Agenda item - Anti Racism Pledge Update

Report of the Executive Director Housing, Neighbourhoods & Communities (Copy Attached).

RESOLVED: The Committee noted the report.

25.1 Jamarl Billy introduced the report starting on page 63 of the Agenda.

25.2 Councillor Grimshaw was informed that the mentors, for the mentorship and training programme for the Council’s Black and Ethnic Minority staff, were chosen from the Leadership Network, meaning that most of them were in Executive Director, Assistant Director, of Head of Service positions. Jamarl Billy confirmed that he would send over more information about the names and ethnicities of the mentors to Councillor Grimshaw.

25.3 Councillor Rainey was informed that:

·       £110,000 has been reallocated from the World Reimagined fund.

·       The Council are working with an external organisation to gauge community engagement to decide how and where the money will be spent.

·       More information about the adult education hub would be included in the next report.

25.4 Stephanie Prior raised that the Racial Harassment Forum initiative won’t work without the full support of the Council and Police, and that legal support for the forum would be needed to ensure all issues are dealt with accordingly. Jamarl Billy confirmed he would take up further conversations with Stephanie Prior outside of the meeting.

25.5 Cllr Bagaeen was informed that:

·       The Anti-Racist Community Advisory Group minutes aren’t accessible due to the fact that it is a safe space to share experiences, and having the minutes public would not protect that safe space for Black and Ethnic Minority members of the public.

·       The world reimagined funding was £160,000 overall, with £50,000 of that going to the cultural recovery plan and the remaining £110,000 is being used for communities in the city via the Communities, Equalities, and Third Sector teams.

·       The funding allocation will be brought back to TECC Committee in future reports.

·       More information about the outcome of the HR diversity recruitment training would be provided in future reports.

25.6 Joanna Martindale was informed that the timelines for the spending wouldn’t be known until the allocation was decided, but the Council would be looking to be as flexible as possible to achieve the maximum impact with the funding.

25.7 Councillor Evans was informed that in 3.7.2, a small part of funding refers to amounts that are a maximum of £10,000.

25.8 Stephanie Prior was informed that more information about housing would be included in the Anti-Racism Pledge Update at the next meeting.

RESOLVED: The Committee noted the report.