Agenda item

This cross-Council group has been established to look at the socio-economic barriers and challenges experienced by the Eastern European communities living in Brent and make recommendations to address these.

The Chair invited Mr Martin Francis, to address the Committee in relation to the Task and Finish Group Report. Mr Francis stated that he believed that the report’s methodology and evidence base was inadequate and perpetuated stereotypes about Romanian nationals in particular. He also noted that it was focused too narrowly on two nationalities which excluded a variety of other Eastern European countries. The Committee heard that Mr Francis had spoken to the Romanian Cultural Centre about the report which had also felt that the Council had a limited understanding of the Romanian community and needed a more thoughtful data collection process. He concluded that the Council had missed the opportunity to highlight the cultural richness that the Eastern European Community brought to the Borough within this report.

Andreyana Ivanova (the Council’s Head of Equality) thanked Mr Francis for his representation. She addressed the points raised stating that the intention of the report was in no way meant to exclude specific Eastern European nationalities but to update the Committee on the most recent data available to the Council that was heavily reliant on people’s self-declaration.  The focus on Polish and Romanian nationals was primarily because these were the two largest Eastern European groups in Brent and the two groups which the Council had the most substantial evidence base on socio-economic barriers to draw from.

The Committee heard that the task and finish group had held a recent roundtable with 15 different Eastern European Community Groups invited, including the Romanian Cultural Centre, the Bosnia and Herzegovina Community Advice Centre and the Eastern European Resource Centre, where the findings and recommendations of the task and finish group were presented. The work and recommendations of the group had been well received and no specific concerns had been raised. Members heard that all organisations expressed an interest to be involved in the implementation of the relevant recommendations. Andreyana Ivanova reminded the audience of the scope of the report and that this was the first phase of the task and finish group. The next phase, would be to work much more closely with these community groups and do outreach work to deliver sustainable outcomes to improve the lives and experiences of Eastern European residents.

Genevie George (the Council’s Partnerships and Engagement Manager) added to this by emphasising that all of the recommendations were a starting point and that the Council was looking to be inclusive and work alongside the Eastern European community. She went through the proposed recommendations aimed at improving outcomes for Eastern Europeans including: community groups applying for grants; expanding volunteering opportunities; holding drop-in information sessions and open door events in different community hubs on a range of themes; working with Advice4Renters to offer bespoke advice to the Eastern European residents; and carrying out ethnographic research to inform further outreach work, if required. She also acknowledged that community cohesion was extremely important to address after the rise in hate crimes after Britain’s vote to leave the European Union.

Members welcomed the report and the planned initiatives within the recommendations. It was also acknowledged from the Officers’ comments that this was deemed to be the starting point which the task and finish group could build upon. Members felt there needed to be a clear focus on translation and language services being available to Eastern European communities to aid integration and community cohesion. It was suggested that this could be done through schools, who had, in the past, offered lessons to parents to aid the process of settling into the area. There were also discussions on the need to educate the local population on the positive aspects that these communities could offer and break down any barriers which existed culturally or socio-economically.  

RESOLVED that:

(i)         The findings and proposals outlined in the report be noted and the task and finish group’s next steps under the recommendations section be endorsed;

(ii)        An update on the task and finish group’s progress be brought to a future Committee meeting, provisionally in summer 2017;

(iii)       The report be amended (under section 4.3) to include schools as a venue for holding local drop-in information sessions; and

(iv)       The Committee place on record its great appreciation for the Eastern European Community in Brent and that all Eastern European nationals were very welcome in the Borough.