Agenda and draft minutes
Venue: Committee Room
Contact: Will Stevenson
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Apologies for Absence Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Paul Ray. |
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Declarations of Interests Minutes: 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.
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Minutes of the Previous Meeting Minutes: 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 2nd of October 2024, were taken as read and approved as a correct record.
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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. Additional documents:
Minutes: 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 28th of October that had been tabled.
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.
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Notes from Task Groups Additional documents: Minutes: Members discussed the Lichfield City Centre 3rd 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 21st 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 12th September.
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Lichfield District 2050 Strategy - Q2 2024/25 Performance Report Additional documents:
Minutes: 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.
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Lichfield District Youth Council - Verbal Update Minutes: 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.
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Social Value Guidance (Policy) Additional documents:
Minutes: 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.
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. |
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Community Safety Partnership Minutes: Councillor Cox gave an update on the Community Safety Partnership. Through the partnership two people would be employed and this would be the community lead strategy. This has been presented to the commissioner and with the partners in housing, Bromford and the County Council, LDC are now able to progress. Forward with the strategy.
Councillor Cox informed the Committee of the partnership with MAMA, who have lived experience of antisocial behaviour and are having a positive impact on the community. · Members state the lack of continuity of attendees in the CSP meetings as people dipped in and out and it was lacking representation. – Officer Lizzie Barton, Director of resident and business services agreed representation was lacking, particularly in probation areas. · Members queried why 8-12 years old are specifically highlighted and why not children of other ages. - The budget for this is extremely low at just £5,000. It has to be directed at very specific areas which is why the age ranges of 8-12 has been chosen but that doesn’t mean this is where the efforts end, it almost certainly will be aimed in a different area next year if the fund still exists. · Members ask for clarification if people are employed or volunteers as there seems to be a contradiction. - They are volunteers, but they are recompensed to thank them for their time. They also get training and a qualification. · Members draw attention to the timeline and how it is potentially already running behind because recruitment should be underway currently. – The timetable is ambitious, but the organisation is confident it can be delivered. · Members state that when this is revamped, there be a bigger emphasis on preventing domestic violence. Officer Lizzie Barton addressed that there needs to be a strategic direction for the partnership and a way of measuring outcomes. There are data dashboards within the report which will be replicated so activity can be managed. The ambition is to not only introduce the data dashboard to monitor issues but to develop a strategy that takes into consideration local issues, fed by residents and working with the O&S committee and other consultation methods. RESOLVED: 2.1 To comment on the update and planned activity as detailed ... view the full minutes text for item 40. |
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Minutes: 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.
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