Agenda item
Making Manchester Fairer – Communities and Power and Tackling Systemic and Structural Racism and Discrimination
Report of the Director of Communities andthe Joint Director of Equality, Inclusion and Engagement.
This report will update on the progress made on the themes 'communities and power' and 'systemic and structural racism' of the Making Manchester Fairer strategy which launched in October 2022.
Minutes:
The committee considered a report of the Director of Communities and the Director of Equality and Engagement which provided an update on progress made with the themes ‘Communities and Power’ and ‘Systemic and Structural Racism’ of the Making Manchester Fairer Strategy.
Key points and themes within the report included:
· Providing an introduction to Making Manchester Fairer, which is a five-year action plan aimed at reducing health inequalities in Manchester by addressing the social determinants of health, and specifically the themes that fall under the remit of this committee;
· Changes to Manchester’s population and demographics over the last 20 years;
· Community Engagement Maturity Assessment, which was used to determine a set of quality standards for engaging with communities;
· Community-led initiatives and community development work;
· The work of the Race and Health Equity Education programme in 2023/24; and
· Community Health Equity Manchester (CHEM).
Some of the points and queries that arose from the committee’s discussions included:
· What work would be undertaken in terms of training and behaviour change;
· How this work would reach marginalised communities rather than self-appointed gatekeepers;
· Suggesting that case studies would be useful for future reports;
· Engaging with hard-to-reach groups on healthcare and medical screening and if there were any targets for this;
· Requesting that the toolkit to promote best practice in terms of building community power be provided to the committee;
· Noting that intersectionalities were not included in the report and the need to the impact of poverty on a person’s ability to engage with services and their community;
· How trauma-informed practice was built into this work;
· How a transparent process was ensured to hold organisations accountable for structural racism and how progress on this was reported;
· The influence of the State of the City report on this work; and
· How clear, positive messages could be communicated.
In response to members’ queries, the Director of Communities acknowledged work was needed within the organisation to develop skillsets, knowledge and understanding of communities. She stated that this was not a standalone piece of work for the Making Manchester Fairer team and explained that she and the Director of Equality and Engagement had shared this information across the organisation and with partner organisations and continued to do so. Discussions were also underway with HROD to address knowledge gaps more systematically.
The committee was informed that CHEM brought together marginalised groups from a range of different communities of identity and that there was a mechanism through the Sounding Boards to engage with these groups. The Director of Equality and Engagement explained that CHEM helped to build trust and links with partners, and she expressed confidence in the ability of this mechanism to reach marginalised groups. The Director of Equality and Engagement also stated that CHEM worked with health providers to target communication about screening where there was identified need to make communities aware of how they could access these services. The Council and NHS had data monitoring systems and demographic data which could be married up to identify who was accessing screening services and CHEM helped to provide a community insight.
The Director of Communities agreed to provide the committee with the toolkit whilst noting that this was still in development. She commented that a number of different stakeholders would be involved in informing this work and that members would also be engaged. The Chair requested that all committee and elected members be invited to contribute to the development of the toolkit, which the Director of Communities supported.
In response to a query regarding intersectionalities, the Director of Equality and Engagement explained that the Sounding Boards were intersectional but acknowledged that it was difficult to collect intersectional data. She stated that work was ongoing on this and that developing an approach to inclusive qualitative data was a priority for the programme going forwards.
It was stated that poverty and how the Council would implement the socioeconomic duty was a key theme within MMF, along with trauma-informed practice.
The Director of Equality and Engagement stated that progress on tackling structural racism was assessed through data and the reduction of health inequality gaps. She explained that addressing racism had been prioritised with all partners and that the Council was developing quality standards for engaging with communities. The Race and Health Equity Education programme was highlighted as an example of work to address structural racism, and members were informed that this would be recommissioned.
In response to the Chair’s query regarding State of the City reports, the Director of Communities explained that this links with the MMF work through communicating with and informing organisations on demographic data so that they understand how best to deliver services. The Director of Equality and Engagement concurred that this helped people to understand Manchester’s demographic and the nuances between different wards and areas in the city as well as the importance of involving communities in co-designing solutions.
The committee was informed that co-design and co-creation work would be undertaken with community organisations and CHEM to listen to feedback and to understand how residents wanted to receive communication and messages. The MMF newsletter and podcast were highlighted, and members were also advised that the Council’s Communications team had fundamentally altered the way in which messages were sent out to communities and they would continue to try to improve this.
The Director of Equality and Engagement endeavoured to relay a member’s individual comments on the Winning Hearts and Minds community-led initiatives to the specific team.
In concluding the item, the Chair recognised that this was a vital and groundbreaking piece of work, which she looked forward to seeing the outcomes of.
Decision:
That the committee
1. notes the report;
2. requests that the toolkit to promote best practice in terms of building community power be provided to the committee; and
3. requests a further update on progress in 12 months’ time.
Supporting documents: