Agenda item

4.1  The Chair introduced the item, identifying key points of discussions as being:

 

  i. the analysis and assessment of the impact of the pandemic on poverty and inequality

 

ii. information about the areas highlighted in a recent letter from the Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Human Resources to a parliamentary inquiry on people with protected characteristics

 

iii. a verbal update on the future and refresh of the corporate plan because of Covid-19.

 

4.2  The Chair welcomed Cllr Williams, Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Human Resources; Cllr Selman, Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Policy, and the Voluntary Sector; Cllr Kennedy, Cabinet Member for Health, Adult Social Care and Leisure; Cllr Rennison, Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Finance, Housing Needs and Supply; Sonia Khan, Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery and Cllr Maxwell, Mayoral Adviser for Older People.

 

4.3.1  The Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery started the discussion.  The Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery advised that she was going to start by introducing the first item, and that Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Human Resources would cover the submission for parliamentary inquiry before moving onto questions.

 

4.3.2  The Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery highlighted that item 5, the Corporate Plan refresh, does contain a summary of the impact of Covid-19 on poverty in the borough.

 

4.3.3  The Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery advised that since the outset of the crisis, mid-March, Policy was concerned about the risks and impacts of Covid-19 on residents and started receiving data early on which was systematically logged, and therefore the Community Impact Assessment document submitted represents a high level, comprehensive summary.  

 

4.3.5  The Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery advised that the level of information received allowed Policy teams to understand the levels of vulnerability in a way that went beyond the prominently publicised health-related vulnerabilities, and allowed them to understand the scale of need presented by the situation.

 

4.3.6  The Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery advised that the understanding allowed Policy teams to adapt the humanitarian response in the early weeks of the crisis, and to identify the medium-term priorities. Essentially, the Community Impact Assessment document was designed as a planning tool for both short and long-term approaches.

 

4.3.7  The Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery advised that in addition to informing the response to the crisis, the document has also been used to inform the corporate plan.

 

 

4.3.8  The Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery advised that the document allows understanding of how residents have been disproportionately impacted directly by the virus itself, and indirectly, giving the example of older residents, migrant populations, and people from different ethnic minority backgrounds.

 

4.3.9  The Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery spoke about the cross-cutting impacts that are informing the response, giving examples of digital exclusion for those with no facility or ability to access online services, people with no recourse to public funds, those who have not been in contact with services previously, those who meet the shielding criteria and the psychological impact of isolation, rough sleepers and homelessness.

 

4.3.10 The Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery advised that the work on poverty reduction in the borough had already begun pre-Covid-19, and it was understood that the response had to take the financial impacts into consideration, but as a result of the pandemic, and looking at the data coming through about those requesting emergency food, data on those who have been furloughed, and in terms of the increase of universal credit users, the council could see the impact on poverty will be significant.

 

4.3.11 The Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery advised that in the corporate plan refresh there is a lot of detail around the impacts that will start to manifest over time, particularly when the economy starts opening up and there’s risk of businesses finding that they’re unable to continue.

 

4.3.12 The Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery advised that there is also an ongoing assessment of impact on different groups, e.g. children and young people, disabled people, groups from different ethnic backgrounds, gender, religion, beliefs and older people.

 

4.3.13 The Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery advised they made sure issues that were less talked about were considered, giving examples of the LGBTQ+ community, those finding themselves in a home that isn’t a safe-space, and those with learning difficulties or disabled.

 

4.3.14 The Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery advised impact on the community was also considered, such as the tensions around social distancing measures and who is given attention in terms of policing.

 

4.4  The Chair thanked Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery for speaking and invited the Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Human Resources to speak.

 

4.5.1  The Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Human Resources commenced by expressing gratitude towards staff keeping public sector services running through the pandemic, paying special tribute to the Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery for her work on the document, and the work on policy insight work, stating that the valuable work toward a response wouldn’t be possible without the Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery and her team.

 

4.5.2  The Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Human Resources indicated that a copy of the submission to the Women and Inequalities Select Committee was published and is available, stating that the commission has also written to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, made a submission to the Labour party’s review of the impacts of coronavirus on ethnic minority communities. The Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Human Resources also stated she and Mayor Glanville have signed Ubele’s open letter calling for an inquiry into inequality & Covid-19.  (The Ubele initiative is derives its name from the Swahili word meaning ‘The Future’.  It is an African Diaspora led intergenerational social enterprise founded in 2014, with the purpose of helping to build more sustainable communities across the UK.)

 

 

4.5.3  The Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Human Resources summarised the work that has taken place, stating that there was knowledge from the outset that there were some communities that had been disproportionately affected, and that housing and homelessness are factors.

 

4.5.4  The Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Human Resources advised fellow Cabinet Members work around nutrition and food, stating that pre-Covid-19 there was already an increase in numbers of those who couldn’t afford nutritious food and were in food poverty.

 

4.5.5  The Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Human Resources highlighted that race and ethnicity is a significant factor in terms of numbers of people affected, numbers of death, and Black and minority ethnic (BAME) frontline workers working in the NHS or social care, and across the council.

 

4.5.6  The Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Human Resources referred to the previous full council meeting, stating that she’d given an update on the steps that the council would be taking to protect staff and ensure they’re able to safely return to work when social distancing ends.

 

4.5.7  The Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Human Resources advised that in terms of employment, the threat to the economy poses a significant risk which is explored further in the Inclusive Economy strategy which aims to enable local neighbourhoods to thrive, and to enable residents to access quality employment.

 

4.5.8  The Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Human Resources advised that during Full Council, the work of the Hackney Works team was also communicated in terms of how the team has been reorganised to respond to the pandemic.

 

4.5.9  The Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Human Resources advised there has been an increase in Universal Credit claimants, that increased by approximately 4,000 from the end of March to mid-April, advising that Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Finance, Housing Needs and Supply will elaborate in this.

 

4.5.10 The Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Human Resources also spoke on the voluntary sector citing research work carried out by Ubele that showed concerns among ethnic minority-led, micro, and small organisations who were fearful of their future in terms of funding. The Cabinet Member observed that the search isn’t specific to London or Hackney, but that Hackney CVS has carried out research to capture the impacts of Covid-19 on the voluntary sector, and the findings echo concerns around future funding. 

 

4.5.11 The Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Human Resources paid special tribute to the efforts of the voluntary sector in Hackney for mobilising and training volunteers.

 

4.5.12 The Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Human Resources spoke on the submission to Baroness Lawrence, stating that the content was similar and so the Cabinet Member wouldn’t explore it in detail during this meeting, but stated that concerns were shared in the letter to the Equality and Human Rights commission about the disproportionate impact on certain communities, calling on the commission to hold a public enquiry, which has now been agreed. 

 

4.6  The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Human Resources for her contribution and her work in this area. The chair invited the other attending cabinet members to speak.

 

4.7.1  The Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Finance, Housing Needs and Supply added there is an interconnected nature between poverty and inequality, and therefore the Council tries to respond in a holistic way.

 

4.7.2  The Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Finance, Housing Needs and Supply advised that she is happy to take questions on those without recourse to public funds and benefits, and while questions around how rough sleepers will be supported moving forward were not fully answered at the previous full council meeting, she was happy to field questions on this too.

 

4.7.3  The Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Finance, Housing Needs and Supply observed that Covid-19 has tested existing policies, stating that the council’s work around debt, and making sure that there is an emphasis on debt to the council being an indicator of a support requirement is an opportunity that should be taken.

 

4.8  The Chair thanked the Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Finance, Housing Needs and Supply for her comments and invited the Cabinet Member for Health, Adult Social Care and Leisure to make comment.

 

4.8.1  The Cabinet Member for Health, Adult Social Care and Leisure advised that he would principally be talking about the Food Poverty Reduction Plan, and how the Health and Well-being Board and the integrated commissioning board have decided an approach to take forward aimed at eliminating inequality in health systems and outcomes. 

 

4.8.2  The Cabinet Member for Health, Adult Social Care and Leisure advised that the Food Poverty Action plan has 3 main components:

 

  i. Emergency support

  ii. Building resilience

  iii. Prevention

 

4.8.3  The Cabinet Member for Health, Adult Social Care and Leisure observed that these areas of focus were decided upon pre-Covid-19, observing that Members will already be aware of the great work council teams have done delivering parcels during lockdown, and referenced an email he’d sent to Members outlining the next phase of humanitarian assistance, stating that the current week is the final week of food parcels and so the focus will shift to the Community Partnership Network, working with partners across the system delivering meals and emergency food.

 

4.8.3  The Cabinet Member for Health, Adult Social Care and Leisure advised that funding from Investec has been secured for Hackney foodbank for a further 12 weeks from the end of June.  This secured a £180,000 Defra grant, and a range of voluntary sector partners are accessing those funds to pay for food. The Cabinet Member stated that storing the food has become an issue due to its increased volume.

 

4.8.4  The Cabinet Member for Health, Adult Social Care and Leisure stated that the emergency and the resilience of the Food Poverty Action plan has been brought forward and tested by Covid-19, also stating that in terms of the prevention aspect of the plan, this was a longer-term aim.

 

4.8.5  The Cabinet Member for Health, Adult Social Care and Leisure advised that the Kings Fund’s wider determinants of health called the Population Health Framework is being used by the Health and Well-being Board and Integrated Commissioning Board to tackle wider inequalities in health. The framework looks at 4 overlapping factors: individual health habits such as diet, wider determinants such as quality of housing, integration of health system and how it reaches you, and the places and communities you live in and how they contribute to the success of broader health outcomes. The Cabinet Member advised that the strategy is to act where these 4 factors overlap to combat them all efficiently.

 

4.9  The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member for Health, Adult Social Care and Leisure and invited the Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Policy, and the Voluntary Sector to comment

 

4.10.1 The Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Policy, and the Voluntary Sector picked up from the comments made by Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Human Resources, adding that there’s been work around how and whether community grants could be repurposed; the Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Policy, and the Voluntary Sector advised that members had contributed grants to Hackney Giving which has done rounds of grant funding aimed at Covid-19. The Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Policy, and the Voluntary Sector advised that members have also matched parts of it through the London Community Resilience Fund. The Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Policy, and the Voluntary Sector advised the third wave of that funding is now open and being promoted to those interested in applying for grant rounds.

 

4.10.2 The Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Policy, and the Voluntary Sector advised that in addition to grants, suspension of rents for the Voluntary Community Sector Portfolio tenants, working with HCVS to understand how that could impact the sector, and lobbying on behalf of the sector in terms of the commission’s engagement with the government.

 

4.10.3 The Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Policy, and the Voluntary Sector highlighted particularly how members have been working with the voluntary sector in terms of the response to Covid-19, stating that both herself and the Cabinet Member for Health, Adult Social Care and Leisure have been working closely with office in terms of the humanitarian assistance and community response to Covid-19, and working with the voluntary sector has been a key element of that.

 

4.10.4 The Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Policy, and the Voluntary Sector advised that poverty-proofing actions going forward is a key concern and objective of the members working on this.

 

4.11  The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Policy, and the Voluntary Sector for her contribution and opened the meeting to questions.

 

Questions, Comments and Discussion

 

4.12  Referencing the supplied papers, the Chair referred to the statement about an officer’s experience of inequalities.  The Chair asked if this has been embedded in the emergency response, asking how that has improved services and going forward is there is any learning to improve responses. 

 

4.13  Members posed a question for by Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Human Resources, suggesting that the holistic approach would be improved by mapping out what has been achieved so far, what is being proposed as next-steps, what the stretch targets are, and what national government is being asked to do. Members stated that while good work is obviously taking place, effectively developing a holistic strategy would be difficult without an overarching roadmap and identification of where the gaps are.

 

4.14  The Chair of Audit Committee posed a question asking what resources were available, and what out of the ambitious proposed programme is achievable and within what period?

 

4.15  The Chair invited the Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery to comment on the questions posed.

 

4.16  The Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery advised that the main learning from the officer that was embedded into the strategic group was around language and access in terms of easy read to overcome communication barriers, and also around the importance of having an offer in the longer term that is culturally specific.  The Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery advised there were limitations as to what was possible to put in place, particularly around how the standard parcel offer can be flexed when working at scale without running into risks of a parcel not going to the correct person.  The Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery advised the work-around this risk in the interim was to deploy 600 volunteers, 300 of whom could carry out bespoke shopping.  The Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery advised that the learning from the officer was useful while developing the community partnerships network in terms of dealing with those two stated issues. 

 

4.17  The Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery advised that in terms of the language barrier issue, a piece of work is being completed to look at how the council can better communicate, that work is being fed into the local outbreak plan. In terms of culturally specific offerings, the Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery observed that the most important point is that all organisations who are going to carry out offerings are identified and contact as opposed to just the organisations who currently have the capacity for culturally specific support. 

 

4.18  In response to the questions about holistic approach, mapping, next steps, resources and timescale for achievements.  The Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery advised that the development of the corporate plan need to be formally agreed and they can explore this further during item 5.  The officer suggested those questions would be better answered under that item, but noting that continual analysis as the plan is deployed across the council will be required.

 

4.19  The Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Human Resources advised that she had provided Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery with a robust challenge to create a rigorous piece of work with the corporate plan, qualifying that such a challenge isn’t necessary for her to do high quality work, and that the range of analysis thus far has been impressive, going further to state that the response to the crisis could always have been improved upon, and hopes for continued improvement.

 

4.20  Members commended the work of council officers, giving examples of the clean local parks and the contract centre aiding with calls related to food parcels.

 

4.21  Members posed a question about the future, expressing concern over a wave of people losing their jobs who may have had little or no experience with the benefit system, asking how those residents will be supported with their applications, and other peripheral issues like debt accumulation.

 

4.22  Members also posed a question to the Cabinet Member for Health, Adult Social Care and Leisure about reports of doctors applying DNR orders to the notes of patients with learning disabilities, asking how the council is going to help ensure this does not happen.

 

4.23  Members posed a question around schooling and the digital divide, asking what provisions are being made, should a second wave of Covid-19 hit, to ensure that school are prepared in terms of Wi-Fi, devices, and personal demands, asking to be provided with a better sense of what plans are in place.

 

4.24  The Chair directed these questions to Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery and the Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Human Resources and requested that the Cabinet Member for Health, Adult Social Care and Leisure respond to Members question around DNR orders.

 

4.25  The Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery advised the chair that there is also a question from a Member in the chat function which she will also respond to.

 

4.26  The Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery echoed her previous statement that the corporate plan is the official response to a lot of the concerns, and so she will be brief when responding to items that feature in the plan itself.

 

4.27  Responding to the question about new groups accessing the benefit system, the Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery advised that there are short term measures in place such as a fortnightly meeting to discuss Universal Credit that includes advice providers and DWP representatives, and that this group is looking at the nature of the claimants entering the system and the associated risks. The Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery advised that the work is largely around effective communication and `reorienting the offer for those who may have no knowledge of the advice sector. Flexing the employment support on offer is an immediate consideration.

 

4.28  The Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery advised the corporate plan addresses the longer-term concerns around the inclusive economy reset and to support the changing skills requirements.

 

4.29  In response to the question around the digital divide and schooling, the Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery advised there is work being undertaken with schools to understand how to ensure that devices go out to those that need them, and around access to reliable Wi-Fi and the associated costs with broadband. The Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery advised there is also a cross cutting effort to bring partners together to develop a network of organisations working to this goal and looking at how support from voluntary organisations can be scaled up. The Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery advised she is only in a position to advise on the high-level aspects of Members question but for further details they would need to speak to the Director of Education from Hackney Learning Trust for a more granular response. 

 

4.30  In response to Members question, the Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery advised outlined 3 things that happened in response:

 

  i. A virtual team was convened which brought together the officer who supports Hackney Young Futures Commission, the officers who support the Young Black Men programme and Young Hackney. This group has been active from March, meeting weekly to pick up the impacts of Covid-19.

 

  ii. The Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery advised the Hackney Young Futures Commission had a conversation with the Mayor that was taken into consideration, ensuring that an officer was involved in conversations with Hackney Young Futures Commission to draw out the impact.

 

  iii. The Hackney Young Futures Commission report itself was also referenced when designing the corporate plan refresh.

 

4.31  The Chair thanked the Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery and invited the Cabinet Member for Health, Adult Social Care and Leisure to answer the question around people with learning disabilities and Do Not Resuscitate orders (DNR).

 

4.32  The Cabinet Member for Health, Adult Social Care and Leisure responded by saying he’s been asked this question recently in relation to a case of a GP placing a DNR order without consent of the patient’s family. The Cabinet Member for Health, Adult Social Care and Leisure fed it back through the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to the strategic operational command group. There was a clear instruction in response that no health professional should be placing a DNR on anyone’s notes without expressed consent from them and their responsible carers.

 

4.33  The Chair posed a final question, asking how the momentum from community campaigns like Black Lives Matter could be harnessed to help remove barriers to structural change.

 

4.34  The Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Human Resources responded to earlier questions, stating that the digital inclusion piece of work is ongoing and that herself and other Members involved in it are trying to make sure that devices are available and quickly, as well as the work with business to recondition computers for that purpose, and a piece of work around connectivity.

 

4.35  In response to the Chairs question, the Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Human Resources advised the effort to harness the momentum of the movement had already begun, and the audience numbers and interest in the previous full council is a strong indicator of community interest. The Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Human Resources made a distinction between Hackney’s motion and the motion of other local authorities, stating that Hackney’s motion transcends lobbying central government and extends to the council making a commitment to act and change, to look inwards, and to work with partners to continue to cultivate structural change. The Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Human Resources used the example of changing street names and public space names as evidence of the commitment. The Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Human Resources advised that in the run up to the previous full council meeting, members had been in contact with the Sir John Cass Foundation as well as the halls of residents by Castle and Garden Square, who turned off their lights and made an announcement confirming they would change their name. The announcement was echoed by the John Cass Foundation.

 

4.36  The Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Human Resources went on to say that what is clear from her involvement with the community, is that residents want the names of streets and buildings named after former slave-owners to be addressed. The Cabinet Member added that conversations and protests around the borough have taken place about this. This also serves as evidence that the momentum is already being harnessed, but that the council will need to continue its work with the Windrush generation, the Black History season programme, and the carnival, all of which are within the Cabinet Member for Planning, culture and Inclusive Economy portfolio. The interest in becoming an anti-racist borough is palpable.

 

4.37  The Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery highlighted that the corporate plan contains an approach to tackle racial inequality and anti-racism and is a concept that runs throughout the plan. In terms of how to harness the renewed interest and urgency, the Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery conveyed that this is an opportunity for everyone to understand what anti-racism means, highlighting that systemic and structural racism is embedded and therefore everyone bears a responsibility to alter their thinking.  Work on how to communicate that corporately is ongoing and work with managers and partners will continue in this effort. The Head of Policy and Strategic Delivery highlighted the opportunity to have wider community conversations about this are being explored, with a message that its necessary for BAME communities or Members to educate people about these concepts.

 

4.38  The Chair thanked all attendees for this item.