Agenda item

The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Corporate and Policy which presented the final report of the Community Cohesion Working Party.  The report sought the approval of a series of recommendations which would be considered by the Executive Board.

The Chairman of the Board, Councillor Jones suggested that the Members of the Topic Group re-convene at the end of October 2007 to review the action plan and the migration statistics in relation to new work and the impact on services in the Borough.  He also highlighted the importance of monitoring cohesion in the Borough regularly.

The Board thanked Members and Officers who had taken part in the topic group and indicated that it was an excellent and comprehensive report of a complex issue.

RESOLVED: That

(1)                    the Board approve the findings and recommendations of the Community Cohesion Topic Group; and

(2)                    the following be recommended to the Executive Board for approval;-

(i)                 the ‘Vision Story’ developed during the scrutiny process be adopted as the community cohesion statement for Halton, and form part of the overall corporate equalities statement used in service planning;

(ii)               the Equality Impact Assessments be extended in scope, in line with LGA Guidance, to cover the potential community cohesion impacts of all Council policies and programmes.  This should be carried out as part of the established service planning process;

(iii)             an Officer Working Group be established, as a sub group of the Corporate Equalities Group, to specifically look at the needs of new migrants in the Borough and to monitor the joint delivery of services to them;

(iv)              the cohesion implications of council activities are monitored and reported to the various Policy and Performance Boards as part of the normal service planning monitoring process.  In addition, a data set of cohesion indicators should be set up and populated.  These should form an annual progress report on cohesion, which would be monitored by the Employment, Learning and Skills PPB;

(v)                the Corporate Services PPB be alerted to emerging concerns about perceived barriers to accessing services.  These include opening hours, disabled access, transport, difficult locations, information and communication, bureaucracy, quality of response and perceived attitudes to certain client group.  Corporate Services PPB may wish to consider whether it is worthy of further investigation or scrutiny;

(vi)              the Council and its Partners be informed of the results of this scrutiny topic and recognise that anti-social behaviour has profound implications for cohesion in Halton.  It is one of its defining issues.  The anti-social behaviour scrutiny topic team and Halton’s Community Safety Team should take note of the impact of their work on community cohesion and be aware that this will form part of the cohesion monitoring system in Halton;

(vii)            inter-generational myths and conflicts were identified as a key defining feature of cohesion in Halton.  It is recommended that the appropriate teams within the Children’s Services and Health and Communities Directorates collaborate on joining up activity to specifically address inter-generational issues within Halton; and

(viii)          the Board place on record a vote of thanks and appreciation to the Councillors and Officers who had taken part in the review for their excellent work on such a complex issue.