Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Simons. Councillor Over was in attendance as Substitute for Councillor Simons.

There were no declarations of Interest.

The minutes of the Strong and Supportive Communities Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 15 January 2014 were approved as an accurate record.

The decision notice for each decision will bear the date on which it is published and will specify that the decision may then be implemented on the expiry of 3 working days after the publication of the decision (not including the date of publication), unless a request for call-in of the decision is received from any two Members of a Scrutiny Committee or Scrutiny Commissions.  If a request for call-in of a decision is received, implementation of the decision remains suspended for consideration by the relevant Scrutiny Committee or Commission.

There were no requests for Call-in to consider.

The report was introduced by the Head of Neighbourhood Services to provide the Committee with the overview report, detailing the outcomes from the joint Scrutiny in a Day event which was held on 17 January 2014. The event looked at understanding and managing the impacts of Welfare Reform on communities in Peterborough.

The following recommendations and lines of enquiry were captured from the day by the Strong and Supportive Communities Scrutiny Committee:

1. To explore the impact of the cessation of the Local Welfare Provision funding from the Department of Work and Pensions and develop recommendations to Cabinet on how the Peterborough Community Assistance Scheme could be sustained.
2. To raise awareness of the ongoing reforms, the impacts and support available with communities, Councillors and partners.
3. To explore opportunities of how investing in local community groups could help to prevent and tackle poverty.
4. To receive a report on the extent of gambling within the city and develop actions to mitigate the impact of gambling such as education, awareness raising and prevention.

Observations and questions were raised around the following areas:

·         Members commented that the whole day was very interesting to them and a real eye opener to the real problems that the people of Peterborough face daily.

·         Members queried how recommendation four, under Strong and Supportive Scrutiny Committee ‘To receive a report on the extent of gambling within the city and develop actions to mitigate the impact of gambling such as education, awareness raising and prevention, was going to be carried out. The Assistant Director for Communities and Targeted Services advised Members that, the most revealing fact of the day was the extent of gambling in the city and suggested that the working group was formed in order to take recommendations forward to  Licensing, Planning and voluntary agencies.

·         Members queried how introducing education regarding Payday Loans to schools was progressing. Members were advised that the council was hoping to include this issue within the syllabus from September, through the Safer Peterborough Partnership.

·         The Committee commented that they would like to thank the team who worked on the event for their hard work in making the event such a success.

RECOMMENDATION

The committee noted the report and agreed to take the recommendations within the report forward.

The Safer and Stronger Peterborough Strategic Manager introduced Mark Woolner to the Committee, who would be taking over his role as Safer and Stronger Peterborough Strategic Manager from 1 April 2014.

The report was presented by the Safer and Stronger Peterborough Strategic Manager to introduce the new Safer Peterborough Partnership three year Strategic Plan (2014 – 2017). The plan was a statutory requirement under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (as amended).

Members were asked to comment and make any observations to contribute to an agreed version which could be recommended for Cabinet approval.

Observations and questions were raised around the following areas:

·         Members asked for an explanation regarding their role as a Scrutiny Committee to ensure that the Safer Peterborough Partnership was being held to account. The Safer and Stronger Peterborough Strategic Manager advised Members that over the last year the Committee had added more weight and depth to the scrutiny process by looking at individual areas of the Safer Peterborough Partnership Plan. This was the right approach to take and he suggested that the role of the Committee continued to evolve in the same way.

·         Members requested examples of how Crime was dealt with at the root cause. Members were informed that the Integrated Offender Management Programme tackled the root causes well. Agencies worked together to ensure people were released from prison with a Release Plan which helped offenders integrate back in to the community.

·         Members queried who would have access to the delivery team, under the new management. Members were advised that the new delivery team fell under the remit of the Safer Peterborough Partnership.

·         Members commented that public confidence was the biggest challenge and felt that the police were not working with communities. People had to wait up to fifteen minutes on the phone to report a crime, this did not restore reassurance within communities.  The assistant Director for Communities and Targeted Services advised Members that the only way to build public confidence was to deliver and gain results. The new team would comprise of Police Officers, Safer Peterborough Partnership Staff and Council Officers. He requested that the Committee helped shape a reporting line in to the team for all fifty seven Councillors.

RECOMMENDATION

The Committee recommended to the Safer and Stronger Peterborough Strategic Manager that the following was added to the Safer Peterborough Partnership Plan 2014 – 2017:

• Details of how public confidence in the police and Local Authority will be increased, making it a key area of work and describing how this would be monitored.
• Details of the role of Scrutiny within the plan, along with an explanation of the role of the Committee.
• The inclusion of the Strong and Supportive Communities Scrutiny Committee in the Structure chart.

ACTION AGREED

The Committee noted the report and agreed for the Safer and Stronger Peterborough Strategic Manager to deliver a detailed report at the next meeting, explaining how the Safer Peterborough Partnership Plan should be scrutinised by the committee over the next three years.

The Cabinet Advisor to the Cabinet Member for Culture, Recreation and Waste Management introduced the report which gave the Committee an opportunity to hear from and question both officers of the Council and Vivacity, on Vivacity’s performance in 2013 – 14 and in relation to Vivacity’s draft business plan for 2014 – 19.  Key points highlighted were:

• Vivacity had delivered an impressive range of services and events to the people of Peterborough this year. The most noticeable achievement in the year had been the opening of the brand new Hampton Premier leisure facility at Hampton.
• Performance, as measured in terms of visitor numbers, remained strong in respect of sports, libraries and the Key Theatre.
• The Council had continued to invest in Vivacity’s services, including nearly £1m of capital improvements to the athletics track and the Lido.
• Looking to the future, Vivacity was working closely with the Council to ensure that services provided continued to offer both a compelling and value for money offer. The draft business plan reflected the need for Vivacity to continue to grow commercially in order for it to thrive as an organisation in the future.
• Vivacity had adopted, with support from the Council, a balanced scorecard to reflect its performance.
• The draft business plan, which was attached to the report, had been developed by Vivacity and had not yet been approved by either Peterborough City Council or the Vivacity Board of Trustees.

The Committees comments would be considered in developing the final draft.

The Committee was asked to review and comment on Vivacity’s current performance and the Draft business plan for 2014 – 2019.

Observations and questions were raised around the following areas:

·         Members commented that the report did not mention Heritage and queried why this was not included. The Chief Executive of Vivacity advised Members that there had been a dip around Heritage as Flag Fen and Longthorpe Tower had closed and key members of staff were on long term sick leave. This issue had been addressed.

·         Members commented that they found it difficult to read the score card on page 86 of the report and requested that the score card was sent to them quarterly.

·         Members queried why on page 90 of the report it stated that the Council was going to reduce their funding to Vivacity by 50% when the budget report quoted a 100% reduction. The Head of Finance for Vivacity informed Members that the funding from the Council would be reduced by 50% this year and a further 50% next year. The Chief Executive of Vivacity advised the Committee that the entire cost of the Arts Festival would be picked up by Vivacity in future, as it was important that the city had an Arts Festival.

·          Members queried whether Peterborough was going to lose services as a result of the savings that were required for 2018/19. The Chief Executive of Vivacity was unable to give an answer to this query as it was still being explored with the Council and assured  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The report which was a Commercial Operations Service Plan for 2014/15 was introduced by the Head of Commercial operations and included an overview of the following:

·         Services

·         Performance

·         Expenditure/income and service costs

·         Staffing numbers and staffing issues within each service

·         Opportunities for each service

·         Service threats

·         Service Objectives for 2014/15

The Committee was asked to note and comment on the work of the Commercial Operations and propose further scrutiny in relation to its business activities.

Observations and questions were raised around the following areas:

·         Members commented that they were pleased with the suggestions for the Market to have a food quarter as this would encourage shoppers to the Market.

·         Members queried whether there were any developments on attracting independent traders to the Market. The Head of Commercial Operations informed Members that the independent traders were part of a property group with Baker Storey Matthews and the Council was always trying to influence independence.

·         Members queried if there were any plans in place to have Christmas Markets in the city centre and a fireworks display on New Year’s Eve. Members were advised that there had been a lot of interest from high quality Markets, although the Council could not obtain sponsorship for a fireworks display as it was too expensive.

·         Members commented that they were looking forward to the Cultural Festivals.

·         Members queried why there were so many vehicles in Cathedral Square as it made it look untidy. Members were advised that this issue was being addressed by adding more enforcement to Cathedral Square.

ACTION AGREED

The Committee noted the Commercial Operations Plan for 2014 to 2015.

The Committee received the latest version of the Council’s Forward Plan of Key Decisions, containing key decisions that the Leader of the Council anticipated the Cabinet or individual Cabinet Members would make during the course of the following four months.  Members were invited to comment on the Plan and, where appropriate, identify any relevant areas for inclusion in the Committee’s work programme.

ACTION AGREED

The Committee noted the Forward Plan of Key Decisions

The purpose of the report was to provide the Committee with a list of possible items to be included in the Committee’s 2014/2015 work programme.

The following items had been provided by the Communities Directorate and were provided as a starting point for discussion:

·         Safer Peterborough Partnership Plan Thematic Report

·         Safer Peterborough Partnership Plan Annual Refresh

·         Selective Licensing or equivalent scheme

·         Scrutiny in a Day outcomes

·         Community Assets, Rationalisation Programme

·         Review of the Peterborough Communities and Safety Delivery Model

The committee was asked to note these items for the 2014 – 15 work programme and discuss in further detail at the next Group Representatives meeting, where the work programme could be expanded further.

ACTION AGREED

Members agreed for the following to be included in the Work Programme for the next municipal year:

• Connecting Families
• Safer Peterborough Partnership Plan

The meeting began at 7.00pm and ended at 9.15pm