Agenda and draft minutes
Venue: Scaitcliffe House, Ormerod Street, Accrington. View directions
Contact: Susan Gardner, Policy and Scrutiny Officer
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Apologies for Absence and Substitutions Minutes: An apology for absence was submitted on behalf of Councillor Clare McKenna. Councillor Bernard Dawson acted as a substitute representative for Cllr McKenna. |
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Declarations of Interest and Dispensations Minutes: Councillor Loraine Cox declared a personal interest in item 6 – Leisure Services – Household Support Fund and item 7 – Leisure Services – Weight Management Services. She explained that she was a non-voting Council representative on the Leisure in Hyndburn Board and consequently, remained present in the meeting. |
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Minutes of Last Meeting PDF 125 KB To submit the minutes of the Communities and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 14th March 2024 for approval as a correct record.
Recommended - That the Minutes be received and approved as a correct record.
Minutes: The Minutes of the Communities and Wellbeing Overview & Scrutiny Committee held on 14th March 2024 were submitted to the meeting for approval as a correct record.
Resolved - That the Minutes be received and approved as a correct record. |
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Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme PDF 136 KB This report requests that the Overview and Scrutiny Committees give consideration to and approves the work programmes for Overview and Scrutiny for 2024/25.
Recommended - That the Communities and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee approves its work programme for 2024/25.
Additional documents: Minutes: The Scrutiny and Policy Officer submitted a report requesting that the Communities and Wellbeing Overview & Scrutiny Committee gave consideration to and approved the work programme for 2024/25. The Committee was advised of the process for agreeing the work programme as set out in the Overview and Scrutiny procedure rule C6(a). Thirty-five requests had been received as items to be considered for Scrutiny and these had been discussed by the Chairs and Vice-Chairs of the Scrutiny Committees before draft work programmes were submitted to Cabinet for comment. There had been no comments received from Cabinet.
Resolved - That the work programme for the Communities and Wellbeing Overview & Scrutiny Committee 2024-25 be approved. |
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Great Harwood Banking Hub Jordan Reece to give a presentation and answer Member questions on Cash Access UK. Minutes: Jordan Reece, Cash Access UK, gave a presentation on Banking Hubs. He gave information on the following:
· About Cash Access UK · Why we get Banking Hubs · What Banking Hubs are · How Banking Hubs work, the process and timescales · Location specifications · Temporary Banking Hubs · Environment, community, inclusion and regeneration
Advanced questions were submitted to Cash Access UK prior to the meeting and were responded to within his presentation. He explained that a company, Link, assessed local communities for the provision of Banking Hubs and had agreed that Great Harwood would be eligible. A suitable property would need to be found that would meet the needs of the services, be easy to access, in a good location and ideally, have parking. He explained that setting up a Banking Hub could take up to 12 months. He informed the meeting that the location at the Bank Mill Centre would be temporary until a more suitable location was found and that the anticipated date of opening was 12th August 2024. He indicated that commercial terms with property owners would not be disclosed and that Banking Hubs had an overall favourable feedback rate of 90%.
Responses to further questions submitted by Members of the Committee at the meeting were as follows:
There would be minimal adaptations at the Bank Mill Centre property, as this would only be a temporary arrangement. The Barclays Building had been considered but a lot of work would be required to make the property viable. The counter would be run by the Post Office and all services and security would be in line with their own organisational policies. The services offered by the Banking Hub would differ to a Post Office and Bank because it would not be a place to send or receive parcels and the Banking Hubs would have staff on site from different banks on different days to provide services relative to their own banks. The Post Office could provide services for people who were not customers of one of the main banks represented in the Hub. Full banking services would not be provided but staff on duty would provide assistance if required.
The Chief Executive of the Hyndburn Leisure Trust informed the meeting that elected Members of the Hyndburn Leisure Board had been kept informed of operating issues.
Resolved - That the report be noted. |
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Leisure Services - Household Support Fund PDF 209 KB That the Business Development Manager, Hyndburn Leisure, updates Members on the Household Support Fund.
Resolved - That the Committee notes the report.
Minutes: Lyndsey Sims, Chief Executive, and Aisha Brotherton, Business Development Manager, Hyndburn Leisure presented an update report on Household Support Fund.
The Chief Executive of Hyndburn Leisure reported that the Household Support Fund was government funding to help with households who were experiencing hardship and did not have enough resources to meet their immediate short-term needs. She explained that the Leisure Trust had become involved in the provision of this funding because of the work they did during the pandemic in 2021. She reported that Hyndburn had been allocated £2m over five rounds of funding and that applications for funding were not means tested although evidence of hardship was required, which was assessed through the application process. The meeting was informed that a number of applicants had been referred to partners (as listed in the report) and that Hyndburn had been the first Lancashire district to work with the LCC Care Leavers team to set up a direct referral process. Members had submitted a number of questions in advance of the meeting which were responded to within the presentation.
Members asked for clarity in respect of the questions submitted in advance and also asked a number of additional questions after the presentation as follows:
All Government funding, apart from the admin fee, was spent on assistance to residents. In respect of whether the application process could be simplified, Lyndsey Sims indicated that there were 18 organisations on direct referral routes and referred to the importance of the application process being robust to ensure that the funding reached the right people. Aisha Brotherton advised that people who struggled with the application process would be assisted by a member of the team. There could only be one award of funding per round.
Lyndsey Sims reported that funding was allocated through Lancashire County Council and confirmed that an 8% administration fee was paid to Hyndburn Leisure to deliver the fund for round 5 with a 10% administration fee being paid for all other previous rounds. She indicated that more analysis could be carried out to check the demographics of who was receiving the funding but explained that they worked with many connective organisations who were helpful with this.
Resolved - That the report be noted. |
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Leisure Services - Weight Management Services PDF 1 MB A presentation on Healthy Weight will be given by Linda Horsefield, Hyndburn Leisure Trust. Supporting handouts will be available at the meeting. Minutes: Linda Horsfield, Head of Health & Community Development, gave a presentation on Weight Management Services. She reported that there were rising rates of obesity which were intertwined with inequalities in social mobility and life expectancy. She explained that Hyndburn had a higher rate of obesity than average in Lancashire and the numbers of overweight children were very high. She referred to the health risks of being overweight and the importance of reducing social inequalities. The new Weight Management service aimed to support service users to feel healthier and have improved well-being.
The service had been set up after District Councils collaborated with Lancashire County Council and established individual agreements. The collaboration was for 5 years with a 3 year option. Hyndburn Leisure had been appointed to deliver the service for Hyndburn in 2024-25 for a period of one year for £66k per year which started in April 2024. Advanced questions were submitted prior to the meeting and some responses were provided during the presentation.
Clarification was also requested on some of the advanced questions and Members also asked additional questions relating to:
- The screening of undiagnosed eating disorders and statistics - This issuing of maternal advice - Simplicity of self-referrals and quickest way to access the service - Request for qualitative data - Evidence of what works with BAME communities
Responses were provided on the above queries. The Committee was informed that meetings had previously been held by Lancashire County Council with health professionals to receive guidance in respect of weight management services including dealing with eating disorders. In respect of maternity issues, Linda Horsfield reported that this was new to the contract and consequently, NHS guidelines were being followed. She agreed to work with Councillor Yates in respect of considering how maternity services could advise and support.
In respect of demographics and the BAME community, she reported that anyone with increased health risks would be referred back to their doctors to seek medical advice. Work with the preventative lead was ongoing.
Information was provided on how people could attend the weight management service, either through their doctor or by self-referral. She indicated that she would provide qualitative data to Members of the Committee and that the service across Lancashire was aiming to improve by looking at Best Practise.
Resolved (1) That the report be noted; (2) That the Head of Health and Community Development produces qualitative data on those attending the service including BAME and forwards to Members of the Committee; and (3) That the Head of Health and Community Development liaises with Councillor Yates to determine how maternity services could support and advise weight management services. |
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Exclusion of the Public Recommended - That, in accordance with Section 100A(4) Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting during the following items, when it was likely, in view of the nature of the proceedings that there would otherwise be disclosure of exempt information within the Paragraph at Schedule 12A of the Act specified at the item.
Minutes: Resolved - That, in accordance with Section 100A(4) Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting during the following item, when it was likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, or the nature of the proceedings, that there would otherwise be disclosure of exempt information within the Paragraph at Schedule 12A of the Act specified at the item. |
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Nomination of Co-optees This report will contain exempt information under the Local Government Act 1972, Schedule 12A, Paragraph 1 – Information relating to any individual.
To consider nominations for co-opted Members on to the Communities and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
Recommended - That the Committee gives consideration to the nominations for the co-optee detailed in the report, and makes a recommendation to Council accordingly.
Minutes: Exempt information under the Local Government Act 1972, Schedule 12, Paragraph 1 – Information relating to any individual
The Scrutiny and Policy Officer submitted a report requesting the Committee considers two nominations for co-optee members on the Communities and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The Committee was informed that they could have a maximum of four co-optees. Two nominations had been received in advance of the meeting from Councillor Clements and Councillor Anderson who nominated Jackie Rawstron and Jean Battle, respectively. These were accepted by the Committee.
Resolved - That the nominations for Jackie Rawstron and Jean Battle as Co-optees on the Communities and Wellbeing Overview & Scrutiny Committee for a period of 2 municipal years (2024-25 & 2025-26) be accepted and recommended to Full Council for approval. Two vacancies for co-optees remained. |