Agenda item

Scrutiny Work Programme 2014/2015

Scrutiny Work Programme 2014/2015

Minutes:

Response to request for additional information

 

1             Members had requested additional information regarding:

1)    Performance Indicator L1 313, the percentage of families engaged with the Supporting Families Programme who will not require further support.

The Chair welcomed Jenny Spencer, Operational Manager (Parenting and Troubled Families) Nottinghamshire County Council discussed the work of the Troubled Families Programme.

 

The Troubled Families Programme aims to:

 

·         get children back into school

·         reduce youth crime and anti-social behaviour

·         put adults on a path back to work: and

·         reduce the high cost these families place on the public sector each year

 

In April 2013 Nottinghamshire County Council began a proactive approach to identifying families with multiple and complex needs creating a ‘Troubled Families List’ which matches hitherto separate information about children and young people and their families.

 

For inclusion families need to meet at least 3 of the following criteria

·         A child has been permanently excluded from school or had 3 or more fixed term exclusions in the last 3 terms or is not on a school roll or has 15% unauthorised absence across 3 terms

·         1 or more under 18 year old with a proven offence in the past 12 months or 1 or more household member  has a ASB intervention in the last 12 months

·         The family is known to social care or lives in an area of high deprivation.

 

The programme is funded by central government and has two elements

·         An infrastructure grant – which pays for a coordination function to allow the relevant data and support to be provided to make the programme viable

·         An attachment fee which is paid on a sliding scale with an element paid by results.

 

By February 2015 the County Council was able to claim for 116 families in Gedling and continued to work with a further 55 families, aiming for a positive outcome by May 2015.  The number of families worked with in Gedling is not as high as initial deprivation figures indicate.  This is affected by the profile of the Killisick estate, which highlights a high level of deprivation.  Killisick has been the ward where the majority of families identified live, and it has only been in the final year of the project that this has been reflected in identified families.  Identified families are visited and invited to take part in the programme. Families who may benefit from the programme are identified from a number of sources including schools and the Department of Work and Pensions. The programme is available to households and families living in hostel accommodation are not able to be included in the programme because of difficulties in identifying their issues. In Gedling there are a high number of families who choose not to engage with the programme. Working with families in a particular way, appointing a key worker to support and concentrating services families around them can make a real difference. An enhanced programme is planned where there will be an even greater need for agencies to work together with additional criteria used to identify families.  The new Family Service will be launched November 1st and will ensure that there are larger multi skilled teams providing a service to families.

 

 

      I.        Performance Indicator L1314 The number of private sector households where Housing Act category 1 or 2 hazards have been remediated and data regarding the number of evictions due to enforcement to improve properties.

 

    II.        The feasibility of deducting Credit Union contributions from Gedling Borough employees’ salaries.

 

Written information was provided for these two issues.

2          Recording of Meetings

Helen Barrington, Council Solicitor and Monitoring Officer and Alec Dubberley, Service Manager Elections and Members Services attended the meeting to discuss concerns that Members had raised regarding the recording of meetings.

 

Members were informed that the regulations regarding the recording of meetings clarified existing arrangements and that recording can only be stopped in private meetings, those which excluded the press and public. The ethos of the regulations is to make meetings more transparent allowing people to record, video, and tweet from meetings. To date there had been no reported problems with people wanting to record meetings and there would be cost implications for the council if a system for audio, or video, recordings was implemented, currently there is no budget available for this.

 

Members felt that it was necessary to protect Members principally at full Council and the Planning Committee, and were concerned that snippets of meetings could be put on social media which would misinterpret what had actually been said.

It was explained that it would be difficult to stop this happening and the only way to prevent this would be to have a master tape of the whole meeting.  The use of transcribers was discussed but Members concluded this would be very expensive. 

It was suggested that one way to stop extracts from being uploaded on to social media anonymously would be for people wishing to make recordings registering prior to the meeting.  Members were informed that because of the new regulations this would be problematic and also because of the use of mobile phones it would be very difficult to monitor.

 

The issue of storage and access to recordings was also discussed.

 

Members concluded that this was a serious issue that required more thought and considered there was a clear indication that some measures were required to protect Members from malicious/mischievous recordings being made.

 

3.        Overview of Quarter 3 Performance

Stephen Bray, Corporate Director provided the following overview of Q3 2014/15 Performance which had been presented to Cabinet on 12th February:

 

·         59 out of 60 Actions are on target

 

·         12 out of 27 indicators are red, this is to be expected as they were ambitious targets given the resources available

 

·         recycling continues to be below target but is improving

 

·         sickness absence is continuing to improve

 

·         preventing homelessness is edging into the red  due to the impact of  budget reductions at the County Council which is reducing the  number of avenues for support

·         the number of affordable homes is below target but this will improve within this calendar year.  Tenders are in place for the development of the Grove Hotel site and development of the Gedling Colliery site, Teal Close and Top Wighay will increase numbers and assist with meeting the target in future years.

 

4.         In Depth Scrutiny

The response received in respect of the Homelessness and Hardship in the Borough Scrutiny Review was discussed. The responses received from the County Council were acknowledged and will be included in the 6 month update.


RESOLVED to:

1)    Thank Jenny Spencer for attending the meeting and to note the report

 

2)    Note the information relating to the additional information requested

 

3)    Request further information relating to the recording of meeting, specifically:

a.    any known cases of misuse of recorded information to ascertain if this is a widespread problem

b.    the cost of installing a video/audio recording system

c.    the process for storing and archiving tapes.

 

4)    Note the Quarter 3 performance information

 

5)    Note the responses to the Homelessness and Housing  Scrutiny Review and a six month update on progress of the accepted recommendations was requested.

 

 

 

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