Havering’s Institutional Racism Report

The suppressed report has been published three years late.¹It’s virtually unreadable.

The all-important pay gap is analysed, “Work needed to be done to assess if there is an ethnic pay gap and what that means.”² Career progression is poor because, “The senior levels of the organisation are not a very diverse representation hence why these views may be held.”³ (my emphasis) (see addendum)

The report reveals their racial biases, which they would probably deny having. Institutional Racism occurs when decision-makers have biases,

“….which, covertly or overtly, resides in the policies, procedures, operations and culture of public or private institutions – reinforcing individual prejudices and being reinforced by them in turn.”⁴

Institutional racism emerges from homogenous groups enforcing toxic biases. BAME candidates are judged prior to interview; their in-service performance is derided and complaints are unrecognised as legitimate.

Objective Area 2 7:1, says,

“The political and executive leadership have publically (sic) committed to reducing inequality, fostering good relations and challenging discrimination.”⁵

These aspirations are inspiring but have cabinet members and senior management the humility to implement them? Humility because they must reflect deep and hard about their actual racial preferences. Can leopards change their spots?

The Romford Recorder worked tirelessly for publication and the council worked equally hard to prevent publication. When it was published the Recorder said,

“Havering released a redacted and unenlightening version of the investigation, containing none of the allegations the LGA had referenced.”⁶ ‘Unenlightening’ is code for saying they believe it’s been censored.

Havering’s CEO says the report doesn’t reflect the Council today. Let’s hope his assessment isn’t a self-serving delusion.

Addendum: Diversity

Cabinet: There are nine cabinet members all of whom are white, elderly or middle-aged. Seven of them are men.

Executive Directors: There are four directors, including the CEO.⁷ All four are white with two women. There is no information about their qualifications or where they were awarded.

Notes

1 READI Review – Havering self-assessment

2 p16 NB Pages aren’t numbered and page numbers come from my page counter

3 p17

4 What is institutional racism? – Institute of Race Relations

5 READI Review – Havering self-assessment p332

6 Why the Romford Recorder fought to uncover racism dossier | Romford Recorder

7 Executive Leadership Team | London Borough of Havering

Political Reporting in Havering

If Havering had Proportional Representation, there wouldn’t be any councillors because most people don’t vote. There’d be an empty council chamber. Local elections are boycotted and newspapers will only report what is interesting.

Romford Recorder: 30^th June 2023

The Recorder gives politicians¹ a weekly column. Ray Morgon, Leader of the Council, filed a piece for this week.

He outlined administrative changes in the council structure, which are a Target Operating Model. The key priorities are three areas of activity: “improving our digital offering, improving our customer service and resident engagement.” He then discussed enforcement of littering laws, locking park gates (the majority don’t have gates), and cashless parking meters.

It was fascinating for geeks.

Havering Daily: accessed 3^rd July 2023

This is an e-newspaper with a section called, ‘Politics’. They highlight HRA, Brexit, Labour and LibDems.³

Access is excellent: content is terrible. Brexit and the LibDems have articles from November 2019. The most recent for HRA is 5^th June 2023 and Labour, 28^th June.

Each article is a local issue with one principal member identified with it.

An innovation is the Taylor Talks⁴ monthly column. There’s been one so far and he doesn’t identify himself as a Conservative councillor. Why? His article focuses on being proud of Romford, showing a tragic lack of ambition. His second article was due on July 1st and didn’t appear. Maybe he has a flexible concept of ‘monthly’?

Notes

1 Andrew Rosindell’s Big Idea – Politics in Havering This blog discussed Andrew Rosindell’s thoughts Recorder 14^th April 2023

2 Recorder p33 30^th June 2023

3 Conservatives aren’t listed, which could be a considered opinion

4 NEW: Taylor Talks-‘It’s time we take pride in Romford.’ – The Havering Daily

Andrew Rosindell’s Big Idea

Andrew¹isn’t a political thinker. His Big Idea is Havering² joining Essex and damn the consequences. It’s Brexit politics transferred to Havering.

Andrew’s ‘independence’ programme will upset elderly voters who will lose the Freedom Pass.³ ‘Independence’ would end it forever. Popping into London for a cheap day out would be a memory. People from Brentwood are jealous of London’s Freedom Pass, especially since the Elizabeth Line started. The other main benefit is it increases Havering’s house prices.

Independence won’t protect Havering from ‘Mayor Khan’s dangerous [housing] plans…’,⁴ because there aren’t any dangerous plans. Businessmen make commercial decisions about housing. High rise blocks happen if there’s a market for them.

Andrew says Havering’s motorists are, ‘…being fleeced to the tune of £12.50 a day…due to Khan’s ULEZ tax.’ This is a lie. 85% of Havering’s motorists won’t pay a penny. A typical car in Havering is compliant. The Mayor is implementing a Public Health policy and using a charge to induce compliance. ULEZ is aimed at no polluting cars and clean air.

Andrew wants Havering to, “…be independent of the political structures of Greater London.” This from a man who wanted to be the Conservative candidate for Mayor of London in 2020 and failed! Shaun Bailey defeated Andrew for the candidacy. Shaun was then defeated by Sadiq Khan in 2020.

Andrew ends his Big Idea rant by saying, “….Havering [should] take back control’. Now where have we heard that one before? And didn’t it end well?

Notes

1 12 years as a Havering councillor and 22 years as Romford’s MP with an overlapping year. He’s had one year’s political experience 33 times.

2 He means Romford. Hornchurch was independent pre-1964 and was bitter about being taken over by Romford. Andrew was born in 1966 and is advocating someone else’s fantasy.

3 The Freedom Pass is very expensive for local authorities. Havering spends about £8 million p.a. Havering and the Freedom Pass – Politics in Havering

4 Romford Recorder ‘Make Havering Independent’ p34 14^th April 2023 All quotations are from this article.