Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Brough and Pullin.

Members are requested to give notice of any disclosable pecuniary or personal interest

An advice note on declaration of interests is attached

No declarations of disclosable pecuniary or personal interests were received.

Minutes of the meeting held 13 March 2018

RESOLVED:

That the Minutes of the meeting held on 13 March 2018 be confirmed as a correct record.

Report of the Executive Director

The Committee considered the report of the Executive Director that updated on the Sefton Economic Strategy consultation exercise which concluded on 4 May 2018.

The report indicated that following a decision by the Cabinet Member – Regeneration and Skills authorising the preparation of an Economic Assessment and Economic Strategy a borough wide consultation was undertaken (by consultants Regeneris) who asked people what they thought was important for Sefton now and in for the future; that over 5,000 people took part and the information helped to develop the Vision for Sefton 2030; and that the Sefton Economic Assessment, a factual statement of the borough’s strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats, was subsequently approved by the Cabinet Member – Regeneration and Skills who also approved the preparation of a draft Strategic Framework for Action, or the building blocks of the Strategy.

The report also detailed how the business and public consultation excercise was undertaken including the completion of a stakeholder analysis and the methodology used; together with a breakdown of responses received.

The report concluded by indicating that final data was currently being analysed; that the Strategy was intended to provide a clear framework for action to assist the Council with its ambitions for:

·       Business Growth & Investment

·       Business Generation & Enterprise Culture

·       Sector Development

·       Nurturing new Growth Clusters

·       Place Marketing and Inward Investment

·       Town Centre Investment Strategies and Frameworks

·       Post-Inspection Revision of the Local Plan (2017), including Land Availability for Housing and Employment

·       Infrastructure Planning

·       Strategic Transport Planning and Scheme Identification

·       Workforce Development

·       Employability and Inclusive Growth

·       Public Sector Reform and the Council’s Transformation Programme

·       Social Value in Commissioning and Procurement 

and that the final stage of the process was to produce the final Sefton Economic Strategy including a set of more detailed Strategic Action Plans that detailed the actions required to give effect to the Strategy, key milestones, delivery choices and/or partners, and forecast  phased costs and outputs.

Members of the Committee asked questions/commented on the following issues:-

·       Clarification was sought on the bar chart identifying the Priority Action Areas- Ranking. Jayne Vincent, Consultation and Engagement Lead indicated that she would provide a detailed explanation to Committee Members

·       The Strategy Framework was an invaluable piece of work as it would help to provide a framework to benchmark and prioritise the Council’s investments in accordance with the Sefton 2030 Vision      

RESOLVED:

That the report updating on the Sefton Economic Strategy consultation exercise be noted.

Report of the Executive Director

The Committee considered the report of the Executive Director setting out the progress made against each recommendation of the Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) Working Group Final Report published in 2013.

The report detailed the evolving Context for NEET Support relating to the Liverpool City Region (LCR) Careers Hub, the LCR Apprenticeship Hub, the LCR Apprenticeship Growth Plan, the National Careers Strategy, provision for special educational needs and disability and Youth Employment Initiatives through Sefton@work; and the local impacts for Sefton.

The report concluded by detailing updates against each of the recommendations in the Final Report; and recommended that future reporting on this issue form part of the reporting framework to be devised once the Council had adopted the forthcoming Sefton Economic Strategy as this would supersede and update the recommendations of the NEET Working Group dating back to 2013.

Claire Maguire, Service Manager (Employment and Learning) referred to Career Connect key performance measures, “unlocking potential” statistics and 4 case studies which highlighted the work being undertaken by Career Connect.  

Members of the Committee asked questions/commented on the following issues:-

·       The relationship of Working Group recommendation 3 (To produce a follow-up report, to be submitted to the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committee(s) in twelve months’ time, to include (i) whether the Council is receiving best value for money in terms of services provided within the NEETS area; and (ii) monitoring of looked after young people leaving Council care and their achievements or whether they subsequently fall into the NEETS category) and changes to Education Maintenance Allowance and the leaving care cohort

·       The relationship of Working Group recommendation 1 (To request head-teachers, and chairs of governors of high schools (including academies and free schools) within the Borough to consider increasing the breadth, range and quality of impartial advice and guidance provision for young people in schools, prior to leaving year 11, to receive advice on the full range of options available to them, and for information to also be made available to parents) and Working Group recommendation 5 (That the Council and its partners be encouraged to use all available statistical evidence to identify NEET hotspots and agree robust intervention targets to reduce numbers in these areas, together with agreed robust systems for monitoring and evaluating the impact of joint interventions) to tackle and reduce the numbers of NEET

·       The provision for SEND as identified in paragraph 3.7 of the report

RESOLVED: That

Report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance

Further to Minute No. 18 (2) (b) of 20 September 2016 the Committee considered the report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance that presented formally the final report of the Parks and GreenspacesWorking Group.

The Working Group was established with the following Terms of Reference and Objectives:-

·       Review the General Reduction in Standards’ saving proposal for 2015-17, and the evolved draft ‘Better Places, Greener Spaces -  Future Management Parks and Greenspaces’ document

·       To support and/ or challenge this and make recommendations as appropriate to improve the proposed strategic approach and its resulting resource allocation and future changes to service delivery

·       To undertake annual reviews of the impact of the approach once enacted in order to track the impact of changes to service and react/ make recommendations accordingly

Accordingly, the Working Group met on four occasions as part of the review and undertook site visits of parks and greenspaces across the borough; and its Final Report, together with associated recommendations, was attached to the report.

Councillor Bliss was appointed as Lead Member of the Working Group and introduced the Final Report and commended the recommendations within it to the Committee; and thanked officers and his colleague on the Working Group, for their hard work and input into the Final Report.  

Members of the Committee asked questions/made comments on the following issues:-

·       An update on the management of allotments was requested and Mark Shaw, Service Manager – Green Sefton agreed to circulate an update to all Members of the Council

·       There appeared to be no direct reference in the Final Report to first of the terms of reference of the Working Group, namely, to Review the General Reduction in Standards’ saving proposal for 2015-17, and the evolved draft ‘Better Places, Greener Spaces -  Future Management Parks and Greenspaces’ document

·       The submission of annual reports to track the progress on the implementation of Working Group recommendations

·       Alternative service delivery mechanisms, such as ‘Parks Trusts’

·       The possibility of a Sefton Parks and Greenspaces application for electronic devices to enable visually impaired individuals to safely and confidently navigate around Sefton’s Parks and Greenspaces and the trial of such an application in Kings Gardens

RESOLVED:

That Cabinet be recommended to approve the following recommendations:-

Report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance

The Committee considered the report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance that sought the views of the Committee on the draft Work Programme for 2018/19, the identification of potential topics for scrutiny reviews to be undertaken by a Working Group appointed by the Committee and the identification of any items for pre-scrutiny by the Committee from the Key Decision Forward Plan.

The Senior Democratic Services Officer indicated that the Executive Director had suggested that the Strategic Leadership Board be contacted with a request that it identifies topics for consideration by Working Groups. 

Members discussed the following as potential topics for Working Groups to review:-

·       Apprenticeships – what is on offer; what is the Council doing; availability of external funding; identification of best practice

·       Contracts – scrutiny of a major contract within the Committee’s responsibility; how the award of the contract has added value; social capital; employment of local labour/apprenticeships terms

·       Economic Strategy – potential to review once the strategy had been adopted     

RESOLVED: That

Report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance

The Committee considered the report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance that included the most recent report from the Cabinet Members for Communities and Housing; Locality Services; Planning and Building  Control; and Regeneration and Skills. 

Members of the Committee asked questions/made comments on the following issues:-

·       The positive impact of the introduction of the private landlord licensing scheme that had resulted in an increase in the numbers of gas safety certificates issued

·       The Overview and Scrutiny Committee responsible for receiving Cabinet Member updates on Parks and Greenspaces issues

·       Crosby Village Investment Strategy and associated traffic management and transport issues  

RESOLVED: That