Agenda and minutes

Beverley Frost (3^rd Sector Representative) – personal

Councillor Leslie Ayoola – illness

Councillor Azad Choudhry – leave

Councillor Georgina Culley – lateness

Councillor Pat Ferguson – other Council business

Councillor Anne Peach – leave

None.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 4 November 2015

The Committee agreed the minutes of the meeting held on 4 November 2015 and they were signed by the Chair.

Report of the Head of Democratic Services

Councillor Jon Collins, Leader of the Council, delivered a presentation on the Council Plan 2015-19, highlighting the following information:

(a)  The Council Plan was approved by Full Council on 9 November 2015 and sets out the key priorities to be delivered by the Council over the four years of the current administration elected in May 2015;

(b)  The Council Plan comprises of a series of 165 key ‘deliverables’ following the adoption of the Labour Group’s manifesto 2015 as Council policy at Full Council on 13 July 2015. Each portfolio holder has been consulted on the ‘deliverables’ in their area and discussions have taken place with Service Directors to agree the activities that will deliver them over the course of the next four years;

(c)  There is a focus on the top five priorities for the Council and the top 3-5 priorities for each portfolio and delivering these within a context of reduced funding and demographic pressures;

(d)  The Council Plan for 2015-19 is founded on the following five key objectives: ensuring every child in Nottingham is taught in a school judged good or outstanding by Ofsted; build 2,500 new homes that Nottingham people can afford to rent or buy; cut the number of victims of crime by a fifth and continue to reduce anti-social behaviour; tackle fuel poverty by setting up a not-for-profit energy company to sell energy at the lowest possible price to Nottingham people; guarantee a job, training place or further education place for every 18 to 24 year old;

(e)  Equality objectives are included within the Council Plan to help the Council focus on reducing inequality and advancing equality through the decisions that are made, policies and practices. Included within this is the pledge to make sure that the Council workforce reflects the citizens it serves and leading the city in tackling discrimination and promoting equality;

(f)  Each of the 168 deliverables has a SMART target and a delivery plan. The targets have been developed with relevant portfolio holders and relevant directors and clear milestones to track progress. Quarterly progress reports will be made for portfolio holder briefings and submitted to the Corporate Leadership Team in order to highlight areas of concern and good progress. Updates are made available via the Nottingham Arrow and Executive Board receives an annual report which includes re-profiling, where necessary.

Following questions and comments from the Committee, the following information was provided:

(g)  The opportunities being discussed associated with the devolution of more powers to local government were not apparent when the Labour Group manifesto was being developed. There are no guarantees as to what powers would be devolved to a combined authority across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire and nothing has been agreed at this point. Were an agreement made, devolution would make a difference to economic development targets, the building of low-cost houses, an increased number of training places jobs and further education places.

(h)  Proposals for a combined authority in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire could invigorate the regeneration of the south of the city, realise ambitions to create an oyster card style transport card in Nottingham and increase the ability to leverage additional European Union funding into the city;

(i)  Despite reductions in the amount of Revenue Support Grant (RSG) received over the past four years, the Council has still largely delivered on its manifesto commitments. The Council will continue to use its influence to encourage and drive educational attainment, despite the increased trend towards academisation in the City;

(j)  Recent Government announcements have increased the capacity of local authorities to increase council tax by 2% but it appears that this increase will also be taken into account when RSG calculations are made centrally;

(k)  The private rented market continues to grow in the City and further work is needed to ensure that they fulfil their duties as landlords. Improvements are needed to the standard of landlords in the city.

RESOLVED to

(1)  thank Councillor Jon Collins for his information presentation;

(2)  consider the Council Plan 2015-19 Annual Report at a future meeting of Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Report of the Head of Democratic Services

Chris Henning, Director of Economic Development and Peter Davies-Bright, Growth Plan Manager, delivered a presentation, outlining progress made in implementing the Nottingham Growth Plan during the past year. The Committee previously considered the item at its meeting on 3 December 2014 (minute 43). During the presentation the following information was highlighted:

(a)  The Nottingham Growth Plan was developed by Nottingham City Council in collaboration with senior public and private sector figures and following extensive consultation with the local business community, it was launched in July 2012. In May 2015, the Nottingham Economic Growth Board noted that the economy has moved on since the launch of the Growth Plan, and that a number of City Deal programmes were coming to a close. It was agreed to a ‘root and branch’ review of the Growth Plan, with the aim of evolving the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Growth Plans, and aligning these with the prospective devolution deal for the D2N2 area;

(b)  There have been a number of headlines over the last 12 months, including the news that the unemployment rate has fallen below the pre-recession rate and the launch of a fully integrated City Council and Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) employer hub service called Nottingham Jobs;

(c)  Other headlines in 2014 include the launch of the Growth Hub; the Creative Quarter won Enterprising Britain and European Awards for improving the business environment; Nottingham Express Transit (NET) Lines 2 and 3 fully operational; A453 dualling complete and ring road upgrades completed; the redevelopment of the Broadmarsh and Southern Gateway now underway;

(d)  The following three themes are included within the Growth Plan: fostering enterprise, developing a skilled workforce and building a 21^st century infrastructure. Allied to the Growth Plan, access to finance has improved and £7.9 million has been secured via the Foresight Investment Fund to contribute to six investments. A further £9.7 million has been secured via the N’Tech Grant Fund committed to 90 businesses and contributed to 2,987 jobs in Nottingham;

(e)  The Growth Plan has supported action to reduce shop vacancies in Nottingham City Centre, including £200,000 for shop front grants scheme (42 units) reducing the vacancy rate from 18.2% in Feb 2013 to 10.4%. Trade missions have been targeted in India and China as part of the targeted international strategy, generating inward investment and 664 jobs in the past two years;

(f)  In developing a skilled workforce, the Growth Plan has supported access to employment and improvements to youth unemployment. The Nottingham Jobs Hub has been established and supported approximately 5,000 people into jobs since 2012. The Apprenticeship Hub has created 1,750 apprenticeship starts and the Innovation Fund has supported 500+ NEETS into employment;

(g)  The Growth Plan has supported efforts to retain graduates in Nottingham and contributed to a graduate placement grant and summer internship programme. These programmes have produced 83 placements to date. The Council will continue to work with universities in the City to align a joint offer to local employers in order to promote graduate recruitment and retention;

(h)  There are a number of programme headings within each theme of the Growth Plan, for example, within the theme to ‘Build a 21^st Century Infrastructure’, there is a programme focussed on a ‘Super-Connected Nottingham’;

(i)  As part of the Development and Regeneration agenda, £70 million has been committed to Nottingham Station and £8million has been secured for ongoing public realm improvements in the Creative Quarter at sites like George Street, Broad Street and Station Street;

(j)  Health and Social Care providers have been engaged through the Job Hub’s dedicated account manager. Since April 2015 the Nottingham Jobs Hub has facilitated 10 sector-based work academies, 102 unemployed candidates have completed the Level 1 preparing the work in Adult Social Care qualification and 72 unemployed candidates have moved into employment. Work is ongoing with Nottingham University Hospitals on a pilot to provide training routes for unemployed people to progress into Health Care Assistant roles in the NHS, including work experience roles in city hospitals;

(k)  A snapshot of Nottingham’s economy in 2015 highlights that the percentage of Job Seekers Allowance claimants is currently at 2.4%, compared to 4.4% in 2009. The number of active enterprises in Nottingham has increased from 19,600 in 2009 to 19,800 in 2015; However Nottingham’s ranking in England of indices of Multiple Deprivation has gone from 13^th in 2009 to 8^th in 2015 signalling Nottingham as the 8^th most deprived area in England;

(l)  The impact of the growth plan is starting to feed through into economic outcomes, such as a significant fall in unemployment, an increase in business start-ups and a better skilled and qualified population;

(m)  There is still more to do to address areas such as social inequality. There has been a disappointing fall in the rankings of the indices of multiple deprivation and further work is needed to ensure that the benefits of growth reach across all our neighbourhoods and communities. There has been significant improvement in addressing unemployment in the City over past two years but further work is needed to fulfil the Council’s commitment to eradicating youth unemployment in the City;

(n)  Nationally, an economic recovery is taking hold but is still quite fragile. Although unemployment continues to fall and there is a trend towards increasing full time employment, productivity is still failing to recover. Although the Growth Plan was a good start, there is an opportunity for significant progress in developing a devolution deal and the benefits of a high speed rail link.

RESOLVED to

(1)  thank Chris Henning and Peter Davies-Bright for their informative presentation on the Nottingham Growth Plan;

(2)  include the Neighbourhood Regeneration Strategy in the work programme for 2016/17.

Report of the Head of Democratic Services

Rav Kalsi, Senior Governance Officer introduced the report of the Head of Democratic Services setting out the programme of activity for this Committee and the Overview and Scrutiny Review Panels for 2015/16.

RESOLVED to

(1)  defer a review of the Nottingham Plan to 2020 to 3 February 2016;

(2)  include the Council Plan Annual Report and the Neighbourhood Regeneration Strategy to the Work Programme for 2016/17.