Agenda and minutes

The Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Board, Cllr Sarah James, noted that this was a meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board and the Community Safety Partnership and that she would be passing the role of Chair to Cllr Mark Blake who was a voting member of the Health and Wellbeing Board and the Chair of the Community Safety Partnership. This was moved by Cllr Sarah James, seconded by Cllr Kaushika Amin, and agreed by those present.

Please note this meeting may be filmed or recorded by the Council for live or subsequent broadcast via the Council’s internet site or by anyone attending the meeting using any communication method.  Although we ask members of the public recording, filming or reporting on the meeting not to include the public seating areas, members of the public attending the meeting should be aware that we cannot guarantee that they will not be filmed or recorded by others attending the meeting.  Members of the public participating in the meeting (e.g. making deputations, asking questions, making oral protests) should be aware that they are likely to be filmed, recorded or reported on.  By entering the meeting room and using the public seating area, you are consenting to being filmed and to the possible use of those images and sound recordings.

The Chair of the meeting has the discretion to terminate or suspend filming or recording, if in his or her opinion continuation of the filming, recording or reporting would disrupt or prejudice the proceedings, infringe the rights of any individual, or may lead to the breach of a legal obligation by the Council.

Cllr Mark Blake referred those present to agenda item 1 in respect of filming at this meeting, and the information contained therein was noted.

Cllr Mark Blake welcomed the Health and Wellbeing Board and Community Safety Partnership. He explained that this meeting brought two key partnership bodies together to address issues of racial discrimination and inequalities that had been highlighted by the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and brought into sharp focus following the killing of George Floyd in the USA and by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on black, Asian, and minority ethnic communities.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Siobhan Harrington, Whittington Trust Chief Executive, Maria Kane, North Middlesex University Hospital Trust Chief Executive, and Zina Etheridge, Haringey Council Chief Executive.

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of urgent business. (Late items will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. New items will be dealt with at agenda item 8).

There were no items of urgent business.

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a prejudicial interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered:

(i) must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent, and

(ii) may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must withdraw from the meeting room.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Register of Members’ Interests or the subject of a pending notification must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interests are defined at Paragraphs 5-7 and Appendix A of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

No declarations of interest were received.

To consider any requests received in accordance with Part 4, Section B, Paragraph 29 of the Council’s Constitution.

It was noted that a question had been submitted by Cllr Eldridge Culverwell in relation to item 7 of the agenda, Working in Partnership to Address Racial Discrimination and Injustice. It was agreed that, as Cllr Eldridge Culverwell was not present, a written response from Dr Will Maimaris would be provided in the minutes.

Question:Covid-19, by all accounts has affected the black communities the largest. If this is the case, WHY?Is it dietary, life styles, accommodation, alcohol/drug consumption, weather patterns, and or work environments? There must be a common denominator that the medical experts have found, or analysed, and if there is, what precautions or implementations are being garnered as a means of a cure or a precautionary guide, to address and or, reduce this stigma, dilemma or whatever phraseology is required understand this endemic?

Response: Public Health England have published the report ‘Beyond the data: Understanding the impact of Covid-19 on Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups’, which covers the issues set out in this question https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/892376/COVID_stakeholder_engagement_synthesis_beyond_the_data.pdf

This is a follow up report to the report published earlier in June which found a statistical association between increased risk of death from Covid-19 and some ethnic groups. The risk of death from Covid-19 was found to be 2x higher in people from Bangladeshi and Pakistani ethnic groups compared to the white ethnic group, and 10-50% higher in other ethnic groups including Black Caribbean and Black African.

The ‘Beyond the Data’ report explored some of the possible reasons for worse impacts of Covid-19 in BAME groups. Their reasons included:

People of Black, Asian and other minority ethnic groups may be more exposed to Covid-19, and therefore are more likely to be diagnosed. This could be the result of factors associated with ethnicity such as occupation, population density, use of public transport, household composition and housing conditions, which the currently available data did not allow us to explore in this analysis.

The review also reports that ‘once infected, many of the pre-existing health conditions that increase the risk of having severe infection (such as underlying conditions like diabetes and obesity) are more common in BAME groups and many of these conditions are socio-economically patterned. For many BAME groups, especially in poor areas, there is a higher incidence of chronic diseases and multiple long-term conditions (MLTCs), with these conditions occurring at younger ages’.

Qualitative findings in the report included that pre-existing economic and health inequalities experienced by people from BAME groups were exposed and exacerbated by Covid-19.

The report also found that racism and discrimination experienced by BAME communities was a factor influencing background health and also may be a barrier for people accessing testing and prompt treatment for Covid-19, leading to worse outcomes.

The report also made a number of national recommendations to address the issues highlighted. Recommendations include:

1.    Mandate comprehensive and quality ethnicity data collection and recording as part of routine NHS and social care data collection systems, including the mandatory collection of ethnicity data at  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Members of the Health and Wellbeing Board and Community Safety Partnership are asked to note and comment on the proposals set out in the paper. 

Cllr Mark Blake noted that the context of this piece of work was very politicised, that there were some who did not want to see progress made on racial inequalities, and that it was important to be aware of this. He added that racial prejudice existed on both an individual and institutional level.

Charlotte Pomery, Assistant Director for Commissioning, introduced the item and explained that the reason for this joint meeting was to recognise that no single agency could tackle the issues alone and that the Council wanted to work with key statutory bodies, the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS), and local communities. The paper aimed to set up a process and structure to tackle the issues and, as this was the first joint meeting, a discursive approach was envisioned which would allow some reflection and direction.

It was explained that a Partnership Co-Ordinating Group, co-chaired by the Bridge Renewal Trust and the Council, had begun to meet and it was anticipated that this Group would report to the joint meeting. The Group had explored some of the issues of racial discrimination and injustice facing residents and communities in Haringey and had proposed eight key priority strands:

(i)            Policy and strategy;

(ii)          Community safety, social justice, and policing;

(iii)         Health and Wellbeing;

(iv)         Education, attainment, out of school activity;

(v)          Faith and identity;

(vi)         Arts, culture, heritage, and place;

(vii)        Economy and employment; and

(viii)       Workforce.

It was noted that there were a number of key, emerging principles surrounding this work programme. This included acknowledgement of the fact that there was an issue and that there was a desire to change it, a recognition of the role of leaders in effecting change, understanding racial bias, committing to setting targets and to action and investment, viewing staff as sum of many parts rather than a single entity, recruiting for potential, and valuing lived experience.

It was also noted that proposed ways of working would include working with communities to co-produce solutions, investing in prevention and early intervention, not shying away from difficult conversations, targeting and re-directing resources, and improving equity of treatment.

It was explained that the joint meeting was asked to consider how often they wanted to meet, whether all members would attend meetings, whether it would be appropriate to invite other parties, how the joint meeting would oversee and add to existing areas of work, how to prioritise key actions, and how to enable organisations’ policies and resources to support key strategic aims.

Geoffrey Ocen, Bridge Renewal Trust Chief Executive, noted that having this joint meeting was a good first step which acknowledged the importance of these issues. Having spoken with local residents, he understood that there were significant, long term issues and a low level of expectation about progress; he stated that it was therefore important to have practical implementation. He suggested that it would be appropriate to have a general discussion on the questions raised in the presentation.

Cllr Julia Ogiehor noted that there were a number  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To consider any new items of urgent business admitted at item 3 above.

There were no new items of urgent business.

Members of the Board are invited to suggest future agenda items.

It was noted that the dates of future meetings would be confirmed and circulated in due course.