Agenda and minutes

Councillor Joel, as Chair led on introductions.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Fonseca and Rae Bhatia.

Members are asked to declare any interests they may have in the business to be discussed on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the meeting of the Commission held on 26 January 2023 are attached and Members are asked to confirm them as correct record.

AGREED:

The minutes of the meeting of the Economic Development, Transportation and Climate Emergency Scrutiny Commission held on 26 January 2023 be confirmed as a correct record.

The Monitoring Officer to report on any questions, representations and statements of case received in accordance with Council procedures.

The Monitoring Officer noted that none had been received.

The Monitoring Officer to report on any petitions received in accordance with Council procedures.

The Monitoring Officer noted that none had been received.

On behalf of the Director for Tourism, Culture and Inward Investment, the city council’s Corporate Data Consultant will present information about Unemployment data and demonstrate the capacity of the open data platform (Link to the open data platform - https://data.leicester.gov.uk/pages/unemployment_dashboard/).

Members of the Commission are recommended to note the update and pass any comments to the Director for Tourism, Culture and Inward Investment.

The Senior Intelligence Analyst introduced the item and provided the Commission with demonstration of the newly launched Unemployment Data on the open data platform. It was noted that the data on the platform is updated on a monthly basis and that the platform allows for local, regional and countrywide comparisons.

As part of the discussions, it was noted that:

·         The open data platform allows for a targeted approach of interventions as the data collected is broken down to ward and demographic levels

·         Although the platform was not broken down in terms of economic activity and economic inactivity, increasing amounts of data around this have become available recently and these would be published by the ONS in the coming months

·         Similarly, the platform has not broken down the data in terms of ethnicity, but there was some additional data from the ONS pending which would look at various labour market variables by ethnicity.

Councillor Waddington further noted that this data would be very important in terms of developing policies and targeted initiatives. It was further suggested that this was the type of information that would be helpful to identify areas of the city where there could be potentially people not making an income increasing the levels of poverty in the city. Once the dashboard had all the information available it would be beneficial for the Commission, Officers and the Executive to draw up relevant policies and priorities for future initiatives.

The Director of Tourism, Culture and Inward Investment took the opportunity to note that the presentation was a snapshot of the dashboard which was building up all the time and how the data can be used to identify trends and allow for targeting initiatives. The platform allowed for data to be broken down in different time series and comparators which was very helpful. Once the platform accommodated further data in due course this would allow for a much improved platform.

The Chair suggested that, it will be useful to get an update once the dashboard is able to do a lot more in terms of the level of granularity of the data that it holds and how it can be used.

AGREED:

That the Director for Tourism, Culture and Inward Investment be requested to update the future Commission on the Open Data Platform once there was more depth to the platform.

The Director for Tourism Culture and Inward Investment submits aa update report to the Commission on the Adult Education and Multiply Service.

Members of the Commission are recommended to note the report and pass any comments to the Director for Tourism, Culture and Inward Investment.

The Director for Tourism, Culture and Inward Investment introduced the item, in the absence of the Head of Adult Education. It was noted that the service was still in a recovery phase following the pandemic and that 10% of learners were still learning online and that staff have become more compatible with the changing technology.

It was further noted that the long awaited new website for Adult Education had now been launched.

In response to Members questions, as part of the discussions it was noted that:

·         The service was still in a recovery phase, but the following year projections suggest that the number of learners would be similar to the figures from pre pandemic

·         A whole series of venues were used to deliver a host of different courses across the city, including an online platform to accommodate those learning online

·         The number of learners had decreased nationally but the service had continued to deliver even with cuts from central government with a 97% retention rate

·         Projection figures would be requested from the Head of Adult Education to investigate whether the projections were due to the pandemic or a lack of funding.

Councillor Waddington noted that in the past Adult Education used to provide affordable childcare to mothers who were participating on courses and suggested that this would be beneficial to mothers across the city who wanted to gain qualifications but childcare was an issue.

In response to the Chair, it was noted that information on third party delivery of courses could be provided by the Head of Adult Education, but it was noted that a large workforce was used to develop projects and most of the work was delivered through in house staff.

AGREED:

That, the Head of Adult Education be congratulated for the delivery of service.

The Director for Planning, Development and Transportation submits a presentation providing the Commission with a programme update.

Members of the Commission are recommended to note the presentation and pass any comments to the Director for Planning, Development and Transportation.

The Transforming Cities Fund Project Manager delivered an overview of the presentation.

As part of the discussions, it was noted that:

·         Members of the Commission strongly welcomed the electric busses and the Commission were looking forward to the launch of the new Hop service in the city centre which would also include the train station on its route as suggested by the Commission

·         The Hop service would be the first of its kind and a survey would be run over the trial period to identify the patterns and types of usage

·         Segregated cycle lanes were the preferred option but as indicated in the presentation, at times an alternative dual use lanes are used when segregated lanes are not viable

·         The real time totems were overall providing accurate data but there were some caveats and improvements had been made to ensure that information displayed was accurate

·         The totems were good in comparison to Nottingham.

The Director of Planning, Development and Transportation, noted that there had been recent driver shortages within the bus operators which and resulted in some delayed services and that there were a whole raft of changes taking place to resolve the matter.

The Chair requested information on the cycle scheme going bust. In response to the Chair, it was noted that this was a disappointing outcome with over 3K rides a week before the winter.  The scheme provider was in the hands of the liquidator and that the Council had not put any of its own money into the scheme and it had been funded through the Transforming Cities Fund Scheme. Capital funds would be recovered from the liquidator and that a further update would be provided following discussions with the liquidator.

AGREED:

That the Officers be thanked for the presentation and that the presentation be noted.

The Director for Tourism, Culture and Inward Investment submits a report on the project update.

Members of the Commission are recommended to note the report and pass any comments to the Director for Tourism, Culture and Inward Investment.

The Assistant City Mayor for Policy Delivery and Communications introduced the item and noted that there was not enough funding to deliver what the city needed yet the Council continued to solve a bigger problem with less funding.

The Director for Tourism, Culture and Inward Investment provided an overview of the report and noted that this would need to be signed off by the leadership of the Council following the election in May. Following which scheme would be launched with third party organisations launching by the end of September or early October with inhouse projects launching sooner.

As part of the discussions, the Chair noted that it was good to hear that partnership work was taking place already.

AGREED:

            That the report be noted.

For Members’ consideration, the work programme for the Commission is attached.

The work Programme was noted.

The Chair took the opportunity to thank Officers and Members of the Commission for the continued efforts on the Commission.

There being no further items of business, the meeting closed at 6:55pm.