23 March 2004

Minutes of the

Policy Development Committee Meeting

23^rd March 2004

Present: Robin Wilson (Chair for meeting), Nial Fitzduff, Roise Ni Bhaoill, Vivienne Pollock.

Apologies: Ward Erwin, Edwin Graham, Declan O'Loan, Damien McElroy.

In Attendance: Dympna McGlade, Patricia O'Neill, Ali McAllister, David Russell, Jacqueline Irwin.

1. Minutes of last meeting

One change to previous minutes noted. Minutes then agreed as accurate.

2. Matters arising

a. A Shared Future

Mary Bunting is still due to attend the residential for Council members to discuss the findings of the Shared Future Consultation.

Ms Irwin confirmed that CRC has secured funding for the next 3 years.

Mr Wilson told the meeting that OFMDFM are obliged to come up with an action plan in June, a framework on how to take the findings forward. CRC is a trusted part of the loop.

b. Newtownabbey

A report has appeared this week in the Belfast Telegraph on CRC's research into sectarianism in Newtownabbey, a copy of which was included in their papers. The committee was told that it was not that much and could have been worse. Dr Morrowhas been in touch with the CEO of Newtownabbey Council and hopes to arrange a meeting to discuss the findings of the report in the near future. Ms McGlade told the meeting that the report is now up to date and all recommendations of the committee have been implemented.

c. Policy Conference

Ms McGlade was keen to push on with arrangements for the conference as time was running out. A date and venue for the conference is still to be confirmed. Unfortunately our intended Keynote speaker Kenan Malik is unavailable for the event. Dr Morrow has agreed to step in and Anna Lo was suggested as another possible Keynote speaker. This was put to the committee who agreed. Other names were suggested such as John Dunlop and Colin Knox. Possible dates on which to hold the conference were given out to committee. These were 21^st/25^th/26^th/28^th May 2004. The date will be confirmed later in the month.

Ms McGlade explained that as Mr Wilson stated earlier an announcement is expected from Government by the end of May on a framework for implementing the recommendations from the Shared Future consultation, this could affect the workshops.

Ms McGlade then gave a brief overview on how the day of the conference would run highlighting the format for the workshops -

Workshops would run for around 2 hrs each with a Chair and between 4 or 5 panellists.

Ms McGlade told the meeting that CRC conferences have always been popular and we can expect a good demand for places. However, we would like to keep the numbers to 120 going up to a maximum of 150 people.

The committee enquired into the workshop themes. They asked why education and more specifically integrated education was not one of the workshops. Ms McGlade then explained that education was discussed widely at the P&D residential and it was thought it should stay off the programme as a lot of good work is currently underway by other organisations and we would simple be going over walked ground if we included it.

Possible venues were discussed. Mr Fitzduff suggested Greenmount to accommodate those people travelling from the west of the country. The Hilton Templepatrick was also an option and Peter agreed to look into availability of those and other venues.

The Committee was happy with title 'Towards a Shared Society'.

d. CCG Update

Ms McAllister told the committee that the main issue with CCG is problems getting landscape architects to take on the work.

e. North Belfast Update

Ms O'Neill stated that they now have the first 5 bids in. Unfortunately most of them only give lip service to CR. I have stressed to the LNBCC that they have to do it. Hopefully doing that will filter through to the other groups.

(Current affairs/Hate Crimes)

Ms McGlade explained to the meeting that from just observing newspaper reports Mr Russell has discovered a trend emerging on sectarian attacks where you wouldn't usually see this. Police figures/reports are not clear in what happened and can often not show the true nature of the crimes. Police security incidents not defined enough. A report on Hate Crime is due out on 9^th April; unfortunately don't have in front of us. NICEM might have statistics on Hate crime.

Niall Fitzduff to approach people to feed into report.

3. Response to consultations

a. ASBOs

Mr Russell gave an overview into structures of ASBOS. No organisations have published anything and have no responses yet. Mr Russell explains that we are free to write whatever we want, but he is mainly going to focus on CR with regards to the document. Ms McGlade explained that she has some major concerns with ASBOS i.e. where do paramilitaries fit into this. What is anti-social behaviour? It is a very complicated issue.

Ms O'Neill stated that they would need to look into the difference of laws. How ASBOS would work here? Ms Irwin suggested piggy backing other organisations to find out where we are in this. Possibly will have to check with English cities to see how it works. Who's responsible for running it? Tim Chapman would be the contact with regards to this. Guidance is definitely needed.

b. Asylum

Ms Irwin told the committee that our response is short and only brushes on areas that fall within CRC's remit. There are 5 options, all custodial.

4. Speakers for future meetings.

The committee expressed their interest in inviting speakers to future meetings. It was agreed that this should not be a set event but would be best suited on an 'as required' basis to discuss current and unfolding issues. It was agreed that 20 minutes would be a suitable amount of time to allow for this on future agendas. Members had already put possible speakers forward but Ms McGlade reminded the committee that the forthcoming CR week and the PD Conference would be incorporating some of speakers and issues highlighted today so it would perhaps be best to reconsider this after those events.

(Note for Diary)

Tuesday 20^th April – Seminar on Neighbourhood Renewal and Partners for Change. Dave Wall to speak. Organised by Dr Morrow.

5. AOB

GRF – Planned launch during CR week not happening. Equality Commission asked us to postpone to avoid confusing people with their launch. It was agreed that at next meeting between Equality Commission and CRC we would ask for a memorandum of understanding.

6. Dates of next meetings

7^th May 2-4pm

11^th June 2-4pm

10^th Sept 2-4pm All CRC

12th Nov 2-4pm