Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor L Casling.

A copy of the Register of Interest for each Selby District Councillor is available for inspection at www.selby.gov.uk.

Councillors should declare to the meeting any disclosable pecuniary interest in any item of business on this agenda which is not already entered in their Register of Interests.

Councillors should leave the meeting and take no part in the consideration, discussion or vote on any matter in which they have a disclosable pecuniary interest.

Councillors should also declare any other interests.  Having made the declaration, provided the other interest is not a disclosable pecuniary interest, the Councillor may stay in the meeting, speak and vote on that item of business.

If in doubt, Councillors are advised to seek advice from the Monitoring Officer.

There were no disclosures of interest.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Scrutiny Committee held on 22 November 2018.

The Committee considered the minutes of the meeting held on 22 November 2018.

RESOLVED:

To approve the minutes of the Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 22 November 2018 for signing by the Chair.

The Chair welcomed Nigel Adams MP to the meeting.

To discuss and agree items for inclusion on the Committee’s work programme for 2018-19 and begin planning for the next municipal year 2019-20; the draft work plan for 2019-20 is attached.

The Executive’s Forward Plan for February 2019 to May 2019 is also appended for information.

Members considered the work programme for 2018-19 and the draft programme for 2019-20.

Members queried when the review of Council-funded community centres would be considered and asked the Democratic Services Officer to enquire about the matter further.

RESOLVED:

i.              To note the work programmes for 2018-19 and 2019-20.

ii.            To ask the Democratic Services Officer to enquire when the review of Council-funded community centres would be considered by the Committee.

Nigel Adams MP will be attending the meeting to take questions from Members.

The Committee welcomed Nigel Adams MP to the meeting.

Mr Adams updated the Committee on his recent ministerial roles in government in housing (focusing on homelessness and rough sleeping) and health (mainly looking at mental health); he was currently a minister in the Wales Office.

Members noted that Brexit and the complicated arrangements for leaving the EU were taking up a lot of time and resources in government, but that the preparations were progressing steadily.

Mr Adams explained that his constituency casework continued as usual, and that he enjoyed working closely with Selby District Council to resolve issues for constituents.

Members asked Mr Adams a number of questions on varying topics, as detailed below:

·           In response to a query about the availability of land for social housing, Mr Adams agreed that all kinds of homes needed to be built, including council housing. Mr Adams explained that there were some challenging rules for Councils to adhere to in relation to borrowing to build new homes, and emphasised the importance of meaningful engagement with local communities about where future homes would be built.

·           Mr Adams asked that Members provide further information to him regarding the retention of the Green Energy payments which the Council received from Drax; once he had this information he would do what he could to support the Council continuing to receive the payments following the upcoming government review of business rates.

·           In relation to the campaign by WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality), Mr Adams acknowledged the difficulty of the situation for the women affected, but that it would be difficult to resolve due to the large costs involved; it was hoped that a compromise could be reached. Members emphasised the effect the changes were having on not only the WASPI women themselves in Selby District, but also their families, who may be relying on them for support once they had retired.

·           In response to a question about the economic future of the country and Selby district in the light of Brexit, Mr Adams was of the opinion that after leaving the EU, Britain would have the opportunity to be more global in its approach to trade, but that a good deal with Europe was essential.

·           Mr Adams expressed his support for NYCC maintaining the PRU (Pupil Referral Unit) in Selby, and explained that whilst he felt it was better to keep children in the mainstream system, there needed to be an alternative option for those pupils that were particularly disruptive. It was essential that all children were given the best start in life, and that the public’s views about the importance of well-funded education be acknowledged by the government. Mr Adams was pleased to inform Members that Liz Truss MP, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, was currently visiting North Yorkshire County Council to talk about their ‘No Wrong Door’ approach to providing support to young people on the edge of the care system.

·           The Committee asked Mr Adams about the causes of homelessness and the impacts  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

To consider the report of the Head of Business Development and Improvement which provides a progress update on delivery of the Council’s Corporate Plan 2015-20, as measured by a combination of progress against priority projects/high level actions and performance against KPIs.

The Committee received the report of the Head of Business Development and Improvement which asked the Committee to consider the contents and make any comments on the Council’s performance.

The quarterly performance report provided a progress update on delivery of the Council’s Corporate Plan 2015-20 as measured by a combination of progress against priority projects/high level actions and performance against KPIs.

Members noted that performance had improved or exceeded targets in relation to emergency and urgent repairs to Council-owned properties, empty homes, dealing with complaints, processing of major planning applications and sundry debt collection.

However, performance in relation to the re-letting of vacant Council homes, missed bins, staff sick days and health and safety incidents was not as positive.

The Committee were pleased that the number of empty homes brought back into use through direct action had increased, and felt that the target could be revised upwards; the Senior Policy and Performance Officer confirmed that KPIs were due for review and this revision would be considered.

Members again expressed their concern at the time taken to re-let Council properties, but acknowledged that some properties were in a dire state and required a lot of remedial work to bring them up to standard. The difficulty in recruiting to trade jobs for the Council was also causing delays.

Officers were asked to look into missed recycling collections in Selby which were exacerbated by the continuing problem of parked cars down some roads, making it difficult for the recycling vehicles to get down the road to collect the refuse.

RESOLVED:

To note the Council’s performance for Quarter 2 (July to September 2018).

The Scrutiny Committee is asked to consider and comment on the report of the Head of Economic Development and Regeneration.

The Committee received the report of the Head of Economic Development and Regeneration, and were asked to consider the contents and make any comments on the Council’s Economic Development Framework (EDF) 2017-2022.

The report provided further information requested by the Executive on 8 November 2018 in relation to the proposed EDF Delivery Plan 2019 and 2020, and the associated progress review and budgetary transfers.

The information was comprised of feedback from Members, external partners and stakeholders regarding the proposed delivery plan, details of the business case for recruitment and staffing measures and proposed key performance indicators to monitor progress of the delivery plan and framework.

The report also provided an update regarding opportunities and challenges that had become clearer since the priorities for 2019 and 2020 were last considered in early November 2018.

Members considered the report and asked questions on a number of issues, including public realm works on New Lane in Selby, the future plans for the banks in Tadcaster and Selby that had been purchased by the Council, train and bus transport in Selby and Sherburn and subsequent connectivity for employment purposes, and traffic management issues in Selby.

Officers were keen to involve Members and draw upon their previous experience and local knowledge in order to further improve the EDF and its projects, and would continue to keep the Scrutiny Committee up to date with its progress.

RESOLVED:

To note the Selby District Economic Development Framework 2017-2022 – Year One Review and Delivery Plan 2019 and 2020.

To consider the North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children Board and North Yorkshire Safeguarding Adults Board Annual Reports 2017-2018.

Members received the report of the Partnerships Manager and were asked to note the annual reports for the North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children and North Yorkshire Safeguarding Adult’s Boards.

The Committee noted that the North Yorkshire Safeguarding Boards had a statutory duty to publish annual reports, accounting for the activities of the Boards for the previous year. The reports covered 2017/18 activity and also provided evidence of the key areas of focus for the current year.

Both reports set out the governance arrangements across North Yorkshire and outlined the activity and partnership working in the Selby District.The priority areas for the boards remained the same as those shared in the 2017 report to Scrutiny Committee.

The Adults Board continued to prioritise awareness and empowerment, prevention of harm, protection and proportionality and partnership effectiveness. The Children’s Board prioritised the coordination of the activities of the board and ensuring its effectiveness.

Members noted that in 2017-18 the overall demand for child protection services remained high, with a 22% increase across the County in referrals to Children’s Social Services compared to 2016-17; repeat referrals was at 15.8% which indicated that cases remained open until the risk of harm was removed and significant progress had been made.

The report also outlined the 2017-18 audit completed by Selby District Council under Section 11 of the Children Act 2004; the following issues for practitioners had been highlighted across North Yorkshire:

·           Awareness of internal policies and procedures, as well as multi-agency procedures when recognising and reporting children safeguarding concerns to avoid delays in addressing those concerns should safeguarding leads be unavailable; and

·           Information sharing needed to be considered, ensuring partners knew the need to share information, what could be shared, and when.

The Committee acknowledged that there was a crossover between Safeguarding and Community Safety work, with Selby District Council carrying out activities in both of these realms. At a local level the Council sat on the Selby Children’s Safeguarding Strategy Group which focused on e-safety, along with reducing teenage pregnancy. The 2018-19 priorities included developing and integrating teenage pregnancy services, substance misuse and its impact on safeguarding, improving access to Emotional Health and Wellbeing services and maintaining close links to the Domestic Abuse Forum to ensure an integrated approach to the issue.

Officers anticipated that following the review of ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018)’ some changes would be implemented to strengthen work in multi-agency approaches to safeguarding.

It was explained to Members that the North Yorkshire Safeguarding Adults Board (NYSAB) report informed of the June 2018 appointment of Dr Sue Proctor as the Independent Chair, and the ambition to develop closer relationships with the Children’s Safeguarding Board and the Community Safety Partnerships.

2017-18 had seen an independent review of the safeguarding function in North Yorkshire.  Key learning points were outlined in the NYSAB report, with the overall the focus around the following:

·           Having a clear vision and stronger arrangements for learning lessons and facilitating change;

·           Continual improvement of recording, measuring and monitoring information;

·           Improvement of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

To consider the update on the Housing Development Programme.

Appendix D to the report is exempt from publication by virtue of paragraph 3 in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended). If councillors wish to discuss information contained within the appendix it will be necessary to pass the following resolution to exclude the press and public:

In accordance with Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, the meeting be not open to the Press and public during discussion of the following item as there will be disclosure of exempt information as defined in Section 100(1) of the Act as described in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12(A) of the Act.

The Committee received the report presented by the Head of Economic Development and Regeneration and were asked to consider the contents and make any comments on the Housing Development Programme.

Members noted that the Housing Development Programme sought to provide 207 affordable homes for Selby District Council (SDC) and Selby District Housing Trust (SDHT) by 31March 2020. The programme was based on three ‘delivery pillars’ that included direct development on SDC owned sites, the acquisition and development of new sites, and the acquisition of affordable homes constructed by other developers. The programme would generate revenue streams for the Council as a result of loans provided to the SDHT.

Members queried whether the delivery timescales described in the report were realistic; the Interim Development Surveyor advised Members that whilst they were optimistic, they were not unreasonable.

The Committee asked Officers to check the details relating to a location listed under Phase 3, specifically Benedicts Close in Selby.

Members were pleased that a number of sites that had been suggested over the years were appearing in the HDP, and were keen to see them delivered.

It was suggested by the Committee that the wording of the corporate priorities to ‘Make Selby a Great Place to do Business’ and ‘Make Selby a Great Place to Enjoy Life’ be amended to include the word ‘District’, to emphasise that Selby District was not only focused on Selby Town.

RESOLVED:

To note the contents of the Housing Development Programme.