Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

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

Councillor Gugnani declared an Other Disclosable Interest in that he was secretary of the Leicester Council of Faiths.

Councillor Sood also declared an Other Disclosable Interest in that she was Chair of the Leicester Council of Faiths.

The Minutes of the previous meeting of the Neighbourhood Services and Community Involvement Scrutiny Commission held on 7 January 2014 have been circulated, and Members will be asked to confirm them as a correct record.

Members were asked to confirm the minutes of the previous meeting of the Neighbourhood Services and Community Involvement Scrutiny Commission held on 7 January 2014.

RESOLVED:

that the minutes of the meeting of the Neighbourhood Services and Community Involvement Scrutiny Commission held on 7 January 2014 be confirmed as a correct record.

Minute Item 79: Progress on actions agreed at the previous meeting held 7 January 2014:

Further training on the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB)

The Chair announced that training sessions had been arranged at the CAB office on Charles Street. These would be held on 26 February or 5 March 2014 from 10.00am to 2.00 pm and the Chair urged members to attend if possible.

Minute item 82: ‘Pass it On’ Re-use trial

A report on this scheme was due to be brought back to the commission in May or June 2014.

Minute item 83: Community Governance Update

The Chair explained that she would be meeting with the Head of Community Services to arrange the visits to the groups that had entered into partnership arrangements.

Minute item 84: Ward Community Meeting Improvement Project Update

The Chair explained that it was anticipated that all members would receive a communication relating to the transitional arrangements within a few days.

The Monitoring Officer will report on the receipt of any petitions submitted in accordance with the council’s procedures.

The Monitoring Officer reported that no petitions had been received.

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

The Monitoring Officer reported that no questions, representations or statements of case had been received.

The Director of Culture and Neighbourhood Services and the Director of Environmental Services submit a report relating to the General Fund Budget for 2014/15 to 2015/16. The commission is asked to consider the budget relating to the Neighbourhood Services and Community Involvement portfolio and make any comments to the Overview Select Committee as it see fit.

The Director of Culture and Neighbourhood Services and the Director of Environmental Services submitted a report that requested the scrutiny commission to consider the draft budget proposals for 2014/15 to 2015/16.

Members heard that the budget approved in February 2013 had included a managed reserve strategy, which was designed to help balance the budget in future years. Councillor Russell, Assistant City Mayor for Neighbourhood Services explained that the managed reserves were in place to help manage the process when deeper cuts were required. There would be further savings to make and these could be taken a step at a time by the managed reviews.

Members raised various questions relating to the budget which were answered by officers and the Assistant Mayor. The following comments were made:

·         How certain could people be about the cuts that were forecast going forward after this current budget, and how did the strategy support these?

·         Strong concerns were expressed at the level of cuts that were necessary because of the government spending cuts and at how they would affect some of the most deprived families in the city.

·         There was a concern that there might be an increase in charges for current services delivered through the Neighbourhood Services Portfolio to cover the budget savings. It was hoped that this could be avoided.

The Assistant Mayor explained that she had considered the charges within the Neighbourhood Services portfolio; there had been small increases in some of the services charges, such as libraries and the green waste scheme, whilst trying to ensure that the universal services such as rat control remained free of charge. There was a fine balance between increasing service charges to offset the need for further reductions and raising them to a level which might prevent people from using the service altogether.

·         It was recognised that a lot of the savings in the portfolio had already been accomplished.

·         Concerns were expressed that the details relating to the planned reviews were as yet unclear.

The Assistant Mayor responded that the scale of the cuts required were such that it was not possible to make all the savings at the same time. Managed reviews with consultation were needed so that the reviews could be tackled in an engaged way. The reviews were listed in the report, details would be brought to scrutiny and members would have an opportunity to make suggestions. Concern was expressed from a member of the commission that the only vote that members had was at the budget debate at council. The Assistant Mayor responded that all member views were taken into account. She noted that because of the spending cuts, it might be necessary to make changes to the budget during the course of the year.

The Chair raised a query that there was no reference in the budget to the Infrastructure Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) and Ward Community Meetings and asked that they be included in the budget in future.

The Chair concluded the discussion and commented that the steps  ...  view the full minutes text for item 93.

The Director of Finance submits a report that details results of the initial six month analysis of the impacts of Welfare Reform upon city neighbourhoods and service delivery. The commission is asked to note the impacts and trends highlighted in the report and comment on the analysis and initial findings.

The Director of Finance submitted a report that provided details of the initial six month analysis of the impact of welfare reform upon city neighbourhoods and service delivery. The Head of Revenue and Benefits presented the report and circulated an appendix which is attached to the back of the minutes. This may be viewed on line at www.cabinet.leicester.gov.uk

Alternatively a copy may be obtained by phoning Democratic Support on 0116 454 6357.

The Head of Revenue and Benefits explained that some families were already feeling the effect of the welfare reform, but it was expected that this impact would be felt even more acutely in the next year or two. The implementation of universal credit, which was designed to help buffer any adverse effects of the changes, had been delayed and would not take place until 2016/17. However Discretionary Housing Payments, which had been expected to decrease, had been maintained in order to combat this delay.  The commission heard that a further report would be brought back around March time which would include an update on food banks.

A member expressed a concern that although the statistics for his ward demonstrated that residents there had been particularly badly hit by welfare reform, his case work had not increased. He expressed a hope that this meant that the information the council were sending out was reaching people in need. The Assistant City Mayor for Neighbourhood Services explained that support was focussed onto the most vulnerable families, although there was concern that some people appeared to be trying to manage and did not seek help until they had reached crisis point.

A query was raised relating to the collection of council tax and the Head of Revenue and Benefits explained that the collection rate had been reasonably robust so far, but it was recognised that the changes in welfare benefits were likely to result in a higher proportion of bad debt.

Further comments were made as follows:

·         In respect of the ‘Help to Work’ scheme, a concern was expressed that the scheme needed to take account of people’s disabilities and mobility issues.

·         Statistics indicated that the number of people given sanctions or adverse decisions by the Job Centre Plus appeared to be higher in Leicester than elsewhere and the reason for this was queried. Members asked for a representative from the Job Centre Plus to be invited to a future meeting to respond to some of the questions and concerns from members.

·         Concern was expressed for those families who were finding it difficult to manage because of the changes to their benefits. A member of the commission explained that he had spent several hours trying to help a family who had been without food for two days.

·         Praise was given to staff in the Money Advice Service; it was acknowledged that the service made a positive difference.

·         Concern was expressed at the number of cases that had been referred to the magistrates court, where families faced eviction because of rent arrears. The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 94.

The commission is asked to note that the city council makes use of Census 2011 data as part of its corporate programme of data collection and analysis. The Director of Delivery, Communications and Political Governance submits a report that provides an update on progress. The commission is asked to note and comment on the report.

The Director of Delivery, Communications and Political Governance submitted a report that provided an overview of the Census 2011 data. The Research and Intelligence Manager presented the report and explained that further information was available on the council’s website at:

www.leicester.gov.uk/research

Members of the commission praised the report and made the following comments:

·         The report contained very useful information including specific data to help councillors towards a better understanding of their ward and its issues. As such it should be publicised for the public and community groups to use.

·         It would be helpful for councillors to be sent data relating to the constituency, the city and their ward.

·         it would also be helpful to have the data included into the councillors’ guide.

RESOLVED:

1)    that the report be noted;

2)    the councillors be provided with information relating to the constituency, the city and their ward;

3)    that the information be made available for the public and community groups to use; and

4)    that the data be included in the councillors’ guide.

The Director of Delivery, Communications and Political Governance submits a report that describes the way equalities considerations are supported and embedded into council business. The commission is asked to note the way in which equality considerations are addressed and to note that it has responsibility to pay ‘due regard’ to the equality implications of the decisions/recommendations it makes in its reports as part of the council’s decision making process.

The Director of Delivery, Communications and Political Governance submitted a report that asked the scrutiny commission to note the way in which equalities considerations were addressed and to note that the commissions had a responsibility to pay ‘due regard’ to the equality implications of the decisions and recommendations they made in their reports.

The Corporate Equalities Lead presented the report and explained that the key focus of their work was to ensure that the council met its equality duties.

The Chair thanked the Corporate Equalities Lead for the report and added that she believed that it was relevant item for consideration by all the scrutiny commissions. 

The following comments were made:

·         It was queried whether an exercise had been carried out to establish what the council were trying to change; should a benchmark be set so that achievement could be measured? Could some of the things the council do be improved to ensure that services fit the needs of local people?

The Director of Delivery, Communications and Political Governance responded that the Research and Intelligence team had been established to help provide a greater understanding of needs in the city and that such information was an important basis for any policy or service change.

·         A query was raised as to how the needs of specific communities were assessed.

It was explained that the equalities team worked with and facilitated divisions assessing the implications of proposed policy and service changes on different groups of local people based on their protected characteristics, and made sure those assessments were robust and evidence based. The Assistant City Mayor for Community Involvement, Partnerships and Equalities responded that the city was very diverse with many minority communities. Consideration was given to meeting the needs of those minority groups. 

It was reported that there are seven established employee groups in the local authority and they played an important role in highlighting needs and workplace issues faced by different groups of staff. The Chair added that she had attended the Equality and Diversity Launch; and that the second part had been particularly insightful as attendees had heard from representatives of the different employee groups.

A member commented that there were no electronic links on the council website to the different employee groups within the local authority.  Officers explained that the groups were advertised on the council’s interface and also in FACE (the staff newsletter). The Chair asked officers to double check as to how the equality groups were advertised externally.

·         It was noted that the report referred to the Stonewall Workforce Equality Index which was focused on lesbian, gay and bisexual staff. It was noted that progress had been made in increasing the council’s rank against the Stonewall index.

·          A question was raised regarding information on the council’s workforce representation in general and Members heard that in the past there had been reports relating to this.

The Director for Delivery, Communications and Political Governance explained that an annual Workforce Monitoring Report was produced and that the Vice Chair  ...  view the full minutes text for item 96.

The scrutiny commission is asked to receive the work programme 2013/14 for consideration and comment.

Members considered the scrutiny commission work programme and it was noted that it would need to be amended to include the Voluntary and Community Sector Review, food banks and a report on the mapping / locality of welfare reform services. In addition, Neighbourhood Policing and the City Warden Service had been moved to the April meeting of the commission.

Members were also informed that a site visit would be organised to the new Customer Service Centre on Granby Street.

RESOLVED:

                        that the work programme be noted.

The Chair reminded Members that the April meeting of the Neighbourhood Services and Community Involvement Scrutiny Commission had been moved from 22 April to 9 April 2014.

The meeting closed at 7.45 pm