This meeting of Lewisham Council's Safer Stronger Communities Select Committee included the scheduled consideration of its annual report on the demographic makeup of the workforce, an update on efforts to improve community cohesion in the borough, and a review of the committee’s work programme.

Workforce equalities

The committee was scheduled to receive the Council’s Annual Employment Profile and general update 2023-24. This document describes the demographic makeup of the workforce, attrition rates, the outcome of the 2024 staff survey, and details about staff development opportunities. The report also describes the Council’s Whistleblowing Policy, how it is publicised, and the number of cases raised since May 2022. The report also summarises the processes for handling complaints of sexual harassment, racism and other forms of discrimination, and it provides a breakdown of cases by age, gender, disability, ethnicity and pay grade.

This report was informed by the Public Sector Duty that is a part of the Equality Act 2010. The duty requires the Council to publish an annual report describing the demographic makeup of its workforce.

The report notes an ethnicity pay gap of 11.7% and explains that

Disappointingly, the pay gap has shown small incremental changes over the last four years. From 2021 to 2024, the ethnicity pay gap increased by 0.9 percentage points.

The report goes on to explain that

The most recent increase, from 11.3% in 2023 to 11.7% in 2024, can be attributed to the transfer of Lewisham Homes staff.

It then describes a number of things that the Council is doing to increase representation levels and tackle the ethnicity pay gap.

Community cohesion

The committee was also scheduled to receive a report about the Council’s community cohesion initiatives and the challenges they face.

The report describes the Council's Corporate Strategy 2022-2026, which commits to developing plans to

build on our legacy as London’s Borough of Culture, celebrating the diverse and creative communities within Lewisham.

The report explains that this commitment will be pursued

by creating a new Culture and Live Music Strategy and bringing artists, community groups and businesses together to launch a Black Arts Festival.

The report describes several of the initiatives that the Council has put in place to improve community cohesion, including

• its civic events programme, which is described as enabling the Council to

  build relationships and engage with organisations and communities across the borough and establish bonds of trust and confidence

• the Broadway Theatre, libraries and Adult Learning Lewisham, which are described as scheduling a range of activities to

  ensure that everyone feels a sense of belonging through cultural outputs

• the SEEN Lewisham festival, which is described as celebrating

  the inherent talent of Lewisham’s communities

• the Birmingham and Lewisham African and Caribbean Health Inequalities Review (BLACHIR), which is described as being focused on

  identifying the systemic barriers and social determinants contributing to health disparities and propose actionable solutions to improve health outcomes

• the Lewisham Borough of Sanctuary scheme, which is described as following the principles of the City of Sanctuary movement.

• the Prevent strategy, which is described as being focused on

  stopping people being drawn into or supporting terrorism

• the Lewisham Safer Neighbourhood Board, which is described as an

  independent forum where communities can meet the police, local authority and other partners to discuss local policing and other aspects of community safety

• the Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE), which is described as being required by law

  to advise the LA on matters connected with religious worship in schools and support schools in delivering their religious education (RE) curriculum

• the Lewisham Interfaith Forum, which is described as an informal group of faith leaders.

The report notes that

As highlighted above in Section 1, the Council implements various initiatives to promote community cohesion, aiming to foster inclusivity and unity among its diverse population. These include a diverse number of approaches including [...]

The report goes on to describe a number of ways that these approaches

can become service led and lack strategic join up

and states that

Officers are currently working with the Interfaith Forum to consider closer working relationshsips and considering the possible role of the Lewisham Strategic Partnership as a conduit for improved communication and coordiation.

Strategic review of engagement

The committee was scheduled to receive an update about the Council’s plans to conduct a strategic review of its engagement work.

The report explains that, in December 2024, Mayor and Cabinet agreed to end the Council’s ward assembly programme as a budget saving measure. The assemblies had been in place for many years and had delivered elements of the Council’s community engagement and community development functions. The Mayor has requested that this strategic review of the Council’s engagement work be undertaken to help determine how this work should be delivered in the future.

The report notes that the Council’s Democracy Review, published in 2021, highlighted the importance of community engagement and stated that it

emphasised that when local authorities actively engage with their communities, residents feel that their concerns are heard, leading to stronger relationships and greater confidence in the governance process

The report describes the difference between community engagement and community development and explains that:

While community engagement focuses on involving individuals or groups in the decision-making process, community development is a broader approach that aims to empower communities by building their capacity to address local issues independently.

The report also provides some background information about why the review is taking place and describes some of the positive impacts of community engagement. It explains that a programme board will be set up to oversee the review. The board will initially map all of the Council’s community engagement activities and then identify future requirements and recommend a framework for how these should be delivered in the future.

The board will be chaired by Steve Evison, Executive Director of Place. Its political leads will be Mayor Brenda Dacres and Cllr Edison Huynh, Cabinet Member for Culture and Communities.

Select Committee work programme

The committee was also scheduled to review its work programme and consider any changes that it might wish to make.

The report describes the committee's areas of responsibility, which include scrutinising the Council’s statutory crime and disorder function, reviewing the development of policies related to crime and disorder, enhancing equality of opportunity in the borough, and overseeing community development and the voluntary sector.

The report notes that the committee has

also led on aspects relating to staff such as reviewing staff survey results

and explains that the committee should consider whether to add 'Employment Profile' to its work programme for the next meeting.

The report provides guidance on how the committee should prioritise issues for scrutiny and reminds members that they

should consider whether there are alternative methods for gathering information or receiving updates on issues of interest. For example, would a briefing, written summary or review of exiting material be more appropriate and effective?

The report also notes that the committee should consider how its work programme relates to the Council’s corporate priorities. The report goes on to provide a summary of the corporate priorities that were set out in the Council’s Corporate Strategy 2022-2026.

The meeting also included an item in which committee members were scheduled to:

consider the items for the next meeting and specify the information required

and an item in which they were scheduled to review

the forward plan of key decisions attached at Appendix E and consider whether there are any items that should be considered for scrutiny.

The following topics were scheduled for discussion at the next meeting:

• Public Spaces Protection Order update
• Police-community engagement and tackling crime update.