Agenda item

To receive a presentation from the Portfolio Holder for Community Leadership and Partnerships, Councillor Carole Gandy, based on the questions proposed by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. 

(Report attached)

Councillor Carole Gandy, Portfolio Holder for Community Leadership and Partnership, provided Members with responses to the Committee’s list of questions that had been agreed at the previous meeting of the Committee, as detailed below:

1)           What did the educational attainment conference achieve? What further action is planned on this by the Council?

The prevailing message from the conference was that a school’s success was largely dependent upon the effectiveness of its governors. For example, the improved performance of a local school was attributed to the excellent performance of its governors to ensure that the school’s decision makers were robustly challenged. However, there was a shared sense at the conference that the general standard of the governors at some local schools required improvement.  Members responded that a successful school was also likely to be reflective of high quality teaching and an appropriate level of parental input.

Members were advised that a number of Council staff and members of the local police had recently become school governors. All local schools were said to have become more aware of mentoring opportunities following a move to bring together mentoring organisations.

Councillor Gandy had met with the Head of Children’s Services at Warrington Borough Council to discuss adopting measures in Redditch that had been introduced in Warrington to improve pupil’s performance. Instilling a sense of pride amongst pupils in where they lived, predominantly through incorporating references to the heritage of the town into all facets of education, had worked very successfully in Warrington.

The conference had also addressed the merits of a two-tier education system against that of a three-tier system. Members were informed that a piece of research had subsequently been commissioned to investigate why approximately twenty per cent of school age children in Redditch were educated outside the town. Members commented that very similar educational outcomes were achieved at GCSE level by two tier and a three tier systems.

An Education Action Plan for Redditch had been compiled and was due to be considered for pre-scrutiny by the Committee as part of the Sustainable Community Strategy on 2nd March 2011. 

1)           Please clarify what further information will be coming through about tackling health inequalities in Redditch.

Members were advised that the Local Strategic Partnership had been tasked with assessing local health inequalities following the publication of the Comprehensive Area Assessment in December 2009. This had allocated a red flag to Redditch for quality of life issues, and had identified problems with health inequalities in the Borough.

Having undertaken a health survey at the Morton Stanley Park Festival, obesity and smoking had been identified as the main public health barriers to overcome. A Healthy Action Plan had been developed which was specifically aimed at promoting health lifestyles and actions such as smoking cessation. The action plan was due to be considered for pre-scrutiny by the Committee as part of the Sustainable Community Strategy on 2nd March 2011. 

The Committee was informed that the Local Strategic Partnership had held an away day to consider measures to improve people’s health. It was agreed during the course of the discussions that the Council should have a clearer focus on planning applications to establish a fairer balance between fast food and healthy food outlets in order to assist the long term health prospects of many residents.

2)           What changes to the lives of Redditch people has been achieved by identifying red flag issues?

Members were advised that a long term strategy was required in order to address the issues identified in the red flag in a way that would have a positive impact on people’s lives. Work was being undertaken by the Local Strategic Partnership to address both health education and local employment opportunities. 

It was suggested that by concentrating on specific local areas the work of the LSP could make a significant impact.

3)           What problems do you foresee for the future in relation to the areas for which you have Portfolio Holder responsibility?

Councillor Gandy advised the Committee that funding constraints represented an obvious challenge for the partnership to overcome. However, the partnership would retain focus on its priorities and would take difficult decisions in order to keep jobs in Redditch and improve the lifestyles of its residents.

Members heard that residents and staff members would continue to be fully informed about the difficult decisions that were being taken by the Council to meet its priorities in light of funding constraints.

4)           How have partnerships:

(a)   Improved the delivery of services to Redditch?

The Committee was informed that the Council’s work with a range of different partners was generally helping to improve the delivery of services to Redditch.  However, it was acknowledged that the Council’s relations with some partners could be strengthened.  

Members expressed concern that the Council appeared to be unfairly burdened in terms of its partnership work. However, it was stressed to the Committee that it was necessary in many cases for the Council to take a lead in partnership work as part of the local authority’s responsibility for Community Leadership. 

(b)   Enhanced the accountability of Officers and Councillors?

The Committee was advised of the current arrangements for holding both the Local Strategic Partnership and Community Safety Partnership to account. This included an active role for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Crime and Disorder Scrutiny Panel.

Members expressed concern that LSP minutes had not been subject to sufficient scrutiny when received by Council.  It was subsequently suggested that the Constitutional Review Working Party could address whether the LSP minutes could be made to feature more prominently on the future Council agendas.

Councillor Gandy also informed Members that progress was being made in delivering the objectives set in the Town Centre Strategy. This would help to deliver significant improvements in the town centre in the long-term.

5)           Do you feel that Shopping Investment and Giving (SIG) has been effectively implemented?

The Committee was informed that the Council had received a huge number of applications from local organisations for funding through the Council’s grant allocation process. Members would soon be provided with the full list which contained many innovative proposals. Each bid would be objectively assessed to see if it was in the interests of local residents.

Members were advised that the shopping element of the scheme had yet to be fully realised. Shopping would require significant investment in a third sector organisation through a contractual arrangement. Due to the financial and accountability implications, careful consideration would need to be given as to how this could be applied in the long-term.

Significant concern was raised that the Council’s interpretation of ‘Investing’ within the scheme was not consistent with that of the County Council’s. It was suggested that the Council should be looking to place greater emphasis on upskilling local organisations through the scheme. However, Members were informed that the Council possessed the freedom to establish its own definition and had developed its own guidance in relation to investing which was outlined in the Council’s Grants Policy.

Members were further informed that Officers were attempting to identify alternative funding streams for local Voluntary Sector organisations to ensure that these organisations did not become dependent on local authority funding.

6)           Are we gathering any evidence from the roadshows? What added value has been achieved by holding the roadshows?

The Council had met with more than 500 residents at roadshows held during the previous six months. Nearly half of these residents consulted expressed satisfaction with the performance of the Council. A number of suggestions for improvement had been received, including providing further details about both the Tourist Information Centre and the Reddicard.

The vast majority of residents contacted stated that they enjoyed living in Redditch. Those who were critical tended to have lived in the town for their whole life and therefore could not compare living in Redditch with the experience of living within another town.

Significantly, the four priorities that had been identified for the new version of the Sustainable Community Strategy were consistent with the priorities of local residents who were consulted.

The roadshows were described as an extremely useful opportunity for Officers to meet directly with local residents and to hear not only their suggestions for improvement, but to also learn about how they were their views of Council services.

RESOLVED that

the report be noted.