Agenda and minutes

At this point Members are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may have in the business on this agenda.

Members were invited to declare at this point in the meeting any personal or prejudicial interests they might have in the business on the agenda.  None were declared.

To approve and sign the minutes of the last meeting of the Group held on 24 September 2009.  An “easy read” version of these minutes is also attached.

RESOLVED:            That the minutes of the meeting of the Group held on 24 September 2009 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair subject to the correct spelling of Mr Hotchkiss’s name (minute 12).

In accordance with the Group’s request that their recommendations were tracked to ensure that they were being actioned, an update was given on matters arising from the previous minutes:

(i)                 Representation of Young People on SIWG

The Executive of the Council had approved the recommendation that Higher York be allocated a place as a community representative on SIWG.  It was noted that Higher York represented students in higher education and that Steve Rouse also served as a member of SIWG to represent younger people.  A Youth Council had recently been established in York and SIWG would also be looking to engage with them.

(ii)               Democratic Services Equality Impact Assessment

Information was circulated regarding progress with actions from the Democratic Services Equality Impact Assessment that had been considered by SIWG in March 2009. (Minute Annex A)

At this point in the meeting members of the public who have registered their wish to speak regarding an item on the agenda or an issue within the Groups remit can do so. Anyone who wishes to register or requires further information is requested to contact the Democracy Officer on the contact details listed at the foot of this agenda. The deadline for registering is Tuesday 1 December 2009 at 5.00 pm.

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

This workshop follows on from discussions at the SIWG Development Day in May 2009 about ways of improving SIWG.  It will consider issues including the name of SIWG, objectives, membership, format and frequency of meetings and the budget.

A workshop took place to consider issues arising from discussions at the SIWG Development Day in May 2009 about ways of improving SIWG.  Small groups were formed to look at issues including the name of SIWG, objectives, membership, format and frequency of meetings and the budget.  The views put forward are detailed in Minute Annex B.

This report presents information about recent activity in the context of the Social Inclusion Working Group (SIWG).  The report focuses on the following issues:

• SIWG More for York EIAs Day
• SIWG EIAs Fair 2009 (Help us to get it right day)
• Chair’s activity

Consideration was given to the Chair’s Report which provided information about recent activity in the context of the Social Inclusion Working Group.  The report focussed on the following issues:

• SIWG More for York EIAs Day
• SIWG EIAs Fair 2009 (Help Us to Get it Right Day)
• Chair’s activity

The Vice-Chair informed the Group that she had spoken to the Chief Executive regarding the concerns that had been raised about council documents not being in plain English.  She had been informed that this matter had been raised with directors and arrangements were in place in respect of staff training on this issue.

Verbal reports will be given on the 2009/10 SIWG projects led by the following groups:

·        York Older People’s Assembly (YOPA)

·        York Racial Equality Network (YREN)

·        Children and Inclusion (CANDI)

The Group were updated on the 2009/10 SIWG projects:

(i)                 Children and Inclusion (CANDI)

Representatives from CANDI updated the group on the work that they were carrying out.  CANDI was a forum that sought to improve services for disabled children by working in partnership with the local authority and the health service. 

Details were given of the training that they provided to staff who worked with children and young people who were disabled. They had put together a fifteen-minute web based introductory training package that could be accessed on www.disabilitytrainingyork.org as well as delivering group training sessions to teams and services.  The next step was to train all providers of activities to Schools Out. 

CANDI had been allocated funding of £500 from the SIWG budget and this had enabled them to involve parents in delivering the training that they offered to organisations by meeting their travel and childcare costs.  A paper was circulated that included details of the training that had been delivered and comments that had been received from participants.  The comments included statements made regarding the benefits that having a parent as a presenter had contributed to the training.

The CANDI representatives were asked how they would fund the training once the SIWG funding came to an end.  They explained that the finance was not yet in place but that the training would continue.  Discussions were ongoing regarding the possibility of the CANDI training forming part of the YorOK induction training programme.  Rita Sanderson offered to meet with the CANDI representatives to advise them on possible funding streams.

Members of the group commented that travel and care costs were a major barrier that prevented people from being active in the community.  This was a longstanding issue that had to be addressed.

SIWG members congratulated CANDI on the work that they were carrying out and thanked them for their attendance at the meeting.

(ii)               SIWG Diversity Days

Sue Lister tabled a report which gave feedback on the SIWG diversity days (Minute Annex C).  Details were given of the Food and Drink Festival that had taken place in Parliament Square on Tuesday 22 September 2009 and of the Bridging the Gap event held at the start of the 50+ Festival on Saturday 26 September 2009.  A paper detailing income and expenditure was also tabled (Minute Annex D).  Sue was thanked for her report and for the work that she had carried out in respect of the diversity days.

(iii)             Display Boards

Rita Sanderson updated the Group on how funding had been used to purchase six display boards which would be used to promote the equality strands.  Details were given of how the boards had been assigned to particular organisations for storage and insurance purposes.  One board (gender) remained unassigned and volunteers were sought to take responsibility for storing it.  There was still some funding remaining which could be used for photographs and printing to populate the boards.  It was suggested some of the board assigned for gender issues could include  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

This item seeks approval for the group’s work plan for the period December 2009 to March 2010.

Consideration was given to the group’s work plan for the period December 2009 to March 2010.  The Group’s attention was drawn to the “Help us get it right day” that was to be held on 1 February 2010, details of which had been emailed to the group.  Any representative who required transport to the event was asked to contact Evie Chandler (telephone 551726).

This item will inform SIWG about Higher York aims, objectives and current work and identify how SIWG can become involved in these.

Representatives from Higher York gave a presentation about the aims, objectives and current work of their organisation.  They explained that Higher York was a partnership between Askham Bryan College, York College, York St John University, Craven College (associate member),  The University of York and the City of York Council. 

The aims of the organisation were:

• To promote a united student community in York
• To act as a channel of communication between current York higher education students and colleagues at the Higher York institutions
• To highlight the benefits of studying higher education in York

Details were given of some of the projects in which Higher York were involved, including finding out about the experiences of different groups of students, developing a website and StudentsYork Facebook group and Twitter account, designing promotional material and researching whether students feel that they are part of the local community.  Focus groups had also been conducted with different student groups and recommendations had been reported to senior members of staff.  The team was currently researching and preparing for a new community project to open the minds of both the residential and student population as to how they could help one another. 

Higher York was looking to work with SIWG to consult on community issues, as well as enabling SIWG members to be informed as to students’ views on different topics. 

Discussion took place regarding the need to ensure that there was not a division in the community between locals and students.  Higher York was keen to improve these relationships and would be carrying out a survey to ascertain the type of concerns that were arising.  It was agreed that it would be useful for the feedback to be presented to SIWG at a future meeting.

The representatives were thanked for their presentation.

A presentation will be given on the Council’s improvement programme called More for York.  This will provide an opportunity to identify how SIWG can influence the programme.

This item was deferred to a future meeting.

The Group was informed that YREN had recently been supporting a family who had been subjected to a hate incident.  It was concerning to note that the mechanisms and procedures in the Hate Incident Reporting Strategy were not working effectively.  It was suggested that a review of the strategy needed to be carried out as a matter of urgency.

The Group were also concerned that a Community Cohesion Strategy was not yet in place for the city.  Whilst it was recognised that this was not solely the responsibility of the council, it was important that all partners worked together to ensure that a Community Cohesion Strategy was drawn up as soon as possible in order to ensure that members of the community felt safe and secure.

RESOLVED:(i)         That the Group recommend that the Hate Incident

Reporting Strategy be reviewed as a matter of urgency.

(ii)               That the Group recommend that the council works with partner organisations to ensure that a Community Cohesion Strategy is put in place as soon as possible.

REASON:      To ensure that appropriate systems are in place to ensure that all members of the community feel safe and supported and that appropriate reporting procedures are in place.

Members of the Group commented favourably on how SIWG had developed to become a democratic body which was now working together much more effectively.