Memorandum by Coventry City Council (SOC
73)
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Coventry City Council is delighted to
be able to give evidence to the ODPM Inquiry into Social Cohesion.
Coventry is a City which has welcomed incoming groups from a wide
range of countries and UK regions, all coming to share in economic
prosperity and a harmonious city. Today over 100 languages are
used on a day to day basis in the City. The Council is not complacent
about what has been achieved and continues to work with partners
to sustain harmony in the City. In particular the Council uses
its history of international peace and reconciliation stimulated
by the damage to the City during the Second World War, to strengthen
its approach to community/social cohesion within its own boundaries.
1.2 The Council works hard to meet, and
work beyond, its legal duties by working to eliminate discrimination,
promote equality of opportunity and promote good relations between
people of different backgrounds. It has a clear policy setting
out its position on race equality which fits strongly with the
community cohesion agenda. We state very clearly that any form
of racism, racial discrimination or racist behaviour is unacceptable
and that we will work with our partners to challenge racism, combat
racial harassment and celebrate diversity of culture.
1.3 Definitions
The City Council recognises the working definition
of community cohesion used by the Home Office, that a cohesive
community is one where:
— There is a common vision and a sense
of belonging for all communities.
— The diversity of people's different
backgrounds and circumstances are appreciated and positively valued.
— Those from different backgrounds
have similar life opportunities.
— Strong and positive relationship
are being developed between people from different backgrounds
in the workplace, in schools and within neighbourhoods.
1.4 Structure of this paper
Conscious of the amount of reading material
with which the Committee has to grapple, this submission has been
structured as follows:
— Current demographic make-up of Coventry.
— Dealing with future challenges.
2. CURRENT DEMOGRAPHIC
AND DEPRIVATION
PROFILE OF
COVENTRY
2.1 Clearly particular local demographics,
circumstances and history play a part in the ability of Coventry
to avoid social unrest and be known as a City with good race relations
and community cohesion.
2.2 Coventry has a population of around
300,000, and in relation to the ethnic composition of the City,
has less than the national average for numbers of White people
in the population at 84%. However, in comparison, there is more
than double the national average Asian or Asian British residents
in Coventry (11.3%) and this is comprised largely of Indian residents
(8%). Black or Black British groups make up 1.8% of the city's
population. Three point five per cent of the population is Irish.
2.3 Five wards in Coventry feature in the
top 10% of most deprived wards nationally, according to the Index
of Multiple Deprivation 2000. Three of these wards also have higher
than average minority ethnic residents. These wards are notable
for the high level of social cohesion and this is to a large degree
attributable to the work carried out in these local areas by Councillors,
local residents, different public agencies and some active private
sector companies like Jaguar and Peugot.
3. THE COVENTRY
MODEL
3.1 The Coventry Model of addressing community
cohesion is a five point framework:
— Day-to-day service delivery.
— Regeneration strategies.
— Maximising opportunities.
The Council believe that Coventry's success
to date in sustaining some degree of community cohesion is not
due to any single one of these factors, but to a combination of
approaches. None of these could sustain community cohesion by
themselves and the emphasis placed on each has varied depending
on the circumstances.
3.2 Above all the Council believe that the
city's success has been based on consistent care and attention
to detail by partners in the City. For reasons of space we cannot
include them all, but these include a wide range of community
organisations; Coventry Voluntary Services Council, Coventry Primary
Care Trust, Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, Coventry
University Coventry and Warwickshire Learning and Skills Council,
Jaguar, Peugot, Warwick University, West Midlands Police, West
Midlands Fire Service, Whitefriars Housing Group and other housing
associations. None of the partners would claim they have managed
to achieve everything they would like to in relation to social
/community cohesion, either in their own organisation or in the
City generally and there is considerably more work to be done.
However each partner individually has tackled different issues
with an eye to community cohesion and within the Coventry Partnership
(our Local Strategic Partnership) partners have made sure that
our Community Plan is underpinned by a coherent approach to social
cohesion. The Partnership will continue to be a prime mover in
supporting community cohesion, supported and led by the City Council.
3.3 Day to day service delivery
3.3.1 The Council endeavours to recognise
community cohesion in its mainstream day-to-day service provision.
Examples of this include:
Area Co-ordination
3.3.2 Area Co-ordination forms an integral
part of the way that the Council works with communities in ways
that foster social cohesion. It consists of staff from a range
of Council services who focus on working very locally with a strong
focus on the city's 31 priority neighbourhoods. The Council's
recent Comprehensive Performance Assessment recognised Coventry's
success in community cohesion and regeneration as shown through
work to improve services, training opportunities and facilities
in local areas such as Hillfields, an area of the City with a
high number of minority ethnic groups from a wide range of cultures
and faiths.
3.3.3 Specific examples from another area,
Foleshill, include, the active promotion of joint working between
a number of voluntary and community organisations such as the
Indian Community Centre, Coventry Bangladesh Centre and the Muslim
Resource Centre to promote and maintain cohesion; the production
of neighbourhood plans through extensive consultation with all
communities within the area including targeted consultation with
particular groups within communities; the production of specific
action plans for supporting asylum seekers and refugees locally;
support to community projects encouraging community cohesion such
as the Edgwick Sports Project which enables 60-70 young people
from a variety of ethnic backgrounds to work together via sports
activities.
Education
3.3.4 The Education and Libraries Directorate
of the Council provides ongoing training, advice and guidance
to schools on opportunities to promote Community Cohesion through
the Personal Social & Health Education and Citizenship elements
of the curriculum.
3.3.5 In promoting Citizenship Education,
Coventry LEA produced curriculum planning advice which promoted
respecting diversity as a key value and attitude to be developed
in young people. The "Hear Us" project, which raises
awareness of Refugees and Asylum Seekers, trains Sixth Form students
to deliver workshops to younger students, and has been successful
in challenging stereotypes. Another project has been the development
of curriculum materials which considered citizenship from Muslim
perspectives. This has been published by Islamic Relief and shared
with all Coventry secondary schools.
3.3.6 A Community Cohesion Co-ordinator's
post has been introduced through mainstream funding to specifically
look at these issues in relation to the provision of education
in Coventry. Other examples of cohesion activity include a Dual
Heritage pilot project, which has focused on raising the self-esteem
of dual heritage pupils, providing opportunities that help them
to appreciate the cultural diversity of their dual communities
and to explore issues such as coping strategies for dealing with
racism.
Youth Services
3.3.7 The Service frequently works with
young people who are perceived to be causing problems within the
local community. Sometimes the perceptions are accurate and strategies
are devised to resolve the issues. On other occasions the perceptions
are inaccurate (eg small gatherings of young people are often
seen as threatening, when, more often that not, they are harmless
meetings of friends) and the service then plays an advocacy role.
Examples of Youth Service Community Cohesion work are:
Democracy Project: The Youth Service's
Democracy project has a focus on enabling young people to have
a voice and to develop the skills to become empowered members
of the local communities. Where young people are able to express
their views and have them heard and listened to, there is a significant
contribution to issues of community coherence.
Stoke Heath: The Youth Worker for the
Stoke Heath area is working with Centre AT7 (a local sports centre)
and the Groundwork Trust on a street hockey project—the
main aim of the project is to enable a very disaffected group
of young people to operate more effectively within their community
whilst resolving some of the issues and problems that have led
them into conflict situations.
Hillfields: the CHARM project (Cultural
Heritage and Role Models) works with young people, primarily Refugees
and Asylum Seekers to explore how cultural issues impact on their
lives, eg enable refugees to have a better understanding of local
culture whilst enabling other young people to understand the cultures
of Refugees.
Barrs Hill Youth Club: Buddies Group:
A group targeted at new arrivals and host community young people
meet to explore what it is to be a young person in Britain and
the diversity and commonality of their experience.
Social Services
3.3.8 A variety of projects receive mainstream
funding from the Council's Social Services Directorate in order
to ensure adequate provision for particular groups. For example,
the Osaba Women's Centre enables daycare arrangements to be provided
for predominantly African Caribbean groups. Other projects that
are funded enable the provision of services to ethnic minority
elders and those with mental health problems, as well as to ethnic
minority victims of domestic violence. There is a pilot project
on neighbourhood children's services taking place in Foleshill.
Our services for Asylum Seeker unaccompanied minors were praised
by the Social Services Inspectorate in their recent inspection
of Children's Services.
Community Safety
3.3.9 The Community Safety Partnership's
Hate Crime Working Group are discussing the benefits of a signed
protocol for Coventry to demonstrate the commitment from all agencies
that hate crime will not be tolerated or accepted in the city.
We hope to get political support in time for the local elections,
particularly as the BNP are intending to stand in the local elections
in June. It is intended that all members of the Coventry Partnership
and others will sign up to the protocol. We hope to launch this
alongside a roadshow to be delivered through all schools to promote
diversity and community cohesion and re-iterate the message of
zero tolerance. Coventry's Hate Crime Reduction Strategy will
have an overview of Hate Crime Services in Coventry and the priorities
of different agencies. We aim to enhance partnership/multi agency
working by supporting victims, taking preventative measures and
action against perpetrators. We also aim to increase reporting
and recognition of incidents of harassment and crime which are
racially motivated and reduce the incidents of hate crimes and
harassment.
Public Protection
3.3.10 Public Protection has a number of
good examples of supporting community cohesion:
Bereavement Services have established
specific areas at the cemeteries for the burial of members of
the Muslim, Greek Orthodox and Hebrew Communities ie aligning
graves towards Mecca and allowing the family to backfill them
and relaxing memorial regulations to allow for candles, photographs
and religious artefacts to be an integral part of the memorial
etc. We have introduced a seven day burial service that includes
the ability to register the death over the weekend to meet the
needs of the Muslim Community. Consultation with the Sikh and
Hindu Community resulted in the chapels at Canley Crematorium
being able to be converted into temple ceremony rooms, and facilities
behind the scenes being sympathetically designed, to enable the
next of kin to witness the actual committal of the coffin to the
cremator.
Health promotion—A Health Development
Officer (Communities) is employed to work with Refugees to familiarise
them with their surroundings and rules of everyday living including
buying and preparing food, cooking, shopping, raising awareness
about services and how to access them.
Services to Asylum Seekers and Refugees
3.3.11 Much of the funding for the day to
day support of asylum seekers comes from the National Asylum Seekers
Service (NASS) but the City Council and its partners have made
considerable efforts to ensure that Asylum Seekers and Refugees
are being dealt with fairly and have as much opportunity as possible
to integrate into the community. The Council has an Asylum Seeker
and Refugee Strategy agreed in March 2003 whose actions are being
refined and implemented. The Council has had an Asylum and Refugee
Co-ordinator post since February 2000, although of course we have
been delivering services to Asylum Seekers and Refugees for some
years. We have a strategic partner group and a number of sub groups
working on Housing, Health and Well-being, Education, Employment
and Training, Social Services (unaccompanied minors) and Refugee
Integration. The City is very fortunate in having an active homegrown
Refugee Centre which works closely with the major public sector
agencies in the City. It is estimated that there are at least
2,000 refugees living in the City. We believe Coventry has been
successful in dealing with the challenges that this brings, but
our long history of welcoming groups from all nations has made
us well placed to do this and there is some very positive work
going on.
3.4 Regeneration Strategies
3.4.1 During 2003-04 Coventry has benefited
from some £17 million of regeneration funding from central
government and European sources which will support the cohesion
agenda across the City. These resources, available through legacy
SRB programmes, a New Deal for Communities Programme, the Neighbourhood
Renewal Fund and the Regional European Objective 2 Programme all
contribute to the objectives of making our communities stronger
through a better environment and housing, improvements in local
economic conditions, higher levels of employment and skills and
improved local services.
3.4.2 The Council has sought to avoid exclusive
concentration of regeneration activity in any one area of the
city. Regeneration has clearly focussed on the most deprived areas
of the city some of which include the highest numbers of minority
ethnic groups, but in addition to concentrating on the main areas
of high deprivation the Council has sought to direct specific
external funding to the south east of the city and to a more limited
degree to the west. We have endeavoured to tackle negative misconceptions
about funding schemes being perceived to favour one group over
another by communication and community consultation and involvement
in regeneration.
3.4.3 Over the last three years almost £12
million of Neighbourhood Renewal Funding has been used to support
90 projects aimed at narrowing the gap between our most disadvantaged
neighbourhoods and the rest of the city. Initially targeted on
six priority neighbourhoods and two priority groups (the African
Caribbean community and looked after children) NRF has been used
to support a range of locally based actions to meet the specific
needs of these individual communities as well a range of cross-area
initiatives that have addressed such specific issues as improving
educational opportunities for those children who speak a first
language other than English, support for carers, the development
and implementation of the Coventry Learning Plan and closer links
between businesses and the City's voluntary and community organisations.
3.4.4 On the northern edge of the City,
which has a predominantly White population, New Deal for Communities
funds have been used to develop and roll out key projects including
a Neighbourhood Warden scheme, a major new training and employment
information and access point, expansion of childcare facilities
and opportunities and measures to increase community involvement
and build community capacity.
3.5 Responding to events
3.5.1 The Council has always tried to head
off possible local problems stemming from world events affecting
the relatives and heritage of different ethnic groups in Coventry.
Examples of this have included:
— a meeting of community leaders convened
by the Council following 9/11/2001;
— a meeting of community leaders during
the period of extreme tensions between India and Pakistan in 2002;
and
— a meeting of community leaders toward
the end of the Iraq conflict in 2003.
In each case these meetings have led to a jointly
agreed statement by community leaders and direct feedback into
communities. They have been led by leading Councillors (Leader,
Opposition Leader and Lord Mayor) and have often involved local
MPs. (We currently have the city's first Asian Lord Mayor, Cllr
Sucha Singh Bains).
3.6 Maximising opportunities
3.6.1 Also critical to sustaining community
cohesion is making maximum use of initiatives with other primary
objectives to promote community cohesion. Good examples of this
are:
Holocaust Memorial Day—in Coventry
while following the thematic national lead, the Council, with
other partners eg Coventry Cathedral has made sure that its ceremony
has reflected Coventry's local multi-ethnic profile eg Holocaust
Memorial Day 2002, there was a reading by a Bosnian woman who
had arrived in Coventry as an Asylum Seeker and been given Refugee
status.
Coventry Peace Month—2003 saw Coventry's
first Peace Month focused on the international Hiroshima exhibition.
The City Council, with partners, ensured that Peace Month included
talks on peace from different religious perspectives reflecting
major religious groups in Coventry. The Council has used the theme
of peace and reconciliation, originally generated internationally
as results of events in the Second World War to focus on cohesion
and harmony more locally in Coventry.
3.7 Specific Initiatives
3.7.1 Finally the Council and its partners
have produced specific initiatives targeted at increasing community
cohesion and tackling forces designed to damage it. Examples have
included:
Swapping Cultures—a specific opportunity
for young people to exchange information about their culture.
Supported by Coventry and Warwickshire Councils, and led by the
Coventry and Warwickshire Connexions Service and Minorities of
Europe, this exciting partnership project aims to help to build
cohesive communities by encouraging young people to exchange information
about their different cultures. The project will initially involve
2,600 young people aged between eight to 19+ from Coventry and
Warwickshire.
Myth-busting literature on Asylum Seekers
and Refugees—leaflet produced by the Council to give
more accurate information about Asylum Seekers and Refugees. This
material is currently being reprinted.
Equalities & Communities Theme Group
of the Coventry Partnership—a high profile media campaign
is being planned using positive images of Coventry people from
diverse backgrounds. This will happen in partnership with the
Coventry Evening Telegraph, who have recently won a CRE award
for their media coverage of Asylum Seekers.
4. DEALING WITH
FUTURE CHALLENGES
4.1 There are still many key challenges
for the City Council in achieving community cohesion. It is clear
that there is no room for complacency. It is important for the
Council to continue to improve the way in which it addresses the
diverse needs of communities in its day to day services and with
its partners.
To support this the Council needs to find innovative
ways to develop employee knowledge and work on targets relating
to its role as the City's largest employer, improving not only
the number of people from different ethnic groups employed by
the Council overall, but also the level of people from different
minority groups employed at senior levels.
One of our major challenges is to continue to
respond to myths and prejudice about Asylum Seekers and Refugees.
We are particularly concerned to make sure that partners in the
City respond decisively and collectively to racist attacks and
we have very positive relationships with the West Midlands Police
in tackling this.
It is also important that we continue to develop
the capacity to respond to events as they arise and tackle unexpected
issues. The agenda is constantly changing. Issues such as the
rise of far-right parties at home and in the rest of Europe, are
a clear cause for concern. The City Council and its partners are
united in their resolve to tackle any individuals or groups who
would promote racism, intolerance or social unrest. We will continue
to use every means possible to promote community harmony and improve
the quality of life of everyone living in Coventry.
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