The report of the Director of Public Health is enclosed.

The Board considered the report of the Director of Public Health that provided a progress update on three elements of the Making Manchester Fairer Action Plan, namely Theme 7: Tackling Systemic and Structural Racism and Discrimination, Theme 8: Communities and Power and Establishing the Making Manchester Fairer Community Forum.

Theme 7: Tackling Systemic and Structural Racism and Discrimination.

The Board received a presentation from Shamila Kar, Joint Director, Equality and Engagement, Manchester Health and Care Commissioning.  The presentation focussed on the work to improve the experience and outcomes of communities impacted by racial inequality and other marginalised communities facing discrimination by embedding a racial and social justice approach. The Board was advised on progress made and the next steps for the coming year 2025/26. There are three areas of focus:

·       Education programme on health equity

·       Improving the quality of data

·       Strengthening community engagement and collaboration

Details of the Race and Health Equality Education Programme were presented with the learning outcomes and next steps.

Theme 8: Communities and Power

The second presentation was given by Mark Rainey, Head of Neighbourhoods, MCC. The presentation provided an overview of Community Power and the policies, practices and approaches involved. An update was provided on the Community Engagement Maturity Assessment that was also detailed in paragraph 4.2 of the report submitted on the work done and planned over the coming year. Reference was made to the nine quality standards developed in engaging with communities to building community power. The next steps explained how the standards will be introduced to encourage engage more with communities.

Healthy Me Healthy Communities CiC

The third presentation was given by Hollie Louise-Walsh, Deputy CEO, Healthy Me Healthy Communities CiC. The presentation provided an introduction and background on Healthy Me Healthy Communities (HMHC). HMHC is a social enterprise formed in 2012 with the purpose of reducing health inequalities through community development practice, working in partnership with anchor organisations, VCSE organisations and wellbeing services to co-create lasting improvements for people and places, practice and policy.

An update was given on the recruitment to the Community Forum, this included:

·       The process of appraisal and selection of Forum members,

·       Purpose and themes chosen for Forum meetings held in September and October,

·       Engagement opportunities for Forum members

·       The next steps including the items to be addressed at the next meeting of the Forum on 4 December 2024. 

The Chair welcomed the report and thanked the presenters for their informative presentations. Reference was made to the report, in particular the importance of community engagement and building stronger communities. The Chair also commented on the positive feedback received at the Making Manchester Fairer Board on the success of the Community Forum and the experience and value brought to the Forum through its membership. The point was also made that more could be done to talk more about protected characteristics to include those people who are carers and former armed services personnel.

The Chair invited questions from the Board.

In welcoming the report and the presentations, members were looking forward to seeing the development of the approach taken on the Community Forum and noted the diversity of its membership. Reference was made to the co-productive approach with Adult Services and the importance of the collection and use of data for the design of services within the city. An invitation for an information and data exchange was offered made by Healthwatch. With reference to discussions on neighbourhoods and the work of the LCO in health and social care, it was suggested that the Community Forum could include resources for health as a subject for discussion at a future meeting in collaboration with the LCO.  

Decision

The Board:

1. Noted the progress made on the delivery of actions within the Tackling Systemic and Structural Racism and Discrimination and the Communities and Power themes in the last twelve months.

2. Noted the progress in establishing the Making Manchester Fairer Community Forum.