The Committee will receive a presentation which will share some early thoughts in respect of the development of an Inclusive Communities Framework. This approach aims to build on the experiences of the pandemic and reflect the shift in thinking from cohesion to a broader inclusion agenda.
Contact:
Jill Greenfield, Service Director – Customer and Communities
Jo Richmond, Head of Communities
Minutes:
Jill Greenfield, Service Director - Customer and Communities, and Jo Richmond, Head of Communities, attended the Committee and gave a presentation which shared early thoughts in respect of the development of an Inclusive Communities Framework to guide work alongside communities. The following points were highlighted:
· The approach aimed to build on the experiences of, and strengths identified during, the pandemic and reflect the shift in thinking from cohesion to a broader, more holistic inclusion agenda.
· It would embed the role of organisations and institutions as enablers, co-producers and convenors, using the building blocks that were already in place.
· There was a need to hear a range of voices and act on the information received.
· It would aim to create the right conditions for communities to thrive; the core of which was building local trust and connectivity. People wanted to feel; safe, that life is fair, connected to their neighbours, that they have a voice and influence, a sense of belonging, and that they had access to work.
· There were significant interdependencies with other strategies (Economic Strategy and Health and Wellbeing Strategy) and initiatives such as the Inclusion Commission. Consideration was being given to how to conduct one conversation with people so that inclusion was not being looked at in isolation.
· Work was being done to explore and develop indicative outcomes.
Members asked questions and commented on the issues raised, with the following key issues being covered:
· The work of the Inclusion Commission would feed into this developmental process.
· The work was at a very early stage. It was intended to provide a framework to establish a set of principles for ways of working with communities to reach across the whole system and to provide some checks, balances and challenges. It would be a high-level document but it was important that it had an impact. An example was given in respect of the Integrated Care System: the framework would provide a set of principles and approaches that organisations and agencies could adopt when considering what services should look like.
· In response to a question about when this work would be delivered and concern that inequalities had become more amplified during the pandemic and about people becoming disenfranchised, it was explained that, during the pandemic, inclusion work had proved much more difficult to undertake due to the restrictions on face-to-face contact. The right conditions were important for these conversations particularly when discussing the more difficult subjects. Work was ongoing and it was acknowledged that there was a need to proceed as a matter of urgency, but it was also important that this was balanced against the need to progress at the speed of trust.
· The pandemic had also strengthened some communities and helped to establish trusted relationships and the team would be working to build on these foundations.
· This approach positioned the Council as convenor and enabler: the message being that this was not about the Council trying to fix an issue but rather ensuring that it did not get in the way, or have any barriers in place, for communities coming together. It was also about enabling safe spaces that would naturally bring people together and ensuring the approach became embedded within mainstream work.
· The level of overlap with other work being undertaken, and other strategies, had been recognised and this would be taken into account in order to reduce repetition and confusion in engagement. The aim would be to achieve one conversation with the results directed to a number of different destinations.
· The overall goal was to establish a sustained conversation over the long term.
· The feedback provided by scrutiny in relation to the concepts and the language used would be really helpful.
· The work undertaken and intelligence gathered using the Place Standard Tool provided a good base.
· Influence and control was an important issue to consider and a key concern was considered to be online information and misinformation.
· The pandemic had provided a lot of useful learning in terms of how the Council and partners had worked quickly with community groups and transferred power.
· The importance of the visibility of this work was stressed..
RESOLVED –
That further reports be presented to the Committee as work on the framework progresses.