Communities Committee
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Communities Committee Date: Wednesday, 10 October 2018 Time: 10:00 Venue: Edwards Room, County Hall, Martineau Lane, Norwich, Norfolk, NR1 2DH Persons attending the meeting are requested to turn off mobile phones. Membership Mrs M Dewsbury - Chairman Ms J Barnard Dr C Jones Mr D Bills Mr K Kiddie Mrs S Butikofer Mr B Long - Vice-Chairman Mr N Dixon Ms C Rumsby Mr R Hanton Ms S Squire Mr H Humphrey Mr J Ward For further details and general enquiries about this Agenda please contact the Committee Officer: Julie Mortimer on 01603 223055 or email [email protected] Under the Council’s protocol on the use of media equipment at meetings held in public, this meeting may be filmed, recorded or photographed. Anyone who wishes to do so must inform the Chairman and ensure that it is done in a manner clearly visible to anyone present. The wishes of any individual not to be recorded or filmed must be appropriately respected. 1 A g e n d a 1. To receive apologies and details of any substitute members attending 2a. To confirm the minutes of the Communities Committee meeting held on Page 5 Wednesday 29 August 2018. 2b. To confirm the minutes of the Communities Committee meeting held on Page 15 Wednesday 5 September 2018. 3. Declarations of Interest If you have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in a matter to be considered at the meeting and that interest is on your Register of Interests you must not speak or vote on the matter. If you have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in a matter to be considered at the meeting and that interest is not on your Register of Interests you must declare that interest at the meeting and not speak or vote on the matter In either case you may remain in the room where the meeting is taking place. If you consider that it would be inappropriate in the circumstances to remain in the room, you may leave the room while the matter is dealt with. If you do not have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest you may nevertheless have an Other Interest in a matter to be discussed if it affects - your well being or financial position - that of your family or close friends - that of a club or society in which you have a management role - that of another public body of which you are a member to a greater extent than others in your ward. If that is the case then you must declare such an interest but can speak and vote on the matter. 4. Any items of business the Chairman decides should be considered as a matter of urgency 5. Public QuestionTime Fifteen minutes for questions from members of the public of which due notice has been given. Please note that all questions must be received by the Committee Team ([email protected]) by 5pm Friday 5 October 2018. For guidance on submitting a public question, view the Constitution at www.norfolk.gov.uk/what-we-do-and-how-we-work/councillors-meetings- decisions-and-elections/committees-agendas-and-recent-decisions/ask-a- question-to-a-committee 6. Local Member Issues/ Member Questions Fifteen minutes for local member to raise issues of concern of which due notice has been given. 2 Please note that all questions must be received by the Committee Team ([email protected]) by 5pm on Friday 5 October 2018. 7. Verbal update/feedback from Members of the Committee regarding Member Working Groups or bodies that they sit on. 8. Annual review of the Enforcement Policy Page 23 Report by the Executive Director of Community & Environmental Services. 9. Development of Norfolk Fire and Rescue Integrated Risk Page 87 Management Plan 2020-2023 Report by the Executive Director of Community & Environmental Services. 10. Strategic and Financial Planning 2019-20 to 2022-23 Page 92 Report by the Executive Director of Community & Environmental Services. 11. Mobile Library Services Page 108 Report by the Executive Director of Community & Environmental Services. 12. Performance management Page 139 Report by the Executive Director of Community & Environmental Services. 13. Risk management Page 154 Report by the Executive Director of Community & Environmental Services. 14. Finance Monitoring Page 164 Report by the Executive Director of Community & Environmental Services. 15. Forward Plan and decisions taken under delegated authority Page 170 Report by the Executive Director of Community & Environmental Services. Group Meetings Conservative 9:00am Conservative Group Room, Ground Floor Labour 9:00am Labour Group Room, Ground Floor 3 Liberal Democrats 9:00am Liberal Democrats Group Room, Ground Floor Chris Walton Head of Democratic Services County Hall Martineau Lane Norwich NR1 2DH Date Agenda Published: 02 October 2018 If you need this document in large print, audio, Braille, alternative format or in a different language please contact Customer Services on 0344 800 8020, or Text Relay on 18001 0344 800 8020 (textphone) and we will do our best to help. 4 Communities Committee Minutes of the Extraordinary Meeting Held on Wednesday 29 August 2018 10:00am, Edwards Room, County Hall, Norwich Present: Mrs M Dewsbury – Chairman Ms J Barnard Dr C Jones Mr D Bills Mr K Kiddie Mrs S Butikofer Mr B Long – Vice-Chairman Mr N Dixon Ms C Rumsby Mr R Hanton Ms S Squire Mr H Humphrey Mr J Ward The Chairman advised Members that the Chief Fire Officer was attending the meeting to answer any technical or service specific questions about current operations only and said it would not be appropriate for him to comment or answer any questions on the business case from the PCC or the County Council’s response. The Chairman advised that other officers from the Community and Environmental Services Department were attending to answer any Member questions or queries. 1. Apologies and substitutions 1.1 There were no apologies. 2 Declarations of Interest 2.1 There were no declarations of interest. 3 Urgent business 3.1 There were no items of urgent business. 4 Public Questions 4.1 One public question was received from Mr T Allison, Unison Rep NFRS which is attached at Appendix A, together with the response. 4.2 As a supplementary question, Mr Allison asked if the Committee would give assurance that they would seek to protect support staff jobs in the light of the fact that there was a ratio of 9% in Norfolk compared to the national average of 17%. He added that support jobs had been lost in every budget cut to save frontline jobs and in his view, this loss was impacting on delivery of front-line services and also 5 added that support staff did not feel they were “in safe hands” and were likely to vote for the PCC move. 4.2.1 In response, the Chairman advised that Norfolk had a ratio of back office staff of 9.85% against a national average of 17% which equated to the 6th lowest average of support staff in the country. Members recognised this and that support staff were needed to continue the safe running of the service. They reassured Mr Allison that the Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) process would need to be carried out to assess the impact of any changes that could affect front-line services. 4.2.2 The Executive Director of Community & Environmental Services said that Norfolk Fire & Rescue Service (NFRS) was part of Norfolk County Council, and therefore some core County Council staff regularly worked with NFRS. He highlighted recent examples of the significant contribution made in preparing the response to the PCC’s Business Case and the assistance in preparing for the HMICFRS inspection of NFRS, which was expected to take place in the next few months. 5 Local Member Questions 5.1 No Local Member questions were received. 6 Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service – public consultation on business case for changing the governance of the service. 6.1 The Committee received the report by the Executive Director of Community & Environmental Services, asking it to agree the County Council’s response to the Police & Crime Commissioner’s public consultation on a business case for changing the governance of the Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service. 6.2 The Committee received a presentation from the Head of Support and Development (CES) setting the scene for the item. A copy of the presentation is attached at Appendix B. 6.3 The following points were noted during the discussion: 6.3.1 The Executive Director of Community & Environmental Services stated that the Police & Crime Commissioner (PCC) had been clear about his intentions to produce an initial draft business case and he then decided to proceed to public consultation on a full local business case. He added that the PCC was under no obligation to submit the business case to Government if he considered the business case was not as robust as first thought; if the results of the consultation showed there was no public appetite for change; or if there was no strategic support from the County Council, which would make a change in governance difficult to implement. The Executive Director added that the decision was no fait accompli and that the PCC may decide not to submit a business case to the Home Office after he had considered all the responses to the public consultation. 6.3.2 Members felt there were substantial similarities between Suffolk and Norfolk and, as the Suffolk Police & Crime Commissioner had decided not to proceed with a proposed change of governance in Suffolk, they queried the differences in Norfolk that had made the Norfolk PCC decide to move to a formal business case.