Agenda and draft minutes

To consider the minutes of the previous meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board held on 9 October 2024 and to approve them as a true and correct record of the proceedings.

Resolved: - That the Minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board held on 9 October 2024 be approved as a true record.

To receive declarations of interest from Members in respect of items listed on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest made.

To receive questions relating to items of business on the agenda from members of the public or press who are present at the meeting.

There were no questions from members of the public and the press.

To consider whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of any part of the agenda.

There were no items that required the exclusion of the press and public.

Report from the Strategic Director of Children and Young People’s Services.

Recommendations

That Cabinet:

1.    Note the progress made to deliver the in-house children’s residential development, the positive impact for Children in Care and financial efficiencies that will be achieved.

2.    Approve the Care Leavers addendum to the Looked After Children and Care Leavers Sufficiency Strategy 2023 – 2028.

3.    Agree that the LAC and Care Leavers Sufficiency Strategy Delivery Plan be updated to increase the appropriateness and number of available accommodation options for Care Leavers as per the Care Leaver addendum to the LAC sufficiency strategy (see 2 above).

4.    Note that on 16 October 2023 authority was delegated to the Assistant Director of Housing Services, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing, to acquire up to 100 properties in line with the Housing Acquisitions Policy, which includes scope to acquire properties to meet the accommodation needs of Children and Young Peoples Services.

5.    Authorise the Councils Designated Property Officer, or relevant Strategic Director in their absence, to negotiate any additional accommodation required and complete necessary transactions, in consultation with the Council’s Section 151 Officer, Strategic Director Children’s and Young Peoples Services, the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People’s Services and the Assistant Director of Legal Services.

The Chair invited Helen Sweaton, Joint Assistant Director, Commissioning & Performance to introduce the report. James Clarke the Assistant Director for Housing was also in attendance for this item.

The report was both an annual update on the residential development programme, which was keeping the Council in line with Cabinet’s intention to increase the number of children’s homes across the borough to be able to accommodate the children in care.

It also provided an update following a peer review into the Care Leavers service, where it was recommended that the Council review its Looked After Children’s (LAC) Sufficiency Strategy to reflect the needs of care leavers more accurately across the borough.

There were two reasons why it had changed since the LAC Sufficiency Strategy had been written. The first was there had been a significant increase in the number of care leavers and the population had increased. The second was the Ofsted published regulation to that part of the sector, for 16+ provision and consequently the market had changed significantly. The report covered both an update on where the Council was with its residential development and its plans based on the needs analysis that had been undertaken to update the Sufficiency Strategy to increase the provision for care leavers within the borough.

Councillor Blackham noted that permission had been granted to acquire up to 100 properties and sought an overview on the latest position and the plan to address this over the next two-three years. It was clarified that recommendation number 4 was to make members aware that approval had already been granted to increase the housing capacity across the borough, but this was not specifically for children in care or for care leavers. The plan was already in place and a number of care leavers received their permanent accommodation when they turned 18 through that plan to provide accommodation to any member of the Rotherham borough. 

It was noted that good progress had been made since Cabinet agreed the acquisitions policy and that target. This year the Council was on track, forecasting between 50-60 acquisitions, which was a significant improvement. For each property that came to the point of being let, the Council made a decision on whether it was used as general needs social housing or if it was appropriate for use as care leaver accommodation or temporary accommodation for homelessness. Those decisions were made on a case-by-case basis based on this such as need and location.

Councillor Blackham sought clarification on the number of properties that would be needed over the next two to three years for this specific provision. The information within the report considered the trend and the Council knew how many children in care were going to turn 18 over the next couple of years.  It was felt that 70 additional properties would be required.  A number of care leavers may move into their own provision, they may return to live with their parents, they may move outside of the borough. Some accommodation may be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

Report from the Strategic Director of Adult Care, Housing and Public Health.

Recommendations:

That Cabinet:

1.    Note the increase in homelessness and growing demand for temporary accommodation and the work being undertaken by the Council to respond to this demand.

2.    Approve the adoption of the new Temporary Accommodation Placement Policy (Appendix 1).

3.    Delegate authority to the Strategic Director of Adult Care, Housing and Public Health for a 3-year period in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing, to make operational amendments to the Policy when the need is identified.

4.    Note officers’ intention to continue to pursue opportunities for a 3-year period to increase the portfolio of Council-owned temporary accommodation to meet service demands, subject to available budget and in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing.

The Chair invited Councillor Allen, Cabinet Member for Housing and James Clarke, Assistant Director for Housing to introduce the report. The Cabinet Member for Housing explained the report was seeking approval for the ne Temporary Accommodation Policy. It explained how the Council met it statutory obligations and provided a brief update on the demand for temporary accommodation. It mentioned the work being undertaken to improve the situation for residents and indicated a negative impact on the Council’s financial position, which was welcomed.

Councillor Yasseen expressed that she was supportive of the idea of not using hotels for temporary accommodation due to the expense and didn’t feel they were fit for purpose. She felt that demand had increased because the Council did not build enough houses that fit within the alternative model. She noted that around 600 houses had been built in Boston Castle but understood that very little of that stock could be used for this clientele.  There were lots of factors that contributed to that. She asked if the new Housing Strategy plans ensured this need was accounted for.

A new Housing Strategy was being developed and would be presented to scrutiny and Cabinet next year.  It was explained that the majority of the need could be met through straightforward general needs accommodation.  Generally, rents needed to be low, which was why social housing was the preference. The was one of the reasons why there had been long standing support for an ambitious housing growth programme in the borough. Many of the Council lettings did go to households who were homeless or were previously homeless but there was a shortage of council housing which led to the temporary accommodation issue.  All members were encouraged to support housing growth initiatives within their areas.

There was small proportion of the caseload who’s needs could not be met through traditional general needs council housing.  An example would be single males with a history of rough sleeping where those things had been tried previously but not worked.  Supported accommodation was needed for those households, and this was a challenging sector due to the funding issues.  The Council was considering that as part of the Housing Strategy what it needed to do but also where did it need to work in partnership with charities and housing associations who already did this in other areas to ensure the right provision was in the right locations. 

The routine use of hotels as temporary accommodation needed to be phased out but unfortunately, there would always be a place for the use of hotels as emergency accommodation when people present on the day, because it was not feasible or pragmatic to find a permanent or even semi-permanent property in all cases.

Councillor Yasseen sought assurance that when the policy was implemented that all safeguarding issues were considered when using hotels and that when new housing was developed that the Council was not concentrating on availability in one area over another.  Part B of appendix one was a practice  ...  view the full minutes text for item 51.

Report from the Strategic Director of Adult Care, Housing and Public Health.

Recommendations

That Cabinet:

1.    Approve the Housing Services Repairs and Maintenance Policy (Appendix 1).

2.    Approve the increase in decoration allowance from £25 to £50 per room, up to a maximum of £350 per property, as proposed in the Housing Services Repairs and Maintenance Policy (Appendix 1).

3.    Note the ongoing work to scope the future repairs and maintenance delivery model for Rotherham and agrees to receive a further update on this work in 2025.

4.    Approve the Housing Services Gas and Carbon Monoxide Safety Policy (Appendix 2).

5.    Approve the Housing Services Electrical Safety Policy (Appendix 3).

6.    Delegate authority to the Strategic Director for Adult Care, Housing and Public Health, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Housing, to make amendments to the following housing policies in line with operational, regulatory and legislative demands:

·       Housing Services Repairs and Maintenance Policy

·       Housing Services Gas and Carbon Monoxide Safety Policy

·       Housing Services Electrical Safety Policy

·       Housing Services Fire Safety Policy

·       Damp, Mould and Condensation Policy as it relates to housing assets.

The Chair invited Councillor Allen, Cabinet Member for Housing and James Clarke, Assistant Director for Housing to introduce the report and noted that the report had also been considered by the members of the Improving Places Select Commission (IPSC). The Cabinet Member for Housing clarified it had been discussed at IPSC where they had set out their approach to delivering the repairs and maintenance service to make sure it met the needs of tenants and leaseholders, along with ensuring that the Council was able to meet it’s statutory, regulatory and contractual obligations.  The report also updated members on work being undertaken to consider the future of the repairs and maintenance service in light of consumer regulations.

Paragraph 2.18 of the report discussed the decorating allowance which was the subject of much discussion at IPSC. As a result of those discussions the Cabinet Member for Housing sought the Boards views on a proposed amendment to that section for Cabinet’s consideration at its meeting on 18 November 2024, which would propose that that the sums awarded for the decorating allowance be increased in line with the corporate Fees and Charges annually. 

The Chair welcomed the proposed amendment, which would be considered during the discussions.

Councillor A Carter noted the number of repairs carried out over the years but queried what key performance indicators (KPI’s) were being met withing the policy. The Assistant Director for Housing indicated the KPI’s could be shared outside of the meeting with members noting that many of them were corporate KPI’s as part of the Council Plan.  They were reported on quarterly and could be shared.  The service had also taken a decision recently to start sharing, on a quarterly basis, on the website, more detailed information about performance across the landlord services.  This information in the form of a link would be shared with the Governance Manager to be circulated to members of the Board and he was happy to respond to any additional questions outside of the meeting.

Councillor Yasseen queried if our current contracts supported the Council’s goals and was responsive to its needs.  It was clarified that this was being considered as part of the work to determine the future repairs and maintenance model.  The contacts were performing well on their own terms and assurance was provided that both contractors were performing well against their measures.  The questions were, were those the right measures.  More of an emphasis was being placed on triaging the repairs adequately in the first instance to ensure those were being prioritised in the right way. 

The authority was in a strong position on the responsive repair aspect.  When repairs were logged it was good at fixing them and fixing them properly, but the data needed to be considered because if the same things kept breaking again and again, it provided an indication of where investment could be made. The repairs and maintenance service needed to move from not just being good at responding to be more preventative and more  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52.

To consider the report which outlined the complaints and compliments received within 2023/24 and identifies the key trends within complaints and compliments over a five-year period.

The Chair invited Jo Brown, Assistant Chief Executive to introduce this report. She explained that an overview presentation was usually provided with this report to highlight the key trends.

The report set out the annual position on both complaints and compliments for the year ending March 2024. The report included figures on the overall council position and detail by directorate. A training briefing had been circulated to all Councillor post-election as a result of previous feedback. That briefing provided information of how the Council responded to formal complaints, and the differences between the formal complaints process and the things members my see in their surgery enquiries. Information was also provided in December 2023, on the compensation levels in 2022-23.

New reporting had been developed around financial redress as a result of any upheld complaints, which provided additional reporting through directorates to monitor and ensure appropriate levels of financial redress were maintained.

The presentation highlighted the following:

·       It showed the number of complaints received each year between 2019/20 through to 2023/24.

·       The lowest number of complaints were seen during 2020-21 when across the country complaints were suppressed due to the Covid 19 pandemic.

·       The highest number of complaints received was in 2022/23, 1,397 but this decreased in 2023/24 to 1,212.

·       The number of compliments received had a slight decrease in 2020/21 however this increased over each year with 902 compliments being received in 2023/24.

·       The comparison between 2022/23 to 2023/24 showed that 185 few complaints were received which was a decrease of 13%. 25% of complaints were upheld and this was a decrease on 2022/23 when 32% of complaints were upheld.

·       111 more compliments were received, which was an increase of 14% and it was noted that not all compliments were passed on to the Complaints Team by staff.

·       Over the last two years Housing and Regeneration and Environment (R&E) had received the highest number of complaints.

·       The largest decrease in the number of complaints received over the last two years was in R&E with a decrease of 27%.

·       The second largest decrease in the number of complaints received over the past two years was in Children and Young People’s Services (CYPS), with a decreased of 45%.

·       Finance and Customer Services also decreased by a percentage of 13%.

·       Adult Care services had a percentage increase of 16% with Housing an increase of 1%.

·       The Assistant Chief Executives directorate had increased from four to five and Public Health remained unchanged at zero complaints received.

·       In terms of performance, 82% of complaints taken through the formal process were responded to within relevant timescales. This was slightly below the Council Plan target of 85%.

·       Finance and Customer Services resolved 91% of complaints within timescales.

·       CYPS increased the number of complaints resolved in a timely manner up to 89% from 64%.

·       Compliments had increased from 791 in 2022/23 to 902 in 2023/24, whilst the number had increase overall, the numbers had not increased across all the main service areas where it was noted  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53.

To consider the SRP annual report 2023-24 in line with the requirements of section 19 of the Police and Justice Act 2006 and The Crime and Disorder (Overview and Scrutiny) Regulations 2009, which states that annual scrutiny is required of decisions made and actions taken by responsible authorities in connection with the discharge of crime and disorder functions.

The Chair noted that Sam Barstow, Assistant Director, Community Safety and Street Scene would answer questions on the Safer Rotherham Partnership (SRP) Annual Report 2023-24.

Councillor Tinsley asked if there had been any further discussions regarding restorative justice and it there were plans for this to be reintroduced. It was noted there were some formal aspects in terms of reparations where it related to criminal offences and often those powers were only available to the police. The Council did have a number of options available. The report mentioned community payback, which was where the SRP had invested funding to bring more offenders into the borough to deliver some of that reparation work. Another key area of that work was one the Council had chosen to fund itself as part of the budget setting process for that year. The report referred to hate crime in particular. For many years they had been engaging with victims and those impacted by hate crime and the feedback received indicated they wanted to see more restorative justice approaches in relation to hate crime. Short term funding from the partnership was provided to address this as part of a pilot. Following on from that as part of the budget setting process the Council had been able to provide the funding for that service to continue. It was highlighted that wherever those opportunities presented themselves the Council had sought to exploit those along with the partners in the SRP.

Councillor Tinsley noticed the hate crime element and noted there was a lot of migration across Rotherham along with people moving into Rotherham. It was asked if there was anything that could be done more proactively to engage that cohesion locally.

It was noted that cohesion was like an ecosystem, whereby a breakdown in cohesion could lead to community tensions within communities, tensions could lead to hate crimes and much more significant areas of concern. The community safety partnership took care of the later stages of that, in terms of monitoring tensions in communities. It was noted that this was a relevant point on the back of the disorder in Manvers over the summer. The Assistant Chief Executive explained she was leading on a piece of work with partners and council officers to look at some of the things that could be done together, some of the things that were already being done well but that could have the most meaningful impact, which included youth outreach, working with schools to help educate and look to upscale what was done, which involved working closely with the Children and Young People’s Services.  Another aspect was looking at what could be done with communities and particular groups within communities as well. Community cohesion was at the forefront of the Council to address.

Councillor Marshall queried if safeguards were put in place with outside providers to ensure they were following the same standards and not being people in and exploiting them, regarding modern slavery and human trafficking.

There was a range of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54.

The purpose of this report is to consider the response of Cabinet (following its meeting of 16 September 2024), to the recommendations arising from OSMB’s consideration of the petition referred from Council “Rotherham’s Commitment to a Permanent Ceasefire and To Promote Peace in Palestine and in the Region”.

The Chair invited Councillor Sheppard, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Social Inclusion & Neighbourhood Working to introduce the report. The report outlined that a subgroup of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board (OSMB) met with representatives of the petition prior to the local elections. His thanks to those members of OSMB who were involved in this work were noted.

The recommendations from the subgroup were approved by OSMB on 24 July 2024 and it was noted that consideration of the report was delayed due to the pre-election publicity restrictions in place at that time. Following a request from the Chair of OSMB, Cabinet agreed to amend the usual timescales and process and Cabinet’s response to those recommendations was provided alongside the formal receipt at the Cabinet meeting on 16 September 2024.

The response included in the agenda pack included Appendix 1, which was a detailed letter to the Chair of OSMB. Appendix 2 detailed the 13 recommendations, of which five were in progress and eight were completed. 

Chair invited questions but highlighted the report was presented for members of OSMB to note it’s content.

The Vice-Chair noted that recommendation 1D and 1E along with a couple of others used officer time and resources and queried if a breakdown as to how many hours work would be undertaken to discharge those recommendations and if an estimate as to what the cost to the authority would be. It was noted the information was not available however it was clear that OSMB felt strongly that it needed to be in the recommendations and Cabinet were happy to act on OSMB’s responses in that instance.

The Chair reminded members that this was Cabinet’s response to the recommendations, and it was understood that a meeting was being arranged with the lead petitioner to discuss the outstanding recommendations.

The vice-Chair reiterated his query regarding how many hours and staffing hours this was going to use and asked if that information could be provided. It was explained that enquiries could be made regarding what the time and cost implications were however the Vice-Chair was referred back to the previous statement whereby it was noted that OSMB had referred the recommendations to Cabinet and Cabinet had accepted them.

The Chair reiterated that the report was presented to be noted. It had gone through the usual processes, had been submitted to Cabinet and Cabinet had provided a written response back to OSMB, it was not about the costs of carrying out those recommendations, which had already been agreed.

Councillor Marshall noted that the target completion date for some actions was 30^th September 2024 and sought an update. It was noted that there were some elements of the recommendations that were still in progress, one such element was the meeting with the lead petitioner that was being arranged and would take place within the next few weeks.

Councillor McKiernan noted Action four agreed that the Cabinet spokesperson continued to hold dialogue with petitioners to continue to seek peace in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55.

To consider the Board’s Work Programme.

The Chair of OSMB and the Governance Manager met with the Cabinet Member for Transport, Jobs and the Local Economy, the Chair of the Planning Board and planning officers, to discuss the process of planning enforcement. The Chair advised that was assured that the correct planning enforcement process was followed. The service provided statistics to the Planning Board on a six-monthly basis, it was agreed that the statistics would be provided to all elected members, to ensure an awareness and understanding of the planning enforcement process.

Concerning the potential spotlight review on ‘Grass Cuttings and Grounds Maintenance’, the Governance Manager was in discussions with relevant officers, to arrange the spotlight review.

Resolved: - That the Work Programme for 2024/2025 be approved.

To receive updates from the Chairs of the Select Commission on work undertaken and planned for the future.

The Chair of the Improving Places Select Commission, (IPSC), noted that the Repairs and Maintenance Policy had been discussed at the previous IPSC meeting.  The Chair welcomed in inclusion of a couple of members of the IPSC to join the proposed review on Grass Cutting / Grounds Maintenance.

The Vice-Chair of IPSC would be chairing a review into the School Road Safety motion.  The other two workshops were on housing matters and the Chair would be contacting members to seek additional participants for those.  The Chair welcomed suggestions for topics for future scrutiny. 

The Vice-Chair of the Improving Lives Select Commission advised that the Commission had participated in an additional session led by the Head of Service for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), to capture feedback as part of the consultation process for the development of the new SEND Strategy. The session was well attended, and members provided detailed feedback on the proposed strategy. A further update on the proposed strategy, including a summary of the consultation phase and proposed amendments would be presented to the Commission in December.

The Vice-Chair noted that the Commission met on the 29 October and were presented with the Rotherham Safeguarding Children’s Partnership Annual Report and the Safeguarding Adults Board Annual Report. South Yorkshire Police, the Integrated Care Board and the Rotherham Hospital Foundation Trust were all in attendance and provided a partnership approach to questions raised by members.

The Vice-Chair informed OSMB that the next meeting of the Improving Lives Select Commission would consider an update from Childrens and Young People’s Services on all types of absences from education including elective home education, Children missing education, education other than at School, persistent and severe absence and exclusions. Absences from education had been a focus of the Commission previously and the upcoming meeting could identify areas for potential review work.

To review and identify items for pre-decision scrutiny from the Forward Plan of Key Decisions covering the period from 1 November 2024 - 31 January 2025.

The Board considered the Forward Plan of Key Decisions 1 November 2024 – 31 January 2025.

The Vice-Chair of the Improving Places Select Commission (IPSC) sought a briefing to provide further information regarding the Our Places Fund.

The Chair suggested that the Chair and Vice-Chair of the IPSC could take this forward for consideration on their work programme.

Resolved: - That the Forward Plan be noted.

To consider any issues referred for call-in from recent Cabinet meetings.

There were no call-in issues.

To determine any item which the Chair is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency.

There were no urgent items.