Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed all those present to the meeting and introduced, Mr Steve Walker to the Committee.

Meeting of the Challenge and Improvement Committee held on 23 May 2016

(a)     Meeting of the Challenge and Improvement Committee held on 23 May 2016 (CAI.08 16/17)

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting of the Challenge and Improvement Committee held on 23 May 2016be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

Members may make any declarations of interest at this point and may also make them at any point during the meeting.

Councillor Lesley Rollings declared a personal interest in report CAI.07 16/17 (Consideration of Scrutiny of Public Bodies – Issue of Youth Employment in West Lindsey) as she was employed by The Gainsborough Academy and through her employment worked closely with West Lindsey’s Employment and Skills Officer.

The Committee gave consideration to the Matters Arising Schedule, setting out the current position of previously agreed actions, as at 20 June 2016.

It was reported that all actions, with the exception of two longer-term items, within the report were marked as completed since the previous meeting of the Committee.

RESOLVED that the Matters Arising Schedule as at 20 June 2016 be received and noted.

Committee will have the opportunity to scrutinise the work of the Careers

Service.  Mr Steve Walker and Jayne Pinkney will be in attendance to answer Committee’s previously prepared questions, detailed in Appendix A to this agenda.

This will be followed by a period of supplementary questioning from the Committee

The Committee had the opportunity to scrutinise the work of the Careers Guidance Service, Mr Steve Walker was in attendance to answer the Committee’s previously prepared questions, by way of presentation and a period of supplementary questioning.

The questions which had been posed were as follows: -

•           How “effective” are schools and Colleges at carrying out their statutory       duty for Careers Guidance in terms of quality and impact as outlined by           the Education Act 2011?

•           What Careers Advice and Guidance will the local authority be          delivering from September and what support will young people be able         to access?

•           More specifically, how will young people access Careers advice once        they have left mainstream education and how will they be supported           into training or employment?

•           How might the District Council in West Lindsey ensure that young people are getting access to independent and impartial careers      advice?

•           NEETs.   Where does the responsibility fall for monitoring NEETS as          this was traditionally measured and collated by Connexions?

The Chairman welcomed Mr Walker to the meeting and invited him to make his presentation to Members.

In opening Members were provided with context of the issue, what the current youth unemployment figures were for the District , how this compared to the rest of the County, the region and nationally and what were considered to be the key issues currently facing the service provided.

The Local Picture was as follows, with Average levels of unemployment during September 2015 to May 2016 being recorded as below: -

In numbers terms for West Lindsey, this equated as follows: -

The Committee noted that as the numbers were relatively low, and as such there was no critical mass, this made accessing funding schemes particularly difficult.  Other local issues which needed to be overcome included

•      The Wide geographical area throughout which this element of the community were spread, again affecting the critical mass required to access a number of funding streams.

•      Accessing support – reduced public funding over recent years had seen a number of programmes previously on offer disappear.

•      Lack of Apprenticeships/Traineeships – having run a search of this type of vacancy within a 15 mile radius of Gainsborough there were currently only 89 vacancies; 82 intermediate level and 7 advanced level, there were no Apprenticeships/Traineeships at a degree level currently on offer in Gainsborough.   West Lindsey currently had 7366 persons eligible for work based learning under 20, of these currently 248 (3.7%) were in work based learning jobs, 22 were classed as other and only 2 were undertaking traineeships.  The large majority of 16-19 year olds were still choosing to remain in full time education / college

•      History of worklessness- unfortunately this  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

Members gave consideration to a report which aimed to outline the role of the Committee with regard to undertaking reviews; outlined the important considerations with regard to scrutiny and conduct; and provided criteria for reviews and draft related processes.

It was noted that the methodology within the report was primarily the same as that which has been operated over the last two municipal years but had two proposed changes:

·         It provided for the exclusion of re-discussion of an issue within six months of first consideration. This reflected the approach taken by Policy Committees in the Constitution.

·         It provided for Oversight Commissions to be undertaken to support the Policy Committees (section 5 of the report related)

The report also had included within it, for clarity, an additional workflow diagram which reflected the approach to pre-decision scrutiny (by selection from the forward plan).

Members welcomed the document and working examples provided.

RESOLVED that: -

(a)    the proposed Methodology as outlined at sections 3, 4 and 5       

         of report CAI.10 16/17 be approved;

(b)    the proposed processes outlined at Appendix 1 of report    CAI.10 16/17 be approved; and

(c)    the accompanying flow charts, outlined at Appendix 3 be noted.

Members gave consideration to the final Progress and Delivery report for 2015/16 year, which highlighted the areas where services were “off target”, the reasons for this and the proposed rectifications.  The report also provided Members with an opportunity to examine the reasons why performance was off track and seek assurance that the measures which had been put in place were sufficient to tackle the issues which had been identified with the service.

The report also updated Members on those areas which had been highlighted in the third quarter report, these being: -

·         Complaints Received

·         Gainsborough Markets

·         Local Land Charges

·         Development Management

·         Enforcement

and further updates were given on each.         

Further “over performing” measures, not already mentioned were highlighted to the Committee and included the Assets and Facilities Management Function for their work on void properties and customer satisfaction levels, the Council Tax Team for their collection rates and the Trinity Arts Centre for its reduced operating costs.

Whilst the report was primarily an exceptions one, Members were provided with a flavour of activity currently ongoing in those areas which were on target or delivery as anticipated, including information on : -

·         The Home Choices Team, in particular with regard to Choice Based Lettings

·         The HR Team, in particular with regard to the work of the staff engagement group and the lowest sickness absence figures recorded since data collection commenced in 2009.

It was noted that the report had previously been considered by both the Prosperous Communities Committee and the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee and Members were provided with the minute arising from each.

The Challenge and Improvement Committee congratulated Officers on the performance of the Trinity Arts Centre.

RESOLVED that having examined the responses given to the report by the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee and the Prosperous Communities Committee, assurance was received that the appropriate level of challenge was being made by those Committees to the information contained within the report.

Members gave consideration to the final Progress and Delivery report for 2015/16 year, which dealt with the projects.

Members were reminded that the Progress and Delivery reports were by exception only, either above or below target, and only reported on those projects currently in delivery stage which were regularly monitored.

The report contained an update on one item contained in the previous report; this Gainsborough South West Ward Programme, previously reported as amber status, now reported as green with supporting commentary. 

The following projects were reported as being an Amber Rating during this period: -

·         Hemswell Cliff MasterPlan

·         Fraud Investigation Services

and further reasoning for such was offered to the Committee.  It was anticipated that both projects would be back on track when the next report was due for consideration.

It was noted that the report had previously been considered by both the Prosperous Communities Committee and the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee and Members were provided with the minute arising from each.

With regard to the South West Ward Project, a member enquired as to what, if any, plans there were for the Sandsfield Lane Playing field.  The ward was crying out for open green space and this was a prime location, not being made use of and was considered a wasted opportunity by some Members. 

In the absence of Key Officers associated with this project, the Interim Strategic Lead for Transformation, undertook to raise this with the Tactical Group

RESOLVED that having examined the responses given to the report by the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee and the Prosperous Communities Committee, assurance was received that the appropriate level of challenge was being made by those Committees to the information contained within the report.

The Governance and Civic Officer presented a report setting out the items of business due to be considered through the committee system and asked Members to identify any reports that they wished to be brought before the Challenge and Improvement Committee for pre-scrutiny.

Having perused the list of scheduled the reports, the Vice-Chairman, made reference to Quickline, and in particular the difficulty some residents were finding themselves in, as a result of the decision made by BDUK to exclude West Lindsey from its rollout plan.  Some areas across the District had no or very limited broadband connection and the Vice–Chairman expressed concern at the position residents found themselves in.  Businesses could not compete and grow without reliable broadband.

The Interim Strategic Lead for Transformation, outlined to the Committee the negotiations and communications the Authority had had with BDUK at the highest level.  The Director of Resources would be preparing a position paper regarding this matter for likely submission to the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee in Autumn 2016, in a bid to dispel some of the misunderstanding.

The Committee considered it would be a worthwhile exercise to write to all residents to understand what their current broadband connection was like.  It was accepted that such an exercise could be costly, however further suggestions, such as making use of the Citizen’s Panel or Operational Services staff to distribute literature were offered.

The interim Strategic Lead, again offered reassurance that negotiations had been had at the highest level.  Broadband connectivity was a national issue.

     RESOLVED that the Forward Plan be noted

The Work Plan for the business of the Challenge and Improvement Committee was presented.

     RESOLVED that the Work Plan be noted.

To resolve that under Section 100 (A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

                  RESOLVED that under Section 100 (A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

Consideration of Scrutiny of Public Body – Briefing Paper in Advance of the 2^nd Public Body being invited regarding the ongoing theme of Youth Unemployment                                                                        

PREPARATION FOR SCRUTINY OF PUBLIC BODY – BRIEFING PAPER IN ADVANCE OF THE 2^ND PUBLIC BODY BEING INVITED REGARDING THE ONGOING THEME OF YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT – SCHOOLS (CAI.16 16/17)

Members were presented with a briefing paper for consideration, which set out a list of proposed schools to be invited to attend the October meeting, together with a proposed set of questions, derived from comments previously expressed by Committee, to be put to the schools.

The report suggested that a total of five schools from across the District be invited to respond to the same series of pre-determined questions. It was intended to invite five initially with the prospect that there may be a degree of unavailability. 

The schools proposed were considered to represent a good geographical spread across the District and carried a range of current school inspection ratings, ranging from inadequate to outstanding.

In response to Members questions, Officers confirmed that it was intended all schools invited would be asked to attend on the same evening.  It was Members discretion, as to how many they wished to invite, however the meeting would need to manageable.

RESOLVED that: -

(a)          All of the schools listed at Section 2.2 of the report,                              namely: -

·         Cherry Willingham Community School

·         De-Aston School, Market Rasen

·         Caistor Grammar School

·         The Gainsborough Academy

·         Queen Elizabeth’s High School, Gainsborough

                                    be invited to attend at the October meeting; and

   (b)       the series of questions, as presented, and as detailed in                    paragraph 3.1 of report CAI.16 16/17, form the basis of                      the presentations the invited schools are asked to                          prepare.

Briefing Paper on current crimes issues in advance of attendance by Simon Outen at September’s meeting

BRIEFING PAPER ON CURRENT CRIME ISUES IN ADVANCE OF ATTENDANCE BY SIMON OUTEN AT SEPTEMBER’S MEETING

Members received a briefing paper on current strategic and operational policing issues of specific interest.  The report also sought Members approval to series of draft questions relating to these areas, in preparation for attendance of Police and Police and Crime Commissioner colleagues at September’s Committee meeting.

It was noted that Challenge and Improvement Committee currently received a 6 monthly update on crime and ASB issues in West Lindsey from Inspector Simon Outen, Lincolnshire Police. This was considered valuable information and these updates were welcomed.

In addition to the information provided by Inspector Outen, there was an opportunity to enhance this session at the September C&I meeting. This was intended to enhance member understanding and further promote effective partnership working with Lincolnshire Police.

Officers had become aware of a number of key areas of work both operationally and strategically which it was felt Elected Members would benefit from an enhanced insight into. This would enable informed consideration of the issues affecting West Lindsey and enable Members to seek assurance of the work in place to ensure that efforts to reduce crime and promote community safety in West Lindsey were effective.

Additionally, following the appointment of the new Police and Crime Commissioner this presented an opportunity for members to engage with him at the earliest opportunity and to understand his future priorities and content of Lincolnshire’s new Police and Crime Plan.

The report provided context around each of the areas for consideration by members, rationale for posing questions, together with a proposed draft question(s).

The proposed strategic areas for discussion were: -

·         Integrated Offender Management

·         THRIVE

·         New Police and Crime Commissioner

·         Rural Crime

·         Future Capacity, Structure and Local Policing Priorities

The proposed operational issues for discussion were: -

·         Hate Crime (and Mate Crime)

·         Customers with arrest warrants

·         Dangerous Dogs

·         Illegal Eviction

·         ATM Thefts

·         Market Rasen House

Discussion ensued and Members openly welcomed the extended remit of September’s Committee Meeting.

Reference was made to the recent County Council decision to turn off street lighting throughout the night, and whether this had resulted in an increased level of crime. Members requested that a question dealing with this issue also be incorporated.

RESOLVED that: -

(a)          the draft questions for Police and Police and Crime                    Commissioner colleagues, subject to the inclusion of the                   matter detailed above, be approved; and

   (b)       an invitation be extended to the Police and Crime                       Commissioner and Integrated Offender Management                         lead(s) to attend at September’s meeting