Agenda and minutes

Councillor Ali declared personal interests in Minute No. 27 (Updated on Named Voluntary and Community Sector Projects), Minute No. 29 (BME Strategy Group) and Minute No. 32 (External Funded Projects) on the grounds of being involved in projects named.

Resolved:-  That the minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet Member for Community Cohesion held on 25^th July, 2005 be approved as a correct record.

Reference was made to Minute No. 14 (Neighbourhood Management) where all Members were invited to attend a meeting of the Sustainable Communities Scrutiny Panel to look at all aspects of Neighbourhood Management.

It was suggested that an abridged version of the presentations be provided for the next meeting of the Cabinet Member for Community Cohesion to be held on Monday, 24^th October, 2005 at 10.00 a.m.

To consider the attendance of one Member to the above.

Resolved:-  That consideration of this conference be deferred and submitted to the Leader’s Meeting for decision.

Colin Bulger, Head of Policy and Partnerships, presented the submitted report, which detailed the transfer of existing members of staff from the Chief Executive’s Office to Neighbourhoods and the creation of a new unit to accommodate them.

After careful consideration it was decided that Neighbourhoods would be the best programme area of the Council to employ these workers as it would facilitate improved linkages with the local community, management of resources at a neighbourhood level, linkages to area plans/strategies and direct neighbourhood management

It was pointed out that as all of the members of staff were currently employed by the Council using external funding, there would be no financial implications attached to the transferring of staff.

Resolved:-  That the transfer of staff from the Chief Executive’s Officer to Neighbourhoods Programme Area be noted.

ZafarSaleem, Manager of the Equalities and Diversity Unit, presented the submitted report, which outlined the consultation process that was required on the Rotherham Compact Codes of Practice.

The Rotherham Compact was a statement of partnership between the Voluntary, Community, Statutory and Private sector partners represented in the Rotherham Partnership and showed a commitment to working together more closely and to respect each other’s rights and responsibilities.

The Rotherham Compact offered a new approach to partnership and a framework to develop more detailed agreements in future work. The five Codes of Practice which needed to go through the impact assessment stage within the Council were:-

·              Black and Minority Ethnic Voluntary and Community Organisations

·              Community Groups

·              Community Involvement/Consultation and Policy Appraisal

·              Funding and Procurement

·              Volunteering

The Funding and Procurement Code was still being developed and would be the subject of a Procurement Panel meeting, scheduled to take place on the 17^th October, 2005 looking specifically at the Procurement Strategy and the processes behind it.

All five Codes of Practice were to be signed off by the 1^st April, 2006, but an update report would be submitted to this meeting in November, 2005 prior to agreement by the Corporate Management Team and then ratified by Cabinet or Council.

There was strong commitment to working with and engaging the voluntary and community sector in the Council and amongst its partners without losing sight of the capacity to engage through Area Assemblies, an avenue which should be explored and utilised further.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the agreed timetable for action be noted.

(2)  That each Programme Area will nominate an officer who will co-ordinate the Codes of Practice in their Programme Area and review the commitments within the Codes and identify which their Programme Area could or could not adhere to.

ZafarSaleem, Manager of the Equalities and Diversity Unit, presented the submitted report, which provided an overview of the latest developments on community cohesion and two named voluntary/community sector projects – M.A.A.R.I. and R.R.E.C. 

Rotherham R.E.C.

The Rotherham R.E.C. ceased operating on the 31^st June, 2005 and was  now operating its own bank account and financial management with Finance Officers from the Council being formally released from the Accountancy and Treasury Management of the R.R.E.C. monies and resources.  Bank mandate transfer forms have been signed off by Council officers.

Monies were still owed to the Council and a contact had been made with the R.R.E.C. Executive Officers to arrange for the repayment of monies due from their reserves.   Discussions were ongoing and hopefully the situation would be resolved shortly.

Sheffield Race Equality Council had made an approach to ascertain if they could provide any services in Rotherham.

M.A.A.R.I.

The long term funding of M.A.A.R.I. was discussed at the meeting of the Safer Rotherham Partnership Funding Group on 19th September, 2005 where a report setting out potential funding options was tabled for initial discussion.  The Funding Group were seeking more information and Zafar Saleem was to liaise with Tim Hawkins, Community Safety Team, to address any issues.

It was pointed out that M.A.A.R.I. was to be included as part of the budget deliberations by Members.

Community Cohesion

There have been no further reported disturbances or tensions as a result of the London bombing and the situation remained calm.

An issue had arisen regarding potential community tensions from the use of migrant workers to pick fruit and this was being investigated further.

The recent announcement by NASS Yorkshire and Humberside to introduce new arrangements to voluntarily assist or forcibly remove Iraqi Asylum Seekers may give rise to tensions in areas where Iraqi Asylum Seekers were housed, including Rotherham. The Council together with its partners was monitoring the situation and the relevant officers have been made aware of the new arrangements.

The Council continued to contribute to the delivery of the L.S.P. Community Cohesion Strategy through the conducting of a mapping exercise identifying best practice and gaps in current service and in the completion of the Council’s Community Cohesion Action Plan, which set out a series of commitments that needed to be finalised by November, 2005.

Resolved:-  That the contents of the report be noted.

ZafarSaleem, Manager of the Equalities and Diversity Unit, presented the report submitted, which set out the Council’s performance on equality and diversity issues since the establishment of the Corporate Equalities and Diversity Unit and the Corporate Equalities and Strategy Group.

The Corporate Equalities and Diversity Unit was established in January, 2004 with the achievement of Level Two of the Equality Standard for Local Government with Level 3 being achieved hopefully by the end of this year.

Following the introduction of strategic leadership and direction to the diversity agenda the Council had made significant progress in improving its performance on equality and diversity issues. These improvements were set out in further detail in the “Draft Corporate Equality and Diversity Strategy Group Progress Report 2004 - 2005” appended to the report.

The Council was now at the stage where it was reaching top quartile performance across the range of equality Performance Indicators mainly due to the introduction on new policies and robust performance management systems

The ongoing challenge was to turn these new and excellent policies into practice, so that both our workforce and the recipients of our services feel valued and respected regardless of their own particular circumstances.

Resolved:-  That the draft report and its contents be noted.

ZafarSaleem, Manager of the Equalities and Diversity Unit, presented the report submitted, which detailed the setting up of a B.M.E. Strategy Group to ensure the needs of the B.M.E. community were identified, acknowledged and addressed through the development and implementation of a B.M.E. Strategy for the borough.

The B.M.E. Strategy Group was chaired by the Deputy Leader of the Council, as this was an R.M.B.C. group, with the Vice-Chair being Jahangir Akhtar (Chair of the Unity Centre).

Membership comprised the key B.M.E. organisations in the borough as well as representatives from the Primary Care Trust, Voluntary Action Rotherham, South Yorkshire Police and the Local Strategic Partnership.

The formal reporting structure for this group was through the Cabinet Member for Community Cohesion.  The draft Terms of Reference for this group as well as the minutes of a meeting held on 11th July, 2005 were appended to the report submitted.

Currently the work on the Strategy was picked up within existing resources, but consideration would be given to funding in the future once the needs and issues of the group were known.

Reference was made to a member of the B.M.E. Strategy Group sitting on the L.S.P. Board in order to cover B.M.E. community issues.  After some discussion V.A.R. would give consideration to this request.

Resolved:-  That the minutes of the B.M.E. Strategy Group and the its draft Terms of Reference be received.

Andrew Towlerton, Policy and Research Manager, presented the submitted report, which detailed the Council’s draft Sustainable Development Position Statement.

This Position Statement acknowledged that all Programme Areas were involved in and committed to ensuring sustainable development and that good progress had been made.  It also made a number of recommendations on how these actions and interventions could be developed further to support the Council’s sustainable developments aims and objectives as set out in the Community Strategy, Corporate Plan and Year Ahead Statement and meet new legislative and other national requirements such as C.P.A. 2005.    

Work was still to be done on a number of issues and this work should be highlighted to ensure sustainable development was progressed and evidenced.

The Members’ Sustainable Development Advisory Group, to be chaired by the Cabinet Member for Community Cohesion, would consider the above issues.  The next meeting was scheduled for Friday, 28^th October, 2005 at 11.00 a.m.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the Sustainable Development Position Statement, including the recommendations as outlined in section 7 of this report, be noted.

(2)  That the findings of the Position Statement be embedded into policy and service delivery processes and performance management arrangements.

(3)  That support be given to each Programme Area to nominate an officer to join the proposed Officer Sustainable Development Steering Group and be its representative on it.

(4)  That the report be referred to Members Sustainable Development Group, Cabinet and the relevant Scrutiny Panel for consideration.

(5)  That the final Position Statement be forward to the Rotherham Partnership for their consideration.

Consideration was given to a report, which was circulated and presented by Waheed Akhtar, Partnership Officer.

The report set out the draft membership of the R.M.B.C./V.A.R. Liaison Group, which would be led by Elected Members and attended by the Chair and Chief Executive of V.A.R.

It was suggested that the Liaison Group be arranged as part of the delegated powers meeting for the Cabinet Member for Community Cohesion and Advisers, with the first meeting being on the 21^st November, 2005 at 11.00 a.m. at the Town Hall.

A subsequent meeting of the Liaison Group should meet in February, 2006.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the membership of the R.M.B.C./V.A.R. Liaison Group consist of the Cabinet Member for Community Cohesion and three Advisers, Chairman of the Democratic Renewal Scrutiny Panel, the Council’s Representative and Substitute on the V.A.R. Board and the designated Liaison Officers, in addition to the Chairman and Chief Executive of V.A.R.

(2)  That the first meeting of the Liaison Group take place on Monday, 21^st November, 2005 at 11.00 a.m. at the Town Hall in the Council Chamber to facilitate disabled access.

Lee Adams, Assistant Chief Executive, confirmed that all Members of the Council had received a letter from a voluntary organisation highlighting funding issues and how the funding stream from the Council would end in March, 2006.

It was suggested that an external review and analysis into funding streams, the effectiveness and levels of delivery of the advice sector be considered with the possibility of some guaranteed funding beyond March, 2006.

The review also needed to take account of geographical coverage of the borough, demographics, the basic advice and specialisms and links to the one stop shop.

Resolved:-  (1)  That an external review take place on the advice sector.

(2)  That the external review be put out to tender with an anticipated start date in November, 2005.

(3)  That a report on the review findings be submitted to this meeting in February, 2006.

The following item is likely to be considered in the absence of the press and public as being exempt under Paragraph 5 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (information relates to financial assistance provided by the Council)

Resolved:- That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 5 of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (financial assistance provided by the Authority).

Exempt under Paragraph 5 of the Act – information relates to financial assistance provided by the Council)

WaheedAkhtar, Partnership Officer, presented the report submitted, which gave an update on the succession planning process, with focus only on projects with funding expiring or reducing during 2005/06.

Particular attention was drawn to the projects identified as requiring corporate funding, projects identified as requiring funding within existing Programme Area budgets and total mainstream requests.

Due consideration needed to be to the financial implications of Council activity that was funded through external funding sources.  Although Programme Areas endeavoured to ensure that they had effective exit strategies for externally funded activity, projects (and staff) were sometimes identified as being at risk very late in the project management cycle, with a subsequent reliance on external funding to maintain projects year on year.  This was not desirable in terms of financial planning and, as the external funding environment changes over the next 1- 3 years, it would become increasingly difficult to find alternative funding sources each year. 

Information on potential funding demands needed to be taken into account for the planning of the Medium Term Financial Strategy.

Resolved:-  That the approach taken and the progress made on succession planning issues be noted.

Resolved:-  That the next meeting of the Cabinet Member for Community Cohesion take place on Monday, 24^th October, 2005 commencing at 10.00 a.m.