Agenda and minutes

There were no Declarations of Interest made.

Resolved:-  That the minutes of the meeting held on 18^th December, 2006 be approved as a correct record for signature by the Chairman.

Minute No. 89 – Network of Parish Councils

This event was confirmed for Saturday, 27^th January, 2007.

Minute No. 95 – Colin Bulger

Members present, and in particular Councillor Akhtar, again offered their congratulations to Colin Bulger and thanked him for his hard work and support in Rotherham.

Councillor Akhtar, Vice-Chairman of the Democratic Renewal Scrutiny Panel, gave a report on his visit to Grosvenor House, Park Lane, London to meet His Excellency General Pervez Musharrat, President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, at the invitation of Dr. Maleeha Lodhi, High Commissioner for Pakistan on Friday, 29^th September, 2006.

Members of Parliament, Councillors and Community Leaders were invited from all over the country and were thanked by the President for their support, especially with the Kashmiri earthquake.

The visit provided the opportunity to meet other Councillors, especially those with responsibility for cohesion.  A number of discussions took place and various issues were raised such as innovative engagement with young people, disenfranchise by young people, employment opportunities, links and partnership working with the local mosques and foreign policy issues for young people visiting family in Pakistan.

The Cabinet Member and Advisers welcomed this report, but expressed some concern at the generic problem of safety for young people during visits to their motherland and whether the young people from local communities in Rotherham were properly represented and how this could be challenged.

Attention was drawn, however, to a conference held recently arranged by Children and Young People’s Services which was well attended.

Resolved:-  That Councillor Akhtar be thanked for his informative report and the contents be noted.

Consideration was given to a report presented by Colin Bulger, Director of Policy and Partnerships, which detailed the Service Level Agreement between the Council and Voluntary Action Rotherham as a result of negotiations for 2006/07.

The Service Level Agreement started the process by which the Council’s agreement with Voluntary Action Rotherham moved from being output to outcome focused. This process would gather pace for next year’s Service Level Agreement for which negotiations would begin shortly.

The Service Level Agreement was broken down into seven Service Elements with a number of Key Tasks assigned to each Service Element. Targets were assigned to each Key Task. These would be subject to a separate report to this meeting in April, 2007.    

Specific reference was made to the extra support for R.E.M.A., the move by Voluntary Action Rotherham to improve governance and the need for succession planning to be in place.

A discussion ensued on the increased capacity of Voluntary Action Rotherham, their management of the Yorkshire Forward grant fund of £4.1 million and exit strategies, core funding by the Council and the need for further work on issues like the Community Empowerment Network and Voluntary Sector Strategy.

Janet Wheatley and Keith Dobson, Senior Management representatives from Voluntary Action Rotherham, joined the meeting at this point and gave a presentation on the Service Level Agreement.

The presentation drew specific attention to:-

·              Outcomes.

·              Increase knowledge of Voluntary Action Rotherham and other infrastructure services.

·              Effective use of resources/shared good practice/expertise/equipment.

·              Representation and participation – support to diverse and inclusive sector.

·              Voluntary and community organisations benefiting from an effective and sustainable local infrastructure organisation.

·              Progress against the South Yorkshire Investment Plan for revenue and capital funding.

·              Future work.

·              Current issues for the sector.

A question/answer session ensued and the following issues were raised/clarified:-

-                 Role of S.Y.F.A.B. and R.E.M.A. and the areas of work they carried out.

-                 Capacity and supportive role of R.E.M.A. to other smaller organisations.

-                 Future funding of Voluntary Training Links Service.

-                 Performance Management Framework and monitoring by the Council.

-                 VAR Annual Survey and Needs Analysis – Progress Update by July, 2007.

-                 Management of sub-contracts for BME and women.

-                 Finalisation of exit strategies.

-                 Demand for service for adult social care and how this would affect the voluntary and community sector.

-                 Impact of the Local Government White Paper.

-                 Clarification of the roles and responsibilities of REMA and its capacity.

-                 Improving satisfaction levels for VAR and the comparison with SYFAB and REMA.

-                 VAR’s succession planning and reliance for leadership from its Chief Executive.

-                 Role of the Community Empowerment Network and satisfaction of service delivery.

-                 Election, selection, accountability and representation on NOP and Voice and Influence.

-                 Working partnerships between VAR and best practice to listen and learn.

Resolved:-  (1)  That representatives from Voluntary Action Rotherham be thanked for their presentation.

(2)  That the content of the Service Level Agreement be noted.

(2)  That the Service Level Agreement be approved.

(3)  That  ...  view the full minutes text for item 101.

Consideration was given to the report presented by Zafar Saleem, Equalities and Diversity Manager, which informed Members that the Council would be awarded the Equality Mark Certificate at a celebration event organised by the Improvement and Development Agency on 8^th February, 2007 and to nominate a representative to attend.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the forthcoming award of the Equality Mark Certificate recognising the Council’s successful achievement of the Equality Standard Level 3 external validation be welcomed.

(2)  That Councillor Burton be nominated to collect the award on behalf of the Council at the celebration event on the 8^th February, 2007 with an officer from the Equalities and Diversity Unit.

Consideration was given to the report presented by Andrew Towerton, Policy and Research Manager, which detailed the wider approach adopted by the Research and Policy Team to help develop a greater understanding of the needs and priorities of the many communities in Rotherham based on the community of interest groups identified in the Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy.

The approach underpinning the development had been identified as best practice by the Audit Committee and the profiles have been used extensively to highlight needs and priorities, inform and shape service and policy development and implementation.

The detailed analysis drew specific attention to:-

·              Defining gypsies and travellers.

·              The national context.

·              Historical context.

·              The national picture.

·              Discrimination.

·              Demographic, health, household, employment, education, and crime characteristics.

·              Local context.

·              Demographic, ethnicity, religious, family and living, household, economic and education characteristics.

·              What the consultation told us.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the contents of the report be noted.

(2)  That the findings should be taken into account by Directorates in developing policies and services.

(3)  That the dissemination of the key findings be distributed to Directorates and interested partner agencies.

Consideration was given to a report presented by Ian Squires, Regeneration Funding Manger, which detailed the NRF Employment Strand “A” Delivery Plan and the delivery partner for one element being left to be confirmed at a later stage by the Accountable Body.

Rotherham Chamber of Commerce, as lead delivery partner for this delivery plan, had now submitted a more detailed proposal for this element.  The project complemented the activity within the Employment Strand “A” Delivery Plan and also had a strong strategic link to activity already commissioned to date.  The project total cost was £30,000, which was split equally between 2006/07 and 2007/08.

Resolved:-  That the project proposal and the variation to the existing NRF contract with Rotherham Chamber be approved.

Consideration was given to a report presented by Stephen Turnbull, Head of Public Health, which provided an update on the Public Health Strategy for Rotherham, produced jointly by the Council and Rotherham PCT.

The Public Health Strategy had been endorsed by all the major partnerships and agencies including the Cabinet.  The Strategy had now been printed and circulation would commence shortly.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the publication of the Public Health Strategy for Rotherham be noted.

(2)  That quarterly updates be received on progress on implementing the elements of the Public Health Strategy for Rotherham relating to community cohesion.

ZafarSaleem, Equalities and Diversities Manager, gave a verbal update on the progress of the Advice Services Review.  The Corporate Management Team had agreed in principle to the proposals recommended.

Consideration was now to be given to the client function and the possible implications of implementing the proposals should they be agreed by the Cabinet.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the information be noted.

 (2) That a meeting take place with the Cabinet Member for Community Cohesion to examine the proposals in detail within the next two weeks.

Consideration was given to the report presented by Zafar Saleem, Equalities and Diversity Manager, which set out the proposed Council response to the Commission on Integration and Cohesion Consultation, which had been formulated by a sub-group of the Corporate Equality and Diversity Strategy Group.

The response asked for practical measures to take forward to improve cohesion and reduce tensions in local communities.   The Commission supplied the form for submission and the various questions listed were answered.  In addition, various case studies backing up the answers were enclosed.

Councillor Hussain, Cabinet Member for Community Cohesion, asked for a briefing on the responses prior to his meeting with the Commission on the 2^nd February, 2007.

Resolved:-  That the proposed response be noted.

Consideration was given to the report presented by Vince Roberts, Partnership Manager, which informed Members of progress against the Community Strategy and the key messages and issues emerging out of the 2005/06 Rotherham Partnership Assessment and the Local Area Agreement six month review report.

Specific reference was made to three key areas, which would be addressed as part of the next performance update and related to crime, rural indicators and the enabling of older people to live at home.

Feedback received from Government Office was very positive, both in terms of the performance against the targets and the effectiveness of Rotherham’s performance monitoring framework.

Members were very pleased with the reported progress and suggested that some of the information be included as part of the performance management of community cohesion, which was reported by the Cabinet Member to the Democratic Renewal and Sustainable Communities Scrutiny Panels on a six month basis.

Resolved:-  That the progress made against the Community Strategy and Local Area Agreement targets be noted.

Resolved:-  That it be noted that no amendments or additions had been made to the Annual Plan for the Group.

Resolved:-  That the next meeting of the Cabinet Member for Community Cohesion take place on Monday, 19^th February, 2007 at 8.30 a.m.