Agenda and draft minutes

Report of the Chief Executive

RESOLVED        -        That the constitution of the Committee for the 2022/23 Municipal year be noted.

The Committee is asked to approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 4 April 2022. 

RESOLVED           -        That the minutes of the meeting held on 4 April 2022 be approved as a correct record.

Report of the Chief Executive and the Strategic Director, Corporate Services and Governance

RESOLVED        -        That the Role and Remit of the Corporate Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee be noted.

Report of Strategic Director, Resources and Digital

The Committee received a report and presentation for the year end performance reporting from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 against each of the 6 policy objectives of the Health and Wellbeing Strategy and the Balanced Scorecard.

The views of the OSCs which were reported to Cabinet following the 6 monthly position included:

·         Prioritisation and Thrive Policy – clearer priorities to achieve Thrive, focus resources to achieve the biggest impact and emphasis on early intervention and reducing longer term demand - LIoN data to be refreshed end 2022 / early 2023 to understand changes post pandemic; Budget approach priority-based transformation review of Thrive and early intervention activity. 

·         Locality based working – ensuring that the right approach is taken with councillor and community involvement from the outset and recognising that different approaches may be needed in different areas of Gateshead – approach to locality working being developed in collaboration.

·         Housing repairs and maintenance – Housing Improvement Plan and timescales for tackling the issues and backlog to meet housing requirements and standards – Review in place to address challenges in delivery impacting on customers.

·         Place and Environment – importance of a clean, safe attractive environment to support the health and wellbeing of local people – part of budget approach.

·         Climate Change – Clarity on actions and progress the Council is making towards its Climate Change ambition with greater communications with local people – extensive engagement taking place.

·         Employees and Workforce – Improvements to employee morale and address recruitment and retention – proposals being developed •

·         Other comments also being incorporated into the PMIF i.e. use of dates, new measures, digital/ online presentation being developed, specific areas of focus such as Community Wealth Building, social care, jobs and employment

Some emerging issues which the performance data is telling us is that Covid 19 is having an impact across the Borough in terms of widening inequalities.  There is also an impact on the Health and Wellbeing of Residents.

Recruitment and retention issues have been recognised and being addressed it is anticipated that this will improve as the strategy is implemented.  The move to digital has continued to accelerate following the pandemic, however it is also recognised that is important to support access for all.

The Committee heard from Alison Dunn who provided an update on Locality Working.  The Committee heard that the core elements of Locality Working are about:

·         Focussing on the person in need

·         How analysis can reveal how other people are affected and influence an individuals predicament

·         Creating bespoke solutions

·         Communication being key with everyone

·         The development of an infrastructure being required to create an area network

·         How individual situations can challenge existing services

·         A partnership approach

·         Working arrangements becoming more flexible

·         Tackling barriers being imperative

The Committee heard from the Birtley Hub Manager who presented a case study of someone they helped who probably would not have sought help from Council services direct but using the hub as a “middle man” helped him to get back on his feet and  ...  view the full minutes text for item CR71

Report of Director of Public Health and Wellbeing

The Committee received a report to provide an update on the Council’s Resilience and Emergency Planning activities for 2021/22.

Gateshead Council along with other Local Authorities are defined as a Category 1 Responder – an organisation likely to be at the core of most emergencies.  Other Category 1 Responders include Northumbria Police, Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, North East Ambulance Service and NHS England.  Category 1 Responders are subject to the full set of civil protection duties which requires them to:

-                 assess the risk of emergencies occurring and use this to inform contingency planning;

-                 put in place emergency plans;

-                 put in place business continuity management arrangements;

-                 put in place arrangements to make information available to the public about civil protection matters and maintain arrangements to warn, inform and advise the public in the event of an emergency;

-                 share information with other local responders to enhance co-ordination;

-                 co-operate with other local responders to enhance co-ordination and efficiency;

-                 provide advice and assistance to businesses and voluntary organisations about business continuity management (local authorities only).

The Councils Emergency Response Team is led by the Service Director for Transformation, System Resilience and EPRR and the Resilience & Emergency Planning Coordinator during the In-Hours period.

During the Out of Hours period, a rota is in place which is covered by Executive Directors/Service Directors (who are contractually obliged to undertake this role) and a Duty Officer. Should an incident be declared, the Director would assume the role of Incident Director and provide strategic leadership and commit resources as appropriate whilst the Duty Officer would gather information about the incident, advise the Incident Director on the appropriate strategy/response as well as coordinate Council assets to assist in the management of the incident.

The Emergency Response Team has responded to the following incidents during 2021 and up to the present date:

·         February 2020 to present – COVID-19:

·         15^th January 2021 – Care Call System Loss:

·         28^th February 2021 – Campground Fire:

·         5^th March 2021 – Police Operation Blencathra:

·         31^st March 2021 – Eslington Court Flooding:

·         9^th April 2021 – Operation Forth Bridge:

·         5^th June 2021 – Redheugh Court Fire:

·         26^th November 2021 – Storm Arwen:

·         24^th January 2022 – Ouseburn Farm Avian Influenza Outbreak:

·         29^th January 2022 – Storm Malik

·         7^th February 2022 – Shee Recycling Centre Fire:

·         16^th – 22^nd February 2022 – Storms Dudley, Eunice and Franklin:

·         21^st February 2022 - Rowlands Gill Avian Influenza Outbreak:

·         23^rd March 2022 – Present – Ukraine Situation:

·         31^st March 2022 – Civic Centre Lightning Strike:

·         5^th April 2022 – Angel Court Fire Safety:

2021/22 Storm Responses and Debriefs

The Northeast was subjected to some significant storms between late November 2021 and late February 2022. The following paragraphs provide an overview of the Council’s response to each of these storms, the major learning points and the development work that has since been undertaken to strengthen future  ...  view the full minutes text for item CR72

Presentation

RESOLVED    -           That this item be deferred to a future meeting.

Report of Service Director, Corporate Commissioning and Procurement

The Committee received the scoping report to seek its views on the proposed plans for the review of Community Wealth Building.

Gateshead Council have already been working with CLES (Centre for Local Economic Strategies) to progress Community Wealth Building (CWB) across Gateshead for some time now with a major focus on further developing our approach to social value.

Community Wealth Building is a new people-centred approach to local economic development, which redirects wealth back into the local economy.

Work has commenced across the Council to undertake various work strands and the review will focus on the following areas:

·         Make Community Wealth Building central to Gateshead strategic direction through a CWB strategy

·         E-learning modules to be developed on CWB which will be available via the intranet for all staff across the Council

·         Review spend analysis of top 100 suppliers to identify where contracts could be delivered locally, addressing gaps in the local supply chain and those opportunities offered to local suppliers

·         Explore the development of social enterprises through the work of Economic Development

·         Improve SME’s access to contract opportunities through improving our internet pages and having more of a social media presence

·         Support the development of a more inclusive economy by working with other organisations to embed CWB through the Community Practice meetings and discussions at Anchor institute meetings

The intention is to work with colleagues, partners and anchor institutions over the next 10 months in order to drive the CWB agenda forward.  Corporate Commissioning and Procurement will hold an Evidence Gathering Session in October 2022 where CLES will talk about our CWB work to date and we will review the spend analysis.   In January 2023 a further Evidence Gathering Session with colleagues from Economic Development, HR and Procurement to discuss their work around employment and skills, the development of the local economy and the CWB outcomes achieved through procurements.  An interim report will be brought to the Committee in March with the final report in April 2023.

RESOLVED -  that the scope, process and timescale for the review be agreed.

Report of the Chief Executive and the Strategic Director Corporate Services and Governance

The Work Programme report was presented to the Committee.  The Committee have previously been consulted on the proposed work programme for 2022/23.  Following this consultation further consultation was undertaken with partners.  The Committee were advised that following consultation with partners, no further areas for the work programme were suggested by partners.

The Committee asked that it be considered that some work be undertaken on local food supplies and also on the impact of inflation on communities and households in Gateshead.

RESOLVED      -        (i)         that the 2022/23 work programme be noted and the comments of the Committee in relation to the work programme be noted.

                                    (ii)         that the provisional work programme for 2022/23 be endorsed by the Committee and referred to Council on 21 July 2022 for agreement.

                                    (iii)        that it be noted that further reports will be brought to the Committee to identify any additional issues which the Committee may be asked to consider.