Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Paul Ray.

Cllr Norman and Councillor Evans declared an interest in Item 6 as a trustee of Cases which is referenced at 3.13 and repeated later. Councillor Robertson also declares an interest in Item 6.

During item 5, Cllr Robertson declared an interest as a member of parliament.

Minute number 28, ‘CIL’ not ‘SIL’

Minute 29, it should say ‘delivered’

Subject to these changes the minutes of the previous meeting, held on the 2^nd of October 2024, were taken as read and approved as a correct record.

To receive updates of the work of the County Council’s Health and Care Overview & Scrutiny Committee, feedback issues via our representative on that Committee (Cllr L. Leung) and consider any health-related matters devolved to us by that Committee. The work programme is attached to aid Members.

Cllr Norman had attended the County Council’s Health Scrutiny Meeting that morning and would provide a written report in the next few days.  Members asked questions of the report of the 28^th of October that had been tabled.

• The ‘Freedom to speak up’ section referred to a national network of Guardians and that each organisation had an Executive Director and Non-Executive Director lead and m embers stated the desire to know who they were on the ICB are in case a request needs to be addressed to them.
• Members stated the concern that 56% of establishments are being praised for being outstanding but failed to highlight this means 44% of establishments require improvements or are inadequate and need improving.
• Members noted the report at summary background, item B No.3 states the desire to maximise every child’s potential. Members requested this include adults also, to continue to maximise the potential for every person within the Staffordshire district.
• Members reiterated that mental health is scheduled to be discussed on 3^rd March and that by the time this is implemented in schools, it will be too long. Until this situation is addressed, it continues to progressively get worse, including disturbingly within the primary sector. If this isn’t scheduled to be implemented soon, they might miss the start of the academic year.

Cllr Leung summarised the Health and Wellbeing board updates, these included a healthy weight progress update to tackle obesity. There are currently county wide initiatives but next to progress will be the district wide efforts. Other areas of importance are smoking, school meals and limiting ultra processed foods. Cllr Leung acknowledged the festive period is one for eating and drinking but encourages all to be sensible and healthy.

Cllr Leung has previously mentioned the online interactive dashboard which looks at the county wide data, this should be filtering into district level which would be useful to review, when it progresses an update will be given. Another main area discussed was health in the early life and the issues that cause these deaths. The health board are also reviewing cases and statistics for promoting the elderly to remain active and independent. The alcohol strategy is another key area, a rise in alcohol abuse means poor health, this is being monitored to try and get people the help they need.

·       Members praised the report given and thanked Cllr Leung for the detail included. Members expressed concern for those who don’t have this level of detail and wished it could in the future be ward specific to offer even more support.

·       Members stated there ought to be much easier ways in which the flow of information from county council can be facilitated and aid with access to the individuals' councillors need to lobby on behalf of their residents.

Councillor Norman informed the Committee of the upcoming agenda items and dates on the Health Matters Work programme.

Members discussed the Lichfield City Centre 3^rd October Masterplan Task Group and raised concern at recent public comments by a member. The view was that if the task group had an agreed position, then this should be respected.  This issue for Task Groups could be considered further when there is a review of the Scrutiny function.

Members discussed the New Leisure Centre Task Group Notes from the 21^st of August 2024, a recap was given which covered costing and value engineering and progress reports. Following on from this meeting the item in question was the water heater, the combined system versus the fully electric one. The Task Group specified their wish to avoid any additional costs and delays. The briefing note was circulated to Task Group Members on 12^th September.

• Members stated the difficulty of obtaining these notes and the initial reports. They said that they felt that it was not handled in a transparent and inclusive manner. It was agreed that members were entitled to confidential information as necessary to carry out their role whilst respecting the need for confidentially as needed.
• Members commented that the notes specified that the task group was content with the outcome of the discussions. 
• Members commented there hasn’t been discussions since the additional information was circulated.
• Members highlighted the notes weren’t discussed again because the changes in question couldn’t be made without overrunning on time and being overbudget.
• Members expressed disappointment that the football pitch will not be full sized and queried the research into the use of materials as they have impacts on biodiversity. Members asked for the materials to be specified.

The Leader introduced the report and expressed the focus being open and transparent. The Leader acknowledged the report only goes up to September, hopefully in the future this will be turned around quicker but this is a work in progress. The Leader also thanked the team for their hard work on this report.

• Members commented on the use of percentages without the full figure also included. The use of percentages alone can be misleading. - Any place that doesn’t have the absolute number, will do moving forward, this will be rectified.
• Members asked for clarification on delays of the section 106 funds, members asked for the reasoning for this. – The leader clarified that residents, rightly want to see infrastructure first. Fixing the 106 agreements will not guarantee the infrastructure is in place but it does mean getting the 106 agreements in advance and getting a far better deal for residents. COO Kerry Dove explains that potentially some of the wording isn’t clear in this, but the focus has been on the preapplication, and the focus has been to get a better relationship with developers to get a better 106 and the best deal possible for the district.
• Members also asked, engaging with stakeholders around the Burntwood Masterplan, this seems to be another project delayed. This is one of the major political priorities across the district so could the Leader comment on the delays. - The Leader explained that a tender for the Burntwood masterplan had gone out to consultants, but the proposed consultancy work was not satisfying, this was ended in the fear of tens of thousands spent on consultancy fees but with no progression in sight. The tender process will be altered for longer term developments, however in the meantime the funding has been reshuffled allowing for immediate action on short term actions ahead of defining more carefully what the Burntwood masterplan will entail.
• Members highlighted insulation within buildings as a contributor to emissions and working alongside housing associations to alter heating systems from gas to electric could be a real avenue to decrease carbon emissions, yet it seems to be taken out with the new wording.- The Leader encourages the prospect of collaborative working with the various housing associations but worries about the costs directly passed on to tenants if these changes were to be made too quicky.
• Members asked if there are currently any government grants for heat pumps to help housing associations install these. – Yes, but the current average cost of a domestic heat pump is £15,000 and unless your house is fully insulated it isn’t much more efficient.
• Members discuss the changes in actions regarding the Climate Change event and if schools were the only other approach- The Leader explained the Climate Change event was discussed at length and a decision was made to not proceed. COO Kerry Dove explained the work with schools is only part of the approach, but it is a key priority that the Cabinet wants  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

Councillor Richard Cox and Chief Operating Officer Kerry Dove gave a detailed verbal update on the Youth Council. Cllr Cox explained that despite the lack of interest from the 11 schools within the district there is still enthusiasm from LDC to make this project work. There is a need to address the current issues to move forward. COO Kerry Dove added that feedback from previous Youth Councillors stated some of the main issues were the lines of communication from schools being passed to the students. There has also been a working officer group set up to address the previous issues and look at how the Youth Council can proceed; at this point nothing is off the table, and we will be awaiting their feedback in February after their consultation has been completed. The working group is also completing desktop research and looking at good practise from other Youth Councils and collating their research.

• Members ask the purpose for a Youth Council- The district is underrepresented for young people and their voices should be heard.
• Members suggest it doesn’t have to be called a Youth Council.
• Members ask about the level of interest from young people and if there is anything as Members, they can do to encourage engagement. - COO Kerry Dove expressed the different ways in which the working group have suggested to boost engagement these ideas range from training to qualifications and at the minute we await the comments from the desktop review.
• Members comment that previously the concerns were that the Youth Council was tokenistic, if it isn’t valuable for them then it needs to be started again.
• Members asked for clarification if the Youth Council had been indefinitely postponed and will be started again. – Yes, when the results of the officer group are reported, a new regime will start to take shape.
• Members highlighted that there are many schools which don’t fall within the Lichfield District but there may still be residents. These children deserve to be included.
• Members suggested including year 6 within the new regime and looking to offer work experience.
• Members stated that the participants must own it and have control and if they don’t, they will lose interest.
• Members asked for clarification of the task put to the working group, is the intention to get the Youth Council to function, to start it again or to find the best way to get Youth Engagement. – At this point the Youth Council will not be continuing but the remit for the working group is to find the best way to get Youth Engagement.
• Members encourage the working group to consider a wider remit than schools. There is an opportunity for Scouts, Youth Clubs and Sports Clubs to be involved.
• Members encouraged the use of social media as it will be ideal for the target age ranges and could attract interest and be more inclusive.
• Members asked about the current curriculum and if there is a citizenship module or an option to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38.

Councillor Strachan summarised the Social Value Guidance Policy and the latest procurement act states Local Government should be maximising public benefit, ensuring the Council are doing business in the correct way. The policies brought forward are stand alone documents but will be embedded into BAU processes. Among District Councils, LDC appear to be one of the earlier adopters of the policy. Locally, Jared, the newest recruit is making great progress and secured investment from a partner organisation which sent many local dance students to European competition. Additionally, they have also donated to a local food bank. So far, roughly 3.2 million pounds worth of Social Value commitments across the district on draft guidance, before the full report was proposed. Councillor Strachan asked for any ideas and comments on the policy.

• Members asked who the members of the Social Value Steering group were - A wide range of officers across the Council, including from major projects, policy and strategy and leisure. Initially there was slight pushback but since social value has been included in the process, officers are requesting to be a part of the group.
• Has there been any thought given to how this group engages with members about projects in their ward, Members could help support this with their insights. - Initially this needed to be officer driven but this is absolutely going in the direction of members having input and being a permanent part of the steering group.
• Members encouraged the Preston and Leeds models be examined as there is almost certainly beneficial elements that could be adopted by LDC.
• Members note the paper hasn’t been signed off by the Monitoring Officer and the Section 151 Officer. - It has since been signed; this copy doesn’t reflect it though.
• Members state that the Labour group are now members of the Cooperative Council Innovation Network and although the report details top tier councils, the Network offers a comprehensive insight to Councils at all levels. One of the main aims is to increase social value through community participation and cooperative working across all sectors.
• Members queried if the DCN has responded to enquires- Currently, they have not. Our team has been to Social Value Conferences and at this point it feels underrepresented by District Councils.
• Members commended the policy.
• Members ask if a rejected tender were to query a contract being awarded elsewhere, how do you respond appropriately? – A clear evaluation method is given in all tender documents, then this is scored against a matrix. Lower value contracts are given a less substantial applications to fill out, so it is proportional to the contract. Lower value contracts happen to be more local, so they know the District well and support charities closer to home as opposed to larger developers whose local charities tend to be more London based.

RESOLVED:

The committee commented on:

• The scope of the statement and guidance and the benefits that are and could be realised across the district.

• The level of social value  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39.

The Chair informed the committee of the addition on the website allowing residents to ask a question and suggest a topic for scrutiny. The Chair also asked for additional members for the Health Matters Task Group and that it wouldn’t be a standing Task Group, it would meet as issues arise.

·       Members asked that communications around this facility to submit queries to scrutiny be sent out to make people aware.

·       Members asked for a date on when the Empty Homes Policy would be coming forward. - Currently LWMTS are researching and working with empty homeowners to reform the policy. This hasn’t yet been completed but when the intelligence is back, it will come forward early next year.