Agenda and minutes

Any apologies for absence will be noted at this point.

There were no Chairman’s announcements.

To approve the minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 15 September 2020.

To receive an update on progress against recommendations made to the Cabinet.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 15 September 2020 be approved as a correct record.

Matters Arising

Minute 25: Events Strategy and Events Policy: Miss Davis provided an update to the progress of the recommendations arising from the last meeting.  The Chairman confirmed that both he and Mr Bell had attended Cabinet to address the Committee.

The Chairman will announce any urgent items that due to special circumstances are to be dealt with under the agenda item below relating to late items.

There were no urgent items.

Members and officers are reminded to make any declarations of disclosable pecuniary, personal and/or prejudicial interests they may have in respect of matters on the agenda for this meeting.

Mrs Apel declared a personal interest as a Trustee of Stonepillow.

Mr Bell declared a personal interest as a Trustee of Stonepillow.

Mrs Sharp declared a personal interest as a Chichester City Council appointed member of Chichester BID.

The procedure for submitting public questions in writing no later than noon 2 working days before the meetingis available upon request from Democratic Services (the contact details for which appear on the front page of this agenda).

There were no public questions.

The Committee is invited to note the contents of this report and make any comments to Cabinet.

The Committee considered a progress report on the Covid 19 Recovery Action Plan, which provided an update on the latest financial position, progress on the four thematic recovery plans, and an update on the efficiency review and the future services framework.

Mrs Shepherd introduced this item and outlined the report.  The Council’s income streams had gradually started to improve and further Government financial support had been received.  Early indications from the Council’s efficiency review were promising and as a result it was likely that the majority of the funding gap would be eliminated over the 5 year planning period.  Good progress had been made despite having to undertaking new areas of work, which was testament to the hard work undertaken by officers during the Covid 19 pandemic.  The Strategic Management Team continued to ensure environmental considerations remained a “golden thread” running through the recovery plan, with all projects being assessed for environmental impacts before they commenced.  A report on proposed efficiencies would be presented to this Committee on 17 November 2020 before being considered by Cabinet on 8 December 2020.  It was expected that most of the predicted budget deficit would be covered by these efficiency and income generating ideas, ensuring that the Council could continue to protect its frontline services.   Progress on the Future Services Framework would be included in the next quarterly recovery report to this Committee.  It was important that the Council remained flexible in its approach in these challenging times to ensure key services continued to be delivered to the community. 

Mrs Lintill referred to the considerable amount of work undertaken by officers and members.  She thanked the members of the recovery groups for their input and encouraged all members to come forward with any ideas for the Council’s recovery.

Housing and Communities Recovery Action Plan

Mrs Rudziak provided an overview of progress on the Housing and Communities Recovery Action Plan detailed at appendix 1 of the report. 

A number of members of the Housing and Community Recovery Group were invited to address the Committee in respect of progress.

·      Members expressed their thanks to officers for their work to move rough sleepers into temporary accommodation and the initiatives put in place moving forward. 

·      Concern was raised that resident’s may experience difficulties accessing help withMental Health issues and struggle to get GP appointments because of the pandemic.  Mrs Rudziak provided details of the mental health support provided to rough sleepers.  West Sussex County Council, through Public Health, would provide support for rough sleepers at the Community Hub when it was open during the winter evenings.  Mr Briscoe advised that a trained mental health nurse was deployed with one of the Sussex Police patrols in the District during the evenings.  Mr Sutton provided details of the mental health support provided to people who represent themselves at hospital. 

·      Mrs Rudziak undertook to provide further details about the housing register system upgrade outside of the meeting, which as a result would suspend bidding for a short period until the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

Consideration of any late items as follows:

a)    Items added to the agenda papers and made available for public inspection.

b)    Items which the Chairman has agreed should be taken as matters of urgency by reason of special circumstances reported at the meeting.

There were no late items.