Minutes:
The Rotherham SACRE received information from Mr. Shokat Lal (RMBC Assistant Chief Executive) and Mrs. Zaida Ahmed (RMBC Corporate Equalities and Diversity Officer) concerning the Borough Council’s strategy and practice in respect of community cohesion. The following matters were discussed:-
: the Assistant Chief Executive is the Borough Council’s lead officer in terms of community cohesion strategy and policy;
: the Assistant Director for Community Safety and Street Scene is the Borough Council’s lead officer in terms of community safety, which includes dealing with specific issues such as hate crime (other officers within the Neighbourhoods Directorate have similar responsibilities in respect of this matter);
: the specific post of Corporate Community Cohesion Officer currently remains unfilled and vacant;
: the investigations and reports of the recent past (specifically the ones by Professor Alexis Jay (2014) and by Dame Louise Casey (2015)) had been critical of the Borough Council’s approach to community cohesion;
: in response to these critical reports, the Borough Council is currently drafting a strategy and statement, which will be entitled “Building Stronger Communities”; this strategy will draw upon the contents of the more recent report by Dame Louise Casey (published on 5 December 2016) into social integration in Great Britain;
: this strategy has to address issues of concern which have affected Rotherham’s recent past (eg: right-wing demonstrations in the Rotherham town centre; the vulnerability of children and young people; the media’s perception of Rotherham; hate crime occurring in the community and in schools; religious differences); the strategy will focus upon the local authorities’ “prevent duty” (the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015), as well as neighbourhoods and enabling people from different ethnic backgrounds to live and work together; it was emphasised that the strategy is most certainly not an attempt at social engineering;
: the strategy’s focus upon the Borough Council’s community leadership role will include consultation and discussion with faith leaders throughout the Rotherham Borough area; the Rotherham Faith Leaders’ Council intends to undertake its own process of internal review;
: the Borough Council strategy will include an action plan and a means of measuring the success of the implementation of the various actions; it was acknowledged that there are practical difficulties in measuring the successes of a cohesive community; in that vein, the Borough Council has sought advice about best practice from the Home Office and from the Government Department for Communities and Local Government, although replies from both are still awaited;
: various grant funding sources are available in respect of community cohesion, which would include funding for the currently vacant officer post; the Borough Council’s intention is to make application to these funding sources (two examples are the Home Office grants in respect of Radicalisation and there is also the Controlling Migration Fund);
: the draft “Building Stronger Communities” strategy will be considered at a meeting of the Borough Council’s Cabinet and the Government-appointed Commissioners to the Borough Council during May, 2017;
: the Borough Council had recently begun a new initiative entitled the Child-Centred Borough (which places the wellbeing of children and young people at the centre of Borough Council policy-making) and had obtained details of good practice from a number of other local authorities including Leeds City Council; some members of the SACRE meeting volunteered to contribute to this Child-Centred Borough initiative;
: as an individual school initiative, the Wingfield Academy had recently undertaken a project about the United Nations.
The Rotherham SACRE meeting acknowledged the progress being made by the Borough Council with its community cohesion responsibilities and that matters would further progress after approval of the strategy. The eventual appointment of an officer to the specific community cohesion post was considered to be essential in implementing the strategy’s action plan, as well as re-commencing the work with schools in respect of community cohesion.
Agreed:- That the information about the Borough Council’s draft “Building Stronger Communities” strategy be noted and the approved strategy be submitted to a future meeting of the Rotherham SACRE.