Agenda item

To receive and consider the attached report of the Head of Locality Partnerships regarding an update of the work which the Communities Team is engaged in, based on priorities identified by the Community Committee. It also provides opportunities for further questioning, or to request a more detailed report on a particular issue.

The report also provides regular updates on some of the key activities between Community Committee meetings and functions delegated to Community Committees, Community Champions roles, community engagement, partnership and locality working.

The report of the Head of Locality Partnerships provided an update of the work which the Communities Team is engaged in, based on priorities identified by the Community Committee. It also provided an opportunity for further questioning, or to request a more detailed report on a particular issue.

The report also provided regular updates on some of the key activities between the Community Committees, Community Champion roles, community engagement, partnership and locality working.

West Yorkshire Police representatives attended the meeting to provide a focused update on the recent Harehills disorder. The following was highlighted:

·  The main issue was social services speaking with a family in Harehills and taking children into temporary care. Off the back of that, massive inequalities were identified with the Roma community.

·  The Roma community are facing inequalities from all aspects. Children in care from the Roma community has increased by 22.4% over the last couple of years and 26.5% of people in England and Wales live in overcrowded homes.

·  3 days post the disorder, a Roma working group has been established and officers have been deployed to work with the community. It is now in its second phase.

·  It has been identified that people from the Roma community are from all different areas over Asia and Europe and there has been an issue with interpreters.

·  2 Romanian police officers have been identified working for West Yorkshire.

·  A contact point has been established at Bellbrooke Centre.

·   Officers carried out a door knocking exercise around areas with evident consistencies and these areas were mostly where the Roma community are residing.

·  Letters have been issued in different languages, as well as Romanian.

·  The disorder was mainly young children, and the police are working with schools to try and work on school attendance and ensure young children from that community are isolating themselves from other communities. it was also commented that a large majority of the Roma community go to their native country over the 6-week school holiday, and this has enabled officers to speak with primary school networks.

·  As of 2^nd August 2024, 27 people have been arrested in relation to the disorder and 22 of them have been released on bail, the rest have been charged and remanded for their offences. The arrest phase came to a halt over the 6-week school period, and the arrest phase is now back into force. The police are linking with agencies to bring those individuals forward.

The Committee discussed the following matters in responding to the update from the police:

·  Councillor M Ali commented that the use of the term Roma is not considered respectful by the community and the term Romany is preferred.

·  There is a lack of trust within the Roma community and responsible authorities, third sector organisations and volunteers must make an effort to build confidence and relationships with the Roma community. Members also commented on the importance of changing perceptions of the police, so they are seen as an authority who can be trusted.

·  Positive work in terms of engagement with schools.

·  Acknowledge the issues associated with not having the right interpreters and taking it as a lesson learnt for the future.

·  Pastors are people the Roma community can trust, and they will be helpful with sharing messages.

·  Members thanked the police for their work during the disturbance and for their follow-up work post incident.

·  Further to a point of clarity, it was confirmed that a PCSO officer is assigned to go to CATCH weekly.

Members were informed that there will be a discussion around forming an engagement partnership, with key partners and will focus on how the engagement strategy can work better with different communities.

The police commented that they have identified a young individual who will be going into schools and is someone in the Roma community who will be held accountable for their actions.

RESOLVED – To note the contents of the report and update provided during the meeting.