, Events and Youth advised that grants had been provided to voluntary and community organisations through MCR Active to provide additional support for them with recovery from the impact of the pandemic.

The Head of Parks, Leisure, Events and Youth reported that, when new facilities with swimming pools had been built to replace older pools, community groups had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43.

Report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit

This report provides the Committee with details of key decisions  that fall within the Committee’s remit and an update on actions resulting from the Committee’s recommendations. The report also includes the Committee’s work programme, which the Committee is asked to amend as appropriate and agree.

A report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit was submitted. The overview report contained a list of key decisions yet to be taken within the Committee’s remit, responses to previous recommendations and the Committee’s work programme, which the Committee was asked to approve.

Decision

To note the report and agree the work programme.