This meeting was scheduled to receive reports on a variety of issues including the work of the Council's Equality and Hate Crime Team, and how the Council was responding to the Climate Emergency it declared in 2019. It was also scheduled to consider the Scrutiny Board's work schedule for 2024/25.

Hate Crime

The Board was scheduled to receive an update from the Director of Communities, Housing and Environment, on the Council's approach to work associated with the hate crime agenda. The report included information about the remit of the Equality and Hate Crime Team, which sits within Community Relations and Cohesion in the Safer Stronger Communities directorate.

The Board was scheduled to discuss a number of projects and schemes that aim to help the Council achieve the five priorities of its Hate Crime Strategy, which are:

(1) Preventing Hate Crime (2) Responding To Hate Crime (3) Increasing The Reporting of Hate Crime (4) Improving support for Victims of Hate Crime. (5) Building Our Understanding of Hate Crime

This included receiving updates on the work that the Council has been doing on Islamophobia, which it has decided is defined as:

‘Anti-Muslim Prejudice is direct or indirect hatred and discrimination against anyone of Islamic faith on grounds of their belief and practice'.

and on Antisemitism, which it defines according to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition, which is:

Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.

The Board was also scheduled to receive an update about the Council's network of Third Party Reporting Centres for Hate Crime and signposting centres. The Council's contract with Stop Hate UK provides telephone and online reporting for people who experience hate crime.

Climate Emergency

The Board was scheduled to receive an update on the work that continues to be undertaken following the Council's declaration of a Climate Emergency in 2019.

The report provided an update on the progress the Council has made on reducing its own carbon emissions and on the work it has been doing to help the wider city of Leeds become Net Zero. It also included information about relevant changes to regional and national policies.

The Board was scheduled to receive an update on the Council's progress toward its stated ambition to be the first net-zero city in the UK.

Zero carbon is one of the three pillars of our Best City Ambition as we aim to become the first net zero city in the UK, rapidly reducing carbon emissions and reversing the decline in biodiversity, while supporting people to make more sustainable choices which can improve their standard of living.

The report listed many of the specific ways in which the Council has been working to reduce its carbon footprint. This included information about:

• The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) programme, which is delivering energy efficiency measures and renewable energy generation to a number of corporate buildings and schools
• The recent completion of the project to replace all of the city's street lights with energy saving LEDs
• The council's fleet of 380 electric vehicles
• The Leeds PIPES District Heating Network, which supplies heat from a central energy centre to public and private sector buildings in the city centre. It is delivered in partnership with Vital Energi.
• The Woodland Creation Scheme, which is increasing the city's canopy cover through planting new trees and educating school children about how to collect and plant tree seeds.
• The work that the Council is doing to take advantage of the new Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) planning regulations, which require developers to create or improve natural habitats to ensure that their developments leave biodiversity better off than before they took place.

The report also set out the Council's approach to supporting workers and businesses in the transition to a green economy:

Facilitate easy access to green skills, job information/opportunities, career pathways and to enable young people and adults to make informed choices. Develop targeted green skills, employability and innovation initiatives to support those furthest from the labour market, the economically inactive and those in low-paid or insecure work to develop skills required to access further learning and employment within low carbon growth sectors. There is also help to support the delivery of transition for those currently in jobs at high risk of not upskilling.

Work Schedule

The Board was scheduled to consider its work schedule for the 2024/25 municipal year. The report set out the scheduled topics, which included scrutiny of the Council's budget proposals for 2024/25, and its plans for Selective Licensing in the private rented sector.