Agenda item

The Director of Delivery, Communications and Political Governance submits a report to outline the research undertaken by the City Listening Project team over the previous 12 months and summarise the key findings and recommendation relevant to this committee.

The Commission is recommended to;

1)    Note the contents of the report, in particular the findings of the research project and the recommendations (both local and national).

2)    Endorse the recommendations in principle, subject to any comment and/or revisions.

The Director of Delivery, Communications and Political Governance submitted a report to outline the research undertaken by the City Listening Project team over the previous 12 months and summarise the key findings and recommendation relevant to this committee.

The Assistant City Mayor for Communities, Equalities and Special Projects introduced the report and noted the importance of this work in terms of equalities and giving women in Leicester a voice. Leicester was one of three cities awarded funds to carry out this project to research women’s position in the city. The project which had now concluded, was jointly carried out with the Neighbourhoods and Equalities teams. The research focussed on identifying barriers to equality and women’s achievements in diverse communities of Leicester and to gain their view as to what solutions would work for the challenge’s women faced on a day to day basis. These very valuable insights and dialogue were used to help produce recommendations for local and national government. Department management teams had been enthusiastic about taking forward the recommendations and also added some of their own recommendations in areas of work that they would like to see further developed. For Leicester City Council (LCC) all the recommendations taken forward would be reported back through the equalities action plan.

Area Development Manager for Neighbourhoods and Environmental Services added that there were two ways of using this research; the report had direct recommendations however some projects were using the research as evidence to better other works/ projects. The government had recently informed the service that they would like to make contact with some of the stakeholder groups who engaged with LCC during their research, to ask further questions in relation to childcare and childcare provision.

The Commission welcomed the project and made the following points during discussion on the report:

·         Will the equalities action plan then be incorporating or taking forward many of the recommendations that were included in the report?

Response from Area Development Manager for Neighbourhoods and Environmental Services:

Once the current vacancy in the Equalities Manager post had been filled it would be in the equalities plan to ensure that the recommendations were followed up. This would ensure the longevity of the project and also look at more research outside of the recommendations.

·         Concerns were expressed for the safety of women especially in dark areas, can the streetlights be brightened?

Response from the Director of Planning, Development and Transportation:

The service carried out equalities impact assessments on all projects which considered all aspects of equalities including those that related to women. For instance, lighting matters, Leicester City had a good network of LED lighting which served the community and allowed for lights to be altered depending on safety concerns.

·         How do we influence workplace and flexible working?

Response from the Head of Economic Regeneration:

It was noted that this team managed the Employment Hub service which involved working with businesses to encourage them to recruit people into their workforce. When developing employment skills plans with businesses, it was noted that this helps steer them to address the barriers within employment that the report highlights. In addition, the workspace portfolio was bringing forward flexible workspaces and business space that can be accessed flexibly. It was further noted that the city had a high proportion of small micro businesses and freelancers, which would create good opportunities for women to work.

·         The report noted women who may want to participate in learning or other things but found childcare as an issue, what were your insights from the Adult Education side?

Response from the Head of Adult Skills and Learning Services:

There was some funding to support childcare however these had to be OFSTED registered providers. This was recognised to be a barrier however online learning had offered many women an opportunity to overcome some of the childcare issues. One of the key things identified due to Covid-19 was the impact of home-schooling on women as they faced issues of not having enough devices or bandwidth to share amongst family.

The Assistant City Mayor for Communities, Equalities and Special Projects would be working with the Assistant City Mayor for Job, Skills, Policy Delivery and Communications to look at digital issues.

It was emphasised that this was a live document so other aspects may also derive from it and therefore the Equalities team would be producing regular reports. The view was that it was a process to address the recommendations, some of which could be addressed at the local level however some may also need to be addressed at government level. Thanks, were extended to all Officers who worked on the project.

AGREED:

1.    That the Commission welcome and note the contents of the report, in particular the findings of the research project and the recommendations (both local and national).

2.    That the Commission endorse the recommendations in principle, subject to any comment and/or revisions.