You thank you for your patience uh welcome to today’s meeting uh my name is councelor jabas I’m the chair of the committee this is a public meeting uh and members of the public and press are permitted to record on the proceedings reporting includes filming photography making an audio recording and providing commentary
On proceedings please note that this meeting is recorded and streamed live these recordings are published on the relevant meeting page of the council’s website by choosing to attend this public meeting you are deemed to have given your consent to being filmed recorded and for any footage to be
Broadcast and published if the alarm sound PS the premises must be evacuated immediately do not spend time collecting personal belongings all emergency Escape Routes are clearly signed once you have left the building the assembly point is in the High Street opposite the Guild Hall uh members and other speakers are
Reminded to use the microphone when speaking okay thank you agenda item number one is appointment of substitutes yes chair thank you we do have two substitutes tonight Mel orot is here for Karen Lawrence and Sue Smith is here for Jill desera thank you uh agenda item number two Declarations of
Interest I’ll take councilor petski thank you chair two interest to declare I’m member of the W Interfaith forum and I also work for platform housing which has pretty close relationship with wi the Community Trust so I thought I better declare it now thank you okay thank you councelor
Lawrenson uh thank you chair uh declare an interest in the penultimate item um in a very distant past I was an active member of wer Palestine friendship thank you councilor Kia uh item eight on the agenda I’m a member of Worcester play Council thank you uh any other items
Anybody else to declare um Julian can you record my uh Declaration of interest on agenda item 11 uh I’ve given attended meetings and given procedural advice but not a a an active member of the W of Palestine friendship group okay uh agenda item number three public participation we have three speakers
Sorry four speakers this evening uh can I invite soel for us to the speakers for table please so um so help we’ve got three and a half minutes for you three and a half minutes okay thank you yes good evening thank you everyone for giving me this chance
To speak so um I read through your agenda notes and I’ll just briefly like to say um W wer Council um in the past has been actively involved with the w Palestine friendship in various situations and I think that needs to be recognized foremost if you go back to
2013 we had about 15 youth come in August they stayed in Wester they met I think Paul denim who was the mayor of wer that um these youngsters have gone to various Community groups in W wer Community Trust they’ve gone we’ve had um various other people represent wer
Palestine fren group from the West Bank so wer has been actively associated with Palestine and what the Palestine friendship group up and down the country exists so if the council were actually to be involved I think they already are without knowing it and I think that’s the first thing we
Need to understand and secondly I think going upon um uh going upon the the current situation I think it’s even more imperative that people make a stand alongside palestin but not on a political view on a humanitarian on a social and moral aspect I think on the document it said
It talks about the Nolan principles there aren’t just three Nolan principles there’s seven Nolan principles and why shouldn’t we take those into regard when making the decision this about in Integrity accountability openness and honest honesty and why can’t we be the leadership in trying to F draw a path
Where people come together why can’t say on Interfaith forign basis why can’t we get Jewish kids from London or any other place come to meet the Palestinian with children we have I think we as wer could really set a benchmark if really press forward from a like a social
Humanitarian and educational aspect you know we’ve had youngsters that have come in the past to Worcester when they were 12 13 and now you see pictures of them on Facebook doctors some are America studying because when they come to wer they realize you know what we can be
Treated like humans and we can value who we are and that’s why I think it’s imperative that wer Council actively takes a part in this friendship it could really lead a way to bring in people and communities together in a time like this that’s what i’ like to say really thank
You discussed later on in this order of things so if you can hold on for that thank you the uh next speaker we have is Canon Brian McGinley St George’s Church no oh sorry do apologize I’ve jumped to head uh Reverend Katherine L chair of the werer interface Forum thank you
Catherine thank you very much um for those who don’t know me yes I am Katherine lack and I chair the werer Interfaith forum and I want to thank you very much for the opportunity to come again I spoke here in November and I gave the background to the idea of the
Faith Covenant and I want to say a big thank you that’s my first thing I really want to say both for listening and for producing a very positive paper and the fact that it’s on the agenda later this evening why am I speaking again partly
To say thank you but partly also to draw attention to a couple of quite important bits the first bit is on page one of your document Faith groups have a great deal to offer and some of their potential is being overlooked at present one thing which really struck me is that
Faith groups are some of the most diverse in Worcester and in fact St George’s Catholic Church which you’re about to hear from Father Brian just after me is one of the best examples of this along with M Worcester MOS and Welfare Association many nationalities all backgrounds and it is part of the
DNA if you like of Faith groups to care for the less fortunate and to reach them in all sorts of ways that’s my first point point my second is to talk briefly about mistrust and fear because I’m very aware in my work that people don’t really know how to talk about
Religion most are frightened to talk about it for fear of offending people but Recent research suggests that anxieties about this and in reports published 20 years ago are now largely reduced Faith groups have come an awfully long way in that last few years for instance all now have policies to
Ensure excellence in safeguarding and Child Protection health and safety accountability and transparency of course mistakes are made but there has been huge progress as well thirdly Faith communities are well-placed and committed to promoting the council’s five strategic aims supporting stronger and connected communities all communities in the city
And this with joined up thinking strengthening Community cohesion and if we want to talk about the Heritage city with the 21st century culture we only need look up the road to the cathedral where visitors are up and it’s very much appreciated enhancing and sustaining our beautiful city think of the Eco church
And the like and all our priorities of heading for next zero my fourth point is that how much good work is being done already I see the Covenant as putting this on a more slightly more sort of official basis for instance only a couple of days ago we had the Holocaust Memorial Day
Commemoration here and more than a 100 people I didn’t actually count gathered including almost all the secondary schools in Worcester and the university we gathered to remember and to commit to working for peace and the faith communities take the lead on this research has been done I have one side
Of A4 here if anybody wanted to see it summary of the research of key findings and a brief except from this overwhelming endorsement and appreciation of faith-based social engagement in response to the pandemic because that’s when this research really dates from and how certainly the writers
Of that report expect this type of work to carry on but also anticipate increases in such areas as homelessness debt counseling and education to name but three and my last point is to stress how each area is different I love the bit that you put in on the agenda in the report
There here in Worcester we don’t yet know what our exact priorities should be but they could be something along lines of health because certainly the faith communities played a crucial role during the pandemic in communication with hard-to-reach groups debt Counseling in a cost of living crisis is another area
Where throughout the country Faith communities have been crucial and in communication on all sorts of things there’s a proven value in vaccination centers and communication particularly during the pandemic and every public health initiative and that really is all I’ve got to say so thank you very much thank you Reverend um really
Appreciate your um comments on this obviously the uh item will be discussed later on where the um it’ll be open to the floor for councilors to comment on thank thank you Canon Ryan McGinley St George’s Church thank you chair thank you members uh for allowing me to come and uh
Address you this evening um I’m here more in a supportive capacity for the ever increasing Mal Ali Community uh many of whom worship at St George’s Church in sansen place where I happen to be the parish priest um the Mal Ali Community are from Kerala in Southwest India um I first came into
Contact with them in the early 2000s in my previous Parish in buron on Trent most of the people who came were the W the women the young women and and married moms um who were recruited by the NHS and that’s an incredible contribution that they do make including
Our own luk werer Royal Hospital the number of uh of Indian nurses that we now recruit and are still recruiting um then the husbands and the children began to arrive and when I moved here in 2007 there’s already the beginnings of a of a of a growing malele Community uh and I
Have the privilege of of having them as members of my congregation most of them are Catholics other Christian Christian denominations as well but they are a a large growing community and I’m here really to promote them tonight and to make sure that they get the recognition that they deserve um they are an
Incredibly organized community and you’ll hear more from from councelor Ross shortly um above all they contribute greatly to the welfare of Worcester not just the nurses and the NHS but also to our schools and to our cultural life which is mixed I’m not just saying that because I’m a Scotsman but because I’m
Um it does a rich a rich uh helping the the cultural and ethnic mix of our city and they do look after themselves very very well I’m amazed at the charity that they show within themselves to needy members um including financial help all sorts of support to families in need
Paying for funerals and so on and um they are they’ve injected a lot of life into the City and into our church um so I would like to ask how can um this committee help the uh Worcester melli Cultural Association uh in boosting public awareness of that large and growing
Section of our community uh and for them to be better engaged in wider cultural activities and representation in Worcester that’s all I’d ask thank you very much thank thank you Canon um the an official answer will come to you from from offices uh after councilor cross
Speaks I will speak some of my thoughts regarding it um councilor cross thank you chair thank you fellow members fellow counselors and uh officers uh for this opportunity to speak and a huge thank you to the members of our Mal Ali Community who who have come tonight um
So this really is just many of you will already be aware of our me of our friends who’ve come I mean it’s 20 years now um or approaching 20 years that was since was malali Community Cultural Association was established and um we’ve heard a number of the good things that
We share including you know you know mo um whether it’s religious or whether it’s Sports if I outline some of the sports um Cricket uh the team name of Wester Amigos um uh they have a football team um of Juniors um in I think practicing in in and playing in in Nar
And P as well um a dance group the ladies and children especially um kabat is a national sport um that’s really worth looking up um and Dragon Boat Racing um obviously a big event in Worcester uh in which our malali communities team when they won the UK championships in
2017 uh and there’s a plan to be active and taking part again this year um so a similar sort of Technical and and endurance sport is also the tug of war which is Way Beyond I was amazed when I first saw it last time I seen tug of war
Was young farmers and generally fairly enthusiastic but not very technical this now um is really quite a quite something to see um yes Athletics yes timing uh yes endurance but also the psychology as well and just how to get your teams together and bearing in mind got Engineers process Engineers um uh Medics
People working lots of was a community that we’ve hardly heard of I mean I I was blissfully ignorant or woefully ignorant actually um until recently and you know this is a community who are quietly getting on and doing lots of good things um and with with meager
Resources I mean the the theat T of war team were practicing in a car park uh making use of a tree um and they won the UK championships last year they came second uh in in in the international ones so they were fund self funding going over to the US
Um wow you know that’s that’s a lot of involvement and dedication and um deserves respect and so seeing the conditions under which they were practicing and how informal things were and the challenges that there understandably were from people not knowing what was going on Etc and
Generally a sense of hey this could be better um so understood I’ve I’ve just today received a copy of the specs of what the US team who won were using for their training um and I’ll be happy to share these as we get them fleshed out
And they should be soon but we’ been meeting with uh uh Council officers um and with a team and trying to understand well what could be needed and I’d be happy to to name if desired but um I’ll follow your leads but um so a tug of war
Track um training rig and practice rig whereby you don’t need two full opposing teams to practice against each other you might have just four people who can make it depending on work shifts so the idea is that we’re going to is to provide something in and and and the venue
Agreed tentatively subject to details to be um all acceptable and and everything to be okay which it’s looking quite good um is not a rewood sports center um the next step is for uh detailed spec and and and and and uh costed proposal to be put together
Uh the team I’ve been from the outset I’ve been clear saying what the city council under serious budget pressures you know we cannot expect or anticipate or expect in any way but um so a costed proposal will be there we’ve got a place we’ve got an idea of the kit we’re going
To get that all all sorted out and there’s going be quite a lot of work but the theat team will need to restart training around Easter time and there’s a national tar of War Tournament uh IND supposed to be held in Worcester um now that will be opposing team so
Literally just an Athletics track will survice for that but in order to win that you need the rig which is where you know so that’s where the training comes in um as soon as we get indicative cost we’ll and and spec will’ll be able to look at sources of funding um uh so
We’ve been clear that Council budgets are massively under significant pressure so Council funding cannot be presumed but help would be really appreciated um for helping to identify and apply for other sources of funding eing such as National Sports grants so my question to you all please um is what support
Financial or other could this committee or this or our Council offer W Mali Cultural Association in the creation of a t of War training rig and narwood Sports Center which will be available for everyone to use thank you thank you councilor cross um um really appreciate all the public
Participation this evening I know some um speakers at the back back didn’t manage to register in in time but it’s important to acknowledge those that have come here uh I think you wanted to speak on um the first item which is was the Community Trust that item is the first
Item so please do stay around for the debate if there are any specific queries that you have uh at the pl please refer to any of the counselors here or any of your ward counselors and we should be able to um and ask those questions on
Your behalf as well is that okay um just before you we move on to the official item I really appreciate the Al Ali Community coming here today uh I’ve been aware of them for the last 20 years since they’ve been uh originated in Worcester I know uh I know my colleagues
Councelor Bashar Ali have been supporting them with their covid recovery funds and their counselor funds and um councelor um Simon Cronin bless him rest in peace when he was about and uh Pat AAR have been significantly involved with the Mal Al Community when the majority of the base was in ronwood
I know you’ve now moved on to other parts of the area uh as well uh and as well as the obviously working um I mean I myself with the wer M Association would really be Keen to obviously work with you in terms of that in terms of
The process for what you’re asking there is a formal process for that uh I don’t know if youve read the uh won news today but the grant applications are back open um for small grants that’s one of the possible rots that possibly this organization can go through uh if you
Can get in contact with war Neil who’s our officer with the lead with the and Community engagement team who should be able to arrange some of that there um we do not underplay the significance and contributions that you have made within this city it’s a great uh uh uh and
Significant contribution and we were more than willing to uh continue to work with you to make sure that you uh you know display the beauty of your culture within this city thank you okay agenda item number five what’s the Community Trust sorry agenda item number four so
Minutes of the last meeting uh I wasn’t in the chair last time this uh meeting was held hopefully my vice chair should be able to confirm uh along with the other committee members that were here we’ll take the uh minutes page by page page one page two page three page four page
Five okay any issues agreed as thank you agenda item number five then finally it’s what’s the Community Trust annual update and delivery of business plan yours no sorry welcome to the table um CEO um John yui and uh Helen Davis thank you are you introducing it
Or going straight in John do you want to take over then yeah absolutely um Julian if you want to put the presentation up so we’ll work through the presentation it will take about 10 minutes um maybe just a little bit longer um once we’ve gone through the presentation then we’ll
Have time to answer any questions um and I’m also welcome to questions from the public speakers no no can’t okay that’s fine okay next slide please so good evening all um I believe I’ve met most of you but for those you who haven’t my name is John newie and I’m
The CEO of Wester Community Trust and I am Helen Davis director of skills and Deputy CEO of for Community Trust for those less familiar with the trust uh we manage six Community hubs and two Satellite buildings in some of the city’s neighborhoods facing the highest levels of inequality but also home to
Some of the most vibrant communities in the city alongside this we deliver we currently deliver 12 Services locally Citywide and across the county today we’ll be we will be reviewing the social impact and financial outcomes of the trust in 2022 23 and give you a brief
Update on projects in 2023 24 so firstly the finances sorry Julie thank you uh Wester city council to sort set the scene of how you guys support us really Worcester city council offers continue to support to Wester Community Trust through the management Grant which is worth about £76,000 you also support us
With a percentage of our maintenance costs alongside this as councilors you support with your donations of time skills and funds so behalf on behalf of the charity i’ just like to thank you all for every one pound you’re investing in the trust the trust is able to bring
In1 into Community Based Services that support your con constituents most in need the minor deficit so just to refer to what’s on the screen um the minor deficit really is just um it was related to um coming out of Co slow release of projects we just um it’s it’s a minor
Deficit for us just on the basis of catching up with ourselves for a lot of the grant funding and projects that were slowed down through the through the pandemic uh next slide please so these are some of the stats I won’t go through them all um you see a
High proportion of how we generate our income about twoth thirds comes from Grants um but I think one of the things that’s been Tes in going through this we did a snapshot of Wen and found that on any on a couple of particular weeks about a thousand individual people pass through
Wen Center so that 10,000 visitors to the hub is a really low estimate um we directly work with over 2,000 people across our projects or about 2% of the population and also when considering the volunteer hours that amounts to about 100,000 in the medium wage in the UK can
We have a look at the next slide so this is to show where we are these are 2,000 drop pins across the city and county this is for last Financial year so the only thing we were delivering specifically out of County was Dawn in South westers and uh the ones that are
Out of region are actually building block customers so it’s just to give you a sense that we truly are even though we are locally based within our neighborhoods and we are very focused around those we are a Citywide service and next year we have two contracts that are countywide countywide around two of
Our more specialized Services next slide so Dawn uh Dawn is one of our longest standing Services that’s been going for approximately 10 years it’s an inperson support service for anyone experienced or has experienced domestic abuse our team delivers this across South westshire and is currently at capacity many people enter wer Community
Chart through Dawn but continue their Journey on through other many services when thinking about the social return on investment local authorities across the country spend 11.1 billion pound on children in care each one of those 359 children we have positively effective have avoid avoided the possibility of entering care are living
Safer happier lives and in saving your local Authority millions in care cost from your local budgets next slide uh thank you the building block is our construction training center which provides a range of opportunities 264 people have access training through through that through the building block 80% of those training courses were un
Accredited training 20% were accredited training about 2,900 of hours of volunteers time was contributed to the building block this year we have spent uh been spent monitoring evaluating building blocks finances and performance as we move towards the following Year’s increases in accredited training associated with the town’s fund outcomes
The project finished the year on a minus of 38,000 pounds and we’ve been monitoring evaluating and implementing different approaches to raise its performance and exploring other approaches to prepare for the targets set within the town’s fund contract of 2425 uh next slide please building better opportunities the building better
Opportunities was a service to provide support to individuals aged 16 and above where un who were unemployed and who were looking to move closer into work 2223 366 participants were supported on program 209 were in jobless households 188 had a disability and 320 five of those were long-term
Unemployed this was BB’s final year this year we worked hard to implement multiple approaches to create continuation of these types of services you’ll see this in a later slide this was achieved through well-being job clubs and Welfare support next slide so Community connectors um this is a project in its Fifth and penultimate
Year it’s funded by the lottery um and it is a precursor to what we now refer to as asset-based Community Development we’ be taking the many lessons learned from this project seek continuity for a future project in 2425 this will be based on the ABCD model of developing people’s agency
Confidence and skills to affect positive change in their own environments we will also be looking at how we can develop more community-led organization and support a culture of smaller VCS within the city a key challenge this year has been the complexity of need and serious mental health attendees has been coming
To the Open Access groups with this has been a consequence of pressures of increased cost of living and oversubscribed health care services we’ve done well to upskill our team in mental health first aid and suicide prevention and connect with other partner organizations to make sure everyone accessing the project finds the
Help they need J side please thank you uh Joy is our women’s re-empowerment project and to Loosely quote Joe Ray the project manager it is a re-empowerment project because everyone is born with power and life seems to strip away from us one way or another it has a particular focus on
Loneliness and isolation social isolation The Joy team always offers a range of training sociable and volunteer opportunities about 40% of the people who attend Joy are actually under 50 um which is quite rare across some of these services and 48% of the attendees have a diagnosed mental health condition with
21% having a learn a disability or learning difficulty in this financial year 40 people from The Joy project completed training courses with Wester Community Trust and about four people have come to work with us this year we’ve moved from lottery funded contract to a countywide service supported by
Public health uh next year within that we’ll be moving towards a male offer currently it’s a female only offer or female identifying um so we have just recruited for that uh next slide please uh thank you uh snack and chat project is aimed at the over 50s providing them
With a healthy two course meal and a drink this is run from three of our community hubs which are ronkswood Horizon and dines green as of March 23 140 clients were accessing this service 56% of these people live in a single person household and 2,911 meals were
Served with snack and chat we do our best to make every visit count we invite partner services in link up sessions with physical exercise and bring various Goodwill into the city uh for Christmas meals and oneoff initiatives with Partners like platform housing to deliver soups to Residents in social
Housing and to support uh living residency next slide please so after schools and youth clubs um So within this year we reached 362 young people through our after school and youth clubs within approximate 50/50 split between the younger and older groups and also about 50/50 between the
Male and female to go through um some of the demographics that we’re reaching 75% of the young people access income from low-income households and 10% have an EHC plan 8% of the young people uh have diagnosed senn where if you look at the general population that’s about 4% so we
Have a signif we are reaching people who have the most highest need within the city this year was the final uh year of the positive activities contract uh we were however successful in obtaining the lead contract from Wester County Council from 2023 to 28 for the Worcester District we’ve supported a partnership
Bid that includes open ACC Open Access and scen provision from Peres well young people’s Leisure club we now have onetoone mental health uh workers in all our you session provided by on-site advocacy we have social action and responsive work which is being provided by YMCA in all our sessions for periods
Of time um and then we have also also supported uh we we’re looking to seed and support more community-led activity within the areas where we’re not Distributing uh uh delivering in and we have a central lgbtqia plus group called besta um which was financially supporting to give you the size and the
Scale of this like we’ve moved as a charity from receiving 86,000 in delivery to 36,000 The Count Council positive activities is no longer our main funer our main funer is W the municipal charities supports us with about £42,000 it’s costs about £50,000 to run two
Sessions um and much in the way with the way we start many of the years we raise about 2third of what we have and then have to raise the rest so there’s still a deficit of about 37,000 next slide so this was to illustrate a sort of strategy that we’ve
Working with one because of the funding we’ve lost a third of our funding but one really to try and improve we’re quite a small organization in the grand scheme of things so instead of delivering relatively low quality provision from six different places we’ve moved into three catchments East
West and then Central which also supports the predominantly Muslim communities um this is an illustration of attendees we we started since September so we’re rolling into a new contract and we’ve only just fully recruited a new um youth manager doesn’t start until the beginning of the year we’ve been working
On S condiments at the Mark I don’t know if you guys can see but I think what’s one of the one of the tests and challenges within this is are people from Warden roxwood toly going to come to Brickfield because there was a sort of pitch within this and and an
Experiment to see that because if the quality is good enough will they come to it and is there enough territ like can we challenge the ter territorialism and the sort of postcode sort of Wars of young people and in actual fact since September we’ve got um considering we we’re essentially stting
Starting AR fresh with with new types of delivery we’ve got about 220 young people coming to the sessions and we’re getting people in almost equal numbers coming from uh tly bronxwood Wen and around brickfields so I think that there’s positive signs with that we need to do lots more work we’re
Going to be looking at things like car sharing improved bike facilities because I think one of the underpinning things is about Safety and Security and walking through KGB at night din green is challenging but really rewarding and um then we’re also working we we’ve got three groups actually at Horizon where
We have a younger group we have older boys and then we have a girls group on the weekend um right and next slide just a quick one um this is just our holiday provision we turn to uh CR Open Access is about 40 weeks a year and
Then 13 weeks of the Year give or take uh we run uh holiday provision so we get about 400 people um we’ve started to try and make sure that we’re balancing this out to get the older like to to get for the Youth as well so from the 12 to 17
Year olds because historically we’ve only ever delivered that to young people younger the younger contingent next slide please so into the section around new projects um we ran warm hubs last year sort of like you know very in success they were quite challenging to run I think the importance of having
Community centers open and having open informal welcoming spaces is an absolute key Target for us the idea of them banned under warm hubs uh didn’t quite work but certain things did work when you tied them to other things people would come early they’d stay late people
Would stay for a cup of tea we use some of the money to run neighborhood kitchens which is still going um and that’s that was a really good partnership between wga Community Church and and Jill Jill desera was a key contributor to that one um next slide
Please so Hub finances uh last year we put forward a business plan which was agreed in January I think that was in your appendices that the attached documents um we are slowly building up the expectation it costs about £100,000 a year to run one of the centers it’s
About £600,000 in total to run them at the moment you can see we’re sort of agreeing about half of that um and the rest is subsidized either through grants that you guys offer so the 75,000 plans plus about 50,000 pounds this year that will incrementally go down in
Maintenance um and we exceeded our Target uh this year we’ve already reached 75% of our targets um year to date so so we’re very much On Target it’s really important to acknowledge how much of a challenge this is to to to make them wash their own face
Um everyone who uses our Center like we we we don’t deliver anything really to private companies because they go to elsewhere where they have serviced provision everyone who is delivering from our Center has a social impact and uh caters to the constituents in the area so one thing we are looking at this
Year one thing that’s being rolled out right at the moment is just making sure we haven’t increased our prices but we are um we are basically putting out one Community price we have to if you’re a keyh holder get 25% discount if not we have one Community price which is across
The board for everyone um other things to take into consideration with this there’s been two 10% increases on National living wage which is fantastic there’s a really big knock on effect with us and our energy bills went from about 38,000 last year and it’s about 100,000 this year so there’s been really significant
Increases we will need to do a price review as well but the likelihood is that won’t be going up significantly because because the reality is there’s a lot of competitors uh nearby and they have more rooms in single centers and we can’t compete next slide please in April 2022 as part of the
Towns and business case we proposed moving building block to a model of delivery that would enable local people with the lowest of educational attainment levels gain access to recognized qualifications this was a strategic approach to raise the quality of life through increased qualifications and therefore their economic opportunities we’ve been exploring
Multiple ways over the last 18 months and moved uh to move away from a slow and patient model of delivering unaccredited skills to reach a thousand plus wer residents with the Project’s benefits challenges this year have been low uptake on paid courses for customers due to the cost of living redu reducing
People’s spare income for paid courses this has been fil across the sector and also limited access to Government funding for skills multiple conversations have taken place with colleges training providers and Construction Industries exploring partnership delivery our recommendation to our Board of Trustees is to partner with a local
Training provider as you can see from the slide what the benefits are for this and they include retention of Community Access increased local young people having access to training a wider range of courses up to level five oh sorry um an improved conversion into further training and employment continue links
With platform housing to deliver TR trade day to encourage platform residents into platform Workforce continue to upscale platform employees DWP relationships to support Worcester Rance back into employment via courses at the building block through swaps which is a sector work academy program launch boot camps in construction and
Green skills we anticipate 280 Learners to go through building block one in the next financial year that are local Worcester residents and they will gain a formal qualification that will support them into further learning via an apprenticeship or interp paid employment a further 170 Learners from the wi of w Worcestershire
Area there are some disadvantages that will uh come along with this by moving forward it will move away from informal volunteer supported delivery that previously F focused on well-being however well-being can be picked up by our job coaches under our welfare project next slide please uh new
Projects for 2324 there will be focus on and aimed at supporting local Worcester people with the cost of living crisis and will be through our welfare support team our dor project will continue with an extension to our main funded contract two Community Builders will continue to work on resident-led food projects and
Deliver multi multiple community-led activities in both dines green and in Wen contined development of high quality youth Le service our joy project will go countywide as John alluded to earlier in the presentation there will be a male empowerment offer sustainability for us and our hubs by focusing on green
Improvements to all of our buildings and new relationships with partner organizations as Caden and glp thank you thank you for the uh uh presentation I’ll open the item to the floor now for a general discussion and then we’ll sum up in the end I’ll take councelor Amos first
Please yes thank you chair um I don’t know whether I’m I’m being unduly optimistic but I’m just wondering whether that something I’ve been saying for a few years has actually come to pass um it’s actually on the last page um uh the projects for 23 24 roll out of
Joy project nation countywide and extension of male empowerment offer now I just like just a few details of that because if it’s what I think it is I would like to congratulate W Community Trust for actually doing that because as you know chair in the past I have
Pointed out it’s a source of concern that white workingclass boys are the biggest group that is underperforming and reports have gone to Parliament about this um but nothing seems to have been done and I think so Society is paying the price of that neglect if now an organization like this
Is recognizing that need and doing something about it I I would commend them so I’m just hoping it’s what I think it is otherwise what I said in the past didn’t make any difference anyway um John do you want to come back on that answer that question yes um so
We’re starting off small because we’ve only got one worker but he’s recruited and he’s he’s got a good background it’s about there are are some projects out there so it’s about men’s mental health like there is obviously the man shed which is a big big one um but then
There’s also things like mandem and some other smaller groups which we’ve been connecting with the first part will be mapping what’s available to make sure we’re not duplicating because there is a there is some stuff out there and there’s quite a lot of really inspiring people working on this at the moment and
Then where there are gaps it will it will we will be able to sort of create projects within those spaces again from a community-led perspective what the men want to that we engage with want and isn’t available we will do our best to try and support them so we will see how
It goes but it’s our same with our our um domestic abuse service we now have um support of some men and male identifying um clients and so it’s it’s it’s new work for us as well so so we’ll be interested really we can stay in contact about how it’s progressing thank you I
Hope it hope it succe thank you chair yeah thank you councelor Amos and thank you John for that I mean we uh I mean just with my other hat on um in terms of the perfield Community Association we picked up on that exact problem over Co and when we were doing education
Programs and that actually that demographic you talking about was was being left behind and we designed some programs exactly that so I’m really really um appreciative that you’ve raised it and actually why it hasn’t been picked up earlier in terms of that it should have been you know it’s been
An underlying issue for a while only coming to the four now um councelor lawrenson and then Browski thank you chair is that working yeah um thank you for the presentation um so yeah three months ago um I asked an officer about closure of Youth clubs in Worcester so’s a bit of a
Preamble then there’s a genuine question um and the response I received from the officer wer city council officer was that wct are providing Outreach into ronwood Wen and toine U and some transports been provided to encourage young people to come to those three hubs um the officer said that that
Wasn’t ideal as there are always parts of the city with young people um who need the access um and wct are actively seeking additional thirdparty funding to try and increase the use of the hubs um so the question is has that situation regarding U third party funding improved
Since I asked that question last October thank you to clarify some of the details on that um we are running from kgv uh we are running from din green and we are running from Horizons we have a central one which supports the Muslim communities around midlam road we have
Din green um which supports our west side of the city and then we have KGB which supports East so we’ve got three going at the moment and there’s a deficit of about a third within that it cost about £50,000 so it’s it’s actually £ 170,000 to run those those three
Services we run a youngest group and an oldest group so we have about an hour and a half to two hours depending on the the session that run back to back um and those are the three sessions what our strategy is is about improving the quality so that we’re able to draw from
A wider set of people the problem is we’re quite a small organization and trying to manage six different venues particularly when you have to cover the room higher costs the Staffing costs and all the management and planning um was just unmanageable price to that and the quality wasn’t
Great what we’re seeing is the quality is improving it’s really challenging I mean with d green it’s it’s it’s particularly challenging but incredibly rewarding side of it but the safeguarding alone take about an hour afterwards it’s it’s really quite complex work so this is the like the
Idea is it’s an experiment to try something new because what wasn’t working what we were doing before wasn’t really reaching the quality I would expect from a youth service and we’re going to try and develop the quality and as I sort of mentioned within that we brought onetoone youth
Workers we’re working in Partnership to try and layer up within that to improve the quality so it can be youth L we can bring in film making or marketing or gardening which are three things that came up from some of our youth boys kind of young leaders conversations and we
Build that up I think the reality is we need a youth focused organization in the city who can lead on that we have Peres well young people’s leure Club who’s Del delivering from a different place and supported them with and they’ve got quite High numbers and I’m I
I haven’t got their data yet but that is also a Citywide facility they do have mini buses which you can which bring people particularly for their scn Open Access groups um so yeah I think the information is slightly wrong our aspiration is to improve the quality and improve the numbers attending and then
If I I think it’s unrealistic for us to be delivering six alongside our 12 other things I think possibly what we need to explore you know as a conversation between the council between the um youth collaborative is what does the city need from a youth perspective yeah thank you just a quick
Quick comment yeah I heard from one of my colleagues um I can’t remember who it was but a comment about the lack of provision for young people in the city and having lived here and not it’s not having to go was to wct I think you know
It’s a challenge that we all both of us have to try and take on but having lived here for 17 years or be a m authorities I’m I’m minded to agree with that comment so absolutely we need to have a conversation to not just a conversation but hopefully action that
Will provide more facilities for young people absolutely agree like bearing in mind we work on a one to8 ratio like we’ve got enough money to have three youth workers within a session so we’re looking at 24 people we try and get two Volunteers in so you can add another
Sort of 16 people to that across those three sessions you know we’re going to be reaching maximum like 240 people in a city of you know I don’t know how many young people off the top of my head but it’s it’s a significant proportion of it it’s probably about 30,000 40,000 people
So yeah I completely agree with that we will reach even if we triple what we what we do we’re still reaching too low a number to to to be a Citywide provision um so we need to think about that from a wider perspective than just a community organizations such as
Ourselves thank you councilor petski thank thank you very much CH and thank you John welcome um I have an observation a suggestion and a question so in in in that order um I think Helen mentioned Tri or trade um so for for those uh not familiar with what what it
Is and I having declared my interest earlier um a local Housing Association run a series of events sessions for young people uh targeting particularly young women actually who who are underrepresented in the um tra trade sector and building sector uh but also um the demographic mentioned by
Councelor Amos as well so young boys predominantly from from um economically challenged uh neighborhoods and they were extremely successful so I I I just hope and would like to express my uh my my sort of um encouragement to continue this partnership because out of 30 people who
Came to one session I remember that one because how successful it was we ended up with seven apprentices uh which is which is a pretty pretty amazing ratio if you if you think about it um when it comes to the suggestion it has to do with something that John mentioned about uh
Added social value uh I think it would be good to and Tom and I think Lloyd might have heard me before talking about this joint ad dos and and perhaps uh come up with some kind of joint methodology for capturing this uh for the benefit of us uh but also for the
Benefit of the general public and taxpayers in in wer um and and I think the the asset based community community development approach and trying to calculate whatever model we talked about the models I think in the past um would would be a very useful thing to to add
Next to the tables and numbers uh so that’s that’s a suggestion and a and a and a plea um when when it comes to when it comes to the question the question relates to um appending to your your business plan uh proposal uh on page 32 have you
Got this in front of you or I don’t this uh the reason we included it because it was from last year’s um it was put forward last year and was accepted in January last year so it was just to have the copy of it as far as I was aware so
I mean I may I know it fairly 30 I know it fairly well so ask question you can give it a go for sure um so the the question is in in the business plan based on the figures and the calculation here um it looks like you’re running the deficit which um is
Is closed by and this is where I would like to get an explanation and and clarification uh is is where where where does the gap closing come from is it our subsidy or how how do you propose to close the gap no thank you um so each
Year we start I mean last year we started with it it cost about one and a half to 1.8 million pounds to run the organization so if we’re talking about the deficit of the business model overall uh last year the some of the funds some of our contracts
Lead into to to years and we have them guaranteed same with some of our grants um the deficit each year we start with about 550,000 last year this year it’s about so for the our prospective budget it’s about 330,000 and that’s fairly typical for a community organization is
About a third of the money we need to obtain through funding through that year is that is that what you mean are you talking about the the bill themselves no I I’m talking about the trying to see what what you are calling it here um the trading center this indeed
Yes so on on page 32 if you if you recall the document uh there’s there’s a difference between the the the projected income and expenditure yeah and and and the the income is 100, 1118 132 and so on and so forth yes so my question is
How how how do you address the the the deficit how do you close the gap the the answer is we haven’t because that was last year so this year the target was to reach um cost neutrality building block it wasn’t to make an an extra like a
Surplus um so we approach that through multiple ways we put in um some quite obtainable monitorings uh like kpis from the trading perspective we approach businesses such as yourself um and we resell individual courses so we were hoping to achieve 50% of the goal through trading and then 50% of the
Expenditure uh the equivalent expenditure would have come from Grants and contracts but we weren’t successful in that this year fortunately that we do you know the figures off the top of your head we’re about 47,000 deficit on building block at the six-month point which is why we’re exploring other possibilities of
Different models of how to run it it um we had achieved significantly under Target on the trading and part of that is down to cost of living um we’ve spoken with other s of kid Miner College various other um training providers and they’re not seeing as many people buying
Courses at the moment because it’s it’s an extra um that they can’t afford um and some of the as is the way with a lot of the the funding things we weren’t successful in obtaining um grants or contracts that particular point so we’ve been exploring other possibilities of
How we run in a more cost-efficient way that will essentially quadruple the impacts that we’re trying to achieve prior to the T fund does that answer it um I think so partially I mean we we we talked about the allocation of I think Helen referred to this in P
Yesterday not yesterday two days ago um and and and I think in terms of having the proposal in front of us first rather than a historic documents effectively would be helpful so it’s the issue of sequencing how these committee meetings happen but also having an upto-date plan
On how you’re going to finance uh the building block would be very helpful okay um so I don’t know if uh what the Community Trust we’ve got some of the dates were up there but to the our proposal hasn’t gone to board as to how we’re going to support that so
Most of the information goes to our board which is on the 27th of February um the communities committee is really about us exploring and justifying the £75,000 to support the buildings rather than justifying all aspects of our um business practice so the four business plan for the building block in its
Future approach will be at the policy and resource committee and that one has extensive extensive data about uh the proposal about the finances about the impact and about how we’re going to achieve them whereas today is part of the communities committee it’s a broad overview of us managing eight buildings
With six and two satellites and then 12 services so the information is available and it will be publicly available won’t it for and that is the sixth is that correct so that information is is presented so apologies that it’s not something we were presenting at this particular meeting okay Council the um
The papers are online so available to speak on so all right comm c Ali thank you chair uh thank you John for your presentation uh can you please explain to me the process the decision making process around the decisions uh regarding the choice of the centers that obtained um their youth
Services and of those that didn’t uh what level of consultation took place cor so the it was about how can we distribute across the city in a way that would have a catchment that’s wider than just the individual centers we used the youth voices consultation which was conducted
By um the County Council around what young people considered to be local that was about a 20 minute walk or cycle and so we were sort of looking at those as our catchment as local is 20 minutes walk or cycle when we look at two of them I think it’s relatively
Straightforward in we had an established base in Horizon uh that supported the South Asian Muslim communities and that was very particular that that was cultivated and well formed there so we we kept that one going Central you know from a a a indices of deprivation perspective you know it’s the there’s a
Lot of um wealth disparity it’s I think it’s in desel too but mostly we’re trying to Reach people who had least access so we’ve got Horizon there D green I think is fairly straightforward as well and having representation on the west side of the city and that side of
The river it was a decision around what we did on the East and that was based around that that radius but also we looked at things like uh who would travel where so we did some of those conversations and we did some of the the sort of analysis of the data that people
Came to kgv for football so when there’s Big Ticket items people would come to um to kgv so if there was a good enough offer people would come there when the fireworks display was on you get people from across the city there whereas if we
Put it in tly wron or War there was such a strong identity and territorialism that you were very unlikely to get the other three to come to that one so it’s an experiment to be honest and it’s why I was and I sent it because I’m we are
Having these conversations ongoing if it doesn’t like with my youth workers because it was why I was very keen to put the the drop pins up and I I explored it on a much more local level around kgv there is an even split coming from bronxwood toly and slightly less
From Wen like a mixture of Wen and brickfields coming to the kgv one and we’re reaching probably about 60 70 people across the two sessions from those those different areas so that was the decision making around it um yeah I mean just on on that point I mean
20 minutes I mean geographically wrong sword on the east side stands alone I mean it’s too far for to get to kgv too far to get to uh Wen and um we’ve got Perry wood in between that and Horizon and two distinct communities so it feels
Um if I was a nry wood sorry if I was a nry wood or rwood resident I’ll feel pretty grieved as a young child that I have to travel all all the way to kg5 or Horizon to get my youth services so that is a little bit of a buffing decision um
Your suggest alternative bearing in mind the current situation of having 32,000 from the contract well I mean we’ve got a commitment to this city and we’ve got a young people’s Champion here who will be speaking shortly and we’ve got a a commitment to what’s it called and a
Young people strategy in terms of Prov youth provision services and we’ve given that over to responsibility to organization to deliver that you understand so the you know and it cutting completely services from one Center to move it together as an experiment without consulting you obviously the local use in that area is
It’s it’s a bit harsh I think Council L just to go back the the way this is funded so it’s £170,000 which costs it’s about £50,000 cost three different Services we get £ 32,000 from County Council we get 43,000 P from wor M Municipal um Municipal
Charities we get I think it’s 7,000 from llots and then we’re hoping to get another 38,000 from the lottery so there is no investment and this isn’t a criticism at you but if we want a youth service there is no direct investment of Youth Services in the city Wester city
Council wasn’t going for that lead contract so we put ourselves forward to it but we’ve gone from £ 86,000 to 32,000 we are using that in an incredibly strategic way to try and address the fact that we’ve got far less money than I’d like to deliver something
Across those areas that could work for some people but the reality is we haven’t got the money we can’t magic out of the air to deliver to an entire youth service across the city and it’s why I invite you know from the youth collaborative how we think about this
Across the city rather than putting that emphasis on wor Community Trust alongside it 12 other projects how can it take responsibility for a Citywide youth service that reaches potentially 30,000 people it’s just not viable so this is what the best we could do with a really small amount of money and I think
We’re doing like the the thing is it’s proving to work and I think if we can get the quality up and we can support people with car sharing with improved uh active transport and we can like some of the stuff that came back around tly actually which was really interesting is
Actually it’s not the young people it’s the parents who have an issue with going to kgv and the young people don’t have that same barrier and I think by us sort of not encouraging people to tra travel and experience other parts of the city we’re kind of siloing them and living into Old
Prejudices so yeah that’s my piece sorry jebba but I mean parents do have genuine concerns about safety and people their children traveling long distances you can understand it from a parents perspective um councelor Lum uh thank you thank you chair uh I’ve got two questions and I think I’m going
To reverse the order in which I’m going to ask them because of what has just been said I mean with both my hat on as a counselor for St John’s and also as a children and young people’s Champion for the city I I share some of the concerns that
Have been articulated about the provision of Youth Services in Worcester to be honest of you and I’d like some clarifications because if we take D’s green which you’ve identified as one of the three hubs in the City by which youth servic is going to be provided I
Understand I mean correct me if I’m wrong that Worcester Community Trust have stopped providing youth service in dines green and instead you’re relying on um volunteers from Hope Church and those people are incredibly well intentioned but they’re not trained youth workers and frequently there are mistakes and errors that they make um
And that has led to the suspension on a number of occasions of um youth provision by to Community Trust And I know we’ve met and I’ve met with you and I’ve met with Richard and Robin and we’ve expressed The View that you know in the past the youth provision in D
Green was excellent because you had a really really good um coordinator in Alice who was absolutely brilliant okay I know we talk about her a lot but she was excellent and that high quality youth provision as I as I see it has not really existed since she’s left and I
Think that’s got to be reversed something has got to be done about this to be honest with you so yeah I share your sentiments about Hope Church we dropped in some of our youth workers prior to this contract to try and help them improve it to see
If we could assist them with that but there was just incredibly dangerous and risky practice going on there it’s still continuing and we’ve been trying them to offer sort of advice and and support in looking after their own safety they really put themselves at risk but it’s
Uh we have been delivering in Dian green as a full service since September the challenge with Dian green is there’s some really serious antisocial and safety Behavior so we do have to close it it’s the same across all our centers if there’s any misogyny if there’s any sexually violent language if there’s any
Uh over drug dealing if there is any uh intoxication if there’s any aggression or physical violence then we close the session but then we come back and we will co-create or or we will have a conversation like of of one of the serious things that happened at D green we closed for
Two weeks but then came back we we kept the onetoone Mental Health Service on offer but we came back and created a code of conduct um with the group of young people there so it’s they need to have bangers and consequences to what’s acceptable behavior as in any environment and that wasn’t existing
Within Hope Church we have a full provision in D green in a sense we have a weekly provision of for young people and older people and older young people and we also have additional work that we do with the volunteers we’ve spoken about particular employees and I think
It’s something we do need to be really mindful of that person was a bank worker and a center manager and we need to create professional boundaries and and manage the mental health of what certain employees will contribute to an organization so what we’re trying to do is create consistency and
Professionalism with an IU service and that is slightly different to the fast and loose stuff that happened in the past which was incredibly enjoyable I’m really well loved but also we’re taking our responsibility as an employer quite seriously and the safety of the young people quite seriously so we have to be
Really mindful about individuals who contribute their whole lives to particular projects but then burn out and disappear because that’s that is a common thing that can happen within Community organizations can I can I just come back on that and I think I think you touched on this earlier on this is an issue
About communication and I I think it’s a general issue about this Council actually that because we have all these arms length Services which the council doesn’t provide anymore directly but are provided by Third sector and voluntary organizations and that’s absolutely great I don’t think counselors are always kept in the loop about what’s
Actually going on you know and this is the same with platform housing it’s the same with a number of providers that we work with and what’s frustrating is is you say those things and that’s but as a counselor I don’t get told about these things to be honest with you and I’m
Sure it might come as a bit of a surprise to Richard Robin as well and we all pride ourselves I think on having our ears to the ground and knowing what’s going on in our community but to be honest with you some of the things you’ve said have come a bit as a
Surprise and the problem with this kind of scrutiny is it happens once a year you know this is the kind of thing we should be kept in the loop about you know whether we can do something about it because we don’t control these things directly I can’t promise that but just
To know because we do have links with the community we do speak to community leaders and so this is the kind of thing that we can then support you with but if we don’t know about it then we can’t and and that that is frustrating if I’m
Being Brut honest can I come back on that just to to talk about our accountability we have a board meeting that meets quarterly uh we invite the chair and the vice chair from this committee as representatives from the communities committee so you have four opportunities and really heavily detailed information about what’s going
On and those are your representatives we also try and get observers from all parties to attend it tends to be the leaders I have re recently realized that I haven’t invited the lib Dems which I’ve now done and make sure I will add there so we have four points of
Accountability that go through the year and then we have this one which is around the justification for the um management Grant and the maintenance charges that that’s it’s really specific thing I think there is a need that I can send out an all parties briefing because
I think some of these things do come up quite regularly like there’s 14 counselors in the wards that we have buildings in I did meet with Robin and I have met with Richard and they are aware of the the strategy is over 12 months old and they banged on about it a lot
And so we have talked about it but there is also you have jobs and responsibilities that are outside of that there’s only so much I can do across my communication channels to try and keep you informed at a level relevant to the organization the main decision body and scrutiny takes place
At the board because we we’re a charity and we are an arms length organization we’re a separate charity that delivers services within the city we it we do need to be really clear about that because I require your support and your buying and your skills and your expertise as partners and colleagues in
Trying to support the people with the least in the city but when we have contracts with you about specific things which have run through the proper channels but this isn’t about a scrutiny of everything we do it’s really a celebration of all the different things
We do so I I we will work with you to find better ways of meeting up but we have to be really mindful with 14 different counselors I thought about today the first time when I started work the last time I saw bash was about a
Year ago it’s really hard to keep up with the frequency of that and to notify you of everything that we’re doing so just try and keep that in mind when you’re thinking about how we can work together as well yeah yeah just just final and I want to finish with something positive
Um you know it’s really good see the the stuff in the report about building block two cuz you know politics is a bit of a rumor mail and there were rumors swirling about the viability of building block one and I was very concerned that that might have an impact on building
Block two in dines green because both as a counselor and from my professional background I’m a big believer in the ongoing development of skills you know education and skills and end when you’re 18 it goes on for the rest of your life as we all know so building block two I
Think is really really important I’m really glad that that’s still going going ahead on D’s green because I think it’s uh it will be an excellent resource for the people in in my ward I suppose the question is when when when is this I know it’s going forward to uh uh policy
And resources on the six but when are we when will this be completed when will it be operating for the people of dines green um as you said it will go to the meeting next week uh on approval there we are at the point where we are ready
To go out to procurement delivery is anticipated end of Fe beginning of March 25 March 25 yeah yeah pending thank you I’ve got uh I’ll take the last two speakers councelor art and councelor Cooper chair yeah just really quickly obviously just going back to the the plan your three-year plan and you talk
About um increases in income from 300 to 586 over the three years I think just thinking about our smaller organizations and Community um people that are obviously rent out do you have advice or Assurance or or will they have a different rate or how will that work for
Them please So the plan is to have one Community right across all the services that that it’s what it’s it’s sort of tied very much to how much space we have the costs of our staff and the costs of of energy so there’s very little in the way of surplus being generated through
That it’s it’s just mitigating the costs of running the building which is about £100,000 per building what we are saying and I think this is again like a Citywide issue we need to cultivate a wider culture of smaller social Enterprises and groups I think having sort of an oligarchy of like three four
Large organizations has has its challenges and I think one of the things we are offering and working with people to do is around we need to charge everyone the same thing because that’s what it costs but we will work with them one on a plan because the scale of this
Is that we’ve got about 29 clients who receive over 50% discount that cost about 70,000 pound a year in unpaid bills that’s the thing we’re working with at the moment and they’re all very different and they’ve all been agreed at different points in time and so we’re
Trying to find something that’s fair and equal bearing in mind most of the people that book at the center create social impact of one sort or another what we won’t do is put the prices up straight away but we’ll work with them over a 12- month period but we’ll also Source
Funding for Community organizations to be able to hire out the building I think that’s where we come in someone needs to pay for the building and we will find someone who is funded we will find funding from another organization to support us with that thank you so so I
Think if you are a community group it’s best to pick up with yourselves um and also obviously we’ve got the grants that are coming out now to look into those okay councelor Cooper thank you chair you won’t be surprised at my question um I I just wondered I’m really pleased to
Hear that you’re thinking about sustainability in terms of lowering your energy costs I wondered about your Net Zero aspiration and I wondered if you had a carbon reduction plan and I also very much um approve of what you were saying about having more cycle provision cycle parking at your centers because actually
Most of the city can be cycled within 20 minutes so I look forward toing your dates thank you so we are just approving next year as you’ve seen last year’s strategic objectives some of those will be updated around investing in the assets um whereas we we looking at getting a full
Center um concept drawing like RB stage two for all Concepts we realized it’s really untenable with the amount of what we have to do so we’re focusing on particular projects one of those projects is investing in the environmental improvements of the buildings so we put in for and we’ve
Received support for a um carbon audit like a carbon reduction audit of all six buildings which we we found out about yesterday as news um that will be the start of it even though it’s the most expensive it’s going to be trickier for to do the psychological behavioral stuff
Things like single use things like s packaged Foods things like convenience things like the the the sort of food supply chain for for some of the things we deliver it’s really really ingrained in the way people live their lives that we can’t quite we haven’t got the time
To change so I think the thing we are focused on the rank carbon production um we do genuinely have zero uh carbon zero aspirations it’ be great if the if communities I’ve seen a community center do it in a place called filwood which is a workingclass community very similar to
Bronxwood actually receive a really substantial um sort of leveling up Grant to be a leading model in vcsc organization buildings the reality is we will be doing everything retrospectively um so we we won’t necessarily be one of these Flagship community centers but it is on the we have seven strategic
Objectives it’s one of those for the next year and we’re already pushing at it so just to clarify you don’t have a date for Net Zero set yet no thank you okay thank you um I’m just going to sum up there’s a couple of points that
Haven’t I don’t think been picked up um um during the debate one of the uh obviously some of the ladies at the back Council orot thank you for raising that question obviously we just want to really be clear in terms of your charging strategy here um I mean you say
A community price what does a community Price look like considering what you’re uh recommending is three times these the rate of inflation in terms of your charges and allbe it uh deferred for 12 months and how did you come to that decision or how did the board come to
That decision and what would you say to those uh users of those groups that um uh that use your centers as a Lifeline as a Lifeline for you know mental health and the groups that they’re going will they be priced out of the market will they be forced to choose elsewhere will
They disband that’s the first question the second question is around your uh devolving power to the communities I know that your predecessor uh Ruth Haywood came up with this plan which was a pretty decent plan it’s yet to be realized and I really do believe having that Devo power to the communities and
Having those Community boards would have possibly saved a lot of questions here tonight because you’ve had Community involvement in your centers and they would have shaped the services going in those that that’s yet to happen you know there’s no sign of that being happened it’s in your plan when is that going to
Be delivered because I think that is really really crucial and the final point is around um obviously this the disparity of Youth Services across across the city you you talk about quality yet with certain centers the quality isn’t there equipment’s missing and Facilities aren’t there youth Wings
Etc etc have materialized and we know um from our previous discussions two nights ago go that there’s a direct correlation between decreas in Youth Services or absence of Youth Services and increase in antisocial behavior I’m firsthand witness to that in uh Horizon when you know we didn’t have a youth service for
The last three three or four weeks until somebody new came in that the um the the course of the police from local community members it increased so if you can address those three and I’ll let you go right okay so the last one first I mean I think I’ve addressed it multiple
Times you know the reality is unless more money is brought into the city deliver more then we can’t deliver more use Services it’s it’s really as simple as that it’s not like we’ve got several hundred thousand pounds we not I’m not sure if like just to explain how a
Charity and our projects work we have to raise money that has to be full cost recovery to deliver that project and when that project finishes we have to stop that project we don’t generate a surplus that we we have a reserves for running four months at the moment I
Think the the aspiration is for four months we’re about three and a half months and that’s to make sure that there’s protection outside of those projects the delivery of the buildings so the money we raise like even with youth we’ve stretched ourselves to the point of being able to deliver this
Strategy you know we’ve stretched ourselves by 30,000 PS to deliver that strategy but when that money runs out when those contracts runs out that use stops it’s not like we’ve got money we’re not spending on one thing or the other so it’s just to be really clear
That as a charity we don’t generate income yet maybe we will in the future that we can then therefore deliver Services by so that’s just to add that to that one the first one around raising our prices three-fold above the inflation rate we haven’t changed our
Prices all we’ve said is that we can’t afford to give discounts of up to 86% anymore some people are getting it for free some people have got a, pound week bookings and they pay 50 pound a night for them one that creates a sense of inequality between the different groups
If we are offering that level of discount there needs to be an eligibility criteria that we are able to apply to all centers so what we tried to do and bearing in mind we’ve got one person on bookings we’ve got one project manager and then we have two people
Facilitating those bookings and some cleanance is to create a simple Community rate so we haven’t changed that rate the community rate is exactly what’s on the website we haven’t changed it what we’ve done is tried to prepare people to know over the next 12 months
We need to raise them up to a 100% without the discount we offer 25% for people who keyh hold and what we’re saying is to have a conversation with us and spoken to Mel already and invited Mel in to discuss this as as Ross would
Have as well is we need to figure out a way that we can maybe use our other skills to raise money from yourselves from from the community funds the the they called discretionary funds or diversionary funds um we need to be able to look other places because we can’t
Afford to subsidize those one of the things that’s being set by this group by this communities committee on the basis of the management Grant is that we become full cost recovery that’s moving from 30,000 P per Center income to 100,000 pound per center that is something that’s being and that I
Support but it’s something we need to do is there is reducing funds from your own Kitty that’s not going to be able to support that in the future that that has to come through action you know and that action is like bringing more money in so
We will work with people that that that period is over 12 months so the letters have gone out to all 29 people are receiving over a 25% discount and Ross or myself or Ross and myself or Ross and Jenny we’ll meet with everyone to talk about what that payment plan looks like
And whether we can tie them in with other organizations other funding whether we can legally um sort of form their organizations so they’re able to access their own fund it’s like the perrywood uh Community organization we need more of those in the city and that’s kind of what we’re looking to do
Through this process that’s the answer to the first oneing yes yes it needs a staff member so we’re doing some really good stuff in DIN and wen at the moment we’ve got a contract with yourselves uh for Community Builders and there is some really good work happening in those spaces I would
Be completely open and up for a community Forum but we need to build them and we need to facilitate them properly again it’s it’s the challenge of running wor the community trusts we’ve got six six of those so we’re not just if we were running a a Community anchor organization which is typically
An organization such as wor Community Trust but dealing to a neighborhood potentially Awards so 4 and a half thousand to 10,000 people then that would be quite easy to set up and facilitate the challenge for us is how we do that for six people how we get the
Right diverse mix of people within that Forum how we facilitate that properly the way we aspire to do that across all centers is by having something that’s separate from the community stuff which is the community is the Center managers but then it’s about having the Community Builders in there and we’ve got Rachel
In D green at the moment and we’ve got Gary in Wen and that’s actually bearing a lot of fruit with how much connection and conversation we’re able to have and how much presence there is within the centers so again it’s and it was something that was in the business plan
Before it’s about sort of test and learn like the two centers that were testing and learning on that at the moment were we can iterate like that is something that I you know whereas I’ve been quite cautious around saying that we will be able to expand our use Services across
The city we do genuinely want to spread that across that that model across all different Cent because it’s the only way they’re going to function and we’ll get people like Alice we’ll get those front-facing people who can genuinely develop relationships on a place Bas level but you have to remember each one
Of those people you know with the on cost it’s about 30,000 pounds 180,000 pars you’re never going to find a grant to support that for any continuity so it ites does come back to money at the end of the day if we had money we would certainly be recruiting Community
Builders that could facilitate the forign the other question is what kind of level do people want involved how do they want to engage with us and that’s a conversation I didn’t one of the things I didn’t want to set up and I recognized it is the one place within our business
Plan that we didn’t hit those strategic objectives so we’ve really focused that and we’ve remodeled the senior leadership team so we now have a head of Community Based Services who has taken responsibility and F focus on that but it’s just it’s an incredibly hard challenge for an organization that
Manages six different community centers in six different neighborhoods have summed up beautiful inms in terms of communication and trying to make sure that there there that open Channel there difficult for all but um um hopefully that is a way forward thank you thank you thank you ladies really appre appreciate
It we have agenda item six quarter 3 Performance report thank you thank you chair chair I won’t spend too much time uh presenting this it’s the usual format um just in terms of projects and actions there’s one project U which is showing at Red which is the um Community Committee
Capital project there’s two projects there one is the um the kmer gardens Hall Association project um some investment into the top floor there and the second one is the elbury Mount at near Nature Reserve in terms of el war is working with partner agencies to to try and progress that one um and
Hopefully we will bring a report on kmer Gardens to to March committee for you to for you to consider um most of our kpis uh gladly are are green there are a couple of red there which relate to housing which Tom would be happy to pick
Up any questions for um and Alan’s here for any questions around uh Sports and play as well thank you I’ll open it up to the floor got councilor lamb councelor Cooper uh thank you thank you chair this this is a question for Tom actually um on page 85 about the number of
Affordable housing completions and I think I’ve expressed in this committee a couple of times previously how you know was a little bit disappointed by the number of um affordable houses completed in Worcester compared to our Target but it has been pointed out to me one of the problems with these statistics is that
Um because of the boundaries of worra where the development is taking place for example in my own Ward you know there’s obviously a lot of development in ears Court and University Park Drive and those houses are not actually strictly speaking in Worcester but they are providing affordable housing to
Worcester residents so if I don’t know if you know this if we were to add up those houses which are strictly speaking probably in Mullen Hills or in witchaven but are effectively Worcester residents because these are this is the city they use these are the Comm you know the
Services they use would we be any closer to 200 I don’t know if you know that um probably W about to give a definitive answer I mean the narrative in is in the um performance indicator around um units of accommodation that have been provided in the urban extension sites um so
Although the figure um reported wouldn’t include those properties um we’ tried to in include that in the narrative and I think it’s one of the performance indicators that we’d recommend um reviewing next year to try and include those as you say they do meet Worcester City housing need um so
Are relevant um uh to this committee to Worcester um the only comment I’d also raate is just this is an annual um performance indicator so although we do bring it to committee on a quarterly basis um it things generally don’t move or stick within quarters so it has been
Set as a as an annual Target thank you um I mean just on that point of I mean there are cases there where we place from Worcester city in in just over the border so to speak so I mean I I can see Council Lamb’s argument for including those figures I mean it
Doesn’t excuse us from providing our our our own affordable housing but it helps I suppose fight the numbers in in in that sense councelor Cooper thank you chair um three small things um I’d really like to praise the detached youth team for their work in antisocial Behavior within my ward um
They just amazing results and I’m very grateful on behalf of my residents um a request for empty homes on the scor card I ask you so much Tom and you’re so patient with me so thank you I wonder if that could be put in for next year please and on the minimum Energy
Efficiency standards there are several homes within my ward that don’t have an EPC and a rented out illegally I’ve done some work with worshire regulatory services um they seem new to this work and they haven’t got a lot of experience in it but what they say to me is that this only works
If the house has been all flat has been rented within the last six months so post that there’s nothing that can be done to deal with Road landlords who don’t have an EPC which means that we can’t we don’t know if they’re meeting the minimum Energy Efficiency
Standards and I just want to raise it as I think that’s a real Gap in in this and it’s something I’m concerned about thank you um yeah so first on empty homes um I know you do raise it at each committee um we have highlighted that and we CH to
Bring an update report on private sector housing to the next committee and we’ve included a section on uh empty homes within that report so hopefully that will help um provide a bit more information around our work um surrounding that I mean in terms of um epcs where where properties don’t
Have epcs it isn’t a function of this District Council so um is certainly something we could pick up a discussion about with trading standards around um what more can be done um but I can’t make any firm commitment ourselves as to how we might able to plug that cab thank you councilor
AOSS yeah thank you chair my my question is um on page 89 but related to page 93 um and obviously it’s from Mr mountford I would guess the what if you could elaborate a bit on the last paragraph where he says uh ET Etc um an an increase in the
Number of refugee approaches represent a challenge to achieving these objectives um and then on page 93 it’s related because he then refers to the private rented sector uh which says uh cost of living etc etc has made this sector even less accessible and affordable um if you put those two
Things together there are bigger questions there so could Mr mountford just elaborate on that yeah sorry which performance indicators you are you are you referencing sorry P 89 sorry I’m not on say yeah page 89 the last paragraph yeah I mean I think I think the reference to it is essentially an
Increase I think essentially it’s around an increase in demand cumulatively um so um we are seeing more people approach generally as a result of a new a number of factors so as a result of the cost of living crisis increas in landlords um issuing section 21 notices
Um as well as we um we’re dealing with home to Ukraine schemes so people that are now settling within the city um is more people and more Demand on on the on the service essentially thank you then then if we just uh extend a little bit further to the table on page
93 about private rented accommodation um you’re quite rightly saying I think we all know it anyway the sector is even less accessible and affordable than it was um so the scheme whereby we’ve agreed to take up to 100 illegal immigrants which I understand are going to be accommodated
In um private the private sector how how will that work country not sub I believe they are Asylum Seekers chair just to clarify what this committee approved was us um accommodating up to uh for memory 66 Asylum Seekers um utilizing uh 20 or so properties from from uh the private
Sector so Circle would do that um and we’ve been made aware of two properties that have been utilized for that purpose well yeah but my question is about the demand on the private rent is sector that’s the the point the demand is is great we know that um if you put
Another Demand on it I’m trying to say well where where does it burst I mean what what’s happening if you can’t keep putting up a court into a p pot So within the original report the decision was taken on the advice that utilizing that number of properties wouldn’t have
An undue effect on the private rented sector in Worcester repeat that answer I perhaps it’s perhaps it’s a microphone I don’t know so the decision that was taken by this Committee in approving s um accommodating that number of Asylum Seekers the advice was that with the use
Of I can’t remember how many properties it was off off hand 15 20 properties that wouldn’t then duly impact the private rented sector within within Wester yes well that’s my question isn’t it I mean the impact on the private rented sector we’re told that’s under enormous pressure there’s another
Pressure to be put on it and I’m trying to find out what the consequences is for the generality of the demand you can’t you can’t magic up Supply while the demand’s increasing that that’s my concern what are what are the consequences of this if something’s full and you put more in what’s the
Consequence um according to this report if I’m correct me if I’m wrong on page 93 the demand for private rent rent sector has actually decreased hasn’t it so there hasn’t been an increase in in in in in in pressure on that sector so I’m don’t quite understand the question
But um I’m sure Tom and lloy be able to get something in writing for you Alan is that okay yeah well I’m happy with that chair but I’m surprised I don’t know the answer now it’s not a particularly unexpected question is it chair if if there’s more pressure on
The private rented sector it makes access harder for um for tenants and residents of of all types so that’s the only that’s the only answer I can provide to counselor OS and what I would say on the on the Asylum Seeker properties is if there is a challenge in
Circle procuring property then they may look elsewhere to procure property it may not be wora it may be other areas my final Point chair well where where are we on that scheme then the circle or home office what what what accommodation have they taken up so far
Nobody seems to know what’s going on with that sector but we have committed to providing those number of places that’s my concern to repeat my answer uh from a couple of minutes ago chair at Circle have procured two properties in Wester um as part of that scheme thank you are there any other
Speakers on this item no just want to make a general observation in terms of um uh obviously the the amount of affordable homes that were or the lack of affordable homes that that are available and the numbers of people of um housting sorry on the housing waiting list I think I mean
There there’s only so much we can do in terms of that and obviously we’re not in a position to build our own houses on mass at that level so it’s really really crucial that the planning system plays its part in enabling us to be able to provide those houses for for wor
Residents and Worster people that are on that housing waiting register and that means that each and indiv every individual counselor when planning applications come into their WS has to be really they have to be really proud atic we can’t solve a problem yet then deny plausible or uh you know
Applications within each of our wards that are looking to provide and provide that accommodation so um I just really ask counselors to be praed in their own Wards when uh uh when planning applications that come in that help us to achieve the objective that we’re
Trying to achieve we can’t be at War at each other on one the one hand saying that we want to provide all these housing we’ve got to do more yet every opportunity we’re batting those opportunities away thank you okay we have agenda item seven chair
I’m I I do beg your pardon but is is it something that we should be um noting I’m very sorry um the recommendation is that the communities Community notes the council quarter 3 Performance 2324 uh and the performance reporting framework all those in favor it’s unanimous thank you thank you
Council uh agenda item seven which is the setting for the budget for the 2425 and the mtfp Shane thank you chair good evening councilors this is the uh the final formal stage for the committee in terms of developing this year’s budget uh the uh appendix one shows the revenue
Budgets which are built into the uh medium-term financial plan going forward and there are no substantial changes from the uh draft budget that we viewed in the no early November uh meeting so there’s nothing substantial that’s changed there we have a a proposal to take forward 1.8 million pounds net
Spend for in terms of the remit of this committee um appendix 2 shows the capital program for the council as a whole so that’s just for information to see the major pictures of work which we’re intending to take forward next year and the final appendix just shows
The overall picture and members will see from the bottom line of that that we have a forecast budget gap of £ 452,000 uh which is is substantially less than it was this time last year so I’d like to thank everybody for their contributions to that which has been
Really really helpful the other the other purpose of this stages again to receive any new proposals that there may be to take forward to policy resources committee uh next Tuesday for consideration for taking forward into the budget they can come forward now or as part of other agenda items on the
Committee and of course members have uh you can and individually take forward items to policy and resources or to full Council when we get there on the 20th of February so this is not the last opportunity but this is the point where we usually see if there are any other
Items that you want to carry forward to policy and resources committee next week thank you chair any questions or or or proposals happily yeah thank you can I open it up to the floor then please counos thank you chair yes it’s it’s on appendix one um the first line I
Obviously something I don’t understand Mr Flyn I’m sure can make it absolutely clear but under Section on employees base budget for this year 234 is 1.5 million the draft base budget for 245 is 2.1 million I make it a 33% increase I’ve obviously miss something so can Mr Flynn please clarify for
Me you chair um if I could point you towards an item lower down in that column which is Grants and contributions 53 8,000 yeah so you can see compared to the previous year that was just 70,000 so so in other words expenditure on employees has gone up by about
500,000 and the grants and contributions income has gone up by about the same amount and the reason for this is that we have in the past tended to use the homelessness support Grant as a separate item in terms of budgeting which pays for quite a wide number of salaries
Which are involved in in supporting homelessness whereas what we’re what we’re trying to do is to ensure that all of that income is shown as coming into the budget and the matching expenditure is also shown within the budget so it’s a changing approach in terms of how we managed the homelessness support funding
Which is normally done separately to the because it doesn’t come as part of the settlement it’s agreed separately so we uh we we try we’ve always in the past tended to treat it in a separate way so it’s a little bit outside of this process and I I I’ve decided this year
That we’re going to do that more explicitly and and show it gross within the budget so that’s the change as a growth in terms of cost there’s a growth in terms of income and they match each other all thank you chair can I just clarify
Then Mr Flynn um oh we use we’re using grants to actually pay people because obviously a grant is normally fixed it’s not endless but presumably the member of Staff then their length of service is commensurate with the length of the grant is that what you’re saying or I
Misunderstood uh through you chair that that is uh most of the um costs within there are for fixed term posts yes but there are some which are ongoing Revenue funding and we are therefore relying on future grants to continue those in the event that we don’t get those grants
Well then Council will have to make a decision about how to fund those in in in in the future but the vast majority of them are on fixed term po there any other speakers on the item no okay so can we check the recommendations uh 1.1 to 1.4 all those in
Favor agreed thank you agenda item number eight review of funding arrangements for the wor to play Council Alan thank you very much chair um this is a follow-up report to a previous report that was tabled by back in January of last year to this to this
Committee um it is um a an update on the progress that’s been made within that period um since the last report was presented uh Council officers have met with the Board of Trustees at the play Council back in April um of last year and this was to raise a number of
Concerns with the um the lack of input that was actually uh being undertaken by the pl Play Council in terms of service delivery um so at this meeting the the council officers discussed a number of issues um around the kind of reporting process and performance with uh the the
Representatives from the play Council and it was explained that no guarantee um of any future funding would be provided by the council um to support any future play activities um essentially the play Council has three primary functions and those three functions are to actually deliver uh the Play
Service um and this function has been subcontracted to uh uh kind another provider for a period of the last five years or more um so there’s no no Direct uh provision in that respect the second element is to uh raise alternative um funding sources um and unfortunately that hasn’t
Been uh delivered During the period either and the third one which links to the second one is the fact that any funding that is raised should then be redistributed to local community groups for them to deliver their own play activities and obviously on the basis of the second Point not being delivered the
Third one couldn’t be delivered either um so on that basis um the the conversation took place and there were a number of uh suggestions made um and over the intervening period uh no further support and information has been provided to uh eradicate the kind of concerns of council officers
Um I I think it’s important to point out here that what we’re actually doing is we’re taking a review of a process that’s been in place for a number of years back from the uh the 1980s um and essentially we’re we’re kind of taking out um a layer of
Complexity because essentially the play provision in the city that’s taken place over recent years has been delivered directly by herd aswell young people’s Club um so essentially although we’ve been giving the the funding directly to the play Council that immediately has then been passported across the p as
Well young people’s Club to deliver the outcomes so in reality what we’re what we’re recommending um within the report now is that we kind of make that a bit more formal um and we’re in a position where financially um we aren’t a able to support to the level that we’ve
Supported in previous years as an authority but what we can do is offer some further grants through the community grants program to allow organizations such as F aswell young people’s club and any other other kind of young people’s organizations that provide play provision um to make an application into the council for funding
For them to deliver play activities in that way thank you okay um can I open it up to the floor please any speakers on this Council Kia uh my first question uh were any of the trustees of wer play Council asked to be in attendance tonight at this
Meeting no is the answer to that question um I have another this is more of a comment than anything else um I have been in the last couple of months involved in some discussions with some of the individuals um in W to play Council and so for those reasons I’ll
Unfortunately be abstaining from this vote um I think it’s really interesting that we’ve talked at length about youth services tonight um and actually looking back at the charity commission for was to play Council one of the aims is to provide advocacy and what I see as
Really clear in the city is this genuine gap for I can’t quite work out what the shape of the organization will be but some clear voice that’s doing this advocacy and pulling together services so that we can we can help identify these gaps that we we talked about this
Evening and we can really Champion what what young people need and so I have no question or solution but I’m saying I I I think I raise that that’s something missing um and that that originally was my hope that that could have been the role that something like was to play
Council could have been fulfilling thank you are there any other speakers councelor chair thank you um just to mention obviously really briefly as well I know we think about the city on play but I think Youth and Young people it has suffered a lot from the County
Council and and the complete lack of funding over time that’s just dropped dropped right off and and I think you know that they are a lot to blame for this and iate they haven’t always had the money but it has had a big impact and it’s it’s been you know it’s been
Come coming for a long time which yeah thank you sorry it’s not very positive that’s right counc I mean it’s it’s a sad State of Affairs isn’t it that it has to has come to this and that actually effectively the an organization we helped set up back in um all that
Time time ago has effectively become redundant and become a commissioning organization that isn’t fulfilling its um original purpose um and that we’ve had to take this drastic measure I mean what I am more worried about is actually um the um the fact that we you know we’ve had the debate earlier on this
About about youth services and that what I am worried about is that effectively this is now a 10,000 cut in the youth service prision play prision Within the city hence my proposal is to put an amendment in um to this organization if the committee agrees and I have a second
In I put an extra line in there um that uh the £10,000 that was isn’t going to be now allocated to the wor play council is that is ring fenced for youth play provision via a specific Grant to for any application from a uh City organization to come forward and apply
For that money to um provide youth provision as to that so whether that would be something somebody would second and uh we’d get agreement on Shan may just want to clarify the origin of of last year’s finance and perhaps why that it can’t be rened okay uh yes chair
Thank you the um the the grant previously came from Community grants fund so it was a one-off allocation for that year only so it’s not a it’s not a a line in the budget which is carrying forward so it’s not being reallocated what you’re proposing in effect is a new
Fund a new Reserve which would have to be charged to our risk reserves just to be clear about that yeah so the the wording would be that the money comes from the risk Reserve yeah yes okay sorry chair so it would go through as a recommendation to policy and resources
To consider allocation from the risk reserve for this purpose yeah how does that sound that okay so all those in favor uh of the recommendation including the new uh proposal that £10,000 be allocated from the risk Reserve towards youth play uh uh via a grant scheme specific to for organizations that
Good sorry sorry chair just in terms of the the order we need to have a debate on on that Amendment if you’re proposing as an amendment and a consideration as to whether members accept that Amendment or not and then we default to the main recommendation so I have a second uh
First and then we’ll open it up to debate councilor Kia fine so that’s formally seconded and can we have a debate on that Amendment please councelor Cooper uh I don’t think there’s anything to debate I think it’s fantastic I would um wholly recommend supporting this thank
You thank you do we have any more speakers okay so we take a an a vote to make this the substantive motion all all those in favor and we take a second vote to to agree the recommendation that has been agreed all those in favor agreed can I just clarify then um
If I put that in as youth play provision is that sufficient uh agenda item nine Council of sanctuary Tom thank you chair um just provide a bit of context around um what the Council of sanctuary is and how this came about um so a motion um was brought
To Council in October last year um which resolved that the commun communities committee should consider the implications of Wester City Council uh becoming a council of sanctuary uh working with others already involved in working with refugees seeking asylum in Worcester um across the C across the country there’s 54 councils have passed
Sanctuary motions um and there’s six councils that have progressed on to becoming councils of sanctuary um city of sanctuary UK is the umbrella organization that provides support to networks and Community groups um that that are working towards uh supporting people seeking sanctuary and that includes local authorities um support is provided
Through collaboration training engagement opportunities and working with people with lived experience of the Asylum seeking Asylum system U whilst networks have the flexibility to determine how best to work towards their own Vision based on the local context and priorities um there are a set of principles to follow
Um which is set out in uh section 2.7 of the report so in terms of the process um the initial stage is for uh Council to pass a full motion uh which this Council has already done um it’s then been referred to this committee um where the recommendation tonight is to endorse the
City um of sanctuary Charter which is attached as uh appendix one to the report um and then working towards the city of sanctuary local Authority award uh with the ultimate aim of becoming a recognized Council of sanctuary um the council would then join the network as a member and engage with
The city of sanctuary local groups um working with providers people with lift experience and with the wider Network um through that work that would lead to the development of an action action plan describing how the minimum city of sanctuary criteria would be met in Worcester um once the plan is developed
Um in consultation with local Refugee groups and organizations representing them the council can then become uh apply to become a recognized count uh Council of sanctuary um there is a cost to doing so um uh uh which is500 per year um and that’s to provide more tailored support through
The final stages of the application process just to provide a bit of context around um the um Asylum and resettlement system um so the home office lead on the national Asylum dispersal program across the UK um they work in conjunction with Ciro in the West Midlands including within Worcester um and they facilitate
And manage contingency and dispers accommodation migrant help of the commission service that provide localized support to Asylum Seekers um as well as um local third sector organizations um such as Worcester City welcomes refugees who also provide advice assistance and support Wester has a number of organizations and Charities uh and
Community groups that provide support to um to new arrivals um that includes what the city welcome refugees um Midland migration support center mags as well as numerous others uh wor the city welcomes refugees has already registered with the city of sanctuary UK um and have an existing Network across the city and experience
Of surrounding resettlement support they’ve worked with a number of the other resettlement schemes uh delivered through County Council the county lead on resettlement programs across the county um and there would be an important important partner in supporting the city’s aspiration in establishing uh local networks and pursuing recognition as a council of sanctu
Um uh and they they will be seeking to take a motion um to County Council to apply to become a council of sanctuary themselves as part of that they’ll be seeking calling on District councils to consider pursuing this also um I suppose what’s notable is that W the city
Council sort of head of the curve if you like and um have already proposed a motion um before anybody else within the county um in order to deliver on the pledge to become a a council of sanctuary and meet the relevant criteria um what we do recognize is that that
Will require time and resource um to be able to deliver that um and that as such has been included as as a recommendation within the report um conversations have been had with other the local authorities that have progressed um through to adopting C uh become councils of sanctuary as well
As working um with the city of sanctuary UK organization um what they’ve highlighted as some of the benefits um of becoming a council of sanctuary or progressing along the journey to becoming a council of sanctuary um includes improvements around Community cohesion uh Community safety um and reductions in the in the
Risk of EXP exploitation um it can ensure that barriers to systems and services such as housing employment education and health are improved and ensure that new arrivals are given the best opportunity um to develop and utilize their skills and to positively contribute to society in the local
Economy um so I suppose essentially by investing to improve access and inclus inclusivity to existing systems um removing barriers to Services by addressing inequalities um and adopting an early intervention and prevention model um it can reduce the more costly and less successful interventions um so by way of an an
Example providing a clear pathway to housing options for eligible refugees um could reduce individuals um facing wor sleeping um facing increased risks of exploitation um and sort of negative Health outcomes leave it there chair thank you Tom um um before I open it up to the floor can I just ask I I
Have me more sorry mentioned this point before in terms of um how well we do as a city already in a lot of the things that are in this Council of sanctuary so really I I really want to know what added benefit this is going to bring to
The city of wer on top of what we’re already doing rather than just being a a you know a a gold standard to achieve I don’t you know what else will it bring to the residents of wer and to to the city of wer I really want that a clear explanation regarding
That um I think um I think essentially it is a commitment it is a sort of commitment and a recogn and and to seek a recognition of of the work that’s undertaken um I think it can um lead to to more action um so by the council
Taking a suppose um I suppose an ambassadorial role within the city um it can lead to other organizations um coming on board so the the city of sanctuary UK um doesn’t just relate to local authorities in fact local authorities are one of the um smaller groups of organizations that
Adopt um or make the pledge um so there’s many Community groups uh universities schools libraries um all of which can um U sort of progress ress through um um through recognition as organizations of sanctuary um and I think um sort leading the way in that is is an important step um the only
Organization within wer at the moment that’s registered is um wer City welcomes refugees um and I think there’s opportunity to to increase um increase that across the city I think the benefits that that then can realize um ultimately are better access to Services um uh and and it is around
Trying to prevent it’s trying to improve things before um there’s a need for them um and it’s trying to sort of apply that across the council sorry across the city as far as possible yeah thank you um just but uh just for one one more question I mean
You mentioned what the city refugees um being as the only sort of uh sorry only member group that’s been um recognized by the city of sanctuary uh funny enough I was speaking to the chair of Oster City refugees group this this afternoon and he he he hasn’t been involved in any
Of the consultations or um uh work of that’s gone around this and I was just wondering has there been a breakdown in communication and how far has her consultation been gone between all these groups that that we’re talking about is it being just a tunnel vision um you
Know for for from a couple of members that being Dre been driving this and what genuine consultation there has been out in the community yeah I mean um I have met with um W City welcomes refugees and been in regular email contact with them so I’m not sure what the breakdown in
Communication is is there um we discussed the proposal it’s going to be coming forward tonight um so as far as I was aware the well briefed and understood um um of where we were at and what we were proposing to take forward I mean I think the the
Um this this work hasn’t yet progressed I suppose um so at this stage is around seeking uh seeking approval or in or or the commitment from the committee around whether it is something that we want to progress or not um and subject to the uh to the outcome of tonight I think that’s
Where um the sort of work will will start essentially got Council Ros Council son uh thank you chair first of all um can I congratulate you because it won’t do any good politically but can I congratulate you because your initial question is exactly the question to ask what difference does this make to
Anything that we’ve already been doing um and I find this report frankly um ill conceived and muddled and I I think Mr mountford’s answer to your question was muddled and to be honest I really don’t understand what it was um when Putin invaded Ukraine I was one of the first councilors publicly to
Say we should open our doors to the Ukrainian refugees uh women children men stood behind to fight for the survival of their country but the women and children came over there I welcomed them I still welcom them and it was the right decision um they’ve blended into the
Community theyve part of the they go out to work go to Schools they’re lovely people and I welcome them and in people in that situation I would always welcome but there is a difference which does not come out in this report there’s a difference between a refugee and an
Immigrant many of the ukrainians want actually to go home the reason they don’t is because they can’t because their houses aren’t there anymore or because there’s still a war zone so that’s understandable so so we welcome them um I I’d like to repeat the question chair perhaps we get the same answer or
A different answer as to what difference is this going to make um I understand also that there are just six councils of sanctu six out of how many cities and towns have we got hundreds and hundreds and hundreds the other point chair is this we’re talking about upwards of
90,000 now if some of the money is coming from another budget because that budget doesn’t need the money then put the money back into the pot don’t spend it on something else just because we’ve got the money that is exactly not the way to run a council if we if we if we
Don’t need the money put it back my constituents in bedwardine are more concerned about clean roads uh litter dogs mess gulls if they’ve got n if we’ve got 90,000 spend spend it on the services that matter to people this does not matter to people and they don’t know
What it’s about to be honest chair this is almost certainly going to be certain people talking to each other at the same meetings we talk about networks and phrases like and i’ I’ve noted I won’t read them L because there are too many of them um independent assessment we’ve
Got I don’t know independent what’s being independently assessed it just says independent assessment paragraph 2.7 sorry 2.8 point8 independent assessment I don’t know what that’s about um and let and chair this is a very important point we we should learn from other people who have gone down this
Road take the United States they have Sanctuary cities what’s happened there is given the openness of the the Border uh governors in southern states are are sending their immigrants who have come over the border to the sanctuary cities because they’re saying well look your Sanctuary City you have a particular
Interest and a particular welcome for these people so we’re sending them to you New York now has a budget deficit of £129 million and is asking for federal assistance because it cannot cope it has literally nowhere to put them and what’s not in this report share and that’s one
Of the reasons I asked the two questions earlier and left at that point the questions answers at that point was because where is the accommodation going to be where are the spare doctor surgery places farer Street surgery has just been cled where are the hospital places where are
The schools and the reason I ask that share is because if you’re going to be a city of sanctuary you’re going to have certain responsibilities placed upon you otherwise why be it and what are those responsibilities what message are we sending out we are sending out a message
That we have a particular provision or a particular welcome or particular desire to to welcome refugees immigrants Asylum Seekers call them whatever you will it doesn’t really matter it’s people coming its numbers and there’s nothing in this report which addresses that problem but we do know from a previous report that
We discussed we have a shortage desperate shortage of private rented H housing and that refugees already are becoming a a problem in terms of allocating other people so in conclusion chair um I I will not support this at all um the people I may be alone voice
On this committee I don’t mind being that but the point is chair the vast majority of the people of wora will not support this at all if I go on the doorstep as I will and I’ll say to people the council’s got 990,000 quid to spare guess what it’s done we’re going
To become a s a council of sanctuary oh well done it’s the top priority I’ve always wanted that Alan thanks very much great stuff I mean it’s an insult share at the time with cost of living crisis we’re talking about housing shortages but streets aren’t clean every time I
Have I want a new litter bin I have to have a battle about it because we haven’t got the money money this 90,000 is a grotesque waste of money and I will never support this at all and it’s a disgrace that’s even come this far thank you I believe it’s been agreed
At full Council the support of full Council okay thank you councelor lawrenson and theni wow well I had um genuine question lined up obviously I need to Mo back the nonsense we just heard um you know because the sole reason that this meeting is presumably being broadcast
And available to be watched later on um you know this isn’t just a gesture um but if you were to take it as just a gesture it’s an extremely important one given the conflict raging in the world right now so it’s the complete reverse of what
You’ve just ranted on about um you know as a gesture it’s hugely important never been more important um so I completely reut what we’ve just heard um and I’m actually shocked despite having known councilor Amos for the last 12 years um so that’s the first contribution from me at this
Point um to counter what we just heard absolutely not right at all um oh I calm the heart rate um the question so you know I was proud to second the motion at for Council I’m proud that Council petrovski brought this uh scheme to my attention very proud
Indeed um but chair you asked the question very reasonable question and I agree with you in that point you know was a great question from the chair to the officer what is the tangible impact because yeah okay you have a debate on the doorstep what what benefit to
Worcester will this bring I mean the benefit is to the people in need you know refugees human beings I prefer to call um I mean the money is coming from two po um two sources of funding dispersal accommodation Grant and uh homes for Ukraine Grant um so there’s money to be
Used to to effectively continue good practice um the question is for me is is that money purely going to be spent on a part-time officer for three years to put to submit an application or is the money going to be used to provide tangible support as well as write the
Application and second question assuming that we get Council of sanct status and I hope it doesn’t take three years would that Council of sanctuary status potentially bring in more grant funding and effectively pay for itself so three things one to counter the nonsense we’ve just just heard
Two um will it truly take three years to apply for that Council Sanctuary status and three assuming that we get it will it bring in more financial resources to support people who have absolutely nothing thank you sorry sorry yeah um thank you thank you for those questions um on on the
First one in terms of um how will take um yeah the intention isn’t that the post will just be focused on making the application it is around um embedding the what’s been picked up and what’s been highlighted through the action plan um so it’s beyond making the application
It’s about delivery um but what we need is a resource to be able to drive that forward um we can create an action plan but unless we’ve got something to be able to make sure that moves into delivery and is supporting groups and working with with organizations across
The city it’s likely not to progress um and then i’ question that you know is it is it going to be meaningful is it going to be longlasting and and what are the impacts of it going to be um on the second question I don’t the answer is I
Don’t know um so there isn’t a there’s no there’s nothing attached to it that means you would guarantee additional funding um uh funding around um Asylum dispersal or um resettlement schemes isn’t generally linked to anything like this it’s around populations it’s around um where the home office have placed
Individuals numbers um so I certainly wouldn’t expect it to be linked F thank you Council pavi thank you very much chair thank you to colleagues for their contributions um I’ll um just the first thing to council amamos I’m I’m one of the bedward dean residents we can have a
Discussion about migration uh refugees and so on um you’ll be more than welcome to um to see me in my house for tea biscuits and and and so on and I and I think I’ll be actually and and it’s not because I proposed this motion um I’ll
I’ll be quite happy to defend it but I but I but I think it’s it’s important we uh we start talking with pride about certain things that make us human um so what does it what difference does it make U the chair was asking uh this
Question uh well well I think if we if we consider the group of malali um gentlemen who were here putting wer on on the global map going to America by the way um I’m not only a proud resident of Bedwood deine I’m also somebody who lived 10 years in America and my
Experience of immigration and how how people from different parts of the world are welcomed there is very different to some you know dbls might describe so it’s it’s a first um uh firsthand direct experience um so I think it’s finally something we should be proud of uh and
And and rather than yes of course there were certain things and and colleagues from uh W welcomes refugees have mentioned this by the way um I I did tell them about the meeting today as early as Monday so I’m not sure what the break breakdown communication was
Um but it’s a genuine opportunity for us not not only to be you know to be doing things in the open being proud about it uh but also to to be connecting with not not only cities here but also cities elsewhere in the world where we can
Learn from from from uh colleagues and friends all over the world uh how important it is to to maintain this this very basic level of humanity decency and and you know things things that make us human quite frankly um I I I hate to bring economics
Into this but um you know my myself and many many others including people who uh might be caring for us in in um in the hospice um down the road nurses and and all the people mentioned by um uh by uh Father Brian uh one declare one interest
Not declared I’m his parisher so I better watch out my words today because you know he’s going to talk to me afterwards um it it’s it I I’m you know I’m I’m very proud that we we we as a city make a statement this is about a statement and about a
Badge and a badge that we should be wearing very uh very proudly um in in in in terms of but you know all all those all those things about the economies and whatever are are are quite important I mean I’m I mean I’m I’m I’m happy to to to to have a
Private conversation with councilor Amos what what what I happen you know or you know what we do or I do for for white British working class on a daily basis in in my daytime job but um you know the biggest piece of motivation that that I got before the meeting today wasn’t
Necessarily from the colleagues from doing research and whatever but was from my little girl who said Daddy I I like your jumper so not sure if you can see it it says migration is not a crime it has Padington there on iten is my favorite sorry green is my
Favorite uh well that we we can we can talk about the the sort of party allegiances maybe at some stage but what what I what I would like to say is is I’m I’m I’m genuinely genuinely proud to to have this in front of us it makes all
Kinds of sense I’m I’m super grateful to Tom uh and I’m I’m I’m sorry I’m probably one of those people from time to time contribute to you know by giving you guys grief but um it’s it’s it’s it’s a job well done we should be uh we
Should be proud of it and and um I think the the one the one difference because uh councilor Amos mentioned something I must say this because this is so obvious um the difference between uh refugees from uh from Ukraine and just to just to just to say uh the conservative government advised
Ukrainians fleeing war and bombs and everything else to apply for seasonal workers visas to work to work to pick out a fruit and veg that was the first response not good enough ladies and gents so um I tell you what the difference is um is the skin
Color that’s what the difference is so I I’ll leave it without comments uh as I said I I’m going to go home and it’s too late now but I I’ll tell you my girl that I did the right thing today thank you um some really poignant points there
C pki saying it out as it is councelor Cooper thank you chair um Tom has said what I was thinking and I’m sure lots of people in this room were thinking that actually it doesn’t matter what color someone’s skin is if they’re a refugee and they’re fleeing their home I would
Like to think we’re proudly welcome here in Worcester I am thankful that the Mali allei Community left and didn’t hear there rather disgusting remarks um on Monday I was here at the Holocaust morning day and uh it was an incredibly moving day I’m sorry there weren’t more of us
In this room there because they were saying you know don’t think this will never happen to us it could easily happening to us and it’s starting to happen now um I would like to think that if ever I needed to flee my home and move to another country that someone
Would welcome me and I think that’s what what we need to think about um I’m really proud that I know some amazing um refugees that have come from Ukraine and I think we need to welcome them all no matter their skin color to our wonderful beautiful city and I think we should
Vote for this I think we should be proud to do so thank you chair on on a point of order um it’s a shame to hear councelor Cooper and you counselor make a comment like that um disgusting comments you may disagree with them Council Cooper that’s you’re
You’re right we’re here to have a debate we’re here to express opinions but is it an order chair to to make a comment like that when we’re having a reasonbly civilized debate uh disagree yes but don’t descend to personal comments um councilor Cooper I’d give
You a right to reply on that I’m chair please accept my apologies if I named any individual that was not my intention to name any individual thank you is that AC apology accepted Council lamos I’ll leave it there chair but it’s not yeah wasn’t necessary thank you councilor Cooper um
I I realized passions are running high if you can remain within the spirit of the committee that would be really appreciated but um it doesn’t prevent you from making your point in other ways thank you councelor Al thank you chair um I may sound a bit silly but it’s just
Just to make clear that public members of the public here need to be aware of the difference between immigrant migrants illegal migrants Asylum Seekers refugees but if we talk if if we say it doesn’t matter it can cause problems I’m migrant I’m I’m proud to be migrant I’m
Contributing to this country I’m not burden on anybody but general public doesn’t know we need to be really careful it can um increase hate crime islamophobia and things like that so I just request in general all members please be careful don’t say doesn’t matter what category it is it does
Matter and um just to clear an asylum Seeker is a person who has left their country and is seeking protection from persecution is serious human rights violation in in another country but who hasn’t yet been illegally recognized as a refugee and is waiting to receive a decision on their ass claim seeking
Asylum is a human right thank you thank you councelor Al to welcome Worcester City and get have this Worcester city on the map to re to show people there’s no racism it doesn’t matter if he’s Asylum Seeker it doesn’t mean if he’s a refugees we should welcome all around
The world to come and stay here and put wer on the map thank you counc for for your words on that um do we have any more speakers on this no um we’ll go to the recommendations then the recommendations okay so the recommendations are that the committee endorses the city of sanctuary Charter
And number two agrees to commit the allocation of 8655 15 from the homes for Ukraine to disperse your accommodation of Grant uh all those in favor of both of those recommendations uh any abstentions any against have my name recorded of course if you want it’s fine not a problem that’s carried
Thank uh we have agenda item number 10 which is wester City Faith covenant thank you chair um so Council in September last year uh the chair of communities committee received a question to invite representatives from sheare inter Faith Forum um to consider the impacts and potential of wer city
Council adopting a faith Covenant uh the chair resolved for consideration to be given to how it will work in practice and what it means for the citizens of Worcester which this report sets out to address um Faith Covenant is a joint commitment between Faith communities and local authorities to a set of principles
That guide engagement aiming to promote open practical working on all levels um it was it a concept that was introduced in 2014 by an all party parliamentary group um on faith and Society in collaboration with an organization called Faith action um which is a network a national network of faith-based and Community
Organizations um the outcome was that they concluded that Faith groups have a great deal uh to offer as providers and advocates for communities in which they serve um and that some of their potential is being unnecessarily overlooked at present um to dat 30 local author authorities have signed Faith covenants across the
Country Covenant provides Assurance for local authorities when commissioning services from uh and transferring assets to appropriately qualified faith-based organizations um and include Faith groups when they look for solutions to social needs a faith Covenant is built on four key principles set out in uh section 2.5 of the report um and entails commitment
To both local authorities and faith-based organizations which are outlined in uh sections 2.7 and 2.8 um but primarily focused about around building relationships developing opportunities for collaboration um as well as sharing sharing learning um this this approach closely aligns the council’s existing asset-based approaches to community engagement and development
Um and the adoption of a Faith Can can offer a number of opportunities um including build building capacity for Service delivery uh engaging with diverse populations who may not otherwise access or engage with other or existing organizations um and to build on and regain the successful collaboration um that was developed
During the during the pandemic um the recommended process for adopting a faith Covenant is to initially establish Steering group um made up of um officers um from appropriate service areas across the council uh members as well as Faith groups um to provide a diverse range of viewpoints um the group would then set
Out to scope um to scope uh develop scope uh the a the vision and the outcomes of the faith Covenant in Worcester uh is seeking to achieve um and consider the most appropriate model to reflect the local context so it’s not just it’s not a standardized appro approach across the
Country uh once Covenant has been developed it should be launched through an event um to to exercise and promote the benefits of of having a faith Covenant in the city um so adopting a faith Covenant is a means of making a clear commitment to working with faith faith-based organizations and acknowledging the role
That they play Within communities in Worcester uh recognizing their often unique position access to individuals and groups that may not be Eng engaged elsewhere um where they may be best placed to deliver services or support with projects and programs of work thank you I’ll um put it out to the
Floor I have got a couple of questions at the end for you Tom uh councilor Bowski thank you very much uh chair and I’d like to apologize to officers actually because um I I read the the report uh some some days ago when I ini
Speak to spoke to Tom sorry but I didn’t notice something which I think Warren’s an amendment uh and I can explain if if that’s okay so what I would like to propose in 37 uh I don’t think we need that uh because it talks about the avenu
Of support so basically the the bids that make the faith government work you know what what we promise to do it then goes on to say should only be considered if members are completely satisfied that the wor the I’m very sorry I’m on the I’m on the wrong paper am I
Notes I I think I’m on the wrong paper please ignore me I I’ll if um I’m I’m happy to speak in favor of the um the faith Covenant um report and and adopting it I’m very sorry thank you do we have any other speakers on the item no
Sure not a problem um just to in terms of the you want to speak on the item okay what what I was suggesting was um proposing an amendment to the report which is the next agenda item I’m very sorry so um if you’re okay to open to uh
To the floor um I’d like to say something in favor of this P yes go um so I think in in terms of what why do we need it uh it’s it’s a little bit similar to the city of sanctuary I think in in in in
Brief um not not only not only the um the city plan um makes sense when you when you see what the faith communities can can contribute uh but but I Al also think that in our sort of day-to-day practice I’m I’m not really sure what we would do without some of the faith
Communities and it’s not only the time of um you know Global pandemics when your local church your local mosque was providing and looking after you when the council couldn’t uh but I think what what’s what’s very important is daily and mundane things which actually cost
Money like uh play groups um out of four or five days that we use them for are are provided pretty much for free by uh by Churches um if we are serious and committed to um to the the assets-based uh Community Development I think it’s a no-brainer because it provides mutual
Benefits um and I’ll be more than happy to assist in forming this Steering group considering that I declared my interest in both camps I’m here and I’m also part of the wer share Interfaith Forum thank you thank you I’ll open it up to the floor once again if anybody has any questions
No okay just a a question I did raise at um our uh our meeting between ourselves in terms of the the latest census within Worcester indicates that there are more non-faith people in the city than Faith people mean how would this policy affect is that um the recognition actually that
There there there are a lot of groups that over Co that weren’t fa Faith braced um did exactly the same good work in terms of contributing and helping their communities and and um what would that do the this policy do in terms of recognizing th those people as
Well um I think I’d probably respond by saying that that would that be a general approach to asset-based um Community Development in any events obiously already we already work with um lots of organizations that aren’t faith-based across it um and and we’re always happy to do so so it’s not to exclude anybody
At all I think it’s just um to include faith-based organizations specifically which perhaps haven’t been as included in our asset-based approaches as they have pre as other organizations may have done previously yeah thank you and my second point is again around obviously consultation and engagement and it’s um
You know talking to the wider community in terms of uh uh engagement with other faiths than Faith groups there there seems to have been really little interaction in designing and you know getting backing and support for this in terms of that and it’s been and I’m really afraid that obviously this has
Been driven Again by by you know a few people with a you know based on that so how confident are with war that are we going to go out and then actually make sure that this is a truly um representative Faith government thank you chair so so this is
About um uh how the the council is um not just on a a community uh Services um Frontage but the whole Council orientated approach so so just almost alludes back to your question about was why are we just saying Faith communities why not communities in general this this
Is about how um faith-based communities tend to have physical assets um not not just that but they’re provide so so this is about how the council uh this says in the in the in in the one section the report sorry for not alluded to it but it’s it’s about how we
Can Commission Services through um not just faith-based organizations but it it it sort of helps us set the uh relationship and the conversation that we are open to um commissioning services or or or working with faith-based communities to be able to deliver the services that we want to do um and it
Also opens the door for us to listen to what faith-based communities can give us so as you know when we do our community consultations uh don’t get diverse responses this OPP this is an opportunity for us to widen our diverse response to our consultations and getting buying um I can’t guarantee that
We’re going to get conversations with everyone but the whole point is that we’re going to try and we’re going to set out a store which means that if someone does come to us that we haven’t spoken to before we have those structures we have those conversations with officers across the council not
Just in one service area where we can have those conversations does that help yeah thank you War I mean look the intention is good but you know we don’t want it to end up another tick boox exercise and listen we’ve gone out here we’ve done this we’ve done that and
Nothing mean meaningful actually comes from it and just use it as a uh as something to take off our equality and diversity strategy that’s the worry here in terms of that I mean the intention behind it is great the recognition that faith faith groups over the co period
Have and you know even before then have existed and have cont contributed to their communities and to to to the health and well-being of the city is absolutely essential uh and should be recognized um so I’ll I’ll take it to the floor then in terms of the
Recommendations 1.1 to 1.3 uh all those in favor think that’s unanimous thank you that’s carried thank you all okay we have a gender item 11 the council motion of 28th uh Israel Palestine conflict um I’m I’m really careful that we don’t reopen the debate on what happened sorry in
Council in terms of the actual debate and concentrate what this committee has been tasked to do if that’s okay thank you uh chair um so we’ve replayed the the council motion that was approved in November um as part of the uh the report and just to focus on that
Chair following your your words um that motion approved um that communities committee consider whether the council should actively support the work of wora Palestine friendship um what we’ve set out in the report chair are are what we believe are um three ways the council may want to um provide that support um
The first is through funding U members will be aware that we provide grant funding through our small community Grant scheme um or we can make strategic uh funding decisions um where organizations uh sort of contributing towards the city plan um the second is around communication and promotion um we
We do a wide range of of both um via sort of traditional and and more modern uh way ways uh and again if an organization is contributing to to City plan commitment commitments and work that we are undertaking um then that there is a a precedent in US supporting
Organizations particularly we see that through um through War’s Community team um and the last is community engagement um now even though um I’m grateful for the speaker informing us that there has been work undertaken with with the city council in the past we we weren’t aware
Of that perhaps that predates us all um so it’s good to hear that um but again um members will be aware that we do work with Community organizations across across the city um and part of that may be about understanding or re understanding again um who the group are
Who they represent and the work they do and importantly where does that where does that fit into the wide wider system so they are the three Avenues of support that that we believe members would want to consider tonight and just uh from an advisory uh point of view chair um
Paragraph 37 those Avenues to support should only be considered if members are completely satisfied that the wor the Palestine friendship does not partake in activism which is incompatible with the council’s objectives so potentially there is a reputational risk um we don’t say that to um to to be uh worry horses but just
To to advise members as part of the debate and to be aware of the rep reputational risk um that there may be leave it there chair open to debate um thank you very much so so so this is the bit where I was going to uh
Suggest an amendment to um and and I think um the amendment will perhaps satisfy some some some of the concerns that uh Lloyd has just mentioned uh in terms of objectivity and and essentially adhering to the wide and nen principles in 310 so what I’m suggesting is uh reducting the whole
Paragraph 3.7 and the reason for that is it’s a repetition of Nan principles and and and I would like to politely suggest that in this uh constant interaction between responsibility and accountability it’s actually not the members um responsibility to carry on uh due diligence checks on or organizations
It’s not our responsibility to check those those kinds of things um our job I I would suggest it is is to take you know positions political position on on whatever happens in Gaza and and so on and so forth so I think 310 uh makes it pretty clear that our
Behavior has to be um you know as it should be as councilor and elected member um but I I I think the the duty to um checking what’s compatible or not and running diligence whether whether it’s a grant from uh from this organization or whatever whatever else it’s not our responsibility it’s the
Officer’s responsibility so on that basis I would like to suggest the amendment which effectively uh reducts um uh paragraph 37 please chair this is a published report um so um I’m not aware of any mechanism to redact or amend a paragraph that’s already in a published report if Council
Proski has concerns with that paragraph he’s made that public and that can be minuted but there is no way of of amending or redacting we’ve just done it a few few agenda items before we’ve just done it that so we so we amended a recommendation right right um but what
We didn’t amend was a a paragraph within a published report and just I’ll accept your your advice thank you very much councelor lamb okay thank you thank you very much um I’m going to have to be consistent I’m afraid with the views I expressed at full Council I’m as I’ve
Notes that we are not reopening this debate and I I accept that um but at for Council I I didn’t vote for this motion I proposed what I believed was a much fairer and more balanced motion which um sort of put the entire issue within context uh and therefore I I can’t
Support this motion uh and I will based on whether I oppose it or whether I abstain on it on perhaps some comments which may came in a minute and my concern is and we’ve just had a this thing about the faith Covenant and the faith Covenant is all about reflecting
The diversity of the city and having everyone um in our city um feeding into what we do but then what we’ve got now is a report which basically says okay yes but we are going to support one particular group particular supporting one particular point of view and the the
Substantive motion itself says that these horrific events have had a huge effect on many Worcester residents in particular those relatives and friends in the region yeah and they’re not just Palestinians they they Jewish people people um who have got uh friends and relatives who are in Israel as well and
What I’m just concerned about is and I I I if if we had had a debate about amending the report I know it’s been said we can’t do that I would have opposed that because you know I think what comes out of this report is is a
Bit of caution by officers and I don’t blame them saying you know this isn’t an organization we know very well okay and the trouble is if we openly support an organ ganization we are then basically saying within reason especially if we start giving the money that we we agree
And we subscribe to anything that organization might say and we don’t know what this organization is okay we’ve had no sort of connection with it previously and some of the things here you know it’s words isn’t it you know pal Wester Palestine friendship was established in
2009 there a group of local people great who take action for justice in Palestine what what does Justice in Palestine mean they raise awareness of the realities of Life faced while Palestinians living in the occupied Palestinian territories however that might be defined fundra to support Palestinian projects and
Campaign for change what what does that change mean I mean I don’t want to debate it now but you know when people you know say things like freedom for Palestine what does that mean uh you know it’s not the place to debate it now
To be honest of you I mean can I can I ask a question this is a genuine question I’m not trying to to be mischievous in any way and per I will name councelor lawrenson because perhaps he can answer the question does this organization believe in Israel’s right
To exist simp no no no no it’s it’s a simple question I think perhaps it oversimplify yes or no does it believe as I do in a two-state solution yes or no because the answer to that will have an impact on whether I abstain on this
Which I’m going to or whether I actually vote against it and those are my concerns with this um you have been named so if you want to respond to that you by all means but butor Neil I mean I don’t know this organiz sorry sorry Neil I don’t know
This organization you you do I it’s a genuine question I don’t know what the St of the organization is the trouble with Grassroots organizations by their nature is they are very devolved and if any person pertaining to be represented of this organization makes a comment that then comes back to us and say
What’s the city council is giving money to an organization which says X we we do have to be cautious which is why why I rais my concern uh and Council L you’re quite right in those concerns but that’s why the clause in 3.7 is there uh and and in
Terms of the organization itself this is what this report tends to do is to this is not by all means a final decision on anything this is a exploratory report to work with that organization to find out what their constitution is what they believe uh uh and what causes that they
Are reflecting and to see if they are compatible with our Constitution and our modes of oper operandi so whether that this is not a commitment this is a this is a a a provisional say to go and explore what this organization is about and then to bring back to this committee
To for a final decision I believe that’s done if that’s what committee decid side um and instruct officers to do that’s the case it’s not recommending that what we’ve done in this report is set out three options for how the council may wish to support the group but it’s not
Recommending one one two or three of them Council lawrenson what am I allowed to say now am I do I have to represent an organization that I’m not a member of or can I raise the contribution that I wanted to raise in the first place what what am
I allowed what am I meant to say at this point well what whatever you want to say counil lawen and you’ve been named so you’re allowed to respond to that but you’re also allowed to speak on the on the proposal here yet you know because there the risk of the item that we’re
Meant to be discussing being completely diverted and and I resent that because I had advice prior to the meeting coaching me into not raising the original debate that took place last last November and now there an an open invitation I’m not going to take that invitation point of order Mr chair can I
Clarify am I not able if I’m going to put my name to a report am I not able to ask a question to se clarification sorry a point of order I don’t think is unreasonable with all due respect I mean with the very same respect you’re allowed to if if the
Debate has been opened up then you’re allowed to respond to that debate so if Council lamb is within his right to ask any question and as you are yourself yeah thank you but what we were trying to avoid was obviously what had trying no but you’re free to say what you need
To say trying to I’m trying to talk about what’s on the agenda that’s what I’m trying to do but if you really want an answer yes but if you want to ask the organization ask them but they also believe that Palestine should exist as well so that’s the answer to your
Question I resent answering yes and if they said if they said the contrary I’d be disturbed by that my my resentment stems from the fact that I was told not to open up a wider debate and and here we are so you know and I also resent here comes to my original
Contribution um I resent 3.10 about Council should consider the wider no and principles around objectivity and impartiality because you know there is that on the Worcester city council website with a big headline support for Ukraine and practical suggestions as to how we can support Ukrainian people which is absolutely brilliant and of
Course you can do that and you can support Palestinian people and you can support Israeli people and you can support any nationality it’s a false dichotomy to say well if we support West Palestine friendship we’re picking one over the other it’s just not true um because we’re supporting people from the
Ukraine and we can do the same for other people from other countries but to come back to what we’re talking about here and we are we are doing it we are living the motion because it says point three request that the communities committee consider whether the council should actively
Support the work of w Palin friendship and this report is just for noting so there was a lot of hot air coming from me at the moment um but at the end of this discussion nothing’s going to really change because it’s just a noting exercise having said
That well nothing’s going to change it could do because we could take on the recommendations or one of the three which is does the council support the group through grant funding uh communication and promotion and and engagement my suggestion would be to alert wor to pasttime Friendship to
Grant funding and it would be to uh use the website as we have done for Ukrainian people to alert The Wider population as to how Palestinian people can be supported um and that might be a compromise between um doing nothing and what’s the city council being seen to be
Somehow partisan so I am personally in favor and thank you to the officers for writing a report which they knew was going to cause this you know uncomfortable debate but that’s politics and that was patronizing um I believe that grant funding um making the group aware of the grant
Funding and and yes provid ing officer time to to help them apply for grant funding should be the way forward and we should use our comms to in a sensitive manner promote Palestine solidarity um I don’t think that’s controversial I don’t think that’s controversial um and then you’re taking
Away the um controversy around being seen to promote just one cause that’s not promoting one cause we’re already promoting the Ukrainian cause it’s massive hypocrisy um but I’m not going to get drawn into the debate that we had last November I’m talking about practical support and that’s what this report is
About and that’s what I was coached to talk about and that’s what I am talking about so my suggestion to this committee would be yes we will actively support wor pone friendship by making them aware of grant funding providing officer time if necessary to help them make those
Applications and using comms in the sensitive manner to promote Palestine solidarity and if we can’t promote Palestinian solidarity in a time of genocide we never will so please let see sense thank you Council Lon I’ll take councelor Amos then councelor Cooper and then councilor petrovski uh thank you chair just a
Really just a couple of comments um I was surprised that this motion was actually allowed to be honest because in my opinion it’s about foreign policy Y and as such a similar motion but for the other side was disallowed at the County Council however having said that
Decision was made I respect that I accept that we had a discussion we had a debate we had a vote and uh might be helpful for some members that I actually voted for the motion if though I’m not aware that most Palestinians are white Europeans I voted for the motion because
It that’s what I believed in um however where we go from here I do not know I’m sure greater minds than mine can find a solution this evening but I supported the motion clearly we need to give some effect to it otherwise it does mean it makes it rather
Meaningless thank you councelor OS um councelor Cooper thank you chair um I’d just like to draw members attention to the last sentence of 3.10 also the council has a duty to promote and Foster good relationships between community Community groups and so the council should ensure that is not
Supporting one group to the detriment of others so for me that puts my mind is that we can we can um take this action and it’s not going to detriment any other groups so I feel very reassured I Can Vote for This motion thank you thank you councelor Cooper councilor
Patski I’m I’m I’m afraid I don’t know it could be late um I’ve looked at both uh reports on the agenda item 8 and under agenda item 11 I said I accept the advice but I honestly genuinely do not see a difference in the sense that we were happy to accept an amendment
To um to one report and we are not allowed to it says exactly the same thing uh the the you know it’s not not even the case of changing the motion anything else uh it asks us to know the contents of it so uh What uh the chair
In in in the case of agenda item 8 suggested was some added warning which is an amendment in this case what I’m suggesting is is reducting losing some some of the wording and and my my only and it’s not only you know I I’m I’m I’m
I don’t practice law and whatever I I’m I am actually there is my back background but I don’t see the difference it’s not even a legal dispute it’s it’s the dispute between two exactly the same reports and and one of them uh was allowed to have uh an
Amendment and the one the other one isn’t I struggle with that I’m sorry so the previous report chair there was an amendment one addition made to the recommendations so because you are voting on that as members um you have the ability to uh uh um uh amend approve
What you’ve got with this report is that this is a published Report with a paragraph in it um and you’re being asked to note the report Council patoski your your option is if you don’t wish to note the the report um then that is an option for you and the point you have
Made can be picked up in the minutes but we have no ability um or or a member as a no ability to be able to um put up a motion to amend a paragraph within a published report that can only be done with recommendations thank you but um uh I’m
Going to take the officer’s advice on this recommendation but we can see clarification from the legal officer from tomorrow okay um uh I mean just in terms of just some is there any other Speakers by the way on this item no no um okay councelor lawrenson um are you add
Proposing a an additional recommendation to this report and if so what is that because then that has to be seconded and then Ved you’re not changing a paragraph but he’s adding an additional recommendation now I’m selecting two out of the three concrete suggestions from from officers within the report and I
Was going to ask what happens next because I within the midst of my um Bluster I did actually make a suggestion I did wonder what was going to happen with that suggestion so thank you very much because I can reiterate that i’ would like two of the three proposals to
Be put to the committee so so you in effect you’re asking sorry you’re putting forward a recommendation that we go forward with two of the basically yeah with within what I said I was effectively saying yes can we have a recommendation and put it to the committee um you know but but
That is you know that is me saying that I mean I’m I’m looking around the room that’s just me as one person saying I personally think those are two concrete practical suggestions that will have a positive effect whether people agree with that we shall see okay thank you
Can you then formally propose that and get it second I’ll look around second with with the two recommendations that you will recommend yeah so basically I’m taking out Community engagement and keeping the other two um and so yes please I would like to formally propose
That are we now allowed to amend this or not should based on previous one EXA do do we have a second for that councelor Cooper okay so we so we’ll put that to the V then all those in favor of the amended recommendation sorry can me be clear you
Know Worthing of the amendment well you propose it then yeah so we are voting for the first two officer recommendations which under three point sorry my computer died 3 point whatever it was so just to be clear then chair the the um the proposal is that um this
Committee will instruct officers um to to work with the wor the Palestine friendship group to explore funding opportunities and how the council can communicate and promote their work chair good I M Council Lawrence was speaking what I wrote down maybe this will help me a to that uh the committee
Notes report and agrees to make the organization aware of the availability of grant funding support them if necessary to apply the funding and use our website to encourage support for Palestine is that what you intended yeah that’s nearer to it well that is it thank you that’s what we’re voting
On so just for clarity and just for peace of mind every the um the the other elements are still included within the report as the the safety mechanism back nothing in that will that will change it’s the recommendations of support that were uh what is being proposed here as
Going forward with so the DU gance checks Etc in terms of um will uh will still be need to be carried out and conversations had with the with the group in terms of their constitution Etc that does that Mak does that make sense so all those in favor of that um uh
Amended recommendation then yeah yeah that’s fine okay uh any abstentions cancel that’s noted I think that’s everyone uh and any against no that then becomes the substantive um uh recommendation so all those in favor of the substantive recommendation okay any abstentions and any against so that’s carried thank
You a problem uh do we have anything else um there there isn’t any other the business to be notified really appreciate your time this evening thank you for your um your questioning and your patience and uh all your uh effort on this thank you and thank you to officers as well
10 Comments
2:39:46
2:45:06 labour lamb can't support motion
2:47:29 what does freedom for Palestine mean
Labour.
2:47:50 does this organization belief Israel's right to exist.
2:50:06
Lurenson
2:55:42 amos
2:56:31 cooper
Petrowski
3:00:29 Laurenson suggestion
Councillor mathew lamb should go live in the west bank..see for himself the daily suffering of the Palestinians