New Forest Borough Council Community, Partnerships and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Panel Meeting

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meetings held on 16 June 2020, 15 September 2020,

19 January 2021 and 16 March 2021 be confirmed and signed.

There were no declarations of interest in connection with any agenda item.

There was no public participation.

The Terms of Reference of the Panel as set out on the agenda were noted.

The Panel received an update on the Food and Safety Service.

The presentation summarised the impact of covid on the Service and its role during the pandemic. All other statutory responsibilities had to continue to be fulfilled during this time, with a re-allocation of roles and resources to deal with the pandemic. The team had provided a high level of service, and good feedback had been received from businesses. The priorities for the following 12 months were highlighted. A copy of the slides used in the presentation are attached to these minutes as Appendix 1. 

Members requested further training on the service in due course and thanked officers for their hard work during the period of the pandemic

A number of policies and projects were highlighted which are in progress and will require future Member involvement through consultations, panel updates and task and finish groups.

Portfolio holders raised a number of issues in respect of developments within their responsibilities.

Cllr Russell

·         Iain Park was introduced as the new Grounds and Street Scene Manager

·         NFDC was participating in the Great British Spring Clean with NPA and Forestry England. 500 volunteers in 24 communities had been supported with equipment for litter picking events across the District.

·         The Council was also supporting the Crabby Coastal litter campaign. 

Cllr Steele

·         Recent meeting of Safer New Forest Strategy and Delivery Group. All lead partners progressing with their strategic priorities to reduce crime and disorder.

·         Police Chief Inspector Helen Andrews would attend the next Panel meeting in September to provide an overview of policing commitments in the Forest.

·         The Community Safety team will also attend in September to give an update on progress with the partnership plan.

·         Cllr Steele had been appointed to the Police and Crime Panel which meets on 2 July.

·         Paid tribute to Joanne Bailey, Service Manager for Leisure, for her leadership and management of the centres of over many years, especially the last 3 years during the fundamental review of the service, and the last, very difficult 15 months during pandemic. Also Ross Archibald and Mark Jackson, multi-site managers.   Joanne will be contract manager for Freedom. Cllr Steele thanked all Leisure staff, who would be transferring to Freedom from 1 July 2021.

The Chairman echoed Cllr Steele’s comments and the Panel wished to place on record their thanks to Joanne, her team and all Leisure staff.

The Panel considered the Annual performance and provisional budget out turn for 2020/21.

The report provided an overview of performance and delivery of the corporate plan for 2020/21, reflected the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, and set out provisional outturn results for the General Fund and Housing Revenue Account.

Cllr Alex Wade asked a question regarding the Active Lives survey (which I have since responded to via email) and also gave some positive feedback on the format of the report (clear and easy to follow).

The question was regarding how the Active Lives data was gathered, including information about sample sizes.

RESOLVED:

(a)  That the Annual Performance Statement for 2020/21, including the impact of Covid-19 on performance be noted;

(b)  That the provisional outturn of the General Fund revenue and capital budgets for 2020/21 be noted

(c)   That the provisional outturn of the Housing Revenue Account for 2020/21 be noted.

The Panel received an update following the decision of Full Council on 25 February 2021, to award Freedom Leisure the contract for managing and operating the Council’s five Health and Leisure centres from the 1st July 2021.

Council officers, as part of a Leisure Mobilisation Board, had been working on the following to ensure a smooth transition process on the 1st July:

· Staff meetings

· Regular communication with Trade Unions

· Formal letters to staff from the Council and Freedom reference TUPE regulations

· Leisure Operating Contract completion (Leases / Management Agreements with schools)

· Maintenance and supplier contracts

· ICT decoupling

· Data sharing agreements

· Customer communication prior to transfer

· Partnership branding and signage

· KPI and Monitoring approaches

Members were pleased to note that a very productive relationship had been developed with Freedom Leisure. 

Due to closure of the Leisure centres at the end of December 2020, the usual review of fees and charges had not been undertaken in January. Freedom on behalf of the Council had carried out a review and revised fees and charges would be in place from 1 July 2021, with the majority being in line with RPI, with the soft play at Ringwood rate increasing from £3.50 to £3.75 to come into line with the market.

RESOLVED: 

(a)  That the report be noted.

(b)  That volunteers be sought to serve on a new Health and Leisure Working Group of 6 to 8 members, to initially meet on a quarterly basis, with the first meeting taking place in October 2021.

(c)   That the new Group provide regular reports to the Panel, from January 2022.

The Panel received an update from the Council’s representative on the Hampshire Police and Crime Panel, Cllr Steele.

Cllr Steele reported that the Police Crime Partnership was comprised of representatives from each Hampshire district area, including Southampton, Portsmouth, Isle of Wight, and HCC.  There were also 3 additional members

co-opted with the agreement of the Home Secretary. The Chairman and Vice Chairman were appointed annually. The body set the Police element of the Council Tax. The new Police Crime Commissioner was now Donna Jones.

The Panel considered its work programme, which would be updated to take into account the new terms of reference of the Panel.