Agenda and minutes

There were no Declarations of Interest made at the meeting.

Resolved:-  That the minutes of the meeting held on 26^th March, 2007 be approved as a correct record for signature by the Chairman.

With reference to Minute No. 122(6) a meeting had taken place between the respective Cabinet Members with the Director of Culture and Leisure with a clear steer on how Culture and Leisure and cohesion activities could be brought together.

Consideration was given to a report presented by Janet Spurling, Equalities and Diversity Officer, and Councillor Hilda Jack, Chair of the Women’s Strategy Group, which provided an update on the development of Rotherham’s Women’s Strategy.

Rotherham’s Women’s Strategy sought to add value to existing strategies and plans through new actions and initiatives to promote women’s equality.  Some of these actions built on existing work and successes and others resulted from looking again at current plans and identifying where more focus on women’s needs, or on removing particular barriers for women, was necessary. 

The Strategy had been developed using research that included local and national statistics and through broad consultation with Rotherham women to be sure it reflected their priorities and concerns.  A range of involvement methods included workshops, drop-in sessions and simple surveys (both paper and web-based). 

Consultation took place with women from specific communities of interest – lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual women; disabled women and black and minority ethnic women – and across the borough in various locations.  Consultees ranged in age from 8 to 84.  Outcomes of other recent consultation were also revisited to inform the work.

Some clear priorities emerged from consultation that the Strategy focused on and these were outlined in the report.  One aspect that was very apparent was that the costs of access to leisure activities and learning opportunities and of public transport and childcare, were viewed as a significant barrier by many women.  This reflected research findings on gender differences in income.

A full copy of the draft Rotherham Women’s Strategy was circulated with the agenda.

Discussion ensued on women participating in further and higher education, with a suggestion that this issue form part of the action plan.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the draft Rotherham’s Women’s Strategy go forward for final consultation with stakeholders be noted and entail:-

-        Opportunities for last comments from women in the community with whom we consulted earlier, during April and early May.

-        Final internal consultation and agreement within partner organisation.

-        Consultation with Rotherham Partnership at the session planned for April.

(2)  That the draft Rotherham Women’s Strategy be referred to the Cabinet and Democratic Renewal Scrutiny Panel for consideration and comment.

(3)  That the launch date for the final strategy be 20th June, 2007.

(4)  That the Cabinet Member and Advisers be kept informed as the Strategy progressed.

Consideration was given to a report presented by Catherine Dale, Research and Statistics Officer, which summarised, Reaching Out: Progress on Social Exclusion. 

The paper published by the Social Exclusion Task Force set out the Government’s analysis of social exclusion, namely that whilst good progress had been made, there were a small number of localised problems which required intensive and specific action to help lift the hardest to reach groups out of poverty and disengagement from society. This required solutions which were targeted, localised and tailored to the needs of individuals and families. This thinking informed the measures which the Government was implementing.

The report also briefly showed how the Council was working with its partners to address the issues highlighted in Reaching Out. 

It demonstrated that much of Government spending on socially excluded groups was directed at managing the symptoms of exclusion once problems have become entrenched. The Government was determined to shift efforts from ‘treatment’ to ‘prevention’ in order to break the cycle of disadvantage, offering opportunity to those who face the most deep-seated and complex disadvantage.

The revised approach would focus on providing increasingly specialised, targeted intervention at a very early stage for five groups of people:-

·              Teenage parents (45,000).

·              Problem drug users (280,000).

·              Young offenders (95,000).

·              16-18 NEETS (220,000).

·              Children in Care (60,000).

Evidence suggested that these were some of the risk factors of membership of the five high risk groups:-

·              Poor Parenting.

·              Poverty.

·              Conduct Disorder.

·              Persistent Truancy.

Interventions would also look at what more could be done to address poor parenting, behavioural issues and persistent truancy. Early and long term intervention, including support for struggling parents would be key.  A series of pilot initiatives developing new approaches would be rolled out in the coming months.

A discussion ensued and the following issues were raised/clarified:-

·              Role and activity of SureStart with early years intervention.

·              Close the Gap Project at a neighbourhood level needing to be outcome focused.

·              Measuring outputs in problem areas.

·              Reductions in teenage parents.

·              Working with NEETS around colleges.

·              Need for credible database and the effect of information.

·              Review by Central Government available in the Summer.

·              Concerns about educational achievement for looked after children and disadvantaged groups.

·              Holistic view of families at risk review.

·              Need for political involvement.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the report and its findings be noted.

(2)  That the findings be agreed with focus into the Council’s emerging Social Inclusion Framework.

(3)  That a special meeting be arranged with representatives from the Directorates of Neighbourhoods and Adult Services and Chief Executive’s to specifically look at the key challenges and to provide clear strategic social inclusion objectives.

Consideration was given to the dates and times of future meetings and whether it was appropriate to review and convene the Delegated Powers meeting at the same time or later in the day.

Resolved:-  That all meetings from May onwards be convened on a monthly basis on a Monday commencing at 3.00 p.m.

Consideration was given to a report presented by Ian Squires, Regeneration Funding Manager, which provided a brief update on the current activity within both the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF) 2006/08 Programme and also the Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) Round 6.

The Regeneration Funding Manager referred to the report, which provided more information and detail on:-

·              NRF Quarter 3 Performance Monitoring.

·              NRF Liveability Amendment.

·              NRF Community Chest.

·              Yorkshire Forward / Capital SRB Issue.

·              SRB Quarter 3 Performance Monitoring.

·              SRB Appraisal – New Project Approved.

·              SRB Capital Projects Contingency Plan.

·              SRB Forecast Performance.

·              SRB 6 Final Year Issues.

A discussion ensued and the following issues were raised/clarified:-

·              Evaluation of the NRF and SRB projects over the next nine months.

·              Approval of schemes to meet the Council’s strategies and themes.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the progress on both funding streams be noted.

(2)  That updates, as part of a regular report on external funding bids/programmes, be provided to the Cabinet Member on a quarterly basis.

Consideration would have to be given to the Annual Plan to coincide with the changes to the Cabinet Member portfolios from the Annual Council meeting on the 18^th May, 2007.

Resolved:-  That a planning meeting be arranged with representatives from Neighbourhoods and Adult Services, Environment and Development Services and the Chief Executive’s Directorates to consider the work plan and timescales for the next twelve months.

Resolved:-  that the next meeting of the Cabinet Member take place on Monday, 21^st May, 2007 at 3.00 p.m. instead of 8.30 a.m.