Issue - meetings

To consider the report of the Strategic Director for People and Communities.

Agreed:

RESOLVED that the item be deferred.

Reason for Decision: As agreed at the meeting.

The Executive received the report on the proposed Hate Crime Policy 2025-2030 to accompany the previously agreed Housing Anti-Social Behaviour Policy in November 2024, which aimed to  address hate crimes and incidents in Council housing communities.

Particular reference was made to:

·        the new Hate Crime Policy would function alongside the previously approved Housing Anti-Social Behaviour Policy; and

·        the policy had been drafted from a best practice approach would be subject to refinements during implementation.

During the debate, the following points were made:

·        it was requested that policy be amended to include non-binary persons along with transgender or perceived transgender definitions; and

·        having a separate policy highlighted that hate crime was a criminal act and the policy would strengthening resident awareness to it.

The Portfolio Holder for Housing, Homelessness Prevention and Customer Services spoke to the item and commented on the sadness that such a policy was needed but was very necessary for tenants and the public.

An opposition group leader raised concerns about the Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) and the inconsistency in detailing impacts across protected characteristics, the potential lack of resident involvement in its creation questioned how residents and officers would understand its potential impacts on various groups.

The Strategic Director for People and Communities advised:

·        in 2023 the council had requested a Local Government Associations (LGA)   Mini Peer Review on its Equalities Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) policy and practice which identified improvements needed to the Councils approach; and

·        as a result, there was a Corporate EDI Improvement plan currently being implemented which includes specific work to upskill staff in relation to the undertaking of Equality Impact Assessments. This training was being rolled out as of the day of the meeting.

The Strategic Director for People and Communities agreed that the Equality Impact Assessment for this policy required further work and requested that the report on this proposed policy be deferred to enable the EQIA to be re-worked and use the existing version as an improvement/training  exercise. A report with a reviewed EQIA would be brought back at a future date.

The Leader agreed with deferring the item to allow an update to the EQIA, to ensure it was of the right standard to enable members to make informed decisions.

RESOLVED that the item be deferred.