Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Alice Courtney, Committee and Member Services Officer  email  DemocraticServices@oxford.gov.uk

Note: This meeting will be live streamed on the Council's YouTube channel 

Items
No. Item

97.

Declarations of interest

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

98.

Chair's Announcements

Minutes:

The Chair advised that she, the Vice-Chair and the Scrutiny Officer had met with the Cabinet Member for Planning and Housing Delivery and the Planning Policy and Place Manager on 17 February 2022 to discuss further Scrutiny engagement around the Oxfordshire Plan 2050. It was confirmed that an All-Member briefing (hosted by the Scrutiny Committee) on the item would take place on Monday 14 March 2022, 6pm followed by consideration of the item by the Committee and agreement of any recommendations at a meeting in the summer.

The Chair asked the Committee to send any suggested discussion items for the All-Member briefing to her and the Scrutiny Officer as soon as possible.

99.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy pdf icon PDF 313 KB

The Cabinet will, at its meeting on 16 March 2022, consider a report on the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy. Councillor Shaista Aziz, Cabinet Member for Inclusive Communities and Ian Brooke, Head of Community Services have been invited to present the report and answer questions.

The Committee is asked to consider the report and agree any recommendations it wishes to make to Cabinet.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Cllrs Waite and Humberstone joined the meeting.

Cllr Shaista Aziz, Cabinet Member for Inclusive Communities thanked the Committee for its ongoing work and provided a brief overview of the report, including that the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy:

·       Was a statutory document but the Council wanted to go further to ensure equality, diversity and inclusion was at the centre of all work.

·       Set out some ambitious challenges to the Council in terms of how it was working on equalities.

·       Had been developed on the back of calls for change and ongoing conversations with communities and that communities across Oxford had become more vocal on equalities issues, which was welcomed.

·       Reflected equalities issues that had been deepened by the pandemic.

·       Aimed to strengthen oversight, accountability and scrutiny of equalities issues and promote cultural change.

·       Was the overarching document for other documents including the Anti-racism Charter and the Thriving Communities Strategy.

Ian Brooke, Head of Community Services set out how the Strategy development work had been conducted, which had included the use of focus groups in order to understand communities’ lived experience. Stephen Gabriel, Executive Director for Communities and People outlined the importance of governance arrangements and highlighted that he Chaired the internal Equalities Steering Group. He gave assurance that equality, diversity and inclusion was high on the agenda and the Strategy would provide the framework for driving work forward.

The Committee commended the Strategy and raised a number of points, including:

·       Proposals to improve Member oversight via the Scrutiny Committee – the Scrutiny Officer confirmed that it was for the Committee to decide whether this piece of work was taken forward when it defined its priorities for the next municipal year.

·       Understanding and addressing the needs of faith groups – in response to questions, Cllr Aziz felt that the Council needed to develop a far better understanding of faith-based communities in the City in order to address their needs, which would be an ongoing piece of work.

·       Facilities for community groups – the Committee had concerns about the wording related to the fifth action point on page 20 of the agenda reports pack. Cllr Aziz advised that the point was trying to highlight the fact that there was no Council resource for new purpose-built facilities for specific groups, but agreed that the wording needed amending to better reflect that.

·       Inclusive services – Members thought it would be good to see an action related to provision of inclusive leisure services.

·       Accountability – the Committee wanted assurance that actions contained in the Strategy would be monitored and progress fed back to communities in a systematic way and that Members would receive information on how things have changed over the course of the reporting period as a result of insights received from communities.

·       Free community WiFi – the Strategy heavily referenced digitisation and the Committee noted that some groups and individuals were excluded from the process due to lack of access to WiFi. It was felt that free WiFi should be provided in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 99.

100.

Housing Assistance and Disabled Adaptation Policy pdf icon PDF 225 KB

The Cabinet will, at its meeting on 16 March 2022, consider a report on the Housing Assistance and Disabled Adaptation Policy. Councillor Diko Walcott, Cabinet Member for Affordable Housing, Housing Security and Housing the Homeless and Becky Walker, Home Improvement Agency Team Manager have been invited to present the report and answer questions.

The Committee is asked to consider the report and agree any recommendations it wishes to make to Cabinet.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Becky Walker, Home Improvement Agency Team Manager introduced the report and outlined the proposed changes to the Housing Assistance and Disabled Adaptation Policy set out in the report. Cllr Diko Walcott, Cabinet Member for Affordable Housing, Housing Security and Housing the Homeless commended the ongoing work of officers.

The Committee raised a number of points, including:

·       Relocation grants – in response to questions, the Home Improvement Agency Team Manager confirmed that Council tenants were not eligible for this grant, as legislation stated that Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) funding, which relocation grants were, could not be used for Council tenants. The Executive Director for Communities and People advised that Council tenants who required disabled adaptations would go through a different route. He added that work was ongoing to ensure alignment between the different adaptations policies and ODS.

·       Disabled tenants in the private sector – the Home Improvement Agency Team Manager advised that tenants of every tenure apart from Council tenants were eligible for the £5,000 DFG funding. The Committee suggested that should be made clear in the policy summary.

·       Housing Associations and Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) ­– in response to a question about why Housing Associations and RSLs were not paying the bill for their tenants’ adaptations, the Home Improvement Agency Team Manager advised that Housing Associations had their own adaptations policies which set out whether they would fund disabled adaptations. She added that some Housing Associations funded adaptations directly and some made a contribution to the Council.

·       Private sector complexities – in response to questions, the Home Improvement Agency Team Manager confirmed that there were issues nationally for private sector tenants as the DFG funding process required landlords to give permission for adaptation works to be carried out. The Committee was advised that many private landlords refused to grant permission and the Council had attempted to counteract this by offering to use its discretionary DFG funding to undertake remedial works to return the property to its original state if a tenant moved out.

·       Communications – the Home Improvement Agency Team Manager confirmed that the Council had a suite of leaflets available in Community Centres, libraries, GP Surgeries and the Council website. It was added that there was a specific marketing officer who ensured the information was disseminated appropriately. The Executive Director for Communities and People advised that clients were referred in to the service through a variety of pathways.

The Committee resolved to recommend to Cabinet that:

·       The Council, assuming the Selective Licensing application is approved, develops guidance for landlords on best practice around disabled adaptations for tenants in the private rented sector, and ensures officers making inspections are trained and encouraged to identify and provide advice about disabled adaptations when relevant.

101.

Allocation of Homelessness Prevention Funds pdf icon PDF 337 KB

The Cabinet will, at its meeting on 16 March 2022, consider a report on the Allocation of Homelessness Prevention Funds. Councillor Diko Walcott, Cabinet Member for Affordable Housing, Housing Security and Housing the Homeless and Paul Wilding, System Change Manager – Homelessness Prevention have been invited to present the report and answer questions.

The Committee is asked to consider the report and agree any recommendations it wishes to make to Cabinet.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Paul Wilding, Rough Sleeping & Single Homeless Manager introduced the report. He highlighted that this was an annual report which provided an overview of the allocation of funding to provide services for rough sleepers and single homeless people in Oxford in the financial year 2022/23. The provision of services was aimed at preventing and tackling rough sleeping and addressing single homelessness in the City.

The Rough Sleeping & Single Homeless Manager highlighted a number of points, including:

·       There was a recommendation in the report for Cabinet related to the lease of Floyds Row, which was the homelessness engagement and assessment centre.

·       Floyds Row was intended to be used as interim accommodation for homeless people while they were supported to access longer-term accommodation, but had not been used as such during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Council was looking to return Floyds Row into interim accommodation imminently, which was addressed in the report.

·       The Council planned to move towards its post-pandemic model of service delivery in relation to Rough Sleeping and Homelessness.

·       The new joint commissioning arrangements with partners for Homelessness services would begin in April 2022, which was a key milestone (set out in paragraphs 13 to 17 of the report).

·       There was not much change from the previous annual report. The main change was that many of the services would now be part of the new countywide Homelessness Service.

The Committee raised a number of points, including:

·       Greater Change – concerns were raised about the organisation’s fundraising model, how many people the funding would help and how the Council was ensuring value for money. The Rough Sleeping & Single Homeless Manager said that the Council first funded Greater Change through Government funding during the pandemic and that he could share some impact analysis which had been undertaken. He added that the £25,000 funding had supported around 30-40 people, which he felt offered good value for money.

·       The Old Fire Station – the set-up at the Council-owned building was praised as a valuable provision. It was requested that the provision of the Old Fire Station building to Crisis on a rent-free basis by the Council be referenced and recognised in the next annual report as a grant or gift in kind. The Rough Sleeping & Single Homeless Manager confirmed that he was happy to look into doing that.

At this point in the meeting, the following declarations of interest were made:

·       Cllr Wade: stated that she was a Trustee of The Gatehouse charity; she made the declaration for reasons of transparency; it was not a pecuniary interest and there was no decision to be taken by the Committee related to the organisation, therefore Cllr Wade was not precluded from discussion.

·       Cllr Dunne: stated that she represented the Council on The Gatehouse Management Committee; she made the declaration for reasons of transparency; it was not a pecuniary interest and there was no decision to be taken by the Committee related to the organisation, therefore Cllr Dunne was not precluded from discussion.

The Committee made  ...  view the full minutes text for item 101.

102.

Dates of future meetings

Scrutiny Committee

·       07 March (Zoom)

·       05 April (in-person)

 

Standing Panels

Companies: 24 March, 07 April (both Zoom)

Housing & Homelessness: 04 April (Zoom)

 

All meetings start at 6.00 pm.

 

 

Minutes:

The dates of future meetings were noted:

 

·       07 March (Zoom)

·       05 April (in-person)