Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Communities and Equalities Scrutiny Committee - Tuesday, 7th March, 2023 10.00 am

Venue: Council Antechamber, Level 2, Town Hall Extension. View directions

Contact: Rachel McKeon 

Media

Items
No. Item

14.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 137 KB

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 7 February 2023.

Minutes:

Decision

 

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 7 February 2023 as a correct record.

15.

Digital Inclusion Update pdf icon PDF 127 KB

Report of the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods)

 

This report provides an update on the Council’s digital inclusion work over the last 2 years.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the report of the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) which provided an update on the Council’s digital inclusion work over the last 2 years.

 

Key points and themes in the report included:

 

  • Manchester Digital Strategy 2021-2026: Doing Digital Together;
  • Helping the delivery of Corporate Priorities;
  • Voter ID;
  • Digital Inclusion Action Plan 2021-23;
  • Device schemes;
  • Data;
  • Skills;
  • Community Engagement – roadshows;
  • Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) Sector support;
  • Let’s Get Digital campaign and communications;
  • UK Communities Renewal Fund Report;
  • Sustainability of the digital inclusion programme; and
  • Future priorities and projects.

 

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

 

  • To welcome the work to promote digital inclusion;
  • That people who were not online were often excluded from engagement events as they did not hear about them;
  • Had there been follow-up with residents who had been given a device and internet access;
  • Plans to promote the strategy more widely across the city;
  • The digital skills gap among young people and multi-generational digital exclusion;
  • Work to help residents who did not live in one of the top 12 most digitally excluded areas;
  • Whether the community engagement roadshows would be continuing;
  • Digital inclusion for families who had English as an Additional Language (EAL); and
  • The role of housing providers in improving digital inclusion for their residents.

 

In response to a Member’s question about wifi access in Council offices across the city, the Head of Libraries, Galleries, Culture and Youth Services reported that a meeting had taken place with the Director of IT the previous day in relation to a programme of work to improve wifi access across the city ?and he offered to circulate information on this to Members by email.  He advised that promoting the digital inclusion work was a priority.  The Deputy Executive Member for Skills, Employment and Leisure reported that the digital inclusion steering group was looking at having a co-ordinated approach to communicating this work through a range of partner organisations. 

 

The Citywide Services Manager (Reform) confirmed that residents who had been given a device and internet access were followed up, advising that they were provided with a mentor and that research had been carried out by Manchester Metropolitan University.  The Head of Libraries, Galleries, Culture and Youth Services commented that it would be useful to have case studies and that he would take this away as an action point.  In response to a Member’s question, the Citywide Services Manager (Reform) advised that baseline data was not available but that the Digital Exclusion Index was based on intelligence on the types of people likely to be digitally excluded.  He took on board a Member’s comments about the importance of doing more to publicise that people could donate their old devices to be refurbished for other people to use.  He reported that every area of the city had digitally excluded people in so, although there was a focus on areas with higher levels of digital exclusion, work was taking place across the city.  In response  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

16.

Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) Annual Report 2022 pdf icon PDF 238 KB

Report of the Joint Director (Equality, Inclusion and Engagement)

 

This report provides an update on the Council's activities to demonstrate compliance with the Public Sector Equality Duty and the annual report which will be published. 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the report of the Joint Director (Equality, Inclusion and Engagement) which provided an update on the Council's activities to demonstrate compliance with the Public Sector Equality Duty and the annual report.

 

Key points and themes in the report included:

 

  • Manchester and the Council;
  • Equality objectives;
  • Workforce equality;
  • Progress update 2022-23;
  • Governance and
  • Next steps and recommendations.

 

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

 

·                     The “tell us once” approach for trans employees;

·                     The findings and actions from the Workforce Race Equality Review;

·                     The Gender Pay Gap;

·                     Improving data collection;

·                     Inclusive decision-making;

·                    Recognising the limits of broader group descriptors such as “African” and the wide range of different communities with different experiences that this encompassed and the need to engage with individual communities, including utilising Ward Councillors’ knowledge of communities within their ward;

·                    Request for further information on the Sounding Boards, including which groups were on the Board, which communities they represented and when they joined the Boards; and

·                    That the percentage of the population of the city from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities was high and projected to increase and the importance of ensuring they were represented.

 

In response to questions about Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) communities and about intersectionality,Sharmila Kar, Joint Director of Equality, Inclusion and Engagement, advised that qualitative and quantitative evidence available needed to be used alongside engagement with and building trust with communities.  She reported that a lot of work was needed to improve data collection, including taking into account intersectionality and improving communication with people about why data was being collected and how it was being used.  In response to a Member’s question, she reported that events to celebrate diversity would be reviewed.  She recognised that there was still work to be done on inclusive decision-making and advised that the learning from the COVID Health Equity Group could help to inform this work.  She recognised the diversity of communities covered by broad descriptors and welcomed the opportunity to work with Ward Councillors on reaching out to individual communities.  She reported that the Communities of Identity report would provide further information.  She agreed to circulate the requested information on the Sounding Boards, as well as information on targeted engagement work.

 

The Head of Organisational Development and Transformation informed Members that a more detailed report on Workforce Equality had been considered by the Resources and Governance Scrutiny (RAGS) Committee in November 2022 and that this would be circulated to Members of this Committee.  He advised that the trans “tell us once” approach had arisen from engagement with staff, that a working group had been established to progress trans inclusion in the workforce and that the report to the RAGS Committee provided further information on this, as well as further information on the Race Equality work.  He informed Members about the leadership programmes for Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff, advising that there had been some progress in Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff starting to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

17.

Our Manchester Voluntary & Community Sector (OMVCS) Fund pdf icon PDF 1 MB

Report of the Assistant Chief Executive

 

This report providesan update on the OMVCS funding programme for 2023-26. The report describes the steps that have been taken to complete the funding assessment process, and details which organisations will be funded by the programme from 1 April 2023, subject to approval of the Council’s annual budget and due diligence.

 

The report goes on to outline the background and process for developing the Supporting Communities Fund, and details the organisations in scope for it, subject to the same conditions above. The report describes the support available across both programmes for funded groups and for unsuccessful applicants.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the report of the Assistant Chief Executive which provided an update on the OMVCS funding programme for 2023-26.

 

Key points and themes in the report included:

 

  • Application process overview;
  • Assessment Panel overview;
  • Identification of strategic gap;
  • Supporting Communities Fund; and
  • Support for applicants.

 

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

 

  • To welcome that additional funding had been secured;
  • Strong concern that the organisations which had received funding through the OMVCS Fund were predominantly from central Manchester and that north Manchester and Wythenshawe were seriously under-represented;
  • That some of the organisations which the report stated were delivering in specific wards were not known to Ward Councillors or were not delivering services in that ward but rather delivering services elsewhere which residents of that ward could travel to access and that Ward Councillors had not been asked for their input;
  • The importance of funding organisations which had knowledge of their specific localities, rather than just organisations working across many areas;
  • Were some organisations duplicating work, leaving gaps elsewhere, or were under-served communities being targeted;
  • Why some organisations had been successful and others not, for example, a housing association in one area receiving funding, while a housing association in another area was unsuccessful;
  • What work would be done to ensure that the successful organisations did deliver what they had promised;
  • Could a breakdown of protected characteristics for successful and unsuccessful organisations be provided;
  • Support for organisations which had not been successful in obtaining funding;
  • Concern that organisations which did not have the knowledge of how to submit good funding applications were at a disadvantage;
  • That the focus of the work going forward should be on how the Fund and the process could be improved to better serve communities in Manchester, particularly more deprived areas, and not just focus on how VCSE organisations could improve;
  • That smaller organisations which were doing really good work should be given the opportunity to receive funding, in preference to some of the bigger organisations which had received funding for many years;
  • That voluntary organisations were having to provide services which should be provided by the state and to recognise the difficulty in having to make decisions on these applications when the funding was limited;
  • Concern that there was a lack of diversity on the assessment panel and could service users be on the panel; and
  • To request that a meeting be arranged for Committee Members to discuss this further.

 

The Policy and Programmes Manager (Communities and VCSE) reported that work had taken place with the aim of increasing funding to north Manchester and BAME- led and BAME-serving organisations and that there had been some improvements but he recognised that more work needed to be done.  He reported that a degree of diversity had been built into the co-design process and the panel process, including encouraging an awareness of the risk of bias.  He advised that a piece of work had been carried out looking at the organisations which had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

18.

Overview Report pdf icon PDF 117 KB

Report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit

 

The monthly report includes the recommendations monitor, relevant key decisions, the Committee’s work programme and any items for information.

Minutes:

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.