Equalities remains focus for partners as city's Social Recovery Taskforce comes to an end

Published: 3 February 2022

A city-wide taskforce set up to help Glasgow recover from the social impact of COVID-19 held its final meeting.

The Social Recovery Taskforce (SRT) was set up in July 2020 as a part of the council's renewal and recovery programme.  It brought together a range of representatives from third sector and voluntary organisations, academia and community planning partners to look at how communities can rebuild and recover socially from the effects of the pandemic.
 
Chaired by Councillor Jen Layden, City Convener for Community Empowerment, Equalities and Human Rights, and co-chaired by the City Treasurer, Councillor Ricky Bell, the SRT provided citywide leadership and direction to develop an evidence base and actions which were taken forward by partners to help address the societal impact and growing inequalities as a result of the pandemic.
 
Councillor Jen Layden praised everyone on the SRT for their commitment during the last 18 months and for the contributions they made. 
 
She said: "From day one the focus for the taskforce has been on equalities and ensuring that agreed priorities and recovery approaches were shaped by a strong voice from those with lived experience of poverty and inequality.  
 
"Recovering from this pandemic will take time but a lot of good work has been done by partners to help us get a better and clearer understanding of the issues people face because of covid-19. This work will continue as we look to the future and rebuild our city's communities.
 
"What we have learned through the SRT will be incorporated into future policies and I look forward to working with our community planning partners and third sector organisations to make sure no area of the city is left behind."
 
The recommendations and priorities captured from the work of the taskforce will be incorporated into a new Community Action Plan for the city.  The Community Action Plan will be presented to members of the Glasgow Community Planning Partnership Strategic Partnership in February for sign-off. 

Further information

The Social Recovery Taskforce ran from July 2020 until January 2022.

Membership was made up of representatives from a wide range of recognised partners and community networks including Glasgow Centre for Population Health, Glasgow Disability Alliance; Glasgow Equality Forum; Glasgow Third Sector Interface Network; Policy Scotland at Glasgow University; Violence Against Women Partnership and LGBT organisations.
 
The SRT met 17 times and focused on a number of areas including the third sector, disabled communities, mental health, poverty, young people, employment and women services.  The academics on the SRT produced a series of micro briefings on the disproportionate impact of covid on disabled people, women and BME communities. A future one will be on children and young people.
 
Meeting agendas, papers and minutes, as well as a host of related research documents and micro briefings can be found on the Glasgow Community Planning Partnership website or by clicking here