Agenda item

To receive reports from the two Cabinet Champions on their work during the 2023/24 Municipal Year (copy attached). The Champions are as follows:

·         Equality - Cllr Jib Belbase

·         Armed Forces – Cllr Nem Thapa

Cllr Sue Carter, (Democracy, Strategy and Partnerships Portfolio Holder), Jill Shuttleworth (Corporate Manager – Democracy) and Emma Lamb (Community and Engagement – Service Manager) have been invited to the meeting to support the item.

The Committee welcomed Cabinet Champion for Equalities and Diversity, Cllr Jib Belbase, and Cabinet Champion for Armed Forces, Cllr Nem Thapa, who were in attendance to give their annual reports for the 2023/24 Municipal Year. The Cabinet Member for Democracy, Strategy and Partnerships, Cllr Sue Carter was also in attendance to support the item.

(1)          Cabinet Champion for Equalities and Diversity

Cllr Belbase reported that he had invested significant time establishing and strengthening links with community leaders from a number of underrepresented and hard to reach groups. These included leaders from Asian communities including, Afghan and Keralan, and European communities including, Bulgarian and Ukrainian. On 13 March, 2024, a Cultural Awareness Event was held  which give community leaders access to key partners to raise awareness about UK culture and offered advice about accessing benefits, help reporting crime, fire safety at home, mental health and cost of living support, and volunteering.

It was also noted that arrangements had been made to host Gender Identity training for both officers and Elected Members in summer 2024 and Neurodiversity training had been undertaken with officers with further session planned for Elected Members. Cllr Belbase encouraged all Members to attend the sessions.

Cllr Belbase advised that all activities undertaken had been in line with the Council’s Equality and Diversity Action Plan and recommended that the Council continued to review the Action Plan taking into consideration revised working arrangements around the independence of the Rushmoor Accessibility Access Group (RAAG). Cllr Belbase also acknowledged the contribution and contiuned work of former Champion, Cllr Makunura, in relation to the RAAG.

The Committee discussed the report and raised a number of issues:

·         Ease of engagement – it was noted that most were hesitant in the first instance, but once connections had been made most were happy to engage

·         Asylum Seekers – – it was advised that a dedicated officer was now in post to support the Council’s broader resettlement work

·         Briefings with the Cabinet – It was noted that frequent briefing were held with the Leader/Cabinet and it was suggested that Members could contact the Champions should an issue arise in their ward that could benefit from Champion input

The Chairman thanked Cllr Belbase for his report.

(2)          Armed Forces Champion

Cllr Thapa reported on his achievements and activities during 2024, these included addressing cost of living pressures for veterans, continued attendance and development of connections with veterans’ hubs in both Aldershot and Farnborough and work to update the Council’s webpages with links, organisations and information to aid signposting. Work has also been underway to achieve the Gold Employee Recognition Award and since attending a workshop in January the Council had taken a number of steps to close the gap by meeting some of the criteria required. It was advised that there was still some work to be completed to achieve gold around understanding current staff connections to the armed forces, internal promotion and understanding of forces friendly policies, support for cadets and advocacy for the signing of the Armed Forces Covenant to the Council’s networks. It was hoped that an evidence based submission would be made in 2024/25.

The Committee discussed the report and the difficulty in engaging veterans from different nationalities and the need for a single venue in the Borough to bring veterans together. It was suggested that consideration could be given to a space in Union Yard, Aldershot or The Meads, Farnborough.

In response to achieving the Gold Award, it was noted that a policy on Reservists was due to be presented to the Cabinet at its next meeting for approval.

The Chairman thanked Cllr Thapa for his report.