Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received on behalf of Councillor Salman Akbar and it was confirmed that Councillor Nyear Nazir would be attending as his substitute.

To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests and / or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests, and any Party Whip.

Councillor J. Beecham declared a pecuniary interest due to her employment as a cattery owner in respect of Minute Item 86. It was decided that this would not exclude her from any discussions.

There were no other declarations of interest nor of any party whip.

The minutes from meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 5^th December and 16^th December 2019 have both been attached.

The minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meetings held on 5^th December, 2019 and 16^th December, 2019 were submitted for Members’ consideration.

RESOLVED that

the minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meetings heldon 5^th December, 2019 and 16^th December, 2019 be approved as a correctrecord and signed by the Chair.

To invite members of the public who have registered in advance of the meeting to speak to the Committee.

The Committee welcomed three public speakers to the meeting, who were invited to speak to the Committee in turn.  No written records of the speeches was provided for Council records.  The speeches as delivered during the meeting, which lasted for a maximum of three minutes each and might therefore, not reflect the full length of the points residents had recorded in advance of the meeting, are recreated below.

a)    Ms Liz Williams - Fighting for Survival Group

“For those of you that don’t know me I’m Liz Williams, and I am speaking on behalf of the Fighting for Survival Group.  Firstly can I just say thank you to for reconsidering the proposed changes. I would also like to thank the Officers who have worked on producing the report.

I would like to make a couple of points. Firstly, the importance of leases to the Voluntary Sector. If we apply for funding from other organisations then part of the funding criteria is often having a lease. If we do not have this then we cannot be awarded the funding.

I just want to clarify that I am speaking on behalf of 8 of the 9 organisations affected by this change in policy, not for the Voluntary Sector as a whole.

Secondly, we believe that only voluntary organisations based in Redditch should be awarded funding. If they are outside of the Borough it means that often they can apply for funding within Redditch and in the area where they based – here and there.

I am sure that you do not want empty units in our districts. It does not look good if there are empty units in our district centres. Even with the £5000 grants on offer that does not even cover our rents. It’s just not enough.

Finally we would like to get a market appraisal on the units. We never got a proper appraisal of rents in the units.”

b)    Ms Sue Yeng

“Hello. As an introduction I have been working in the voluntary section since I was a child, first with the West Indian Community and then with Women’s Refuge. I also work around positive use of the bandstand in Redditch”.

The following points were noted from the speech:

·         Hours that are provided by the voluntary sector provide value for money for the Council. Working in the voluntary sector can almost be a full-time job.

·         The voluntary sector provides support for the Council and the community and is good value for money as we provide services that the council do not have to provide and ‘fill the gaps’.

·         New policy needs to be re-visited.

·         Council Tax could be raised by £12 per annum and this would cover the costs so no changes need to be made.

c)    Mr Andy Thompson

“Good evening, I am here representing the Liberal Democrats in regards to the proposal of change to the Council’s Concessionary Rents Policy.

It is reckless to cut funding for the voluntary sector and the proposals that are given  ...  view the full minutes text for item 83.

The Head of Community Services explained that the Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Councillor Mike Rouse, who was also in attendance at the meeting for this item, would introduce the report which had been provided by Officers. Councillor Mike Rouse outlined the background of the report and reasons why the Voluntary Concessionary Rents Scheme was proposed to change.

It was highlighted that

·         Due to the Section 24 notice there needed to be some difficult decisions made with a focus on an increase in revenue.

The Chair invited Councillor David Thain, as Portfolio Holder for Corporate Management to speak. Councillor David Thain thanked the Officers for all of their hard work on pulling together a complicated report. Councillor Thain also added that the voluntary sector in the area needed to move forward and look to national organisations as a model on how to expand their own organisations.

Following the presentation of the position statement for the Council’s Concessionary Rents Policy a number of points were discussed in detail by Members:

• The hard work and commitment by Officers in regards to this proposal were acknowledged.
• This policy had divided the Council and had left the Council in a difficult position.
• The voluntary sector was the heart of the community in Redditch.

Councillor Debbie Chance expressed the view that this policy change should be suspended as none of the options provided in the report supported what she considered to be the proper way to go forward. It was then proposed that a further option be considered by Executive. This recommendation was circulated by Councillor Debbie Chance as follows:

“That the Executive

Option 7

• To reject all 6 current options in favour of O&S current position that no change is made to the Voluntary Concessionary Rent Scheme.

• To NOT continue with the current Members £5000 grant allocation of £145,000 and revert back to the former grants panel and grants allocation scheme to set the criteria. Setting up a simpler application scheme.

• Maintain the £75,000 grant for financial and advice problem solving”.

The recommendation made by Councillor Debbie Chance was seconded by Councillor Joe Baker.

On being put to a vote the proposal was lost.

Councillor Peter Fleming raised his concerns regarding the ‘meanwhile type’ leases that Officers had included in a number of the options in the report. It was discussed by Members that this meant leases were unstable for the organisations. The Head of Planning explained that the reason for the ‘meanwhile type’ leases was that some of these areas were looking to be redeveloped and leases needed to be flexible to offer the best options for redevelopment. Councillor Peter Fleming suggested that a recommendation be made that the Executive reconsider the inclusion of ‘meanwhile type’ leases in any proposed options.  This recommendation was seconded by Councillor Nyear Nazir and on being put to the vote it was approved. 

Members questioned Officers as to what the most important issue for the voluntary groups was. The Head of Community Services explained that during  ...  view the full minutes text for item 84.

The Customer Support Manager presented the Essential Living Fund report for Members’ consideration, which proposed an update of the current policy.

The Customer Support Manager informed Members that the proposed policy helped to provide clarity for customers and council officers. It also provided a more targeted approach to enable customers work towards long term financial stability.

Members questioned whether the proposed policy would be offering more financial support helping fewer people and officers explained that the proposed changes offered a consistency of service and prevented the same customers presenting to the council on a monthly basis.

Councillor Mark Shurmer proposed that the report be noted. This resolution was seconded by Councillor Andrew Fry and on being put to the vote this was agreed.

RESOLVED that

the report be noted.

An extract from the notes of the meeting of the Budget Scrutiny Working Group, held on 2^nd December 2019, has been attached.  This minute details the group’s discussions about the fees and charges report and includes a recommendation which should be considered alongside the report.

The Executive Director Finance and Resources presented the Fees and Charges report prior to its consideration at the Executive Committee and then Council. Members scrutinised the report by exception and the following lines were identified and clarified by Officers:

·         Dial a Ride and Shopmobility– it was clarified by Officers that the increase brought the charges in line with neighbouring authorities and the changes had been agreed through consultation and would not be means tested.

·         Bereavement Services – the structure of the Wesley Music fees had changed and the increases were reflected in the report.

·         Repairs and Maintenance charges – Members asked that the fees and charges needed to be more specific and that a differentiation between accidental and malicious damage should be made. The Head of Service for Housing (Repairs and Maintenance) clarified that this was already being done through the Tenants’ Handbook and that each repair would be taken on a case by case basis.

·         Street Naming – Officers clarified that these costs were met by building developers.

·         The recommendation arising from the meeting of the Budget Scrutiny Working Group held in December 2019 when Members had recommended that the fees and charges report needed to be presented in a simpler style.

The new charges were included in this report which explained the 100% increases in some Service Areas.

RECOMMENDED that

more detail should be included in the fees and charges reports in the future and there should be greater reconciliation between the old and new fees for a service in the report to help clarify how they relate to each other.

The minutes of the meeting of the Executive Committee held on Thursday 19^th December 2019 have been attached for Members’ consideration.

The next edition of the Executive Committee’s work programme is due to be published on 2^nd January 2020 after the publication of the agenda for this meeting.  Therefore the Executive Work Programme will be provided for Members’ consideration in an Additional Papers Pack for this meeting.

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee considered the minutes of the Executive Committee meeting held on 19^th December, 2019 and the Executive Committee’s Work Programme for the period 1^st February 2020 to 31^st May 2020.

Members were advised that the recommendation from the previous meeting regarding the Review of the One Stop Shops had been noted but not endorsed. The recommendation concerning the Member briefing by Black Radley regarding the Commercialism strategy was noted by the Executive Committee with the caveat that at least 50% of Members committed to attending the briefing.

RESOLVED that

1)        the minutes of the Executive Committee meeting held on 19^th December,  2019 be noted; and

2)        the Executive Committee’s Work Programme from 1^st February 2020 to 31^st May 2020, be noted.

There were no updates to the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme.

RESOLVED that

the report be noted.

a)        Budget Scrutiny Working Group – Chair, Councillor Wheeler

b)        Parking Enforcement Task Group – Chair, Councillor Mark Shurmer

c)         Performance Scrutiny Working Group – Chair, Andrew Fry

d)        Suicide Prevention Scrutiny Task Group – Chair, Councillor Debbie Chance

a)        Budget Scrutiny Working Group – Chair, Councillor Jenny Wheeler

Councillor Wheeler advised that there had been no meeting of the group since the previous meeting of the Committee.

Members discussed the recommendation from the last Budget Scrutiny Group regarding fees and charges reports and the reconciliation between old and new fees for service.

b)        Parking Enforcement Task Group – Chair, Councillor Mark Shurmer

Councillor Shurmer advised that there had been no meeting of the group since the previous meeting of the Committee.

c)         Performance Scrutiny Working Group – Chair, Councillor Andrew Fry

Councillor Fry advised that there had been no meeting of the group since the previous meeting of the Committee.

d)        Suicide Prevention Task Group – Chair, Councillor Debbie Chance

Councillor Chance advised that there had been no meeting of the group since the previous meeting of the Committee.

RESOLVED that

the update reports be noted.

a)        West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) Overview and Scrutiny Committee – Council representative, Councillor Chalk; and

b)        Worcestershire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) – Council representative, Councillor Chalk.

Councillor Michael Chalk advised that there were no updates to be provided in respect of West Midlands Combined Authority Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Worcestershire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee.