Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Chance, Clayton and Fogg with Councillors Marshall and Court as named substitutes for Councillors Clayton and Fogg respectively.

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.

An ‘Other Disclosable Interest’ was received from Councillors Wheeler and Marshall in respect of minute item 58 due to their involvement in the Woodrow Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) Steering Group. In addition to this, Councillor Marshall declared an additional ‘Other Disclosable Interest’ in respect of minute item 58 due to her involvement in Sports Redditch. It was agreed that all Members present would be able to take part in the discussions.

There were no declarations of any Party Whip.

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

There were no public speakers registered on this occasion.

The Chief Executive delivered the annual update in respect of the Redditch Partnership. Members were informed that Helen Broughton, the Redditch Partnership Manager, would be leaving the Council that she would be greatly missed by Officers. It was acknowledged that her work over the years had been invaluable, particularly during the past two years throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and associated lockdown.

The following was also highlighted for Members’ consideration:

·       The Redditch Sustainable Community Strategy (SCS)was produced by the Redditch Partnership and updated every three years. A mini refresh of the strategy was undertaken in 2015 and the four priorities of the SCS were reviewed each year by the Partnership. The current Priorities of the SCS were as follows:

­   Priority One – Health Inequalities

­   Priority Two – Education attainment, school readiness and raising aspirations of young people.

­   Priority Three – The economy of Redditch with a focus on providing a larger and more diverse job offer.

­   Priority Four – Lead on transformational change of services for citizens in Redditch.

·       The work of the Redditch Partnership had been particularly important, and its benefits well received during the pandemic as it facilitated the coordination of communities in Redditch. 

·       The Redditch Business Leaders Group was chaired by Simon Hyde, CEO of Faun Zoeller, who was passionate about increasing skills within the Borough, particularly for young people. Members were informed that through this group an initiative called ‘Power Up’ had been rolled out. It was explained that this was a mentor scheme that worked with young people and schools within the Borough. During the pandemic the work of the Redditch Business Leaders Group had been crucial as it had worked closely with local businesses whose challenges included economic issues and staff shortages.

·       Over the past two years, the work of the Redditch Community Wellbeing Trust (RCWT) had included working with those who had been impacted by Covid-19.

·       The Redditch District Collaborative (RDC) was leading the partnership initiative in respect of the national agenda of Integrated Care Systems. It was reported that the RDC worked closely with Primary Care Networks. The Committee was informed that the RDC had three priorities: mental health and well-being, frailty and obesity. Although the demographic of Redditch did not necessarily experience the priority of frailty, it was noted that the Bromsgrove wards of Wythall and Hollywood were within the Primary Care Networks boundaries and that frailty was a priority in these wards due to their older demographic. Members were also informed that the RDC worked closely with Worcestershire County Council (WCC) to align with their Here2Help directory.

·       The work of the Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) team was involved in the strengthening of assets within the local community. It was noted that an ABCD Steering Group had been established in Woodrow and this group had met regularly over the past year. Members were advised that funding had been awarded by WCC to establish Community Builders roles to work across Woodrow. These roles would be responsible  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58.

The Recommendation Tracker was presented for Members’ consideration.  Members were asked to note that all of the recommendations were currently at Amber status, largely due to the pandemic, and would need to remain on the Tracker until the recommendations had been completed. It was discussed whether this would necessarily be the case for all of the recommendations included in the Tracker, as some of the recommendations were now likely to become embedded in Council processes going forward and would therefore never be ‘completed’ due to their ongoing nature.

Although this was the case for some of the recommendations it was agreed that those with Amber status would remain on the Tracker for the time being and would be reviewed again when the document was bought back for consideration by the Committee.

RESOLVED that

The contents of the Recommendation Tracker be noted.

There are two sets of minutes attached from meetings of the Executive Committee held on Tuesday 7^th December and Wednesday 15^th December 2021.

The next edition of the Executive Committee’s Work Programme is due to be published on 4^th January 2022, after the publication of this agenda.  Therefore, it will be published in a supplementary pack for the consideration of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

The Committee was presented with two sets of Executive Committee minutes and the latest version of the Executive Work Programme, as published on 4^th January 2022. During consideration of this item, it was requested that an update item in respect of the New Cemetery Provision be placed on the Committee’s Work Programme with a particular focus on any public consultations that were to be undertaken. It was confirmed that this would not be regarding any part of the planning process as this was entirely separate to the scrutiny process.

The Democratic Services Officer present undertook to add the item to the Committee’s Work Programme.

RESOLVED that

The Executive Committee Minutes and Work Programme be noted.

Members considered the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme.

RESOLVED that

The Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme be noted.

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

b)          Performance Scrutiny Working Group – Chair, Councillor Jenny Wheeler

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

During consideration of this item the Chair requested nominations to fill the Budget Scrutiny vacant seat. Councillor Luke Court received a nomination and on being put to the vote this nomination was carried.

Councillor Wheeler welcomed Councillor Court to the group and explained the importance of the scrutiny work that the group undertook during the municipal year. Members were informed that some difficulties had been experienced this year in receiving reports due to the decreased capacity within the Finance team. It was explained that there had been a significant recruitment exercise for the Finance Team and that going forward that this would hopefully resolve any issues.

Members were advised that the Executive Director for Resources had presented a sobering Medium Term Financial Plan at the last meeting and that some difficult decisions would need to be made by the Council going forward. 

b)    Performance Scrutiny Working Group – Chair, Councillor Jenny Wheeler

Councillor Wheeler informed the Committee that no meeting of the Performance Scrutiny Working Group had taken place since the previous update. However, it was confirmed that a meeting was scheduled for 15^th January 2022, and she would provide an update at the next meeting of the Committee.

RESOLVED that

The Task Groups, Short Sharp Reviews and Working Groups Update Reports be noted.

a)         Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) Overview and Scrutiny Committee – Council representative, Councillor Chalk;

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

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

Councillor Chalk updated the Committee in respect of the External Scrutiny Bodies and in doing so informed Members that the written updates that were provided gave an outline of the meetings rather than an in-depth update. He advised that should Members wish to look at the meetings in more detail the minutes were available online and most of the meetings had been live streamed.

It was explained to the Committee that the next meeting of the West Midlands Combined Authority Scrutiny Committee was due to take place on Monday 10^th January 2022 and that an update would be provided at the next meeting of the Committee.

RESOLVED that

The External Scrutiny Bodies Update Reports be noted.