Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Mrs C L Perraton-Williams.

There were no declarations of interest at this point in the meeting.

RESOLVED

            That the minutes of the meeting held on 13 June 2017 be signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

Some queries raised during consideration of the minutes included the following:

·         In relation to the report from a previous task and finish group on the relationship with town and parish councils, it was noted that this had been passed to Bev Finnegan to follow up.  One member also commented that LALC was very keen to maintain the close working relationship with the County Council and this had been conveyed to the Leader.  Members were also advised that there was a piece of work in place with the community engagement team on this subject, and there was already very close liaison but there was a need to look at how best the County Council could help and advise town and parish councils.  It was confirmed that a report would come back to the Committee in due course.

·         It was queried whether there was any feedback in relation to the fatal collision, and it was confirmed that Councillor L Wootten had been approached by highways officers following the meeting.

·         It was queried whether street lighting would be coming back to this Committee from a community safety point of view.  Members were advised that a report was likely to go to Overview and Scrutiny Management Board as it would be of a cross cutting nature. Officers would enquire about whether there was any merit in bringing the report to this Committee from a public safety perspective.  One councillor commented that it was her understanding that the police representative would bring a report back but 12 months of data was required.

There were no announcements by the Chairman, Executive Councillors or Chief Officers.

(To receive a report from Daryl Pearce, County Manager Public Protection; Nicole Hilton, Community Assets and Resilience Commissioning Manager and Nick Borrill, Chief Fire Officer, which provides the Committee with performance and customer satisfaction information for Quarter 4 2016/17 relevant to Public Protection, Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue, Libraries and Heritage Services as set out in the Council's Business Plan)

The Committee received a report which provided performance and customer satisfaction information for Quarter 4 2016/17 relevant to Public Protection, Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue and Libraries and Heritage as set out in the Council's Business Plan.

Members were guided through the performance information and were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained in the report and some of the points raised included the following:

·         It was known that incidents of domestic abuse were under-reported, but the numbers reported were in line with national statistics.  It was highlighted that an increase in incidents reported would not necessarily mean there were more victims, but that more people were being encouraged to come forward.  Work was being carried out to try and engage with the hard to reach groups.

·         It was queried what publicity material there was on how people could confidentially report incidents of domestic abuse either towards themselves or friends and family.  Members were advised that there were a lot of third party charities who could help in these situations, who would ask if they could have the authority to report the incident to the Police.

·         It was queried whether there was a correlation between the number of police officers in an area and how safe it was, as Lincoln had been judged as the most unsafe place in the county, whilst North Kesteven was the safest.  Members were advised that officers were not governed by district boundaries, but there were many factors for why Lincoln was considered more unsafe than other places including socio-economic factors, population density, having a night-time economy and there would always be a difference between urban and rural areas.  It was also noted that when someone was arrested and taken into custody in Lincoln, regardless of where the person was from, that would be included in Lincoln's figures.  It was confirmed that there were more police officers in Lincoln, and that they would be deployed where the requirement was.

·         Concerns were raised regarding elderly people living alone who may become victims of fraudsters and be too afraid to report it to the police, and it was queried how reporting of this could be encouraged.  Members were advised that work was ongoing with the Police and Trading Standards.  Information on this work would be forwarded to members of the Committee.

·         Members were advised that Councillor R Wootten had been nominated as the Council's Domestic Abuse representative, whose role it was to ensure that the Council was supporting its staff.  It was reported that there was an online training package, as well as face to face training available for staff in recognising and supporting victims of domestic abuse.  It was suggested that all councillors should complete the online course.

·         It was queried whether there was a reason for an increase in the figures of people killed or seriously injured in road traffic collisions between July and September.  Members were advised that this was likely due to the increased  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

(To receive a report by Stuart Ruff, Assistant Chief Fire Officer, which provides an update on progress made to date in relation to each of the work streams identified in the action plan established as part of the Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Retained Duty System (RDS) Improvement Strategy)

It was reported that in November 2016, Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue (LFR) presented a paper which laid out its Retained Duty System (RDS) Improvement Strategy.  This Strategy established an action plan to respond to the national report 'A professional view of the Challenges for recruitment and retention in the Fire and Rescue Retained (on call) Sector' and also to the findings of an extensive local review of the RDS as it operated in Lincolnshire.

It was reported that Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue had 48 fire engines to respond to emergencies; 39 of these were crewed by personnel working the Retained Duty System (RDS) and represented 81% of the operational staff.  RDS staff responded to emergency incidents on an "on call" basis and provided an effective and efficient community Service.  Members were advised that the RDS review was one of the most important projects for the Service at this time, and the report built on the one which was presented in November 2016. 

Members were advised that the action plan aimed to address 78 recommendations, grouped under 9 work streams, to improve the RDS and would be delivered in three phases with a target completion date of April 2018.  It was noted that there were two work streams which had been put on hold which were the annual leave arrangements and the payment system, as these were interlinked.

The Committee received a demonstration of the RDS online training development system and an update on the recruitment pages on the website.

Members were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report, as well as the online demonstration of the system, and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         It was queried whether the training was an NVQ type qualification or just internal training.  Members were advised that while the training did not provide an NVQ qualification, retained fire fighters were trained to a national operational standard.  It was also highlighted that the online learning was about maintenance and development of skills.

·         It was noted that improvements had been made to the Fire and Rescue side of the LCC website so it was now more aimed at supporting RDS fire fighters and employers, including guidance documents for employers.

·         It was confirmed that Fire and Rescue did have a cadet scheme which operated in several areas of the county, and young people could get involved from the age of 14.  It was noted that this was an area which Fire and Rescue was looking to expand.

·         Members were informed that there were 24 female retained fire fighters, which was around 6% of the total.  It was noted that this was slightly above the national average for RDS firefighters.  One of the aims of the project was to ensure the recruitment process was as accessible as possible to all members of the community.

·         It was queried when the Service would be in a position to address work stream 9 –  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

(To receive a report by Louise Egan, Library and Heritage Client Lead, which provides an update of the contract performance information to enable the Public Protection and Communities Scrutiny Committee to fulfil its role in scrutinising performance the of the first year of the out-sourced Library Contract to Greenwich Leisure Limited)

Consideration was given to a report which provided an update of the contract performance information to enable the Committee to fulfil its role in scrutinising performance of the first year of the outsourced Library Contract to Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL).  It was noted that the Council was now entering its second year of the GLL contract, and during the transition period and first year of operation officers had found working with GLL to be positive and beneficial.

Joseph Rham and Nicola Rogers from Greenwich Leisure Ltd were also in attendance in order to provide an update and answer questions from members of the Committee.  Some of the points highlighted to the Committee included the following:

·         It had been a successful year, and had been a very positive year in terms of working with existing staff.

·         In terms of entering year 2 of the contract, GLL would continue to look at the service, and it was noted that changes would be made to mobile routes.

·         Challenges continued in terms of Lexicon House

·         A programme of physical improvements had been embarked upon, and more people were being attracted to Lincoln Central Library which was becoming more of a centre for events for children and families.  A huge amount of work had also been put into redeveloping Stamford Library.

·         It was noted that it had not just been about physical improvements but there had also been improvements around services for customers.  For example, stock was an area where a large amount of work had been carried out including how stock was purchased, how it was allocated and the usage analysed so that the right stock could be targeted to the local community.

·         The annual user survey had been carried out in Lincolnshire for the first time 6 months earlier, and the highest levels of satisfaction had been recorded for all of the 50 contracts that GLL managed, overall satisfaction had been rated at 99%.

Members were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         Appreciation and congratulations were expressed towards Cllr Worth, Executive Councillor for Culture and Emergency Services, for his work in the transformation of the libraries, and it was commented that this showed that the right decision had been made.

·         It was queried what the current situation was with Grantham Library and where the library would be relocated to.  Members were advised that this continued to remain a concern as the Council was unable to transfer the library to GLL due to the lease which did not allow it to be sub-let as the Council paid a peppercorn rent.  The Council continued to look for alternative accommodation through the property team, as well as working with South Kesteven District Council to locate short term premises.  The search had also widened out to other areas of the public sector to look for opportunities for any shared services or buildings  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

(To receive a report by Louise Egan, Library and Heritage Client Lead, which describes the initial work streams and timeframe for exploring potential future governance models for the Heritage Service following Executive approval on 4 October 2016 to assess and analyse these options)

Members were advised that the Council had been exploring ways of reducing the costs of its Heritage Service whilst improving and enhancing its public offer.  Consideration was given to a report which described the initial work streams and timeframe for exploring potential future governance models for the Heritage Service following Executive approval on 4 October 2016 to assess and analyse these options.  Officers requested the involvement of the Public Protection and Communities Scrutiny Committee in exploring potential future options.

It was reported that a whole service restructure had been completed, and this had affected every level of the Heritage Service.  This had been a very challenging and difficult restructure, but it was a very considered restructure, and now had the right staff in the right positions delivering the right priorities.

Members were advised that the Council would need to make the decision as to whether its preference was to keep control and build business, income and market or cede control of these assets but realise the immediate savings.  Officers expressed gratitude to the Council for allowing the time to form a considered opinion and not make a quick decision.

The Committee was provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         Concerns were raised by members as LCC had been hugely successful in how it had managed these assets.  There had also been an increased sense of public ownership towards some of the assets, e.g. Lincoln Castle.

·         Concerns were also raised that educational aspects of the Service were being lost at Gainsborough Old Hall for a more light touch approach.

·         It was queried whether discussions had been held with the City of Lincoln Council as many of the attractions were in Lincoln.  It was confirmed that this had taken place.

·         It was queried whether there was a steer towards outsourcing the Service, and members were advised that this was not the case, and this work would be about learning lessons from the past and bringing in the views of councillors and the public at the early stages.  The Executive Councillor for Culture and Emergency Services was very open minded about the future of the Heritage Service.

·         It was noted that there was a lot of complexity around the options and status and it was this that officers would want to explore further with members during the working group.  There was a lot of complexity at a lot of different levels for each of the options.

·         Officers were liaising with neighbouring authorities including Derby, Nottingham, Norfolk, York and Liverpool on different approaches.

·         Caution was expressed when looking at other authorities, as those which were not 'shire' counties would not have the same funding issues as Lincolnshire.

·         It was commented that the Castle, with the vault and the skills academy, was an example of what should be done in other areas and had put Lincolnshire on the map.  Whichever option  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

(To receive a report from Daniel Steel, Scrutiny Officer, which provides the Committee with an opportunity to consider its own work programme for the coming year to ensure that scrutiny activity is focused where it can be of greatest benefit)

Consideration was given to a report which enabled the Committee to comment on the content of its work programme for the coming year to ensure that scrutiny activity was focused where it could be of greatest benefit.

During consideration of the work programme, the following points were noted:

·         It was requested whether there could be an update on the Blue Light Collaboration Project 'sooner rather than later'

·         There was a need for the Committee to sit as the Crime and Disorder Panel during the year.  It was queried whether it would be possible to have two of these meetings.  Members were advised that officers would ensure that at least one was booked in.

·         A report on the Home Safety Check Strategy would be brought to the September 2017 meeting.

RESOLVED

1.    That the work programme as presented at Appendix A to the report be noted.

2.    That the additional scrutiny activity noted above be included within the Committee's work programme.