Agenda item - MATTERS REFERRED FROM SCRUTINY COMMITTEE IN ACCORDANCE WITH SCRUTINY PROCEDURE RULES

· Response & Recovery Task & Finish Group (People) - Final Report

Cabinet

1) RECOGNISED the work of the Task and Finish Group and ACKNOWLEDGED the contents of the report;

2) APPROVED the recommendations of the Final Report of the Scrutiny Response and Recovery (People) Task and Finish Group (Appendix A), as below:

i. That assurance be given to Scrutiny that the Council was proactive in identifying and putting measures in place to prevent people from becoming homeless, with a particular emphasis on encouraging people to seek housing advice and support prior to them becoming homeless. This should take the following form:

a) A proactive communications approach including a poster campaign (public facing communications which emphasise the need for people to contact the Council for advice and support as soon as possible and not when they have already become homeless).

b) A proactive communications approach which encourages landlords to contact the Council before they serve a notice, to see if we can work together to address any issues and stabilise the tenancy.

c) A proactive approach to engaging with landlords in the Borough (for example, through a landlords’ forum).

d) Readily available information and guidance about how the Council can help and prevent homelessness from occurring to begin with (for example, negotiating with landlords, addressing underlying issues that have led to the tenancy being at risk, implementation of support to stabilise the tenancy).

e) An update report to the Scrutiny Committee in 12 months’ time to demonstrate how successful the Council had been in preventing households from becoming homeless, and any lessons learned.

ii. As soon as practicable, the Council and appropriate partners should host a Jobs Fair for people aged between 16 and 24. It was recommended that the jobs fair should include businesses, the DWP, Brooksby Melton College, advice services and sign-posting.

iii. Engagement with the lead officer for Communications in respect to future Scrutiny studies where consultation and engagement may be required is crucial to ensure there is clarity on expectations, timescales and visibility/reach of consultation exercise.

iv. We recommend that the Council host a Volunteer Fair to be held at Parkside with as much publicity as possible to encourage as many charitable companies, voluntary organisations and possible volunteers to attend.

v. The Council should review its existing processes to ensure that the digitally excluded have the same access to services as digitally competent residents have. In addition, the Council should work with partners (e.g. Age UK) to ensure that the digitally excluded have every opportunity to become digitally included if they choose. This could also be by increasing the help which the Council already provided in the computer suite at Phoenix House so that all residents, who wish, can obtain the necessary skills to access the internet. In addition, the Council should consider using the Government’s Kick Start scheme, to employ a 16 to 24 year-old on Universal Credit or at risk of long-term unemployment, to help residents develop their digital knowledge (Age UK has a Digital Buddy training video which provides guidance).

vi. The Council should review existing processes for monitoring its treatment of Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) residents and ensuring that BAME residents are treated fairly. This should include looking to make improvements where required.

vii. A refresh of the Helping People Partnership:

a) To ensure that the Helping People Partnership Board was representative of relevant partners who can deliver an effective and collaborative approach to health and wellbeing in Melton.

b) To ensure that the Helping People Partnership Board incorporates Covid recovery/insights, needs and trends as a standing agenda item to enable collective understanding and action planning, relevant to the remit of the partnership.

c) To ensure that the outcomes of the partnership were made available to Scrutiny Members with an update report in 6 months.

Response & Recovery Task & Finish Group (People) - Final Report

Councillor Pat Cumbers, Chair of Scrutiny Committee introduced the report, advising that the Group had been established to consider ‘people’ issues resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic and the Council’s response, which was vital to the recovery process.

Before Members were a number of recommendations proposed by the Group and the reasons for these recommendations, including evidence gathered (which could be viewed in full on the Council’s website). Councillor Cumbers highlighted 2 of the recommendations:

· 2.2.2 - As soon as practicable, the Council and appropriate partners should host a Jobs Fair for people aged between 16 and 24. It is recommended that the jobs fair should include businesses, the DWP, Brooksby-Melton College, advice services and sign-posting – This age group was severely affected during the pandemic for a number of reasons (education was interrupted, more likely to be on zero hours contracts and less likely to have savings etc).

· 2.2.6 - The Council should review existing processes for monitoring its treatment of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) residents and ensuring that BAME residents are treated fairly. This should include looking to make improvements where required – the Group had not received as many responses to its survey as was hoped. Only 7 of those who had responded had described themselves as of the BAME community and when asked if they had been discriminated against by the Council or any of its partners, 5 had indicated that they had been. It was important that the Council consider its policies and that officers ensure all residents were treated fairly.

The Leader commented that he valued the positive work undertaken by Scrutiny Committee and by this Group. The Group’s recommendations would assist the Council’s approach to support and empower people as the community emerge from the pandemic.

During discussion the following points were noted:

· Members thanked Councillor Cumbers, the Group and officers for the comprehensive and constructive work undertaken.

· On the suggestion to merge recommendations 2.2.2 and 2.2.4, and hold a joint jobs and volunteers fair to focus Council resources, Councillor Cumbers highlighted the importance of distinct and targeted focus on both areas individually.

· Voluntary work provided the opportunity for younger, less experienced people to gain work based knowledge and skills and could be the first step to paid employment. Having the voluntary sector involved in the jobs fair could be beneficial and may encourage employers to consider work experience initiatives etc.

· Every March the Council sent council tax invoices to all homes in the borough and this could be used as an opportunity to engage with the community by including feedback requests.

· Engagement with the community was vital to understand how well the Council had responded during the pandemic. However, It was difficult to make decisions based on the people survey results, as there had been a low number of responses.

· The Council had responded well during the pandemic, with officers acting quickly to support the community.

· Concerning recommendation 2.2.5, it was highlighted that digital exclusion was a cost to the Council and something it could and should tackle with its partner organisations.

· The newly formed Helping People Partnership Board was a useful partnership, which aimed to contribute positively to the community. It was vital that relevant partners be represented on the Board and that Councillors be updated on the progress of the Board.