Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Cank.

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

No declarations of interest were made.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Neighbourhood Services and Community Involvement Scrutiny Commission held on 12 July 2017 are attached.  Members are asked to confirm them as a correct record.

AGREED:

That the minutes of the meeting of the Neighbourhood Services and Community Involvement Scrutiny Commission held on 12 July 2017 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).

In relation to minute 11, “Portfolio Overview”, the Director of Neighbourhood and Environmental Services confirmed that the frequently asked questions referred to in the eighth bullet point had been prepared and, if not already available on the Council’s website, would be published there soon.

The Chair made no announcements.

The Monitoring Officer to 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 following representation has been received from Mr A Ross and is submitted to the Commission:

"Over 34,000 people in the City and County rely on Employment Support Allowance as their source of income.  They are by definition ill or disabled in some way, including members of Unite's Community Branch..  The City Council proposes to cut the Welfare Advice budget by £500,000 and reduce access to the service to just 8 council offices in Leicester.

What are the commission's views on this proposal?  Unite Community believes that at a time of increasing need for welfare advice in Leicester the current budget should be maintained, making use of the additional £7 million for adult social care the council has received since setting this year's budget.  Access to welfare advice should not be restricted.  Instead it should be extended to include health centres and food banks, where those in most need of benefit support already go."

The Monitoring Officer will report at the meeting on any further questions, representations and statements of case submitted in accordance with the Council’s procedures.

The Chair reported that he had received a letter from the Unison trades union, which raised a legal point regarding the re-procurement of social welfare advice.  He had therefore asked for an opinion on the letter and had been reassured by the City Barrister that consulting on a single preferred delivery model / proposal was lawful.

Mr A Ross was present at the meeting to make a representation regarding the re-procurement of social welfare advice.  The Chair invited Mr Ross to address the Committee for five minutes to make his representation and explained that the points he raised would be included in the Commission’s consideration of social welfare advice re-procurement (minute 23, “Social Welfare Advice Re-Procurement”, referred).

Mr Ross explained that he represented unwaged members of Unite and made the following representation:

"Over 34,000 people in the City and County rely on Employment Support Allowance as their source of income.  They are by definition ill or disabled in some way, including members of Unite's Community Branch.  The City Council proposes to cut the Welfare Advice budget by £500,000 and reduce access to the service to just 8 council offices in Leicester.

Unite Community want to know what are the commission's views on this proposal?  We believe that at a time of increasing need for welfare advice in Leicester the current budget should be maintained, not cut, making use of the additional £7 million for adult social care the council has received since setting this year's budget.  Access to welfare advice should not be restricted.  Instead it should be extended to include health centres and food banks, where those in most need of benefit support already go."

The Director of Finance submits a report giving an update on the re-procurement of Council funded Social Welfare Advice contracts and providing details of the current public consultation on the proposed model of advice provision in the city.  The Commission is recommended to note the update on the social welfare advice re-procurement exercise.

The Director of Finance submitted a report giving an update on the re-procurement of Council-funded Social Welfare Advice contracts and providing details of the current public consultation on the proposed model of advice provision in the city.

Councillor Waddington, Assistant City Mayor for Jobs and Skills, introduced the report, stressing that no decisions had been taken to date on how the contracts would be re-procured.  She explained that the current social welfare advice contracts with external organisations were ending, so the opportunity was being taken to consider what should be provided in the future.

Councillor Waddington explained that external advice providers funded by the Council currently were managed by different service areas.  This had resulted in some inconsistency in the performance and monitoring of the contracts.  It therefore was important that the new service provided good quality social welfare advice for residents that was consistent, accessible and appropriate to people’s needs.  The re-procurement exercise also was an opportunity to facilitate closer working relationships between advice providers. 

Councillor Waddington offered to present the findings of the consultation and information on the proposed new delivery model to the Commission.

It was stressed that, although savings were being sought, as in all service areas, this should not be to the detriment of the advice services provided.  The Project Manager for the re-procurement exercise confirmed that the cost of the re-procured services, and therefore whether any savings could be achieved, was not known yet, as no decisions had been taken on what service model would be adopted.

The Project Manager further advised that:

·           It had been difficult to bring together robust statistics by which to assess the current contracts.  Different contracts contained different requirements regarding the methods and extent of data recording;

·           This also meant it was difficult to know exactly how many clients were being seen, as one person could be being helped by more than one organisation.  This also highlighted the need for centrally co-ordinated record keeping;

·           Demand for social welfare advice was increasing, so the service could not remain in its current format.  The Council therefore wanted to find a service model that ensured the continued delivery of free, quality advice across the city;

·           Clients in crisis would continue to be “fast-tracked”;

·           Individual meetings were being held with the agenciescurrently funded by the Council to provide welfare advice;

·           It was suggested that some agencies would need to consider changes to the way in which they delivered services, as they had been using the same delivery methods for a considerable length of time;

·           The consultation on the re-procurement of these contracts had included a city-wide call for evidence, but there had been a limited response to this;

·           It was anticipated that the welfare advice services would be delivered from a dedicated area in the Council’s Customer Service Centre in Granby Street.  This would help facilitate the provision of standardised, quality advice across the city, as well as according with the Council’s Using Buildings Better programme.  There was insufficient room for telephony  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23.

The Director of Neighbourhood and Environmental Services submits a report giving an overview of progress to date of the Transforming Neighbourhood Services (TNS) Programme, summarising the results of engagement work and consultation carried out in the North East area of the city and setting out proposals that are intended to be implemented by the TNS programme in relation to the North East area.

The Commission is recommended to note the progress made to date, feedback and lessons learned regarding the engagement activity in the East and Central area and is invited to comment on the proposals made in relation to the East and Central area.

The Director of Neighbourhood and Environmental Services submitted a report providing an overview of progress with the Transforming Neighbourhood Services (TNS) Programme, summarising the results of engagement work and consultation carried out in the east and central areas of the city and setting out proposals intended to be implemented by the TNS programme in relation to those areas.

Councillor Master, Assistant City Mayor for Neighbourhood Services, introduced the report.  He drew attention to the engagement and consultation that had been undertaken on the proposals for how services in the east and central areas of the city could be reorganised to achieve the required reduction in service delivery costs.  He noted that these savings should be achieved through the recommendations being made, but stressed that it was important to ensure that neighbourhood services were maintained in all parts of the city, so people did not have to come in to the centre of the city to access them.

The Head of Neighbourhood Services confirmed that consultation on the proposals had been undertaken using the methods developed when considering the delivery of neighbourhood services in other parts of the city.  For example, questionnaires had been available on-line and in printed format and also were produced in a community language. 

The number of responses to the consultation had been lower than that received in other areas, but this could have been due to fewer changes to service delivery being proposed than had been made in other parts of the city.

Members asked whether it was proposed to revisit some of the changes made to the delivery of neighbourhood services throughout the city where it was known that issues remained unresolved.  In addition, it was felt that there was some disparity between areas in which the delivery of neighbourhood services had bene reviewed.  For example, in some areas there had been a bigger impact on the provision of youth activities than in other areas, but unlike some other areas the proposals for the central and eastern areas impacted on housing services

In reply, the Head of Neighbourhood Services advised that the Council’s Using Buildings Better programme had started during the TNS programme and had expanded the range of buildings being considered.  It was recognised that some boundaries between areas were “artificial”, in that people living in one area visited buildings in other areas.  The next phase of the programme would be a city-wide survey of how satisfied users were with the services delivered through neighbourhood buildings and an important part of closing down the project therefore would be to identify what remained to be resolved.

The Director of Neighbourhood and Environmental Services endorsed this, confirming that the lessons learned from the TNS programme were relevant across all Council service areas.

The following points were then made in discussion on the report:

·           The merging of services were some of the biggest changes made by the Council to service delivery, but damage had been done by a lack of understanding by some officers of communities’ perspectives  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

To receive an update on spending reviews affecting services within this Commission’s portfolio and not considered elsewhere on the agenda.  Members are recommended to receive the update and comment as appropriate.

The Director of Finance reported verbally that the two key spending reviews affecting services within this Commission’s remit were Social Welfare Advice Re-Procurement and the Transforming Neighbourhood Services programme. 

She further reported that the Chairs of Scrutiny Commissions soon would be meeting the City Mayor to discuss spending reviews.  No changes to the reviews falling within this Commission’s remit were anticipated.

The Director of Neighbourhood and Environmental Services advised the Commission that a decision following the DIY and Bulky Waste review had been deferred and it was not known at present when any decisions on these services would be taken.  An indicative saving of £2.3million needed to be made from cleansing and waste services, so consideration was being given to how this could be achieved through various service areas.

AGREED:

That directors be asked to provide a written update on spending reviews falling within this Commission’s remit for future meetings, this report to be circulated with each agenda.

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

The Chair advised Members that the suggestions for items to be included in the Work Programme received further to the invitation issued at the last meeting, (minute 14, “Scrutiny Commission Work Programme”, referred), had been incorporated in to the Programme.

The meeting closed at 7.08 pm