Agenda and minutes

A member of the public asked if any consideration had been given to the health and safety of allergy sufferers attributable to airborne pollutants when cutting and blowing grass across the Borough and raised concern about the serving of food from mobile establishments adjacent to building repairs in the town centre?

The Strategic Director of Environment and Development Services pointed out the Council had a duty to ensure it looked after the environment, but confirmed that the resources for cutting grass had been reduced which now ensured that grass across the Borough was cut when it required cutting rather than on a scheduled basis.  In addition, any pesticides used were strictly regulated and only used on areas such as central reservations that were not close to residential areas.

In terms of the necessary building works to repair the market roof and the selling of food from an adjacent mobile unit, this was undertaken in accordance with Health and Safety Regulations, requiring the unit to be licensed and meet all relevant standards, which also included restaurants like the Ministry of Food.

-        Strategic Director of Neighbourhoods and Adult Services to report.

Councillor Wyatt, Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing, introduced a report by the Strategic Director of Resources, which presented the draft Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy for Rotherham.  It gave an outline of the process which had taken place in developing the strategy and sought approval, prior to the document going out to public consultation and being used for Clinical Commissioning Group authorisation.

The Strategy presented a shared commitment to reduce health inequalities locally.  It would be used to guide all agencies in Rotherham in developing commissioning priorities and plans and in tackling the major public health and wellbeing challenges present in our communities. 

The Strategy would sit within a set of documents which demonstrated the journey from gathering data, to understanding whether goals were being achieved, these included:-

·              Joint Strategic Needs Assessment: our intelligence.

·              Health and Wellbeing Strategy: our vision and how we will achieve this.

·              Commissioning plans: funding and leadership.

·              Performance management framework: evaluating success.

Following a refresh of the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment towards the end of 2011, a series of workshops and officer task group meetings have taken place to develop the local strategy.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the contents of the Draft Strategy be approved.

(2)  That the draft be published for public consultation.

(3)  That the draft be referred to the Health and Wellbeing Board for consideration.

-        Director of Public Health to report.

Dr. John Radford, Director of Public Health, introduced the report which detailed how the Health and Social Care Act gave Local Authorities new statutory functions of:-

·              Health Improvement.

·              Health Protection.

·              Providing Public Health Advice and Support to the Rotherham NHS Clinical Commissioning Group.

These new duties, which were very cross cutting, would come into force on 1st April, 2013 and were set out in detail as part of the report.

The range of public health responsibilities were mapped out against functions whether this was for disease surveillance, commissioning NHS health services or licensing or enforcement of legislation.  A key responsibility of the DPH will be to develop a comprehensive Borough Health Protection Plan.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the schedule setting out the range of new and existing responsibilities be noted with assurance that this framework would allow for meeting the statutory functions.

(2)  That the early adoption of these responsibilities by Rotherham from the Primary Care Trust from 1st October 2012 be supported.

(3)  That Rotherham Public Health Services be titled as such as Rotherham M.B.C. provided or commissioned services.

-        Strategic Director of Environment and Development Services to report.

Further to Minute No. 104 of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 23rd November, 2011, Councillor Rushforth, Cabinet Member for Culture and Tourism, introduced a report by the Strategic Director of Environment and Development Services, which detailed how a review of the Library and Information Service had been undertaken to identify proposals to deliver a “comprehensive and efficient library service for all persons desiring to make use thereof”, Public Libraries & Museums Act, 1964 (the Act).  The review considered how the Service could most appropriately meet local need and deliver the best service possible in the current challenging environment.

Proposals for future service delivery included in the report have been based on an assessment of local need for the service and take into account the statutory requirement for the service and available resources. They were informed by the Library Strategy 2011-15, which aimed to deliver a modern, vibrant library service.

An equalities analysis had also been completed and a plan for structured consultation based on the proposed future service model was put forward for consideration.

The proposal would release savings to the Council of approximately £500,000.

Further information was provided on the equality analysis and how the service could be tailored to meet customer need.

Cabinet Members were in support of the draft model going forward for public consultation, but asked that emphasis be placed on need and ways to make best use of the resources available.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the draft future service model for public consultation be approved.

(2)  That the consultation and community engagement plan be approved.

(3)  That a further report be submitted to the Cabinet following the consultation detailing proposals for the future delivery of the Library and Information Service.

-        Strategic Director of Resources to report.

Councillor Whysall, Chair of the Improving Places Select Commission and Chair of the Review Group, introduced a report which set out the findings and recommendations of the Places Select Commission in relation to their examination of the Local Development Framework consultation process undertaken between July and mid September, 2011.

The purpose of the main review meeting, held on 7th December 2011, was to debrief Members about how the Local Development Framework consultation was received by the wider public and to reflect on any improvements to the consultation process for next time.

The review sought to make recommendations to support this process and the involvement of officers and Elected Members in future Local Development Framework consultations.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the Spotlight Review of the Local Development Framework and its recommendations be noted and a response be submitted within two months as outlined within the Council’s Constitution.

(2)  That the decision of Cabinet on the report, recommendations and proposed action be reported back to the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board in due course.

-        Strategic Director of Children and Young People’s Services to report.

Councillor Rushforth, Cabinet Member for Culture and Tourism, introduced a report by the Strategic Director of Children and Young People’s Services, which detailed how in December, 2011 the Government announced that they had created a Troubled Families Unit within the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).  This unit would lead a national programme (to be called the Families for Change Initiative) to address the needs of families with multiple problems and significantly reduce the demand that they made on public services; the work was to be led from Department for Communities and Local Government, but it was worth noting that the unit was funded from across six Government departments.

Rotherham had made a commitment to oversee and account for successful engagement with 730 troubled families over the next three years and draw down funding based on outcomes achieved with 608 of these families, according to the payment by results framework.

This report, therefore, sought to provide background information about the payment by results framework and set out how Rotherham would respond to this at the same time as ensuring the delivery model met the needs of local families and was aligned with other key approaches to address deprivation and health inequalities in the borough.

Cabinet Members sought further clarification on the success rate of engaging families with difficulties and the need for a clear contract to be drawn up setting out clearly what would be expected.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the response to delivering the Troubled Families Initiative in Rotherham should be aligned to the work to tackle inequalities in disadvantaged areas and implementation of the Early Help Strategy;

(2)  That the governance arrangements for the Troubled Families Initiative (to be renamed the Families for Change Initiative) be approved.

(3)  That the proposed approach to identifying Rotherham’s named cohort of families in line with the Troubled Families Financial Framework be approved.

(4)  That the Troubled Families funding, provided by Central Government, be ring-fenced to invest in additional services for families that will lead to long-term change for them and wider system re-design.

(Councillor McNeely declared a personal interest in this Initiative on the grounds that she was a Director of Homestart Rotherham)

- Strategic Director of Neighbourhoods and Adult Services to report

Councillor Hussain, Cabinet Member for Cohesion, introduced a report by the Strategic Director of Neighbourhoods and Adult Services, which detailed how the Cabinet and Strategic Leadership Team have received a number of reports since the publication of the Indices of Multiple Deprivation 2010 which highlighted a worsening of deprivation in the borough, particularly in some of the most deprived communities.

This report sought approval for a new approach based on local leadership and a long term commitment from partners, which would be designed to complement the work to develop the Health and Well Being Strategy.

The long term approach required would survive changes in Government and be based on local action, working within the policy framework of the time.  The work would concentrate on what could be influenced and what happened at a local level.    There was a need to exploit national programmes and initiatives not be led by them.  

The approach set out in this report would endeavour to change the character of the eleven areas, improve the opportunities available to people and improve the quality of life for individuals.  There would need to be a clear understanding of the eleven areas and put in place an action plan that would firstly stabilise and then set out a clear strategy for improvement. 

Engagement with local communities and organisations was critical to the success of this approach.  Local communities would only become engaged when they saw things happening. The collective commitment across all organisations would need to be positive, have real purpose from the beginning and to act together immediately.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the approach to tackling inequalities in disadvantaged areas be approved.

(2)  That a commitment be sought from Rotherham Partnership to implement the approach set out in the report.

- Strategic Director of Environment and Development Services to report

Councillor Smith, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Development, introduced a report by the Strategic Director of Environment and Development Services, which detailed how the Government had made it clear that city regions that were able to organise themselves and work constructively together would reap the benefits of “earned devolution” – at the expense of those areas that could not.  This was a particular issue for Sheffield City Region, where Ministers have recently cited several examples of the city region not being able to ‘sort things out locally’ – Waverley link road being a particular example.

However, the eight local authorities that make up the Sheffield City Region were increasingly demonstrating the ability to collaborate and work together through the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (“the LEP”) and the Sheffield City Region Leaders’ Group.  The benefits of this collaboration could be seen in the region securing an advanced manufacturing and technology focussed Enterprise Zone and a City Region Deal.

Accordingly, it was agreed at the Sheffield City Region Leaders’ Group on 9th May, 2012 and the Sheffield City Region LEP Board on the 10th May, 2012 that the Sheffield City Region should undertake a Governance Review under Section 108 of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 (LDEDCA) with a view to establishing a Combined Authority in some form.

Resolved:-  (1)  That a governance review be undertaken under the provisions of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 (LDEDCA) and undertaken jointly, by the eight local authorities that make up the Sheffield City Region.

(2)  That this review be supported by the City Region Executive Team – which was made up of Local Authority officers working, in partnership, from across the region.

(3)  That a seminar for ITA Members be held to understand the review process.

Resolved:-  That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended March 2006 – information relates to finance and business affairs).

Resolved, that under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act (as amended March, 2006 (information relates to finance and business affairs).

-           Strategic Director of Neighbourhoods and Adult Services to report.

Councillor McNeely, Cabinet Member for Safe and Attractive Neighbourhoods, introduced a report by the Strategic Director of Neighbourhoods and Adult Services, which set out how important it was for the Council to quickly establish a medium and longer-term programme for local authority new housing (LANH) in order to build on the successful delivery of 132 new Council homes during 2011 and to deal with the growing need for more affordable housing in the Borough.  This would not be as straightforward as the previous programme, as there was no more Homes and Communities Agency grant funding and much more pressure from competing priorities within the Council.

In order to enable the Council to take advantage of particularly beneficial opportunities to acquire new Council housing, this report sought Cabinet approval to allocate Housing Revenue Account resources and also provided an update on the other key routes for delivering new Council housing.

Cabinet Members were informed that the protocol for decision-making would be developed and signed off by the Cabinet Member for Safe and Attractive Neighbourhoods and not the Director of Housing and Neighbourhoods and the Finance Director as set out in the report.  It was also imperative that Ward Members for the relevant areas were kept fully informed.

The finance and risks and uncertainties associated with these acquisitions were set out in detail as part of the report.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the allocation of £1m for a number of strategic acquisitions during 2012/13 be approved, subject to a robust protocol being produced and approved by the Director of Housing and Neighbourhoods and Finance Director.

(2)  That the provisional allocation up to £2m in 2013/4, subject to a detailed review of acquisitions in 2012/13 be approved.

(3)  That the individual acquisition requests should have a robust audit trail, with an initial report to the Director of Housing and Neighbourhoods, consultation with local Elected Members and decision by the Cabinet Member for Safe and Attractive Neighbourhoods.

(4)  That the Cabinet Member for Safe and Attractive Neighbourhoods be authorised to agree the protocol governing the strategic acquisition of properties.

(5)  That a report be submitted to the Cabinet Member for Safe and Attractive Neighbourhoods in due course on the development of the overall local authority new housing programme, including a progress update on strategic acquisitions.

- Strategic Director of Resources to report

Councillor Smith, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Development, introduced a report by the Strategic Director of Resources, which sought approval for the disposal of the above-mentioned property asset which was surplus to the requirements of the Resources Directorate.

The financial information and risks and uncertainties associated with this disposal were set out in detail as part of the report.

Cabinet Members pointed out that relevant Ward Members should be consulted on all matters such as these.

Resolved:-  (1)  That approval be given to the Director of Audit and Asset Management to dispose of the asset on the basis recommended in Option 3 in the report.

(2)  That the Director of Audit and Asset Management negotiates the terms of the disposal of the asset as described in the report.

(3)  That the Director of Legal and Democratic Services completes the necessary documentation.

- Strategic Director of Resources to report

Councillor Smith, Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Development, introduced a report by the Strategic Director of Resources, which sought approval for the disposal of the above-mentioned asset which was soon to become vacant and surplus to the requirements of the Department of Housing and Neighbourhoods.

The financial information and risks and uncertainties associated with this disposal were set out in detail as part of the report.

Cabinet Members made reference to the secondary modular buildings on site, which were due to be relocated, at cost, to four primary schools within the Borough.

Resolved:-  (1)  That approval be given to the Director of Audit and Asset Management to dispose of the asset on the basis recommended in Option 2 in the report.

(2)  That the Director of Audit and Asset Management negotiates the terms of the disposal of the asset as described in the report.

(3)  That the Director of Legal and Democratic Services completes the necessary documentation.