Agenda for Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday, 5th December, 2018, 2.00 pm

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Ground Floor Committee Room - Loxley House, Station Street, Nottingham, NG2 3NG

Contact: Laura Wilson  Senior Governance Officer

Items
No. Item

39.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Councillor Mohammed Ibrahim - unwell

Councillor Patience Uloma Ifediora - leave

Councillor Glyn Jenkins - unwell

Councillor Gul Khan - leave

Councillor Mohammed Saghir – council business

40.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

None.

41.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 230 KB

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held 7 November 2018

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 7 November 2018 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

42.

Discussion with the Portfolio Holder for Energy and Environment pdf icon PDF 105 KB

Report of the Head of Legal and Governance

Minutes:

Councillor Sally Longford, Portfolio Holder for Energy and Environment, delivered a presentation outlining progress within her portfolio against the Council Plan priorities, highlighting the following:

 

(a)  16 of Councillor Longford’s Council Plan priorities are green. One priority is amber;

(b)  Robin Hood Energy was set up in 2015 as a not for profit energy company to tackle fuel poverty and sell energy at the lowest price to Nottingham citizens. It now has over 115,000 customers;

(c)  local advice events and publicity to help people switch energy suppliers still continue. There have been 125 ward events to date, and should be 135 by the end of the Council Plan’s timeframe;

(d)  Nottingham won Britain’s cleanest big city at the end of 2014. This award no longer runs, but the same standards are maintained through Neighbourhood Action Teams. Clean Champions were introduced, and there are now around 200 of these;

(e)  one target was to double the number of council houses with solar panels from 3,000 to 6,000. This priority is amber as it may not be met. This is because the reduced feed-in tariff by the government has made it less economically viable. The target to double the number of solar panels on commercial buildings is expected to be met, with 56 council buildings having solar panels installed;

(f)  there are now 60 charging points for electric vehicles operational across the city. Rollout across the D2N2 area will begin soon and by the end of the Council Plan period there are expected to be 170 charging points across the city;

(g)  599 deep cleans have been undertaken in areas outside the city centre against a target of 480. Bulwell, Clifton, Hyson Green and Sherwood district shopping centres have been cleaned every quarter;

(h)  over £4.2m of government and energy company grants have been received since 2015/16 to continue the council’s programme of insulating homes in areas hardest hit by fuel prices;

(i)  domestic energy consumption has reduced by 6% across Nottingham private and public housing stock, with the target of 10% expected to be met by the end of the Council Plan period;

(j)  5,709 smart meters have been installed with Robin Hood Energy customers and the Enviroenergy Smart Monitor was launched in 2015;

(k)  the Deregulation Act 2015 specifies that no local energy performance standards can be set through Local Plans, removing the council’s ability to require new homes exceed national building regulations standards;

(l)  free bulky waste collection in the city has been protected from cuts, with 60,000 collections each year. The service is actively promoted in  the neighbourhoods where fly tipping is high, and the levels of fly tipping has reduced from the level of three years ago.

 

The following points were raised during the discussion which followed:

 

(m)Clean Champions work with Neighbourhood Operations Managers to organise events such as street cleans and litter picks. Some areas have Street Champions who can also promote these events;

(n)  from next year the garden waste collection will continue to November, on a monthly rather than fortnightly basis.

43.

Partnership Work for Combating and Preventing Youth Criminality pdf icon PDF 118 KB

Report of the Head of Legal and Governance

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair introduced the item, which was requested by the Committee in light of the recent high profile nationally of County Lines. The Committee heard from the Police and the Crime and Drugs Partnership at the November meeting with regards to combating youth criminality. This meeting focused on prevention, diversionary tactics, social support and education.

 

Helen Blackman, Director of Children’s Integrated Services, and Shelley Nicholls, Head of Early Help Services, delivered a presentation highlighting the following:

 

(a)  the term County Lines is becoming widely recognised to describe situations where young people may be internally trafficked for the purpose of criminal exploitation and the use of mobile phone lines by gangs looking to extend their drug dealing activity into locations outside their areas;

(b)  young people are often tricked into debt, meaning that they will be in ‘debt bondage’ to the gang, owing it a debt which may have interest. They are also given gifts and protection, with use of the word ‘family’ making them feel that they belong;

(c)  key learning is being delivered to raise awareness for professionals, such as school staff, and the council will be sharing lessons across partnerships about how children are being groomed;

(d)  children often believe that they have made an active choice to join in with offending and deny that they have been exploited. This often leads to them being mistakenly viewed as suspects rather than victims;

(e)  there are many signs and indicators to be aware of for a child that is being criminally exploited. These include excess cash, leaving home without explanation, unexplained injuries, increase in mobile phone use, significant decline in school performance and changes in emotional wellbeing. Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE) impacts on both the children themselves and their families or carers;

(f)  a multi-agency response is required, including parents/carers and the voluntary sector. A screening tool has been developed to look at recognised indicators of CCE;

(g)  a ‘hub’ is being piloted to reduce youth violence, as there is a strong link between young people involved in offending and violent incidents and those at risk of CCE and County Lines. The ‘hub’ comprises of Children’s Integrated Services and Community Protection, and works closely with schools and police to identify those at risk.

Councillor David Mellen, Portfolio Holder for Early Intervention and Early Years, explained that CCE has been around for a long time, but County Lines is a modern version as it involves new technology such as mobile phones and social media. As Nottingham is a city with a lot of deprivation its young people are vulnerable and everybody has a part to play to tackle this growing issue.

 

The following points were raised during the discussion which followed:

 

(h)  although some may be more vulnerable, all children are at risk of CCE. They may live at home with their parents and have no previous criminal behaviour;

(i)  sometimes a vulnerable adult’s premises is used as a base of criminal activity. These vulnerable adults should be supported as well, and not necessarily given criminal convictions;

(j)  CCE is a national issue which requires collaboration with other local authorities, which the council does at the Youth Justice Board. Other authorities such as Glasgow have done some important work which could be useful as models;

(k)  the city’s Priority Families programme identifies families with both children and adults who are at risk, taking a whole family approach to early intervention;

(l)  electively home-educated children are registered and visited annually. If there have been any previous concerns they are monitored more closely. Elective Home Education is a legitimate choice for many families but can be difficult to monitor;

(m)permanently excluded school pupils are more vulnerable to CCE, though there are many other factors. The council is working with schools to reduce the number of permanent exclusions through intervention.

 

RESOLVED to

 

(1)  note the information provided at the meeting held on 7 November 2018, and at today’s meeting;

(2)  thank Tim Spink and Steve Harrison from the Crime and Drugs Partnership, Alex Castle-Clark from Community Protection, Detective Sergeant Mike Ebbins from Nottinghamshire Police, Malcolm Dillon from the Nottingham City Safeguarding Adults Board, Helen Blackman and Shelley Nicholls from Nottingham City Council, and Councillor David Mellen for their informative presentations and their collaborative work in tackling this issue;

(3)   consider what Councillors can do to help identify victims of CCE, and reinforce the message of exploited young people as victims.

44.

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 111 KB

Report of the Head of Legal and Governance

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Zena West, Senior Governance Officer, informed the Committee of the following alterations to the work programme:

 

January 2019:

·  Policing in Nottingham.

February 2019:

·  Discussion with the Portfolio Holder for Finance, Resources and Commercial Services;

·  Credit Unions;

·  Property Asset Register.

March 2019:

·  Discussion with the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Planning;

·  House Building.

 

RESOLVED to note the work programme for the remainder of 2018/19 with the amendments above.