Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Gugnani.

The meeting was informed that Councillor Dawood would be late.  

A warm welcome was given to a representative of the Young People’s Council. A second representative arrived during the course of the meeting.

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

No declarations of interest were made.

The Chair referred to Brexit and said that he would want a report brought to the Overview Select Committee on the Council’s position, once a conclusion had been reached. 

The minutes of the meeting of the Overview Select Committee held on 1 November 2018 are attached and the Committee will be asked to confirm them as a correct record.

AGREED:

that the minutes of the meeting of the Overview Select Committee held 1 November 2018 be confirmed as a correct record.

The Chair reported that there were no outstanding actions.

The Monitoring Officer to report on any questions, representations or statements of case received.   

The Monitoring Officer reported that there were no questions, representations or statements of case.

The Monitoring Officer to report on any petitions received.

The Monitoring Officer reported that no petitions had 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 Chair commented that the current status of all petitions was either ‘Green’ or ‘Amber’ which he said was a very good position to be in.

AGREED:

                   that the Tracking of Petitions Monitoring 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.

Councillor Porter asked how the City Mayor could justify spending money on illuminating empty buildings when according to his own Councillors in the Labour Group, vulnerable families in Leicester were having to choose between heating their homes or feeding their families. He asked why the money was not being given to those vulnerable families instead.

The City Mayor explained that there was a difference between capital and revenue expenditure. Expenditure on the lighting of buildings was mostly capital expenditure and part of the investment that was being made to ensure that Leicester remained proud of its heritage. The people of Leicester were suffering from very severe funding cuts from the current and the previous government and those cuts were far in excess of the small amounts spent on celebrating the historic environment of the City.

Councillor Porter referred again to poor and vulnerable families who had to choose between heating their homes or eating and asked how the City Mayor could justify granting £150k towards a private landlord for premises which had been turned into a restaurant. He asked whether it would not have been preferable to use tax payers’ money towards helping those vulnerable families.

The City Mayor re-iterated that there was a difference between revenue and capital money. Capital funding had resulted in inward investment far in excess of the initial investment and had brought jobs and wealth into the city.  Capital funds could not be used for the provision of revenue services or to provide direct support to vulnerable families. The City Mayor added that he would not comment on the particular investment that Councillor Porter had referred to because that decision had been made by others and not himself.

A representative from the Youth Council asked whether the City Mayor would support increased representation from Young People, although he recognised that considerable participation already took place. The City Mayor welcomed the question and stated that the Council would like to give young people more opportunities to participate and they wanted to ensure that their voice was heard. Any suggestions from young people as to how their participation could be increased would be very welcome.

The Acting Director of Public Health submits a report that presents the draft Revised Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2019 – 2024. The submission is made in response to a recommendation from the Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Commission that the strategy be presented to the Overview Select Committee to enhance the corporate ownership of the strategy.

The Overview Select Committee is asked to note the contents of the update and engage with and support the consultation process in January.

Councillor Porter left the meeting during the consideration of this item of business.

The Acting Director of Public Health submitted a report that presented the draft Revised Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2019-2024. The Committee heard that there was a focus in the report on preventative work and the report had been well received at the Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Commission.

Members considered the report and comments made included the following:

·      The report was welcomed, however more smoking cessation sessions were needed in Beaumont Leys and the NHS appeared to be cutting back on them.

The Acting Director responded that smoking cessation was one of key areas where Public Health could improve people’s health and they were looking to offer services in more convenient places such as in Haymarket Health. A concern was raised that such sessions were needed in the areas where people lived as not everyone could come into the city centre.

·      A Member said that air quality in Leicester did not appear to have improved and questioned whether the Council could encourage increased use of electric vehicles and for example allow them to use bus lanes and give drivers of electric vehicles free parking. The Acting Director responded that air quality was a national and local issue. They were working with Sustrans and trying to encourage people to cycle and walk more. Public Health were very committed to working towards improving air quality and they were also working with colleagues in Highways and Transport services to do so.

·      It was noted that there was a reference to decent homes standards in the report, and concerns were expressed that there were many families living in overcrowded conditions which had a detrimental impact on their health. A request was made that consideration was given to the problem of overcrowding.

·      The Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Commissions said that health and wellbeing and the prevention agenda cut across all scrutiny portfolios and as such was everyone’s responsibility. All the health partners appreciated that the strategy was a very important piece of work.

·      The strategy was praised but it was questioned how it would be monitored. The Acting Director confirmed that there was an underlying infrastructure and they would be looking at key indicators as part of the monitoring.

·      A representative from the Youth Council referred to some work they were doing on supporting young people in the city and on issues relating to mental health, and he invited the Acting Director to take part as an expert witness. The Acting Director confirmed that he would be very pleased to participate in this work and he added that trying to ensure the right start for all young people was an integral part of the strategy.

·      A Member commented that there was a significant increase in drug use and anti-social behaviour in the Beaumont Leys Ward, which was spreading across the city and the Police appeared to be unable to cope. People felt intimidated and were afraid to leave their  ...  view the full minutes text for item 59.

Members will receive a power point presentation that provides an overview of Leicester City Council’s digital transformation programme.   Members are invited to note and comment as they see fit.

Councillor Dawood arrived during the consideration of this item of business.

Members received a power point presentation that provided an overview of Leicester City Council’s Digital Transformation Programme (DTP), a copy of which had been included in the agenda. 

Councillor Myers, Assistant City Mayor for the Entrepreneurial Councils’ Agenda introduced the presentation and said that the Council’s public on-line spaces were key to delivering its core responsibilities and one approach towards improving this was through the Digital Transformation Programme.  Another approach was through ‘Smart Cities’ which provided a broader strategy for the whole city and he would be pleased to bring this other strategy to a future meeting of the Overview Select Committee.

The Assistant City Mayor explained that ‘Smart Cities’ referred to how data was used and how it transformed lives on a day to day basis, for example how people applied for jobs, interacted with each other and commerce etc and also how they moved about the city. The Digital Transformation Programme set out how the council enabled this, through access to its services on-line and how the back office was managed.  

The Assistant City Mayor stated that he wanted to tackle digital exclusion because people who were not comfortable ‘on-line’ could be excluded from a range of social and economic activities.  He also said that it was important to encourage interaction on-line, because it could free up capacity to enable officers to hold those important conversations with individuals where they were needed. The Assistant City Mayor referred to on-line channels such as ‘My Account’ and ‘Love Leicester’ and invited Members to contact him if they identified any areas which they felt needed to work better.

Members then considered the power point presentation which was presented by the Digital Transformation Lead officer. During the ensuing discussion, comments and queries raised included the following:

·      A Member expressed strong concerns about the aim to reduce the percentage of payments made face to face to a base line figure of 33%. She said that a council officer might be the only person that an individual might have an opportunity to speak to. Additionally, when she herself had been unwell, she was unable to carry out on her transactions online. Concerns were expressed about the effect that a reduction in face to face contact would have on individuals. Members heard that the programme would free up officers’ time to enable face to face contact with those people who needed it and may be more vulnerable.

·      A Member commented that she remembered that some of these issues had been discussed three years ago and it appeared that limited progress had been made. The Member added that she recalled at the time they were told that Leicester was about ten years behind other authorities and she questioned whether this was still the case. It was suggested that it had been a mistake in only having officers present and providing support for two weeks after the self- service machines were put in place. The machines  ...  view the full minutes text for item 60.

The Committee will receive the report of the Finance Task Group which met on 29 November 2018 to consider the following finance reports.

Minutes of the meeting of the Finance Task Group held 29 November 2018 (Appendix E)

Revenue Budget Monitoring Period 6 2018 / 19 (Appendix E1)

Capital Budget Monitoring Period 6 2018/19 (Appendix E2)

Mid-Year Review of Treasury Management Activities 2018/19 (Appendix E3)

Income Collection: April 2018 – September 2018(Appendix E4)

The Chair presented the minutes of the meeting of the Overview Select Committee Finance Task Group held 29 November 2018. The Task Group had met to consider the following four reports:

1.    Revenue Budget Monitoring Report – Period 6, 2018/19

2.    Capital Budget Monitoring Report – Period 6, 2018/19

3.    Mid-Year Review of Treasury Management Activities 2018/19, and

4.    Income Collection Report: April 2018- September 2018

The Chair stated that the reports had been vigorously examined by the Task Group and the Director of Finance should be particularly congratulated on the council’s borrowing and investment as detailed in the Review of Treasury Management Activities.

The City Mayor referred to the Capital Monitoring Report and stated that an additional £1.158m had been allocated to Leicester to be spent on road maintenance. This information had been received too late to be included in the report considered at the Task Group. Although the additional funding was very welcome, it fell very short of what was needed to repair and maintain the road network. The City Mayor said that it was his intention to ensure that the money was spent on areas of high priority on the city’s major transport routes and on the road network in Leicester’s neighbourhoods. The City Mayor said that an additional recommendation regarding this would be included in the decision note following its consideration at this meeting.

The Chair of the Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission asked the City Mayor whether he could talk to the other City Mayors and agree to write to the Government requesting additional funding for Adult Social Care and Children Services. The City Mayor expressed strong criticisms of the Government’s funding in this area and stated that councils were doing their best to manage increasing need with limited funding.  The meeting heard that the Secretary of State had been asked when the Adult Social Care Green Paper would be available, and he had responded that it would be available ‘soon’. The Director said that at the moment, they had the in-year allocation of additional monies but no certainty of the proposed funding mechanism for Adult Social Care and Children’s Services in the long term.

The Chair drew the discussion to a close and asked Members to note the reports.

AGREED:

                   that the reports be noted.                   

a)    To receive and endorse the following Scoping Document:-

NHS Workforce (Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Commission)

Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Commission

The Chair of the Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Commission presented the NHS Workforce scoping document and said that the review was being undertaken because the Commission had asked about the risks and challenges that the NHS faced, both locally and nationally, and had consistently been told that the biggest risks were the workforce. The Commission did not yet have an overall view of the number of pressures that the service faced. 

The Chair invited Members to endorse the NHS Workforce scoping document.

AGREED:

that the Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Commission NHS Workforce scoping document be endorsed.

Children, Young People and Schools Scrutiny Commission

The Chair of the Children, Young People and Schools Scrutiny Commission stated that a scoping document was agreed by the Commission earlier in the week and had therefore missed submission to this meeting of the Overview Select Committee. The title of review was ‘To explore the reasons for educational underachievement of African heritage pupils and white working-class pupils in Leicester’.  The Chair asked if the scoping document could be endorsed in order that work on the review could commence.

The Committee agreed for the scoping document to be endorsed in order that work could commence on the review.

AGREED:

that the scoping document, to explore the reasons for educational underachievement of African heritage pupils and white working -class pupils in Leicester be endorsed.

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

The Overview Select Committee Work Programme was noted.

Members are asked to consider the Plan of Key Decisions and in particular, note any items pertaining to their own scrutiny commissions.

The Chair reminded the Chairs of the different Scrutiny Commissions to regularly check the Plan of Key Decisions and where appropriate to request reports be brought to Scrutiny, prior to decisions being made by the Executive.  

With the permission of the Chair, the Chair of the Adult Social Care Scrutiny Commission said that she wished to express her thanks for the way officers had responded very promptly to a concern she had raised with them. The concerns had arisen from families who had a child with autism who needed a quiet time to go shopping or to visit Santa.  The Chair had thought that it would be too late to put anything in place this year, but the officers had responded very quickly, and extra sessions had been provided which met the needs of those families.

The meeting closed at 7.45 pm.