Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 22 November 2022 be confirmed and signed by the Chair.

Please note that, in accordance with the Members' Code of Conduct, when declaring interests members must disclose the existence and nature of the interest, and whether it is a disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI) or personal and/or pecuniary.

No declarations of interest were received.

Alison Timmins, Housing Solutions Manager:

a.    presented the Lincolnshire County Homelessness Strategy 2017-2021 review document, to consider the consultation summary document and to seek comments on the new Lincolnshire Homelessness Strategy 2022-2027

b.    gave the background to the strategy as detailed at paragraph 2 of the report

c.    referred to Appendix 3 of the report which detailed extensive consultation with stakeholders and collated the achievements of the last strategy which shaped the strategic direction of the new strategy. A series of focus groups, one-to-one meetings and a survey collated vital feedback , which would enable the strategy to meet the aims of the seven district council’s and partners.

d.    explained that the Rough Sleeper Strategy had been incorporated into the document to allow the Council to form a collective and robust approach to homelessness

e.    highlighted the new priorities for the next 5 years:

·         Prevent – identify those that were at risk of becoming homeless as early as possible and through the Duty to Refer work with them to prevent homelessness or rough sleeping

·         Protect – identify the most vulnerable and ensure individuals were safe from harm, and had access to the support and services to maintain their health and wellbeing

·         Partnerships- strengthen and maintain relationships to bring together resources and knowledge to prevent and relieve homelessness

·         Place – ensure accommodation was both available and suitable for those that needed it and explore opportunities to increase the supply of accommodation

·         Plan – take a proactive and joined up approach to tackling rough sleeping and homelessness and explore funding opportunities to ensure we meet the needs of all client groups

f.     referred to paragraph 6 of the report and explained how the strategy would be monitored

g.    invited members questions and comments.

Question: Asked if the Cost of Living Crisis had been included in the Strategy.

Response: The Strategy was overarching therefore it had not been included within it. The next step was to develop a position statement for Lincoln with key actions for the City and the Cost of Living Crisis would be addressed within this.

Question: Asked why someone would not be accepted as homeless.

Response: Anyone could present to the Council as homeless. If they were considered as statutory homeless then the Council had a duty to assist them. If the Council did not consider them as statutory homeless then they would still be provided with advice.

Question: Referred to the graph at page 20 of the Strategy in relation to the initial assessment and asked how the decision of whether they were statutory homeless or not was made.
Response: They needed to meet specific criteria to be considered statutory homeless, this included for example, British Citizen, homeless or threatened with homeless within 56 days, have priority need eg, pregnancy, medical condition or children  and also have a local connection to the area. If they were not considered statutory homeless the Council would still provide appropriate advice.

Question: Referred to page 20 of the Strategy  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

The Chair of Policy Scrutiny Committee updated members of the business that had been discussed at the Health Scrutiny meeting held on 14 December 2022, these were:

·         Temporary Closure of Hartsholme Centre – Male Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit

·         Lincolnshire Health and Social Care Patient Flow and Discharge Programme

·         Lincolnshire’s Interim Integrated Care Strategy

·         Lincolnshire Acute Service Review Implementation – Update

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

The Chair:

a.    presented the report ‘Policy Scrutiny Work Programme 2022-23 and Executive Work Programme Update’.

b.    presented the Executive Work Programme December 2022 – November 2023.

c.    requested councillors to submit what items they wished to scrutinise from the Executive Work Programme and policies of interest.

d.    invited members questions and comments.

Members discussed the Executive work programme in detail and identified the following potential items for the Policy Scrutiny Work Programme:

·         Pay Policy Statement 2023/24

·         Disposal of Property

·         Housing Pipeline Approach

·         Greetwell Place Managed Workspace - Future Arrangements

The Democratic Services Officer confirmed that she would liaise with the relevant Officers to find out if the items identified were within Policy Scrutiny Committees remit and schedule them into the work programme as appropriate.

The Chair referred to the Policy Scrutiny Committee scheduled for 14^th March 2023 and commented that there was a large number of items scheduled and suggested that an additional meeting be scheduled for February 2023.

The 7^th February was identified as a potential date for an additional Policy Scrutiny Committee. The Democratic Services Officer confirmed that she would liaise with Officers to find out if any items could be brought forward and arrange an additional meeting on 7^th February 2023 if necessary.

RESOLVED that:

1.    the work Policy Scrutiny work programme be noted.

2.    the Executive work programme be noted.