Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Posnett and Councillor De-Burle.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting.

The minutes of the meeting held on 20 June 2018 were confirmed and authorised to be signed by the chair.

Members to declare any interest as appropriate in respect of items to be considered at this meeting.

Councillor Pearson declared an interest as County Councillor.

The Director for Corporate Services to provide a report to Members to:

·         To provide information on the various fees and charges that are agreed by this Committee

·         To recommend changes to these charges to operate from 1^st April 2019.

The Corporate Services Manager submitted a report to provide information on the various fees and charges that are agreed by this Committee and to recommend changes to these charges to operate from 1 April 2019.

In respect of 3.5 - Lifeline, the Deputy Chief Executive advised that Timesage is a brand the council uses as part of a commercial project used to develop services and products with contribution to revenue.  Lifeline is available to all residents of the borough regardless of age, tenancy, vulnerability, income. It provides services such as an alarm in the home, 23/7 phone line, cameras in the home, support for issues in the home etc.  Members agreed it requires better marketing.

In respect of 3.7 and 3.8 – it was clarified that where reference is made to Appendix B and Appendix D showing the proposed fees for activities at Waterfield Leisure Pools and Melton Sports Village that the income from delivering these services is retained by SLM with a proposal on an inflation rise of just 1%.

In regard to Appendix D, Melton Sports Village Benchmarking charges, a request to highlight hourly charges was made.

RESOLVED that

(1)  the Committee determined that the level of charges for 2019-20 for each of the services set out in the attached table at Appendix A is to operate from 1^st April 2019.

(2)  the council will update the scheme of delegation as required under para 3.6.2 of the report to provide delegated authority to the Deputy Chief Executive to determine charges for activities delivered under Sports Commissioning Plan.

(3)  the council will update the scheme of delegation as required under para 3.11.7 to provide delegated authority to the Deputy Chief Executive to determine charges for emergency accommodation in line with benefit subsidy rates.

The Deputy Chief Executive to provide a report to update Members on the outcome of the Early Help Review that has been conducted by Leicestershire County Council (LCC) and to consider the implications for this Council.

The Deputy Chief Executive provided a report to update Members on the outcome of the Early Help Review that has been conducted by Leicestershire County Council (LCC) and to consider the implications for this Council.

The report highlighted that the current agreement for delivering the Supporting Leicestershire Families (SLF) part of the service terminates on 31 March 2019 and that the 5 staff who currently deliver this service with be subject to TUPE transfer from 1 April 2019.  LCC are proposing to include these staff in their Action Plan in order that they are not disadvantaged.

The services subject to the review included:

·         Supporting Leicestershire Families (SLF)

·         Children’s Centres

·         Youth Offending Service

·         Early Help, Information, Support and Assessment.

Concerns were raised that taking services away from the Children’s Centres will deter a lot of vulnerable families from making contact with staff and that Venture House was not the right venue.

Members raised concerns about where staff for the new service would be based.  The Deputy Chief Executive advised that this is still under discussion but that the default position was likely to be Venture House.  The three children’s centres in the town were joint children’s/community centres and that the centres would remain as community centres. The Deputy Chief Executive advised that the intention was to bring a further paper back on how the community centres could be developed once it was clearer what the Leicestershire County Council requirements were likely to be.

Members asked if it would be possible to know what numbers currently use the centres to gage whether the move to Venture House was likely to be detrimental to attendance, however, it was advised that Melton Borough Council does not hold this information and it might be difficult to obtain.

Concerns were raised that once LCC serve notice on any of the three Children’s Centre Agreements, there could be a financial implication for Melton Borough Council in terms of repayment of capital money.  The Deputy Chief Executive advised that though there could be potential clawback from the Department of Education, this would be an issue for LCC not Melton Borough Council.

Members asked for regular reports on how the new Early help Service was developed and in particular how it integrated with other services.

RESOLVED that

(1)  The Committee notes that the delivery of the Supporting Leicestershire Families service in Melton will not be delivered by Melton Borough Council staff after the current agreement terminates on 31^st March 2019 and that the 5 staff who currently deliver this service will be subject to TUPE transfer from 1^st April 2019.

(2)  The Committee notes that in order to safeguard the interests of the staff involved, LCC are to include these 5 staff in their Action Plan for affected staff across the County with immediate effect, even though they are not employed by LCC.

(3)  The Committee notes that following the termination of the current agreement the Council will not need to make any provision for future budget  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

The Deputy Chief Executive to provide a report to:

·         Provide Members with the background of the Armed Forces Covenant Project and Melton Borough Councils obligations having signed the covenant.

·         Provide an update on the Project so far and outline the next phase of the project.

·         Update Members on the recent Employer Recognition Awards received by Melton Borough Council.

The Deputy Chief Executive provided a report to

·         Provide Members with the background of the Armed Forces Covenant Project and Melton Borough Council’s (MBC) obligations having signed the covenant;

·         To update on the project so far and outline the next phase of the project and;

·         To update Members on the recent Employer Recognition Awards received by MBC.

The Armed Forces Covenant project started in April 2017 as a partnership between Melton, Charnwood and Rushcliffe Borough Councils to deliver key objectives across the three boroughs to make life easier for service personnel to receive support, information and understanding of the challenges they face. It received a grant of £97,000 from the Armed Forces Covenant Grant (MOD). 

It was highlighted that there is still a lot of work to do to reach all service personnel, an example from Rushcliffe general practitioner’s (GP) is that of the 4000 ex service personnel in the Rushcliffe region who can register for a GP practice, only around 400 have.

The project has successfully won another grant bid for £150,000 to further develop the covenant though mobile hubs.  Two Outreach Officers have been employed to reach out to isolated veterans and to engage with front line staff and key partners.

MBC, in partnership with Charnwood and Rushcliffe, has received a Silver award for commitment and discussions are underway regarding working towards the principles required for a Gold ERS award.

RESOLVED that

(1)  Members’ note the progress of the project and reaffirm commitment moving forward.

The Deputy Chief Executive to provide a report to update Members on the Council’s progress to date and consider options for the future that will enable the Council to meet its previous pledges under the scheme.

The Housing, Welfare and Safer Communities Manager presented the report of the Deputy Chief Executive to update Members on the Council’s progress to date for the Syrian Refugee Resettlement Scheme and consider options for the future that will enable the Council to meet its previous pledges under the scheme.

The Housing, Welfare and Safer Communities Manager provided an update to the Recommendations for discussion by Members.

It was agreed in 2016 that the Borough would seek to house two families (up to 10 persons) per annum in relation to the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme, however, to date there have only been two families housed in Melton.  Two recent planned intakes of families in January and September 2018 were cancelled due to the lack of suitable housing in the Public or Private Rented markets.

The next chartered flight with families is scheduled for 28 November 2018 with a deadline for accommodation of 10 October 2018 and a further one in March 2019. The Council will ideally accept families for both dates.

However, MBC has access to a limited stock of suitable family homes in the Borough to cover local need as well as this need for Syrian Refugees. Various options were considered to address this shortage as detailed in the Report. Specifically within the report it was suggested that a scheme whereby the Council would provide a 2 year rental guarantee for private landlords (similar to that used to generate accommodation for local homeless need) could help in generating the required accommodation to resettle the families under the scheme. 

Concerns were raised that future families who come into the town may have complex issues. 

The Deputy Chief Executive advised that all families that are rehoused are assessed by a number of agencies before being rehoused and they will have support provided for them at no extra cost to MBC.

RESOLVED that

(1)  Members note the current difficulties encountered in meeting Melton’s commitment to the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme and acknowledge the associated risk of not meeting the pledge.

(2)  Authority to continue to purse accommodation though the private rented sector.

(3)  Authority for the Deputy Chief Executive to negotiate up to a 2 year rental guarantee for the private sector option

(4)  Authority to undertake feasibility studies into the other options provided in the Report

The Deputy Chief Executive to provide a report to update Members on the work of the Demand Management Project that was commissioned by the former Policy and Finance Committee in February 2017.

The Deputy Chief Executive provided a report to update Members on the work of the Demand Management Project that was commissioned by the former Policy and Finance Committee in February 2017.

The aim of the Report as per Appendix 1 is to show the savings made through effective demand management. A wide range of analysis has been completed using MBC data. The Deputy Chief Executive highlighted a number of the key points from the detailed report and how these had been used during the year to inform changes and priorities.

Moving forward it was suggested that the Council needs to focus this resource on project management of the associated systems work, in line with the new Corporate Delivery Plan, rather than on further analysis. This will enable MBC to tackle IT systems, Website and self-serve improvements and promote greater channel shift.

RESOLVED that

(1)  Members accept the report attached at Appendix 1 and particularly the recommendations contained within it.

(2)  Members note that the report supports many of the initiatives taken by the Council to date including the realignment of services, the appointment of new Neighbourhood Support Officers with a focus on priority neighbourhoods, enhanced capacity in key areas like arrears collection and systems administration and a key corporate project to review and develop front of house systems such as the CRM.

(3)  Members note the intention to focus remaining resources for the Demand Management Project on project management for the key corporate project to review and develop front of house systems such as the CRM

To consider any other items that the Chair considers urgent.

There was no urgent business to discuss.