Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 29 September 2020 be confirmed.

No declarations of interest were received.

Jane Loffhagen, Chair of the Community Leadership Scrutiny Committee opened the meeting and provided the committee with a brief introduction of the topic for review which was the Impact on Businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic.

She introduced the witnesses present at the meeting who had been invited to provide a background on how the City of Lincoln Council had helped local businesses since the Covid-19 pandemic began.

The representatives were as follows:

·         Ric Metcalfe, Portfolio Holder for Our People and Resources and Leader of the Council

·         Jo Walker, Assistant Director for Growth

·         Martin Walmsley, Head of Revenues and Benefits Shared Service

The Chair explained that the purpose of the review was to understand the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and how it had affected businesses, whilst also identifying support already being provided and whether there were any gaps of which the City of Lincoln Council could provide further support. Not only would the review look at businesses, it would also look at how the pandemic had affected individuals from the perspective of jobs and employment.

She thanked and praised all members and officers who were particularly involved in projects following the outbreak and helped the City of Lincoln Council provide a key service to businesses and individuals who were in desperate need of support over the past 7 months.

The chair asked members to confirm that they were happy with the topic that had been agreed.

All members concurred that they were.

It was agreed by the Committee at the previous meeting that it would meet on a monthly basis to investigate and gather evidence from key businesses and individuals that had been directly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The scoping document, set out by Graham Watts, Democratic and Elections Manager provided a breakdown of the review in several stages which could be identified at item 3a of the agenda.

The following elected members and officers have been invited to attend the meeting to provide evidence as part of the scrutiny review:

-          Councillor Ric Metcalfe, Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Our People and Resources

-          Councillor Neil Murray, Portfolio Holder for Economic Growth

-          Jo Walker, Assistant Director, Growth

-          Martin Walmsley, Head of Revenues and Benefits Shared Service

Jo Walker, Assistant Director for Growth provided a brief presentation which outlined the following:

·         A group of several officers had been set up to support businesses and a range of different teams were involved.

·         The main challenge was administering the £22m that had been awarded as a Grant Fund for supporting businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic.

·         The money was received by the Government on 1^st April and 600 payments were made to businesses on the same day it was received as part of the Small Business Grants and the Retail and Hospitality Scheme.

·         On 1^st June, a means tested scheme called The Discretionary Grant Fund was launched. It adopted a phased approach identifying the businesses most in need and resulted in supporting 126 businesses of the 171 that applied. It supported businesses sectors such as:

-       Restaurants and café’s

-       Pubs, bars and nightclubs

-       Sport & Leisure

-       Charities

·         In total, 988 businesses also benefitted from rate relief to the value of £27.2m through the Expanded Retail Discount Scheme.

·         City of Lincoln Council tenants were offered a rent deferral for April, May and June 2020 as well as charitable, community and voluntary sector tenants that were not eligible for a Business Support Grant being given a rent free period for April, May and June 2020.

·         As well providing direct support to businesses, wider support was also delivered which involved:

-       Answering calls and emails

-       Regular meetings

-       Continued support to businesses

-       Payment plans for rent/business rates

-       Publishing information and links on the website

-       The “City Centre is open” campaign.

·         In addition, officers looked into what further support would be required taking into account any lockdowns and further restrictions, these included:

-       Planning and implementing recovery measures

-       City Centre recovery

-       Development of the Towns Deal Board and Town Investment Plan to drive long term economic growth which was being referred to Executive on Monday 26^th October.

Martin Walmsley, Head of Revenues and Benefits Shared Service provided a brief presentation on the impacts of benefits and support since the Covid-19 pandemic and outlined the following:

·         With regards to Universal Credit statistics, unsurprisingly there had been a significant increase in claims this year, this was due to the furlough scheme ending and redundancies that had been made

·         Deferrals of Council Tax and Business Rates payments had been made

·         Awarding of Extended Retail Discount for three local authorities.

·         Outlined the Test and Trace Support - Mandatory Scheme. A £500 payment would be awarded if:

-       An individual had been asked to self-isolate by the NHS Test and Trace either because they had tested positive for Covid-19 or had recently been in close contact with someone who had tested positive.

-       Were employed or self employed

-       They were unable to work from home and would lose income as a result; and

-       They were currently receiving Universal Credit, Working Tax Credit, income-based Employment and Support Allowance, Income-based jobseekers allowance, Income Support, Housing Benefit and/or Pension  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

Jess Cullen, Democratic Services Officer:

1. presented the draft work programme for 2020/21 as detailed at Appendix A of her report

2. advised that the work programme for the Community Leadership Scrutiny Committee was put forward annually for approval by Council; the work programme was then regularly updated throughout the year in consultation with the Community Leadership Scrutiny Committee and its Chair

3. reported that items had been scheduled in accordance with the existing work programme and officers’ guidance regarding the meetings at which the most up-to-date information could be reported to the committee; the work programme also included the list of portfolio holders under scrutiny

4. requested any relevant comments or suggestions to the proposed work programme for 2020/21.

RESOLVED that:

1)    The work programme 2020/21 as detailed at Appendix A to the report be noted.