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City of York Council |
Committee Minutes |
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Meeting |
Executive |
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Date |
13 July 2023 |
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Present |
Councillors Douglas (Chair), Kilbane (Vice-Chair), Coles, Lomas, Pavlovic, Ravilious and Webb |
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Apologies |
Councillor Kent |
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Part B - Matters Referred to Council
19. Anti-Racism & Inclusion Strategy and Action Plan
[See also under Part A]
The Director of Customer & Communities presented a report which introduced a city-wide Strategy Report and Action Plan (the Report) from the independent and cross-sectional working group led by Inclusive Equal Rights UK 3.0 (IERUK), and asked Executive to agree a response and to recommend the Report to Council.
The Report, attached as Annex A to the cover report, reflected the fact that although York was a truly multi-cultural city, people of colour continued to be adversely affected by a failure of organisations and institutions in the city to treat them with fairness, dignity and respect. Haddy Njie, the Chair of IERUK, and Gary Craig, a member of the working party responsible for accumulating data for the Report, were in attendance at the meeting to set the Report in context and explain the sources of the data that underpinned it. In doing so, they addressed the criticisms of the Report received from some quarters on its release and expressed their views on these negative comments.
In supporting the proposals, the Executive Member for Finance, Performance, Major Projects and Equalities thanked all those involved in bringing the Report forward, described the negative responses received as ‘appalling and despicable’ and highlighted the need to work together to tackle racism in the city and secure better ethic minority representation in its public institutions. Her comments were echoed by the Leader and other Members.
Recommended: (i) That Council receive the Strategy and Action Plan on behalf of the City.
(ii) That the Leader sign the Pledge at Annex B to the report on behalf of the Council.
Reason: To demonstrate the City of York Council’s commitment to being an Anti-Racist City.
Cllr C Douglas, Chair
[The meeting started at 5.30 pm and finished at 6.55 pm].