Hannah Neale and Raghavi gave an update on the Covid-19 Resilience research being conducted by BAME Voice.

The council recognised the need to do additional work to better understand the impact of the pandemic on the BAME community and commissioned BAME Voice to conduct research into the lived experience of BAME residents.  The aim of the research was also to find a framework to build resilience.

A bottom up approach was used with respondents telling the researcher how they have been affected by the pandemic.

Hannah stressed that in the past BAME community contributed to reports but there had been no recognition of the role they played.  She hoped that the findings of the report will be used to contribute to making a positive change.

Hannah hoped that in the future the term ‘Hard to reach’ is no longer used, because it has been the methods previously used to get to the BAME community that was problematic.

The research has identified the issue of council staff feeling hurt because of their experience of bullying and not have the issues that they raise dealt with satisfactorily.

The research has also found that the BAME community is not weak, but in fact there are strong and determined residents, who are angry that they’ve been the focal point of negative publicity.  Many felt stigmatised by media headlines and found them to be upsetting.

Residents want to work with the statutory agencies.  The research heard voices that have never been heard before maybe because they have never been approached or were reluctant to give information.

The aim was to search out more voices and challenge the BAME community and the council.

The interviewers were trained in August and included young interviewers. An extensive sample included Taxi and Mini Cab drivers (part of the business cohort).  2 outdoor events were held and 3 Resilience workshops for staff.  In homes where English was not the first language, young people explained the issues to older members of the household.

To date the research found that respondents felt that nothing has changed and people want to see a real change.

BAME Voice is represented on some of the partnership board. Hannah congratulated the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) f or the community medical facilities.

Hannah ended the presentation by thanking Councillors Stephen Alambritis and Edith Macauley for their support.

Q: It is important to get members of the BAME community to attend the JCC and improve attendance levels. Councillors are encouraged to get their constituents involved.

Q: How may the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) keep residents engaged? Is there anything that was heard that could be taken back to the NHS? What do people need from the NHS to work as leaders and connectors?

A: An interim report has been produced and given to Barry Causer in Public Health. Messages are not getting through, e.g. not everyone can access Zoom or Teams.

Hannah suggested that simply using a mega-phone in public places could be used as a means of getting messages out to the public.

Q: The story of disproportionality is a problem. The narrative was that it was harder for people to catch. Is data available showing the percentage of Merton’s BAME residents affected by the pandemic? The disproportionate impact is not across all regions and the borough. 13% is not disproportionate and should be highlighted. The impact is now shifting to the Caribbean and African communities.

Q:  How are the statistics broken down by BAME – the term is not homogenous and the data should reflect the different groups include in the term ‘BAME’?  BAME organisations need more support to contribute to the research. BAME Voice needs to contact BAME organisations and offer support to gather data from their membership to get more depth. WIFFA would like to assist in the data gathering to get the voice of the Caribbean community heard.

Resolved: Evereth to share the BAME demographics with the JCC.