Agenda item

To receive a report from the Assistant Chief Executive presenting the Brent Black Community Action Plan, which has been developed with black community Leaders in the borough.

AGREED

(1)    To note and endorse the Brent Black Community Action Plan

(2)    To refer the Action Plan to Cabinet for appropriate resourcing and implementation.

Councillor Muhammed Butt (as Leader of the Council) introduced the report from the Assistant Chief Executive presenting the Brent Black Community Action Plan, which he advised had been developed in conjunction with leaders from the black communities across the borough.

In introducing the report, Councillor Butt thanked the officers and all community representatives who had participated in development of the Action Plan and acknowledged the contribution made by the community.  He outlined the Council’s commitment to work with the community to address the concerns identified, with the next step being for the Action Plan to be taken to Cabinet for consideration and its delivery then subject to ongoing scrutiny.

The Mayor then opened the debate, inviting other members to speak on the report.

Councillor Kelcher opened the debate by highlighting the role that scrutiny would play in ensuring the outcomes of the Action Plan were met.  He advised that the report was due to be considered by the Resources & Public Realm Scrutiny Committee towards the end of the year so as to ensure it remained an ongoing priority.  Particular attention was drawn to the need to ensure safer neighbourhoods and address the relationship between the police and the Black community, with Councillor Kelcher also highlighting a need to ensure all councillors (including himself) continued to be educated in order to address unconscious bias and wider prejudices in society.

Councillor Kansagra also took the opportunity, on behalf of the Conservative Group, to endorse the Action Plan and congratulated all those involved in its production.  The need for those in authority to be properly screened and checked was also highlighted to ensure the right people were appointed in the right posts and avoided any abuse of power.  He also felt it was important to recognise the work being undertaken by the Council in addressing concerns relating to educational attainment across different communities within the borough.

Councillor Choudhary then spoke to highlight the diverse nature of communities across Brent and, whilst welcoming the report, was keen to ensure as wide a focus as possible in terms of the coverage and activities identified within the Action Plan.

Councillor Kabir also spoke to commend the report and Action Plan highlighting a number of specific areas in support of its implementation. These included the need to support parents from different communities in understanding and being confident in navigating the education and apprenticeship system, in order maximise access to the support available.  She was also keen for the Council to support community facilities being made available to the Black community and for funding to be made available for the voluntary sector and community groups, whose officers were delivering training and capacity building within these communities.  As a further suggestion, she felt Brent should continue to be marketed to businesses as a borough with a diverse, bright, young and increasingly skilled workforce.  In summing up, she felt it was important for the Council to be accountable for delivery of the proposed outcomes within the Action Plan and to ensure that support was provided within the BAME communities most adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, within the budgeting priorities moving forward.

Councillor Murray also welcomed the Action Plan, but recorded his sadness that it had taken the death of George Floyd for this work to be undertaken.  He encouraged Members to keep listening and reaching out to Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities across the borough.

Councillor Nerva in supporting and welcoming the Action Plan also recognised the importance of the work being undertaken to address educational attainment amongst black Caribbean boys, along with the need to ensure members continued to educate themselves on matters affecting the wider community, including inequality and the impact of unconscious biases.  He also took the opportunity to highlight a national review being undertaken into racism impacting on the Jewish community, on which he looked forward to considering the findings, once available.

Councillor McLennan also welcomed the Action Plan, which she felt represented a good starting point.  Whilst recognising that all communities and lives mattered, she highlighted that the statistics were clear in identifying that Black communities were some of the most adversely affected in many outcomes and as result was keen to support the need for the black community to be treated fairly and equally.

Councillor Afzal, in welcoming the report highlighted the need to tackle the issues identified through a process of not only structural but also institutional change.  Whilst the Action Plan was a positive step forward, he was keen to ensure Brent’s status as the most diverse and multicultural borough was used to provide a positive example in order to holistically address the issues faced by many BAME communities, working in conjunction with the affected individuals and local communities.

Councillor Hassan also welcomed the report as an important first step forward and stressed the importance of expanding the involvement of affected communities in the ongoing development and delivery of the Plan and in also addressing instances of dual discrimination within many local communities.

Councillor Shahzad then spoke, highlighting the need, given his long-standing involvement in seeking to tackle discrimination, to ensure the issues highlighted were taken seriously in order to encourage real change. The Council, he felt, needed to lead by example and take a different approach to central government, which had commissioned many reports yet taken limited action. He also took the opportunity to highlight the adverse impact of COVID-19 on BAME communities due to their socio-economic position and felt there was a need to fully recognise the contributions made by members of these communities as key workers in many front line services during the pandemic whilst also facing discrimination.  He ended by expressing his support for the Council being seen to take the lead and in standing shoulder to shoulder with their residents on such an important issue.

Councillor Mahmood congratulated everyone involved for their efforts in producing the Action Plan and also took the opportunity to express condolences to those who had lost loved ones during the pandemic.  Commenting on the extent to which it was felt institutional racism remained an issue in the UK, he wanted to ensure that this was recognised in Brent with appropriate training and awareness raising activity in place across all relevant institutions and public services, including the police.

Councillor Miller was then invited to speak.  In highlighting that the Action Plan covered many areas within his Community Safety & Engagement Cabinet portfolio including the voluntary sector, community cohesion & engagement and policing he assured members of the corporate approach being taken across  the Council in dealing with the issues highlighted.  In terms of transparency, the Council would continue to use its political and moral power to seek transparency not only in the police but also in relation to social justice and to improve the lives of people within the borough. He ended by also supporting the need, highlighted by Councillor Kabir during her earlier contribution for the Council to continue to support the voluntary and community sector in providing the necessary training and capacity building within the most disadvantaged and adversely affected communities.

Councillor Chohan then spoke, highlighting what he felt was a need for the Council to continue looking at ways to improve engagement across all sectors of BAME communities within the borough.

Councillor Mili Patel, also speaking in support of the Action Plan was keen to recognise the importance and involvement of young people in its development and ongoing delivery.  As Cabinet Member for Children’s Safeguarding, Early Help and Social Care she advised that she would be working to ensure the issues raised were addressed with work already underway within the affected communities to do so.

Councillor Johnson in welcoming the report, hoped that the proposed actions were seen as a real and genuine opportunity for change.  He applauded the Council for being one of the first local authorities to address the issues that had been raised by the Black Lives Matter movement, with all councillors he felt needing to work together in order to take the lead in addressing the concerns raised, repair trust and tackle the inequalities identified in relation to health, education, housing and social justice. The Council, he felt, was key in ensuring ownership was taken for the actions set out in the report and in providing much needed leadership on such an important issue affecting communities across the borough.

Councillor Mitchell-Murray advised that she welcomed the actions identified and looked forward to them being taken forward.  At the same time, however, she felt it was important to recognise that the UK was not yet at a point in which it could claim that all lives mattered, especially given its history in terms of slavery, which was unfortunately still an issue today.  As a result she supported the need for the UK to face up to its history and ensure all forms of discrimination and modern day slavery were eliminated.

Councillor Tatler also advised that she welcomed the report and activities identified within the Action Plan as a means of starting to address many of the issues highlighted during the debate.  In terms of her portfolio as Cabinet member for Regeneration, Property and Planning, she assured members that she would continue to support the work being undertaken to provide inclusive economic growth for BAME communities and to ensure a level playing field for all communities within the borough in terms of access to support and development opportunities.

Councillor Maurice also welcomed the report and expressed his support for Brent leading the way to address the long-standing discrimination within the BAME communities.

Councillor Kennelly was then invited to speak and took the opportunity to emphasise the need for real foundational and structural change in response to the Black Lives Matter movement.  He was also pleased to be able to support the approach adopted by the Council in leading on this issue but also felt there was a need to challenge social media companies on how they tackled instances of discrimination and abuse online.

Councillor Daly also took the opportunity to express her support for the Action Plan with particular reference to the different examples of discrimination she had witnessed.

Councillor Abdirazak also spoke to welcome the report, but in so doing highlighted the need for the Council to take it forward in what he felt was a meaningful way and with the support of the local community.

Councillor Georgiou then spoke to congratulate all those involved in the development of the Action Plan and also took the opportunity to express his condolences to those who had lost loved ones during the pandemic.  In commending the sentiments expressed by Councillor Johnson earlier in the debate he also questioned why it had taken the death of George Floyd to prompt action with the Council encouraged to learn the lessons of the pandemic and apply them in  its response to the Black Lives Matter movement, including its communication strategy.

As final contributions, Councillors Denselow, Sangani and Gbajumo also welcomed the report and took the opportunity to thanked all those involved in its production, highlighting their support for the comments expressed by previous speakers.  Councillor Denselow also took the opportunity to highlight the work of ex-councillor Michael Pavey in championing diversity issues across the Council and borough as a whole.

Before inviting Councillor Butt to exercise his right of reply the Mayor took one final contribution from Councillor Stephens who whilst supporting the previous comments made felt it was also important to recognise the impact of COVID-19 as another manifestation of inequality, this time in relation to health and encouraged all councillors to take responsibility for ensuring the activities within the Action Plan were progressed.

As no other members wished to speak, Councillor Butt, in exercising his right of reply, thanked all members for their contributions.  He expressed his pride in being Leader of the Council, given the contributions made by members during the debate covering issues such as education, employment, health, poverty and structural inequality.  The desire to address these issue were seen as some of the main reasons driving members in their role as local community representatives, with the report focussed on addressing the concerns highlighted.  In summing up, he felt it was important to recognise that the Action Plan had been developed in partnership and for the benefit of the local community and demonstrated Brent’s commitment to listening to, and delivering on their priorities.

The Mayor then put the recommendations to the vote and they were declared CARRIED.

It was therefore unanimously RESOLVED:

(1)     To note and endorse the Brent Black Community Action Plan

(2)     To refer the Action Plan to Cabinet for appropriate resourcing and implementation.