To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 20 July 2023.

In moving the minutes, the Chair requested an update on the committee’s request made at the previous meeting for further information on CEF-funded events. The Governance and Scrutiny Team Leader confirmed that this request had been accepted since the agenda was published and that the information would be shared with members at the earliest opportunity.

Decision: That the minutes of the previous meeting, held on 18 July 2023, be approved as a correct record.

Report of the Joint Director of Equality and Engagement - NHS GM Integrated Care (Manchester locality) and Manchester City Council.

This report explores the inequalities faced by ‘communities of identity’ within the city, and, through examples of community engagement, how specific groups access and are supported by Council services to improve their experience and outcomes.

The committee considered a report of the Joint Director of Equality and Engagement - NHS GM Integrated Care (Manchester locality) and Manchester City Council which detailed the inequalities faced by ‘communities of identity’ within the city and how specific groups accessed and were supported by Council services to improve their experience and outcomes.

Key points and themes within the report included:

• An introduction and background;
• The definition of ‘Communities of Identity’;
• The Council’s intersectional approach to inequality and insights into communities;
• Key learning and areas for development;
• The 3 equality objectives to support the city in becoming more progressive and equitable:
  • Knowing Manchester better
  • Improving life chances
  • Celebrating our diversity
• Examples of how these objectives were being delivered on.

Key points and queries that arose from the committee’s discussion included:

• What work was being undertaken to support Bangladesh, Pakistan and African Muslim women to enter the workplace;
• How the Communities of Identity work would improve health outcomes;
• Noting the gap in education and employment opportunities for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, and querying how the Council would try to reduce the stigma for this community;
• Noting that there was no mention of class as an intersectionality;
• How the learning from work on Communities of Identity would be utilised in the Council’s approach to Equality Impact Assessments;
• Requesting that further information on the SEND activities offered during the school holidays be provided;
• How confident officers were that those groups who work with Communities of Identity were being reached;
• Noting the stark median age at death of Asian/Asian British background males with profound and multiple learning disability and the higher mortality in pregnancy rate amongst Black and Asian women, and querying what could be done to improve this;
• Requesting that quantified data be clearer in future reports;
• Requesting that the financial and revenue implications of delivering this work be included in future reports; and
• Requesting that a benchmarking exercise be undertaken to quantify how well Manchester was doing in its work with Communities of Identity against other core cities.

The Deputy Leader stated that Communities of Identity was last reported on in 2016 and that this report aimed to explain how the Council understands and engages with communities.

The Joint Director of Equality and Engagement expressed her thanks to the University of Manchester, Lancaster University, the Assistant Chief Executive and his team, the Equalities Specialist and a number of Council departments who had contributed to the report. She explained that Communities of Identity referred to ‘people who share particular characteristics connected to their heritage, belief system or identities that contribute to their day-to-day lives’ and stated that the report focused on communities that experienced greater and more entrenched inequalities, such as those communities which experienced racial inequality, disabled people and older people. Other communities, such as LGBTQI people, were also recognised as having experience of entrenched inequalities and the committee was informed that a more detailed analysis of these experiences would be provided at the next meeting.

The Joint Director of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

Report of the Strategic Director – Neighbourhoods.

This report summarises recent and current work to address domestic violence and abuse, including implementation of the Domestic Violence and Abuse Strategy and the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 and victim voice work. The report also updates on ongoing work to promote the safety of women and girls in the city.

The committee considered a report of the Strategic Director – Neighbourhoods which summarised recent and current work to address domestic violence and abuse, including implementation of the Domestic Violence and Abuse Strategy and the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 and victim voice work, and provided an update on ongoing work to promote the safety of women and girls in the city.

Key points and themes within the report included:

• 75% of all offences recorded during 2022-23 were against women;
• Strong correlations between high volumes of domestic abuse incidents and areas of the city with the highest deprivation scores relating to income, employment, education and skills, and health and disability;
• The objectives and achievements of the Council’s Domestic Violence and Abuse Strategy;
• Training and development work;
• The work of Early Help Hubs;
• Work undertaken with perpetrators which was commissioned in conjunction with GMCA from Talk Listen Change (TLC);
• Work being undertaken to support children and young people affected by domestic abuse;
• Support and services for victims of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM);
• Support and services for male victims of domestic abuse;
• Conduct of Domestic Homicide Reviews;
• The Women’s Night-time Safety Charter and Good Night Out Guide; and
• Current issues and challenges, such as demand for the Independent Domestic Violence Advocate (IDVA) service.

Key points and queries that arose from the committee’s discussion included:

• Noting that not all buildings in the city’s parks were council-owned, ad querying whether these facilities would be expected to take part in the Safe Spaces initiative;
• How domestic violence affected LGBT and asylum seeker/refugee communities;
• The importance of talking to primary school children about healthy relationships;
• How staff were trained to be trauma-informed;
• Requesting that members also receive the quarterly Performance Bulletins;
• The high level of repeat offences;
• Noting that, whilst domestic violence can occur anywhere, it was more prevalent in deprived areas;
• What the Council could do in collaboration with housing providers and Greater Manchester Police (GMP) to ensure perpetrators of domestic violence are removed from the home;
• Whether any preliminary findings were available from the workundertaken with the Independent Choices Greater Manchester Domestic Abuse Helpline to better understand the recent change in distribution of volumes of calls across the city;
• What advice the Council would give to victims of spiking;
• Whether housing providers were also implementing a Sanctuary Scheme and whether this was consistent across the city;
• How the Council could provide quick interventions to those at risk of domestic violence;
• Whether there were areas within parks that were specifically tailored to women and girls;
• How the Council held GMP to account on the time taken to deal with domestic violence cases;
• Whether members could refer individual cases to the Gender Based Violence Board;
• Suggesting that a representative of Greater Manchester Police be invited to attend when considering future reports on domestic violence;
• How the Community Safety team works with the Neighbourhood teams to improve feelings of safety for residents when out at night; and
• Whether trends were noticeable within Domestic Homicide Reviews and what lessons  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.

Report of the Assistant Chief Executive.

This report provides a brief introduction to the Our Manchester Voluntary and Community Sector grant programme (OMVCS) 2018-2023 impact report, which is appended for information and comment. The alignment of the OMVCS fund with the aims of the Our Manchester Strategy is included, along with an indication of next steps for monitoring and reporting on the 2023-26 programme of funded activity.

The committee considered a report of the Assistant Chief Executive on the impact of the Our Manchester Voluntary and Community Sector grant programme (OMVCS) 2018-2023.

Key points and themes within the report included:

• Providing an introduction and background to the Impact Report;
• The Council had invested £12 million into the OMVCS programme;
• Highlights and findings of the report, such as that over 588,000 service users had been supported across all of the 63 funded organisations;
• How the OMCVS fund aligned with the aims of the Our Manchester Strategy;
• Next steps for monitoring and reporting on the 2023-26 programme of funded activity.

Key points and queries that arose from the committee’s discussion included:

• Welcoming the work of the voluntary sector;
• How officers had come to the figure that over 588,000 service users had been supported across all funded organisations, given that Manchester’s population was 547,000;
• Whether the issues raised by those groups whose funding bids were unsuccessful had been resolved;
• Whether mentorships through the Conversation 2 Cash programme were followed up on; and
• Whether the mentorship programme could be extended to Wythenshawe; and
• If the progress and achievements of the funded work was monitored and evaluated.

In response to members’ queries, the Policy and Programmes Manager (Communities and VCSE) noted that there was a statistical error with regards to the number of service users supported and that this figure represented the amount of contact with residents. The final version of the report would have an amended figure.

Assurances were provided that all issues raised following the allocation of funding had been resolved and that officers had signposted those unsuccessful in receiving funding to alternative support for funding and organisational development. A further report on the refreshed Infrastructure Contract would be provided to the committee in December 2023.

The Policy and Programmes Manager (Communities and VCSE) informed members that Conversation 2 Cash was a programme based in North Manchester which linked grassroots organisations to peer mentors within the VCSE sector to undertake development work. He advised that all peer mentors had received training with mentorships now underway. This was a specific piece of work which was undertaken as a result of the North Manchester inquiry, but the funding profile of the city demonstrated a shift away from funding to North Manchester, although he noted that there was not a robust data set to demonstrate funding contributions across the city. This was an ongoing piece of work and thePolicy and Programmes Manager (Communities and VCSE) acknowledged that it was possible for a similar approach to be implemented in the south of the city in future.

In response to a question from the Chair, thePolicy and Programmes Manager (Communities and VCSE) stated that there was a commitment to create an end-of-year report on the progress and achievements of organisations in receipt of funding and these could be brought to the committee for consideration.

In closing the discussion, the Chair thanked officers and voluntary organisations for their work. She acknowledged that the Council  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

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.

The committee considered a report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit which 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.

The Chair queried whether a report would be provided to the committee on the new Customer Relationship Management system. Officers agreed to look into this outside of the meeting and would provide an update for members.

Decision:

That the report be noted, and the work programme agreed.