Agenda item

The Director of Community and Children’s Services to be heard.

he Chair welcomed Marcus Roberts and Simon Cribbens of the Community and Children’s Services Department, and Tina Azande from Smart Consult who provided a presentation of key findings from the consultation survey which took place in the Summer 2018.

An overview of who had responded to the survey and what, in summary, they had said was provided to the Committee. Members were advised that there were free text options for people to leave comments, and whilst the comments did not reflect this, respondents were generally in agreement with the questions posed. A final report on the survey including a literature review and other discussions would inform a draft policy and this would be provided to the Committee in February 2019. The Chair noted that the views of all people, but particularly those of residents, City workers and people who use the Corporation’s services were of interest.

Discussion took place amongst which the following comments were made:

Ms Azande confirmed that there were 21,000 replies received in relation to the survey, Members noted the level of non-UK citizens responding to which the Chair suggested that those respondents may reside in London and access the Corporation’s services.

In response to a Member’s query on the facilities at Hampstead Heath, it was noted that the question of whether the bathing ponds should continue on a single gender basis would be looked at, but the consultation showed there was positive endorsement for the Corporation’s current policy on access to the bathing ponds.

A Member commented that he would encourage officers to question the responses which were least in agreement with the questions posed in the survey, particularly if those were City of London workers. The Member added that in order to change attitudes, it is necessary to understand why people hold certain views, and asked officers to look at getting those answers.

A Member suggested that it may be useful to consider the religion of those who responded, especially amongst those who did not reside in the UK as this could inform their opinions.

The Chair advised that the data set was enormous and asked that certain areas be drilled down into such as the strongest levels of agreement versus the least agreement to understand both ends of the spectrum. The Chair noted that those who objected to the proposals, made greater use of the free text box to criticise the consultation as a whole, hence the comments critiquing the consultation.

The Chair outlined future steps, particularly that a report would be brought before the Committee in February 2018. The consultation had demonstrated positive endorsement to the City of London Corporation’s current approach with regards to the services at Hampstead Heath, which would inform our holistic approach to all services, and crucially any new policy will comply with the Equalities Act to ensure that the Corporation was providing people with access to its services and respecting dignity, regardless of sex/gender and gender reassignment characteristics.