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.

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the meeting of the Neighbourhood Services Scrutiny Commission held on Thursday 6 August 2020 are attached and Members are asked to confirm them as a correct record.

AGREED:

That the minutes from the Neighbourhood Services Scrutiny Commission held on 6 August 2020 be noted as a accurate record.

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 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.

The Director of Finance submits a presentation updating the Commission on the service recovery plans as a result of Covid19.

Members of the Commission are recommended to receive the presentation and pass any comments to the Director of Finance.

The Director of Finance presented the presentation updating the Commission on the service recovery plans as a result of Covid-19. As part of the presentation important information was shared on how members of the public could arrange meetings in a safe manner for essential business at the Customer Service Centre (https://youtu.be/Hnq3TGKR_Nk).

The Assistant City Mayor for Neighbourhoods took the opportunity to thank Officers and Elected Members for adapting to changing work situations and their response during these times.  

During the discussion Members of the Commission commended the Officers for the work that had been undertaken. Members also suggested that community-based organisations also received a commendation for the work these organisations had contributed in supporting the Leicester during the pandemic.

It was noted that only emergency housing repairs calls were now being taken and the team were now working within the guidelines to carry out emergency housing repairs and these could still be reported online. There may still be a delay in some of these repairs to ensure safe working practices

In terms of the fraud figures presented in the presentation there were a few applications that the National Office for Fraud had alerted the team to and these were being investigated. It was noted that no application had yet been identified as a fraudulent application.

Members of the Commission welcomed the launch of the Test and Trace scheme and app. It was suggested that with the winter months now approaching this would be vital for the service for effective and efficient tracing. It was noted that the three key symptoms of the virus; a high temperature, a new cough and a loss in taste and smell would help people distinguish the difference between the virus and the seasonal flu. For those that required additional support it was suggested that calling 111 and speaking to the NHS would help keep people informed and advice on testing would be made.

It was noted that the new Test and Trace support payment was only made to those on low income households, who had been tested positive and were required to self-isolate.

Members of the Commission commended the C-19 helpline as it had been an effective way for Members to communicate with Officers efficiently with excellent response times.

Members provided the Director of Finance on feed back to the discretionary grants and suggested that the timescale on stage three was not suitable and as a result, businesses had been at a loss as they had missed the deadline. It was noted that this was due to the government calling an end to the scheme.

Members were informed that the government had provided a list of business that were asked to close as part of the local lockdown and that these were the businesses that were eligible to apply for the local lockdown grant.

Agreed:

1)    That the Director of Finance and her team be thanked for their work;

2)    That the Director of Finance be requested to bring any future updates to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 66.

The Chair of the Neighbourhood Services Scrutiny Commission submits a draft report on the findings of ‘The Viability and Appropriateness of a Community Lottery for Leicester’.

Members of the Commission are recommended to receive the report and pass comments to the Chair of the Neighbourhood Services Scrutiny Commission.

Councillor Thalukdar as Chair of the Neighbourhood Services Scrutiny Commission presented the report into the findings of the viability and appropriateness of a community lottery for Leicester.

It was noted that this review was initially instigated by the late Councillor Jean Khote and faced further delay due to the pandemic.

The Chair suggested Members focus on the findings in the summary of the report which suggested that it would not be viable or appropriate to pursue a community lottery in Leicester.

The Chair moved to approve the draft report and Members of the Commission voted unanimously to do so.

Agreed;

1)    That report be noted;

2)    That the report be presented to the Overview Select Committee and;

3)    That the Commission request that the responses be bought back to the Commission at a future date.

There being no items of urgent business the meeting closed at 5:10pm.