Events > Community Cohesion: Reconnecting Local Authorities with their Communities

Event Details

Title:

Community Cohesion: Reconnecting Local Authorities with their Communities

Date:

Thursday 3rd December 2009

Time:

10:00am – 4:30pm

Venue:

The Guoman Charing Cross Hotel, Westminster, London

“One of the Government's core principles for cohesion is the focus on the 'local' … Integrating new communities and promoting cohesion between existing groups, while being driven by national events and changes, is experienced, for the most part, at the local level: and at local level the experience can also vary greatly.” “… the financial crisis is not an excuse to stop thinking about cohesion, but to take it to the next level … This is a challenge that calls for local ingenuity, flexibility, working across public bodies, sharing resources and expertise, forging links with charities, community and voluntary groups. My message to local authorities and their partners is clear: no-one can afford to leave this to chance …”
— Communities Minister, April 2009

“… But none of this will work unless on the doorstep, in pubs and community centres local people know and see that someone is speaking up for them and fighting their corner. They need to know that the jobs being created are jobs they can get, the houses being built are homes they can live in, and that the library, the school and the hospitals are being built for them, their families and their community … And if we fail, the danger is that extremists will try to exploit dissatisfaction and insecurity in ways which will pull communities apart.”
— Secretary of State for Communities & Local Government, October 2009

Overview

In response to an extensive review conducted by the Commission on Integration and Cohesion in 2007, the Government launched a series of measures to promote community cohesion through integration, better understanding and positive relations. Investing £50m across 3 years, the Government emphasised the importance of creating local solutions for local problems, within a wider environment of fairness and opportunity, under strong and engaged local leadership.

The changing migration landscape, alongside the recession and increased competition for resources has contributed to a rise in disengagement and resentment amongst some white working class sections of local communities and has posed new and complex challenges to local leadership. Seeking to empower and inform disaffected communities and tackle the phenomenon of ‘parallel lives’, the Government has provided additional supportive measures, including:

£34m funding over the next 3 years for local authorities where cohesion poses the biggest challenges

£12m funding for the ‘Connecting Communities’ Programme

Developing a Cohesion Delivery Framework

£61m funding for the Prevent Strategy – recently widened to incorporate right wing extremism

This special Public Policy Exchange symposium, hosted by the Centre for Parliamentary Studies, offers a timely opportunity for local stakeholders to consider the new challenges that local authorities and their partners face in reconnecting the ties that bind local communities together. Delegates will discuss how to encourage active participation across all generations, develop trust in local institutions and provide fair and consistent access to public services for all members of their community. The symposium will also examine how to engage and empower white working class sections of every community and prevent the exploitation of local grievances. Delegates will have the opportunity to debate, share best practice and network with colleagues from across the community cohesion, local authority and government landscape.

Programme

09:15

Registration & Morning Refreshments

10:00

Chair's Welcome & Introduction

Nick Johnson (Chair) Director of Policy, Institute of Community Cohesion (confirmed)

10:30

Panel Session One:
Local Authorities and their Communities – Reconnecting the Ties that Bind

Responding to New Challenges in Turbulent Times
Understanding the New Multi-Cultural Landscape
Engaging with Communities and Developing Trust in Local Institutions
Active Communities – Encouraging Participation and Positive Interaction Across All Generations

Ciara Wells, Deputy Director, Cohesions and Faiths, Department for Communities and Local Government (confirmed)
Cllr. Adele Morris, Cohesion Portfolio Lead, London Borough of Southwark (confirmed)
Representative, Analytical Studies Unit, Office for Public Management (confirmed)

11:15

Morning Coffee Break

11:30

Open Discussion & Debate with Panel One

12:30

Networking Lunch

13:30

Panel Session Two:
Deprivation, Disaffection, Disengagement: Delivering Local Solutions for Local Problems

Preventing the Exploitation of Disaffected Communities
Empowering Local People to Shape the Future of their Neighbourhood
Providing Fair and Consistent Access to Public Resources
Transforming Local Leadership

Bana Gora, Head of Bradford Programme, Joseph Roundtree Foundation (invited)
Rose Doran, Community Cohesion Advisor, Improvement and Development Agency (invited)