Agenda and minutes

The Chair led on introductions and welcomed everyone to the meeting.

The Chair then announced the sad news of the passing of the Deputy Chair of the Committee, Councillor Ratilal Govind, who he described as a great colleague and friend to all, a kind and generous man who would be missed by many. The Chair then led on a period of silence for reflection.

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

Members were asked to disclose any pecuniary or other interests they may have in the business on the agenda.

With regards to agenda items, Councillor Halford declared that she was a council tenant.

In accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct, the interest was not considered so significant that it was likely to prejudice the Councillors’ judgement of the public interest. The Member was not, therefore, required to withdraw from the meeting.

The Chair made an announcement to the Committee.

He thanked all Members and officers for their input into the scrutiny process over the course of the year. He said the past twelve months had seen all experience a greater sense of normality in many ways, and he was pleased that scrutiny had been able to turn its focus towards dealing with the many priorities faced by the Council and the city in addition to focussing on the ongoing pandemic. The Chair added it went without saying that the current picture across the country in respect of the level of the virus and the recent emergent of new variants was deeply concerning, and on behalf of the Committee he wanted to thank the City Mayor, the Director of Public Health and all involved in the continuing local response.

The minutes of the meeting of the Overview Select Committee held on 10 November 2021 are attached and Members are asked to confirm them as a correct record.

AGREED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 10^th November 2021 be confirmed as a correct record.

To note progress on actions agreed at the previous meeting and not reported elsewhere on the agenda (if any).

Members received a full set of updates, appended to the minutes for information.

The Chair noted the information on the actions arising.

The Monitoring Officer to report on the receipt of any questions, representations and statements of case submitted in accordance with the Council’s procedures.

The Monitoring Officer reported that no questions, representations or statements of case had been received in accordance with Council procedures.

The Monitoring Officer to report on any petitions received.

The Monitoring Officer reported that no petitions has been received.

The Monitoring Officer submits a report that updates Members on the monitoring of outstanding petitions. The Committee is asked to note the current outstanding petitions and agree to remove those petitions marked ‘Petitions Process Complete’ from the report.

The Monitoring Officer submitted a report which provided an update on the status of outstanding petitions against the Council’s target of providing a formal response within three months of being referred to the Divisional Director.

AGREED:

That the status of the outstanding petitions be noted, and those petitions marked “Petition Complete” Ref: 21/09/01, 21/09/02, 21/10/01 and 21/11/05 be removed from the report.

The Director of Public Health will provide a general update.

Rob Howard, Consultant in Public Health (Medicine), was present in the meeting to provide an overview of the latest picture of ward trends, including Covid-19 infection rates and vaccinations. During the update, the following points were noted:

·         The current situation in terms of overall rates had saw the rate increase slightly over a few weeks rates to 400 per 100k people. Previously the figure had been 365 per 100k people.

·         The rates for over 60s had come down slightly.

·         The rates for school age children though high had also reduced somewhat.

·         The rates for 17-21 and 21-24 year olds had almost doubled in the past two weeks.

·         Although the overall picture on a superficial level was giving a falsely reassuring picture, the city was on the precipice of an unprecedented increase in cases expected in the next few weeks along with the rest of the country who were somewhat behind London.

·         One clue when looking at the rise of the new variant, was two weeks prior it was around 1% of cases, but now presented at 54%, so very soon the Omicron variant would be the vast majority of cases.

·         It was known Omicron was more transmissible, but there was lots of uncertainly about the severity.

·         Current efforts were focussing on the vaccination programme, with significant progress made as part of a huge campaign to boost vaccinations around the city.

·         It appeared the new variant was doubling every two to three days but was expected to slow down. Nonetheless, the country was approaching a holiday period, with families expected to get together, and there was concern rates amongst the younger population would translate into the older population, particularly amongst the unvaccinated and the clinically vulnerable.

·         An issue to be addressed as a system and as a city council was business continuity, a challenge that would likely see significant numbers of staff, particularly front line, absent through sickness and self-isolating.

·         Everyone was working full out again to look at what could be done to prepare, to push the vaccination and booster programme, and was one of the most serious points of the pandemic to date.

·         It was thought that because it was expanding so rapidly, the surge could also end rapidly. It was reported that in possibly one to two months, the city could be out the other side of the surge, though the damage that could be done in that period was unknown.

·         Hospitals were preparing for surge capacity, though it was unknown whether it would be at a level at which they could cope, and further measures might need to be taken nationally, though it was clear there were disagreements with different interpretations on what needed to be done.

·         It was generally recognised that it was a very serious time and situation and the Council continued to do all it could, including continuing contact tracing. So far in the city there remained a reasonable supply of tests.

The City Mayor provided an update on where the city was in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 62.

The City Mayor and Officers will provide a verbal update at the Overview Select Committee on the Afghan Refugee Resettlement Programme.

The City Mayor provided a verbal update to the Committee on the city’s continued support to those individuals based in the Home Office bridging hotel. The following information was noted:

·         There were currently 13 families being supported, with a total of 25 adults.

·         All children were in school.

·         All individuals (adults and children) were registered with a GP. One family was accessing specialist medical services for a serious condition.

·         The Council had tried to raise awareness to families of what was on offer in the city.  For example, tickets had been provided for Curve, which had been well received. 

·         Star Amal was working to arrange support for the families. Six IT tablets had been acquired from a local support agency for children. Work was ongoing with schools on how to support children requiring transport to schools. During inclement weather it was made sure that all children had a lift to school.

·         The hotel operated a lanyard scheme and therefore gave the families the security they needed.

·         When looking at resettlement, there were four families matched to accommodation in Leicester and these would be moving on 16 December 2021 and middle of January (three in private sector accommodation and one in housing association accommodation).

·         There were two cohorts of families – those that were being settled in Leicester, and those that were staying in the hotel in Leicester that would move eventually to other locations.

·         There was a significant need to find four-bedroom and larger properties. Star Amal were working with the Strategic Migration Partnership and were looking at offers to match families’ needs. It was recognised there was a shortage of larger accommodation nationally.

·         Star Amal were procuring mental health support for those in the hotel. The Richmond Felllowship had delivered a session on recognising anxiety and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

·         Leicester College and Leicester Adult Education Centre had formed a networking partnership to maximise the use of ESOL.

The Chair thanked the City Mayor for the update on the corporate effort and agency support for the families.

The Chair asked if there was a target limit of time the families would spend in the hotel. The Director of Housing responded there was no designated time, but as a result of the lack of four-bedroom accommodation, it had slowed down the movement of people in the hotel.

The Chair noted that if further information was received, it would be added as an agenda item at the meeting on 10^th February 2022.

AGREED:

1.    That the update be noted.

2.    That upon the receipt of further information from officers, it be determined whether a further verbal update be brought to the Committee meeting on 10^th February 2022.

The Monitoring Officer submits a report informing the Overview Select Committee that the Executive Decision taken by the City Mayor on 22 November 2021 relating to the acquisition of a property portfolio for Affordable Housing has been the subject of a five-member call-in under the procedures at Rule 12 of Part 4D (City Mayor and Executive Procedure Rules) of the Council’s Constitution.

The Monitoring Officer submitted a report relating to the Call-in of an Executive decision taking by the City Mayor on 22 November 2021 on the acquisition of a property portfolio for Affordable Housing. The decision had been called in under Rule 12 of Part 4D, City Mayor and Executive Procedure Rules of the Council’s Constitution and subsequently the matter had been referred to the Overview Select Committee.

The Committee were recommended to either:

a)    Note the report without further comment or recommendation, which would have the effect of rolling the call-in forward to Full Council on 23 February 2022;

b)    Comment on the specific issues raised by the call-in, for forwarding to the next meeting of Full Council on 23^rd February 2022;

c)    Resolve that the call-in be withdrawn.

Before presentation of the call-in, the Chair made the following statement:

“Members will be aware that the owner of the properties and the precise location of the properties has not been disclosed in the report. In order to protect the financial and business affairs of the Council, this detail remains exempt and will not be referred to during our discussion this evening”.

The Chair invited the sponsor Councillor Kitterick to address the Committee during which he made the following points:

·         Once the renovation and repair costs were added, the authority was looking to spend nearly £40million in total, and given the significance of this, felt that the amount of time given to study the transaction was inadequate.

·         There was secrecy around the deal, and Members were happy to maintain the secrecy of the party. However, part of the secrecy was questioned, when the Council was in a situation where it was about to commit to a £40million deal.  He stated that members and the people of the city had not been told who the purchase was from, what properties were being sold, and the tenants currently in the properties had not been told the transaction was happening.

·         The property schedule showed property valuations but it had been agreed that individual addresses should not be published, though there had been a compulsory purchase order Executive Decision the previous day when two properties had been named.

·         A further issue was a request had been made on a confidential, privileged basis and not to be shared or divulged, for the opportunity to have look at some of the properties and details of them to satisfy Members of the deal being made. He referred to requests of a similar nature being made previously by Members throughout their time on the Council, and confidential reports had been viewed and not divulged in the past with confidences kept. He stated that in an case, the information would at some point be viewable on the Land Registry.

·         There was a value for money argument. As a comparison, Hospital Close was purchased at £60,345 per unit, whereas the purchase under question was £71,761 per unit, which was around £10,500 more per unit than the Hospital Close transactions.

·         Members  ...  view the full minutes text for item 64.

The Strategic Director City Development & Neighbourhood Services, and the Director of Estates & Building Services submit a report to the Overview Select Committee for noting on the purchase of investment property through the use of investment property funding.

The Strategic Director, City Development and Neighbourhood Services, and the Director of Estates and Building Services, submitted a report to the Committee for noting on the purchase of investment property through the use of investment property funding.

The City Mayor introduced the report. He informed the meeting the Council was in the process of investing £10million from the capital programme in a corporate estate acquisition, namely the Haymarket Shopping Centre.

It was noted the Council had invested in the corporate estate over generations in ways that brought income into the revenue budget of the Council, and in ways that had the added benefit of promoting the economic wellbeing of the city. The corporate estate was already valued at over £100million and produced a contribution towards the Council’s revenue of over £7million a year.  It was at the heart of the investment in the Haymarket which was good value in terms of previous selling prices, with two major revenue benefits, namely, the rent from the properties, and because the Council was paying significant rent car park, the Haymarket theatre and the sexual health clinic.

Richard Sword, Strategic Director, City Development and Neighbourhood Services, made the following key points in addressing the committee:

·         The Haymarket Shopping Centre sat on a four-acre site in the city centre. The Council had bought the complete unit and freehold at £9.5million, and this was a unique acquisition.

·         The Council contributed 19% of all revenue to the site.

·         One of the main leases was the 450-space car park which produced £2.586million of revenue per annum, with a net income of £1.443million.

·         The Haymarket had guilt leases which guaranteed income for the lifetime of a tenancy. Guilt leases were usually with government clients, and there was no exercise break of that lease. The lease on the car park alone was worth £8.4million. With gearing, it was estimated that this could reach about £9.2-£9.6million.

·         The centre had considerable tenants, such as, Greggs, B&M, Holland and Barrett, and Tesco Express.

·         When the Council looked to undertake capital acquisitions, a number of aspects were looked at. One was to examine the strategic fit with the asset.

·         There were also other footway and highway works in the area, as well as the strategic regeneration of the site long term, alongside the Travel Lodge development. 

·         The Centre was a good strategic fit which produced good income, which in turn projected frontline services and brought income into the Council using capital resources to create revenue which the Council was struggling with in the face of Government cuts.

·         Extensive due diligence was undertaken on the property, with extensive comparison and a close look at long term liabilities.

Members were then given the opportunity to make comments, and questions were responded to:

·         Noted were problems with retail, with units empty in shopping centres, with Highcross converting the old Debenhams are into residential accommodation.

·         Noted was section 4.4.1 in the report, where rent arrears were currently at £673k and service charge arrears of £251k.

·         It was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 65.

The Director of Delivery, Communication and Political Governance submits a report to the Overview Select Committee which provides an overview of the draft refreshed Equality Action Plan (EAP) for 2021/22 and the related Building a Diverse and Inclusive Workforce Action Plan (BDIWAP) 2021/22. The Overview Select Committee are asked to note and make comment on the draft action plans for 2021/22.

The Director of Delivery, Communications and Political Governance submitted a report to the Overview Select Committee which provided an overview of the draft refreshed Equality Action Plan (EAP) for 2021/22 and the related Building a Diverse and Inclusive Workforce Action Plan (BDIWAP) 2021/22. The Overview Select Committee were asked to note and make comment on the draft action plans for 2021/22.

Councillor Rita Patel, Assistant Mayor for Equalities and Special Projects, introduced the report, and made the following points:

·         Since the last action plan was presented to the Committee, there had been a couple of changes to the Equalities Team, with Kalvaran Sandhu taking over as Head of Equalities Team, and David Shire joining as Race Equalities and Engagement Officer.

·         The Corporate Equality Strategy was developed in 2018 and crossed four years 2018 to 2022.

·         A separate Workforce Action Plan had also been developed which afforded a specific focus on workforce equalities issues.

Kalvaran Sandhu presented the report, and noted the following:

·         Some things had continued primarily because of Covid, but others would remain on the action plan around the EIA process and training etc, but a couple of things to note were the greater focus on embedding equalities early on in processes and in decision making.

·         There had been a lot of decisions made during the Covid pandemic where services had to change slightly and this had formed a large part of the Equalities Team’ work in undertaking support for a lot of EIAs and supporting the service changes over the past two years.

·         There was more focus on work around disabilities, which would be picked up in the EAP, with the need for consideration for disability work across all Council services. Also the Team wanted to garner a better understanding and awareness raising around LGBTQ+ communities as well as some of the issues they faced. The above two communities were particularly vulnerable throughout Covid and would be key areas focussed upon over the next 12 months.

·         The Team had also pushed to be more proactive around awareness raising and embedding early proactive processes when having to react to local or national equality-related issues, for example, Black Lives Matter, where big issues had a real impact locally.

·         The workforce element of equalities related issues had been separated out into a plan to enable better focus.  In summary there was a lot of data and evidence such as workforce data profiling, healthy workplace survey results, new starter and leavers feedback and glass door feedback that had led to the plan, and that work had gone on to increase knowledge of staffing concerns in relation to inclusion and diversity and what the authority was doing around those concerns.

·         There was focus on two-way communication within the plan, maintaining open dialogues with employees and creating a culture of openness, with a push in driving leadership values in particular, a push towards succession planning and growing the workforce from within, and nurturing a diverse workforce to make sure it was representative.

·         An Internal  ...  view the full minutes text for item 66.

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The Deputy Director of Finance submits a report which forecasts performance against the budget for the year. The Overview Select Committee is recommended to consider the overall position presented within the report and make any observations it sees fit.

The Deputy Director of Finance submitted a report which forecast performance against the budget for the year. The Overview Select Committee was recommended to consider the overall position presented within the report and make any observations it saw fit.

Members were asked to note all of the reports were for the first half of the financial year. The following points were made:

·         The Revenue Monitoring report was showing an overspend of £4.9million which was less than previously reported at £7million in the first quarter period. The report came with a warning that the full impact the Covid pandemic on the financial year was not yet known.

·         The loss of income in the report was mainly around City Development and Neighbourhoods and leisure centres.

The Chair noted the report.

AGREED:

1.    That the report be noted.

The Deputy Director of Finance submits a report which shows the position of the capital programme at the end of September 2021 (Period 6). The Overview Select Committee is recommended to consider the overall position presented within the report and make any observations it sees fit.

The Deputy Director of Finance submitted a report which showed the position of the Capital Programme at the end of September 2021 (Period 6). The Overview Select Committee was recommended to consider the overall position presented within the report and make any observations it sees fit.

The Head of Finance presented the report and noted:

·         Most of the projects on the Capital Programme were showing as ‘Green’ or ‘Amber’ on the budget sheets, but were still being impacted by slippage from the pandemic.

·         Also noted for the last year was some projects were seeing some sort of additional costs related to materials which was a national issue and not just one for the Council.

The Chair noted the report.

AGREED:

1.    That the report be noted.

The Deputy Director of Finance submits a report to the Overview Select Committee which details progress in collecting debts raised by the Council during the first six months of 2021/22, together with debts outstanding and brought forward from the previous year. It also sets out details of debts written off under delegated authority that it has not been possible to collect after reasonable effort and expense. The Committee is recommended to consider the overall position presented within the report and make any observations.

The Deputy Director of Finance submitted a report to the Overview Select Committee which detailed progress in collecting debts raised by the Council during the first six months of 2021/22, together with debts outstanding and brought forward from the previous year. It also set out details of debts written off under delegated authority that it had not been possible to collect after reasonable effort and expense. The Committee was recommended to consider the overall position presented within the report and make any observations.

The Head of Finance presented the report and noted that:

·         It reported on debt raised in the first half of the financial year and debt that had been brought forward. The report had an appendix which outlined debt that had been written off.

·         With changing circumstances, some income levels were coming back quicker than envisaged, for example, Council Tax was coming back to pre-pandemic levels.

The Chair noted the report.

AGREED:

1.    That the report be noted.

The Deputy Director of Finance submits a report which reviews how the Council conducted its borrowing and investments during the first six months of 2021/22. The Overview Select Committee is recommended to note the report and make any comments to the Deputy Director of Finance or the Chief Operating Officer and the Executive as they wish.

The Deputy Director of Finance submitted a report which reviewed how the Council conducted its borrowing and investments during the first six months of 2021/22. The Overview Select Committee was recommended to note the report and make any comments to the Deputy Director of Finance or the Chief Operating Officer and the Executive as they wished.

The Head of Finance presented the report. The Committee was asked to note:

·         The authority would not get as much interest as initially envisaged, as the interest base rate had been very low. However, the authority was doing better than some as it had locked in two-year investments prior to the pandemic with other local authorities, which had given a slightly better yield.

·         There had been no new borrowing for the year.

·         The Bank of England had recently slightly increased the base rate, which that should lead to approximately £0.5million additional interest for the year on investments.

The Chair noted that two of the Commissions would look at areas of budget as some point: Adult Social Care had been undertaking a task group review looking at the cost of care packages and CYPE would be looking at SEND cost of travel.

The Chair noted the report.

AGREED:

1.    That the report be noted.

The City Mayor will answer questions raised by members of the Overview Select Committee on issues not covered elsewhere on the agenda.

There were no questions for the City Mayor.

The Chair asked that questions for the City Mayor be sent in writing to the Chair or Democratic Support Officer before the meeting.

The Heritage, Culture, Leisure and Tourism Scrutiny Commission submits a scoping document on women’s participation in physical activity and sport.

The review will aim to:

·         Understand some of the challenges women (18+) face with participating in physical activity / sport by:

1.    Drawing on local and national research into women’s participation in sport and physical activity. 

2.    Facilitating focus groups or individual conversations to gain an insight into women’s attitudes, perceptions and key issues with regard to participation.

·         Understand the types of products, programs, and levels of usage by women within Sport Services facilities.

·         Understand what city partners offer women to participate in physical activity and sport.

·         Understanding the level of non-paid participation – such as running, cycling and exercising in own home as many people choose to exercise in this way rather than at facilities.

·         Provide a set of recommendations for the council and city partners to utilise that will a) raise the awareness of city programs and encourage more women to participate in physical activity and sport, and b) try to overcome any existing barriers to participation.

The Committee is recommended to note the report.

The Heritage, Culture, Leisure and Tourism Scrutiny Commission submitted a scoping document on women’s participation in physical activity and sport.

Councillor Halford, Chair of the Scrutiny Commission presented the report and the following notes were made:

·         The HCLT Scrutiny Commission had agreed to carry out a task group review into the topic of women's participation in sports and physical activities.

·         The scoping report set out the reasons and details of the review.

The Chair asked that the review consider discussing with Leicester City Football Club the women's team and the hockey club as partners locally any of the issues related to the review. Secondly he asked that the review contact the experts in the field based at the University of Leicester; John Williams and his team that would be very helpful to the Commission.

Members suggested the Commission also contact Loughborough University as a sporting facility.

The Chair thanked Councillor Halford for the presentation.

AGREED:

1.    That the Task Group Review be endorsed.

The current work programme for the Committee is attached.  The Committee is asked to consider this and make comments and/or amendments as it considers necessary.

Housing Scrutiny Commission’s task group review of the role of the proposed Anti-Social Behaviour Team had finished and would be brought to the next meeting of Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

The Chair noted the work programme for the Committee, which would be looked at in terms of the number of important reports that needed to be brought to the Committee.

He added that it was likely that a special meeting would need to be arranged for the Local Plan, date to be confirmed.

The Chair thanked all of those that had been present at the meeting that evening.

There being no items of urgent business, the meeting closed at 9.51pm.