Agenda and minutes

Councillor Georgina Culley (Personal)

Councillor Ginny Klein (Personal)

Councillor Pat Ferguson (Personal)

Councillor Corall Jenkins (Personal)

None.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 3 February 2016

The minutes of the meeting held on 3 February 2016, are confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chair.

Report of the Head of Democratic Services

Rav Kalsi, Senior Governance Officer, presented the report and delivered a brief presentation, outlining the topics already agreed by the Committee for scrutiny in the next municipal year and proposed potential topic for consideration during 2016/17.

 

Topics discussed and considered for Overview included:

 

(a)  Deprivation (Review Panel)

(i)  jobs, apprenticeships, opportunities;

(ii)  to include an explanation to better understand statistical ranking of deprivation and why Nottingham is now ranked as more deprived than other similar cities;

(iii)  topics raised within the broader discussion which may link into deprivation including the impact of Universal credit, fuel poverty, teenage pregnancy and vacant allotments;

 

(b)  An update on the Flood Risk Mitigation Strategy. Nottingham City Council adopted its Flood Risk Strategy in 2014 and the Committee would welcome an update on the strategy and the relationship with partner organisations in the City;

 

(c)  Customer Access Programme- an update on progress since the issue was last considered in January 2015;

 

(d)  Neighbourhood Strategy.  Overview and Scrutiny has reviewed progress in implementing the Nottingham Growth Plan over the past two years and could now focus further scrutiny activity on the development of the Neighbourhood Strategy;

 

(e)  Crime and Drugs Partnership and the Police and Crime Commissioner update. Overview and Scrutiny has a statutory duty to review the work of the Crime and Drugs Partnership and would welcome the opportunity to review the Police and Crime Commissioner’s priority areas following the election in May. Overview and Scrutiny last considered this as a joint topic in June 2014;

 

(f)   Safeguarding (possibly to receive an overview and then decide whether to recommend consideration by the Health Scrutiny Panel);

(i)   An update on the Authority’s response to the Ofsted inspection since the topic was last examined in November 2015;

(ii)  the recent increase in reported child abuse.

 

Suggested topics which were declined as they fall within the remit of Heath Scrutiny

(i)  Teenage Pregnancy;

(ii)  Hospital Admissions as a result of crime/assault;

(iii)  Domiciliary Care;

 

The Committee agreed to invite Portfolio Holders to report on progress against the key themes of 2015/16 and management of their portfolio budget.

 

The Committee discussed which listed and additional topics should be included within the 2016/17 Scrutiny Schedule:

 

(1)  Transformation and Partnerships

 

(a)  City Council’s Budget Process (Agreed)

(i)  (a preparatory training session to help members better understand budget processes);

(ii)  consideration of how effectively the ring-fenced Council Tax increase of 2% for Adult Social Care is being allocated;

 

(b)  an overview of each Portfolio Holder’s budgetary demands when reviewing their Council Plan priorities and challenges in 2016/17.

 

(c)  Commercialisation – income generation, charging and trading in Nottingham;

 

(d)  Commissioning and contract management with links to the Council’s Procurement strategy;

 

(e)  Demographic changes and trends within the City, including the aging population and the predicted impact on services;

 

(f)  Vulnerable Adults Plan

(i)  feedback on the plan consultation and how results have influenced processes;

(ii)  consideration of the outcomes from the first plan and what is now proposed, looking at KPIs and justifications;

 

(2)  Environment and Regeneration

 

(a)  Fracking (Agreed)

(i)  to examine in more detail the implications as intention to frack within the County  has been declared, could fracking take place beneath the City?

 

(b)  Air Quality (Panel)

(i)  a better understanding of the scale of the issues, including diesel fumes, and possible responses;

(ii)  the impact at the time and on-going of the Player’s factory fire;

(iii)  the number and siting of air quality monitors within the City;

(iv)  powers and responsibility of the Planning Committee;

 

(c)  Environmental Infrastructure ( Eddie Curry, Head of Parks and Open Spaces is currently working on this)

(i)  cycling in Nottingham and the aspiration to become a ‘Cycling City’, including the issues caused by utility services’ unsympathetic work/repairs to road surfaces (such as sunken drains), air quality for road cyclists, tram line issues;

(ii)  Waste and Recycling – considering the new IT system in refuse lorries, reviewing the achievement of ‘Cleanest City’, ensuring that wheelie bins are removed from the streets once emptied, ensuring bins are used correctly (recycling), considering how to address difficulties with the regular changing of shared house tenants;

 

(3)  Policy Development

 

(a)  Housing Regeneration (Review Panel)

(i)  the impact of the housing bill, cost of housing and rents, including social housing and the private sector;

(ii)  what powers exist to address privately owned houses standing empty, how are private void properties monitored and what is/ can be done to address licensed landlord owned properties standing empty;

(iii)  the lack of affordable housing and what can be done to address this;

(iv)  impact of universal credit;

 

(b)  Community Grants (Also being considered by Area Chair’s Panel)

(i)  attracting appropriate organisations to bid in the commissioning process;

(ii)  ensuring that performance standards are monitored and achieved;

(iii)  considering the current area based model and the difficulties regarding boundaries;

(iv)  scrutiny of voluntary sector budgets –it appears that detailed reporting is not required/ provided;

(v)  consider the potential for bringing the service back in-house where there is extensive knowledge and understanding.

 

(c)  Communications (Social Interaction/accessibility)

(i)  examining City Council communications, ensuring plain English is used, easy to understand, especially as in some area of the City there is low educational attainment so it is important to ensure that communication is appropriate;

 

(d)  Advertising Policy

(i)  including road safety considerations (Currently being considered by a working Group);

 

(e)  Tourism (Experience Nottinghamshire).

 

(f)  Infrastructure Planning.

 

(g)  Consultation

(i)  consider the extent and effectiveness of current methods.

 

(h)  Staff Engagement – work practices, morale and staff retention.

 

(i)  Voter Registration/Casting (Agreed)

(i)  a cost benefit analysis of the impact of different approaches by different Authorities  to encouraging citizens to enrol on the electoral register and vote;

(ii)  the impact of elections on City Council resources, beyond the Central Government paid work;

 

(j)  Retaining university graduates within the City; 

 

(k)  Teachers – attracting and retaining teachers in the City;

 

(l)  Consideration of how the 96 recommendations of the SEN review are being implemented. (Agreed)

(i)  educational provision for children with Autism as it is evident form the SEN report that the majority schools are not equipped to cope with autistic children;

(ii)  whether the voluntary Sector should be tasked to work through the recommendations;

 

(4)  Public Impact and Performance Management

 

(a)  Parking Enforcement – an assessment of officer’s ability to enforce restrictions in the City;

 

(b)  Trading Standards and the implications of budget restrictions;

 

(c)  Welfare Reforms - as a follow up to the 2014 Council debate;

 

(d)  Fuel Poverty –since the publication of the Scrutiny Panel’s recommendations from the 2011 review, what is being done, and how effectively, to support citizens in fuel poverty. To include consideration of the home insulation schemes, the launch of Robin Hood Energy, and the credit rating scheme to enable tenants to gain good credit ratings if paying their rent on time, and therefore enable them to move away from pre-payment metres;

 

(e)  Community Protection Officers – their roles and responsibilities, especially as they have a protected budget;

 

(f)  Fixed Odds Gambling – citizens in Nottingham spent an estimated £480million on gaming machines last year;

 

(g)  Credit Unions;

 

(h)  Procurement, Commissioning and Contract Management;

 

(i)  Libraries- the changing landscape;

 

(j)  An overall review of how/if the Committee’s recommendations have been acted upon and why recommendations have not been acted upon. (full O&S consideration as part of the O&S Annual Report to Council.)

 

(k)  Young People – Education, Training and Apprenticeship Outcomes

(i)  definition of apprenticeships, accessibility, quality, success at securing jobs through apprenticeships;

(ii)  Nottingham City Homes apprentice scheme to be considered;

(iii)  investigation of the practice by some Colleges which do not inform Futures when young people drop out of courses;

(iv)  tracking outcomes, statistics of those who fall through the gaps, including the statistics of how many have been identified to have additional educational support;

(v)  raising aspirations;

 

(l)  Regional Devolution- to be considered for future work schedules once there is a clearer understanding of the direction of progress;

 

(m)  Sustainability of Care Homes – what happens to residents when homes close and what measures could be considered if one or more homes were to close at the same time within the City;

 

(n)  Food Banks in Nottingham (Panel) (to be open to interested members who are not members of the Committee).

 

RESOLVED

 

(1)  for the Chair to confirm the schedule of topics for future consideration with the Senior Governance Officer as follows:

 

(a)  Individual Portfolio Holders to report on progress against the key themes of 2015/16 and management of their portfolio budget;

 

(b)  for overview:

 

(i)  Flood Risk Mitigation Strategy (revisit);

(ii)  Customer Access Programme;

(iii)  Safeguarding;

 

(c)  for Review Panel consideration:

 

(i)  Deprivation;

(ii)  Housing Regeneration;

(iii)  Air Quality;

(iv)  Food Banks In Nottingham;

 

(d)  for full Overview and Scrutiny Committee consideration:

 

(i)  The City Council’s Budget Process;

(ii)  Neighbourhood Strategy;

(iii)  Crime and Drugs Partnership and the Police and Crime Commissioner;

(iv)  Fracking;

(v)  Voter Registration/Casting;

(vi)  Consideration of how the recommendations of the SEN review are being implemented;

(vii)  Nottingham City Safeguarding Children Board Annual Report and actions arising from Ofsted inspection in May 2014;

(viii)  Review of how/if the Committee’s recommendations have been acted upon;

 

(2)  for the following topics to be considered for inclusion within the 2016/17 Overview and Scrutiny Committee work schedule, in a format (Overview/ Review Panel/ full Committee) and on a date to be determined by the Chair in consultation with the Senior Governance Officer:

 

(a)  within the theme of Transformation and Partnerships:

 

(i)  Commercialisation;

(ii)  Demographic Changes and Trends in the City;

(iii)  Vulnerable Adults Plan;

 

(b)  within the theme of Environment and Regeneration:

 

(i)  Environmental Infrastructure;

 

(c)  Within the theme of Policy and Development:

 

(i)  Community Grants;

(ii)  Communications;

(iii)  Advertising Policy;

(iv)  Tourism;

(v)  Infrastructure Planning;

(vi)  Consultation;

(vii)  Staff Engagement;

(viii)  Attracting and retaining teachers:

(ix)  Retaining university graduates.

 

(d)  within the theme of Public Impact and Performance Management;

 

(i)  Parking Enforcement;

(ii)  Trading Standards;

(iii)  Welfare Reforms;

(iv)  Fuel Poverty;

(v)  Libraries;

(vi)  Procurement;

(vii)  Community Protection Officers;

(viii)  Sustainability of Care Homes;

(ix)  Young People – training and apprenticeship procedures and outcomes;

(x)  Fixed Odds Gambling;

(xi)  Credit Unions;

(xii)  Regional Devolution.