Preventing Hateful Extremism and Promoting Social Cohesion Commission

In September 2017, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, set up an independent commission to consider how to tackle hateful extremism, social exclusion and radicalisation.

The Commission was chaired by Cllr Rishi Shori, leader of Bury Council, and GMCA's lead member for young people and social cohesion.

The Commission’s primary areas of focus

• To consider how Prevent operates in Greater Manchester 
• To look at the broader determinants of social exclusion and how we can work collectively to address them
• To investigate the merits of producing a Greater Manchester Charter – establishing shared values and commitments that will be the foundations upon which the Greater Manchester Strategy work is built (not just principles which are called into action when something goes wrong)
• To develop a distinctive community-led Greater Manchester approach to challenging hateful radicalisation of all kinds and from wherever it comes

The independent Commissioners

• Darra Singh OBE, Ernst & Young – focus on working with small businesses
• Prof Hilary Pilkington, University of Manchester – expertise in radicalisation
• Nazir Afzal OBE, former head of CPS North West
• Nigel Bromage, Small Steps
• Saima Alvi, Co-chair of British Muslim Heritage Centre
• Shalni Arora, Savannah Wisdom – philanthropist

The Commission met for the first time in October 2017, and reported back their findings to the Mayor in July 2018. The report can be downloaded (PDF file opens new window), as well as the Mayor and deputy Mayor's response (PDF file opens new window).

• News article about the commission
• Establishing the Cohesion Commission September 2017 (item 16)
• Cohesion Commission update December 2017 (item 4)