Agenda item

People Portfolio Holders update

To receive a briefing from the three People Portfolio Holders regarding the People areas of work and their portfolios.

Minutes:

Members received a briefing and update from the three People Portfolio Executive Members for Housing & Support, Leisure & Culture and Community Partnerships.

Councillor G. Knight, Portfolio Holder for Housing & Support, highlighted areas of work in the context of the considerable COVID-19 pandemic pressures and support for residents. Areas highlighted on presentation slides and written answers to the Committee included work with rough sleepers, housing benefit and Universal Credit claims, housing delivery in Tadworth and Redhill, continued development of affordable homes, work with Raven Housing Trust, numbers in bed and breakfast (emergency accommodation) and temporary accommodation, family support programme and money support teams’ work.

Members raised questions on the following areas:

·       Achieving net zero carbon targets – Members asked about the steps taken by the Council to encourage developers and social housing providers to achieve a target of net zero carbon by 2050. It was noted that the Council was working towards this target on current developments in the borough and was working closely with Raven Housing Trust on grant applications as well as planning work on future joint projects with significant investment in existing homes. Members highlighted the Surrey County Council ‘Green Jump Surrey’ project funding which was available to support low income households to install energy efficiency improvements.

·       Emergency and temporary accommodation – Members noted relatively low number of families in emergency bed and breakfast accommodation. With temporary accommodation, the Council has access to 124 designated self-contained temporary accommodation units each year. Members asked for a written answer on how the average number of households in i) temporary and ii) emergency accommodation has changed in the last three years, and also what the average length of stay in emergency and temporary accommodation was currently broken down by different bedroom size properties.

·       Family Support Programme and Money Support team – the Committee heard access to both critical services was under pressure due to COVID-19 challenges. There were waiting times of 12-14 weeks for family support referrals from Surrey County Council. However, three new staff had started on the County Council-funded programme and urgent cases were prioritised. The Money Support team had seen an increase in the number of referrals by 83% year on year due to redundancy/loss of employment, anxiety/depression or loss of family members among residents. A third member of staff had been redeployed to join the team, and they were working hard to reduce the waiting time, with priority cases allocated as soon as possible.

·       Additional Council Tax Hardship funding – additional government funding of £754,507 was received with £430,988 awarded to 3,331 households. It was confirmed that money left over from this funding could be carried over to 2021/22 financial year.

Members agreed to invite Raven Housing Trust representatives to Overview & Scrutiny Committee in the next Municipal Year, with this noted in the Committee’s Future Work Programme 2021/22.

Councillor A. Horwood, Portfolio Holder for Leisure & Culture, highlighted areas of work which included use of the Harlequin as a community support centre for food distribution in lockdown one, providing meals for people in desperate need, housing local charity ‘Stripey Stork’ for their Christmas campaign (instead of the annual pantomime) and social media campaigns to promote digital content. In a difficult year, 125 shows and events and 44 pantomime performances were cancelled. Councillor Horwood thanked Harlequin staff for their versatility in their redeployment to support the Council’s emergency welfare response as well as the support from Councillors Michalowski, Ashford and Turner on the Harlequin Working Group and senior managers. The Council had worked with the leisure centre operator GLL to understand the impact of the pandemic, lockdowns and changes to the operations of the three leisure centres in the last year (including financial), as well as future recovery plans.

Members discussed and asked further questions on the following areas:

·       Marketing the Harlequin and Waller Studio after lockdown – Members asked about future plans to attract the audiences back to the theatre and cinema. It was confirmed that in the near future social media campaigns showing material from previous performances would continue. Once restrictions were lifted and the buildings could open, plans were in place for a refreshed café, community arts centre and theatre to encourage customers back to a safe place to visit to watch high quality entertainment. Members asked for a written answer on plans for raising the profile of future Harlequin events and Waller Studio films not only on social media but how event times/prices could be publicised more prominently in Redhill town centre.

·       Leisure centres ­– Members said they would like to be involved and views taken into account when renewal of the future contract for managing the Borough’s leisure centres was due.

Councillor R. Ashford, Portfolio Holder for Community Partnerships, highlighted areas of work including the emergency welfare response to the COVID-19 pandemic and continuing support for residents from emergency food packs, prescription delivery advice and referrals made to food bank partners and managing volunteers. From March to December, a phone-based COVID-19 welfare response service (involving redeployed Council staff at peak times) made a total of 11,467 calls with 27 volunteers making befriending calls, and 130 welfare visits. Calls had dropped in the second wave: to date over 950 calls have been made, some of which are to the most vulnerable residents with complex needs.

Community Development Workers had led regular, highly valued, COVID-19 welfare response locality meetings working with schools, officers and voluntary groups to help vulnerable households with issues such as domestic abuse, social isolation, mental health problems, as well as families struggling with children at home who were digitally excluded from online school and homework with no laptops and unable to afford broadband. It had been a particularly challenging time for officers working at the sharp end of this pandemic fallout. Community Development Workers were now working with a network of Community ‘Covid’ Champions of local residents, closely engaged in their communities, to help disseminate accurate public health messages.

An all-party Member consultative working group on the three Community Centres in the Borough was meeting regularly; services for older people included regular virtual Zoom exercise classes which were well attended.

·       Supporting vulnerable people in the borough – Members thanked Councillor Ashford and officers across the Council for their work in supporting vulnerable residents in addition to keeping Council services and operations running during the pandemic.

·       Volunteers and recognition of their work  – Members asked if there was local data to capture the work of all the active volunteers in their wards at street level who had given their time to cook and deliver meals, shop for neighbours and pick up their prescriptions or hearing aid batteries. It was noted that the council website included the directory of local services, but retrospective local data would be time-consuming to collate. There were ongoing discussions about how to recognise community voluntary efforts in addition to the Mayor’s Volunteer Awards.

·       Protecting vulnerable residents – reported scams included fraudsters early on in the pandemic offering to buy older people their shopping and then disappearing with the cash. Members asked how volunteers were validated so vulnerable people had confidence about receiving support. It was confirmed that RBBC volunteers have identity documents on them when they visit. Also, supermarkets were better at promoting pre-paid cards so older residents who rely on cash can give these to local people doing their food shopping.

Councillor N. Harrison, Committee Chair, thanked the Portfolio Holders for their presentations, and their updates to the Committee.

RESOLVED that the presentations and briefings from the People Portfolio Holder Executive Members for Housing & Support, Leisure & Culture and Community Partnerships and the observations of the Committee be noted.

 

 

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