Northern Ireland Community Relations Council - About Us - Council Minutes

16 November 2011

Minutes of Policy and Communications Committee

16 November 2011, CRC Boardroom

Present: Jonny Byrne (Chair), Billy Gamble, Tony McCusker, Tony Kennedy, Robin Morton and Hassan Mansour

Apologies: Sylvia Gordon, Sinead McShane, Rosie McCorley, David Russell

In attendance: Ray Mullan, Duncan Morrow, Patricia O’Neill, Jacqueline Irwin, Dympna McGlade, Bebhinn McKinley, Kelan McClelland and Grace Hamilton

1 Welcome and Apologies

Jonny Byrne (Chair) welcomed those members who were in attendance and noted apologies as stated above.

2 Minutes of the Previous Meeting and matters arising

Minutes of the previous meeting were taken as read.

Following Neil Jarman’s presentation to the Committee, the paper was circulated to members, no further comments were received. The report will form the agenda for the meeting with the Chief Commissioner. Tony signed off the paper and it will go to Council and NIHRC for ratification. Dympna will liaise with David Russell.

Regarding point 10, consultation on the establishment of a Belfast City Centre waiting list, NIHE has extended the deadline until 5^th December. Kelan will circulate the draft and feedback should be back to him by 22^nd November to go out in Council papers on the 23^rd.
Committee to respond to the NIHE draft.

3 Chair’s Business

Chair suggested that the Terms of Reference of the Committee need to be revised. The new Communications sub Committee would also need to devise Terms of Reference. Policy and sub Committee to produce draft Terms for next Committee Meeting.

Chair also asked members where they saw the direction of the Advocacy Strategy now that the first phase is complete. The Committee suggested the launch of the Draft Programme for Government (PfG) would dictate the direction over the next 12 months or length of the Assembly. They asked that a review of the Strategy in light of the PfG should be brought to the Committee at the next meeting.

Bebhinn to draw up review.

4 Communications Sub Group

Robin was welcomed as a new member and Chair of the new sub group which will consist of Robin, Tony Kennedy, Katie Hanlon and Dr Leon Litvack. The first meeting will be on the 25^th November. The agenda will include the Terms of Reference. General communication issues will be discussed with more focus and relevant items brought back to main committee. The group will also look at media and PR opportunities and challenges. At present guidance is needed on PR handling of the departure of the CEO and future CRC spokesperson role. Ray referred to Duncan’s recent interview by Robin Morton in the Presbyterian Herald mentioning his departure. A number of informal queries have already been received from press and stakeholders. Committee were informed that Council and the DCEO will give direction on this.. Discussions are ongoing and Council will debate this at their next meeting.

PfG was discussed briefly and Ray is to issue a Press Release when it becomes available.

5 Publications

Ray Mullan, Director of Communications, reported that the annual report with the listing of Grant Awards will be published, following sign off by the NI Auditors.

Duncan Morrow’s (CEO) review of CRC will be available in the New Year after Council ratification

The Executive Summaries of the five legacy publications are to be launched by the IFI’s Community Bridges Programme at their conference on 21^st November. The themes of the reports will be discussed in workshops on the day. A decision to publish the books should be made by February 2012

A report is to be published based on the “Commemorating the Past- Remembering the Future” Conference (in collaboration with the Heritage Lottery Fund) compiled by Deirdre MacBride; this publication has been delayed but should be available in January 2012.

Paul Nolan’s statistical analysis of Community Relations work is to be published by Rowntree. A qualitative summary, supplemented by writers outside CRC will be available soon.

There was some discussion around the title ‘Yearbook’ for the publication and how the statistical analysis can be used. The Communication Sub Committee will discuss this at their next meeting on 25^th November.

6 CSI Update

In regards to CSI, this is with the five party working group who are slowly reviewing the Strategy.

It was suggested that CRC should prepare a short overview of the way ahead for the working group.

It was agreed to wait for the draft Programme for Government (PfG) release before drafting the overview.

It was also suggested a Press Release should be posted when the draft PfG becomes available.

Duncan and Bebhinn to work on the ‘way ahead’ overview, Ray to write PfG press release.

7 Advocacy Update

Bebhinn McKinley updated members on the meetings with political representatives and is awaiting sign off on the follow up communications. She is also collating key points from the Party Conferences.

There has been a range of follow up meetings and correspondence

It was also put forward that core themes needed to be identified for the Strategy.

Committee asked for a review for the next meeting.

8 Policy Conference and CR Week

CR week was provisionally marked in for 21^st May this date was changed to 14^th May 2012 to accommodate Chair of Council. Engagement of PR company to go out to Tender.

There was some discussion around themes for the Policy Conference and Dympna asked that all suggestions should be with her by early January.

9 Interface Working Group/Interface Community Partners event

This will take place on 14^th December at Belfast City Hall in advance of their Christmas gathering. There was some discussion around the programme for the day as some thought it may be a bit ‘crowded’. As the Community Partners had put a great deal of work into the programme it should stand. Billy also felt that a report on interfaces and summer interventions may be available before the event. After further discussions is was felt that the report should be launched separately.

10               Consultations and NI Assembly Update

There were Assembly questions re CSI on 14^th November. (AQO 723/11-15) and (AQO 725/11-15). Kelan will send to Council and Management

Re the Belfast City Centre Waiting List, Deirdre Mac Bride has been working             on this and will be responding.

Kelan also worked on the NIHRC paper. Consultation on the Social Investment fund will be circulated electronically. He is responding to Equality Schemes using the generic Equality Scheme template. He requested comments on the Northern Ireland Children and Young People’s Plan, this is still a draft document until ratified by Council.

Tony McCusker was happy to sign off on Bill of Rights paper. Kelan gave some background.

It was suggested that a sub group should be set up to deal with PfG – this group could deal with any comments by email.

Duncan gave some background on the Housing Paper. He also gave some background on Armagh Council who are keen to devise a local flags protocol.          It was mooted that a local model might feed in to improve existing protocol.

12 Date of Next Meeting

Wednesday 18th January 2011 at 10am in the Board Room of CRC Offices.

The meeting ended at 12 noon.