The CCG representatives gave an overview of the organisation and made the following points in relation to the key question:

·         CCG employs around 450 staff, around 100 are based in Torbay (Pomona House)

·         BAME staff make up approximately 2.2% of the CCG’s staff population

·         Although unacceptably low, the number of ethnic minority staff within the CCG has been increasing over the past few years. For example, some departments in the organisation are improving more quickly (Comms, HR and IT is currently at 5.4%)

·         There is a CCG Objective (measured at Board level) to move this closer to the Devon average of 6.4%

·         CCG has been overseeing the vaccination programme. Through the outreach of this work, they are starting to build strong links with ethnic minority communities. Examples include: 

Panel members and others then asked a series of questions and the main points in relation to the responses from the CCG are detailed below:

·         The ICS network will provide greater opportunities for staff, especially BAME staff to develop and gather greater experience and promotion across the network of ICS organisations

·         Organisations in the ICS needed to see the appraisal process as less of a tick box exercise and more of an opportunity to develop staff, especially BAME staff

·         More reverse mentoring is required across the ICS organisations to ensure BAME staff have the opportunities to grow and that senior leaders understand the issues facing their BAME staff

·         More is required to be done to attract BAME people to work in Devon and that one of the key barriers is appropriate and affordable accommodation

·         Tensions were identified between international recruitment of staff and de-skilling the workforce in their country of origin. However, more could be done to build partnerships with other countries to develop workforces that are beneficial to both countries

·         Although international recruitment is helpful, there is still a huge untapped potential workforce from the UK, especially from a BAME background that could be utilised

·         Data collection on racism in the NHS could be better and is stopping it from understanding the issues facing BAME staff and communities. One response to this would be peer challenge on equality and diversity issues from organisations within the ICS

·         That whilst there are pockets of good practice across Devon, more needs to be done to tackle the disproportionate impact of mental health on BAME communities as a result of the Covid pandemic. This requires greater investment in cultural sensitivity training for key staff so people are encouraged to engage with services and are not put off. Essentially organisations need to build trust with their BAME communities so that they feel confident to access services

·         That cultural sensitivity training for ICS staff in Torbay was still in the process of being planned but would be implemented soon

·         That the CCG had plans in place to deal with the impending arrival of refugees from Afghanistan who will require support from the NHS

·         The CCG was confident that during the Covid pandemic NHS organisations in Devon had undertaken robust risk assessments of all staff (including staff from a BAME background) to protect them from infection

·         Overall the CGG and ICS organisations are confident that they will achieve successful outcomes in relation to the 34 recommendations outlined in the Nous report and have invested more resources to deliver these actions. However, there is recognition that some would take longer to achieve than others. An action plan has been created to manage the recommendations but the future is more about embedding a new way of working rather than mechanically ticking off actions.