Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors David Downes and Janet Tait.

To note any urgent items of business which the Chairman has consented to being considered under the provisions of Section 100(B) 4(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There were no urgent items of business to consider.

Members should declare the existence and nature of any Disclosable Pecuniary Interest and Non Statutory Interest as defined by the Members’ Code of Conduct in respect of:

a)  any business on the agenda

b)  any urgent additional items to be considered

c)  any matters arising out of those items

and if appropriate, withdraw from the meeting at the relevant time.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chair consented to a change in order of business to that stated on the agenda.

The Health and Wellbeing Framework 2017-2020 Update would be considered after the Post Scrutiny Monitoring – Review of Authority’s Perception of Young People – Interim Report.

To consider the minutes of the last meeting held on 2^nd August 2019

Moved by Councillor Tom Munro and seconded by Councillor Natalie Hoy

RESOLVED that the Minutes of a Healthy, Safe, Clean and Green Communities Scrutiny Committee be approved as a correct record.

(Members should contact the officer whose name appears on the List of Key Decisions for any further information.  NB: If Members wish to discuss an exempt report under this item, the meeting will need to move into exempt business and exclude the public in accordance with the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 and Local Government Act 1972, Part 1, Schedule 12a for that part of the meeting only).

Committee considered the List of Key Decisions and items to be considered in private document.

Moved by Councillor Tom Munro and seconded by Councillor Pat Cooper

RESOLVED that the List of Key Decisions and items to be considered in private document be noted.

Committee considered a report which provided six month monitoring period information in relation to the Committee’s review on the Authority’s Perception of Young People.

Committee had agreed to undertake a review of the Authority’s Perception of Young People as part of their 2018/19 work programme following consideration of a range of topics suggested at the Annual Scrutiny Conference.

The aim of the review was to establish the Council’s current approach across frontline services when interacting with young people and to ensure the Council portrayed a positive image to them.

The review found that the Council was doing good work with young people and it had been slightly difficult to find what could be taken forward as detailed recommendations.  However, two areas were picked up on and the Committee agreed two recommendations which would hopefully assist the Council in maintaining and further enhancing its positive approach when dealing with young people.  Executive had approved the recommendations and the report acknowledged progress to date by officers implementing them. 

To date, 1 out of the 2 recommendations had been achieved.  The remaining recommendation was on track and would complete within the original twelve month monitoring period.

With regard to Recommendation 1.1, the Physical Activity & Sports Development Team had welcomed this recommendation and invited Members’ feedback on any further ideas for marketing the different levels of leisure activity available to communities to encourage buy-in from across the District.

A Member acknowledged that there were many activities provided by the Physical Activity & Sports Development Team but felt they required more regular promotion on the Council’s Bolsover TV website.

An example of one of the activities was Extreme Wheels and Members agreed that this had made a positive impact on young people in their communities.  However, it was acknowledged that outdoor facilities were needed for Extreme Wheels and not all parishes had this provision.

In response to a Member’s comment regarding funding, it was noted that match funding may be available to parish councils for some of the activities including Extreme Wheels.  It was suggested that Members could raise this funding query at the Parish Council Liaison meetings.

The Scrutiny & Elections Officer would also pass Members comments on to the Physical Activity and Sports Development Manager with a view to arranging an informal meeting with Members if necessary.

With regard to Recommendation 2, a survey had been undertaken across all 6 secondary schools within the District with the aim of gauging young people’s views on how they currently accessed the Council’s services and if there were any issues.  Also how young people sourced information about the Council’s services and activities and how they felt the Council could improve on how it communicated with them.

Overall, 174 respondents had completed the questionnaire from across 2 of the schools.

The survey showed that social media was the preferred method for young people to find out about local activities or services which the Council offered.  Printed sources such as In Touch and the Parish Gazettes were less  ...  view the full minutes text for item 278.

The Council had implemented an Employee Health and Wellbeing Framework 2019, with themes and activities for each quarter.  It also included national campaigns, for example, Cervical Screening Awareness Week and World Mental Health Day. 

A number of health and wellbeing initiatives had been undertaken including access to an Employee Assistance Programme offering 24/7 confidential telephone and on-line support over a number of topics (this support was also available to relatives of employees); Committee considered a report which provided an update on progress with regard to the Council’s Employee Health and Wellbeing Framework 2017-2020.

The Framework had been agreed in October/November 2017 and set out how employees would be supported to ensure a healthy, motivated and high performing workforce to achieve the Council’s aims and priorities. 

An action plan which formed part of the Framework, detailed 3 key aims;

·         Create a Healthy Work Environment

·         Develop a supportive Workplace Culture

·         Encourage employee engagement in healthy lifestyles

Work continued with Senior Management Team, Service Managers, trade union representatives and external partners such as Public Health and Derbyshire County Council, to ensure employees were receiving the right information and access to the information that they needed.

health checks; nutrition/healthy eating workshops and facilitating access to Council Leisure facilities.

A key indicator of employee health and wellbeing was attendance at work.  During 2018/19 the sickness absence out-turn figure was 8.7 days per employee - this was a slight reduction on 2017/18 of 9.3 days but marginally higher than the target of 8.5 days per employee.  Actions were being taken to address sickness absence and these included; HR link officers working directly with service managers and providing monthly sickness analysis reports; action plans produced for service areas to assist Managers in awareness of actions required and support needed for employees concerned; regular sickness absence management training each quarter; regular review of Occupational Health Provision.

Organisational Development (OD) covered a range of work streams that contributed to employee health & wellbeing.  The Work Well Group had proven successful in generating ideas and implementing activities, yet more could be done to support this group and link actions into the wider corporate agenda.  A strategic group led by the HR & OD Manager had been formed to ensure a holistic and corporate approach to Organisational Development. 

An Employee Survey had been recently carried out and the Human Resources and OD Manager would provide the results to Committee at a future meeting.

As Members could see from the report, significant work had been undertaken in the last twelve months to develop and positively progress employee health and wellbeing and more work was still work to be done.  The importance of health and wellbeing was growing across both councils with all employees recognising that they had a responsibility for their own wellbeing and that they could play a key role in supporting the wellbeing of others.

In response to Member’s questions, the Human Resources and OD Manager noted the following;

·         The cost of sickness absence to the Authority would soon be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 279.

Committee considered their work programme 2019/2020.      

Committee considered and agreed the final scoping document for their Review of the Council’s Approach to Mitigation of Air Pollution.  The scoping document would include a motion which was put to Council on 11^th September 2019, regarding ‘poor air quality and the detrimental effect on the wellbeing of young residents and their life opportunities’ to form part of the focus of the Review.

Representatives from Friends of the Earth would also be invited to speak to Committee on any work they had carried out with other local authorities in the East Midlands.

As part of evidence gathering for the Review, an informal meeting would be arranged with Environmental Health officers invited to speak to Members on work which was being carried out in relation to air pollution in the District.  It was agreed that this meeting would take place on 2^nd October 2019 at 2pm.

Moved by Councillor Pat Cooper and seconded by Councillor Tom Munro

RESOLVED that the Work Programme be noted

The meeting concluded at 1135 hours.