Items
No. |
Item |
10. |
Confirmation of Minutes - 28 June 2022 PDF 254 KB
Minutes:
RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held
on 28 June 2022 be confirmed and signed by the Chair as an accurate
record.
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11. |
Declarations of Interest
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.
Minutes:
No declarations of interest were received.
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12. |
Poverty Truth Commission
Minutes:
Councillor Calum
Watt, Chair of the Community Leadership Scrutiny Committee, opened
the meeting and provided the Committee with a brief introduction to
guest speakers and the topic of discussion which was the Cost of
Living Crisis.
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12a |
Local Motion - Charlotte Brooks, Director for Local Change PDF 429 KB
Minutes:
The
Committee received a presentation from Charlotte Brooks (Director
of Local Change, LocalMotion). During consideration of the
presentation, the following points were noted: -
- LocalMotion was
founded on building a social, economic, and environmental justice
movement of six communities across the UK.
- It was created by
six established funders in the UK who shared a desire to find new
and better ways to tackle the common social, economic and
environmental issues communities faced.
- The six places
were Lincoln, Enfield, Torbay, Middlesborough, Oldham and
Carmarthen.
- Lincoln was
selected to benefit from additional funding from LocalMotion until
November 2023.
- After
investigating what was happening from the perspective of
individuals and organisations over the eleven wards within Lincoln,
three common themes occurred: community prosperity, aspiration, and
sustainability.
- The purpose of the
Commission was to hear from people who had a story to share or who
had experienced struggle. This may include those who suffered from
issues surrounding mental health, housing, education, employment,
and digital poverty.
- Launched in
September 2022, Poverty Truth Lincoln sought to identify
approximately fifteen community commissioners to take part in the
overall commission. In addition, the cohort of collaborative
working would include fifteen civic/business commissioners.
- The ten-year
LocalMotion programme was currently in the exploration stage, phase
2. This phase was less ‘outcome focused’ and more
person centred.
- The ambition was
to have tested a number of projects by June/July 2023 and to secure
future funding up to 2030/31.
- The Commission was
resourced until August 2024 with an 8-year collaboration action
plan to be co-designed by the commissioners.
- There would be an
annual impact report and analysis post 2024.
- The 2025-30
strategy plan, by Lincoln, for Lincoln, would ensure that delivery
of ideas.
The Chair thanked
guest speaker Charlotte Brooks for her work, informative update and
presentation and welcomed comments and questions from the
Committee. As a result of the discussions between Members and
Charlotte Brooks, the following points were made: -
- The scheme would
address absolute and relative poverty. Within the eleven wards of
Lincoln, there were approximately 17,000 people Just About Managing
(JAM’S). If the cost of living continued to rise, it was
suspected that over the duration of the next six months this figure
could significantly increase.
- The panic and
pressures of poverty could not be understood unless experienced and
the exit routes from poverty could not be executed in isolation
– a collaborative and holistic approach was essential.
- Concerns were
raised about the difficulties of reaching those in need and whether
individuals that suffered from poverty realised that they were in
poverty. This was often subjective.
- Development Plus
allowed community connectors who worked with communities in Lincoln
to have personal conversations. In addition, Civic commissioners
could potentially share their stories of struggle.
- There was a
positive working relationship with Poverty Truth Network and the
term ‘Poverty Truth’ was chosen to represent the
reality of the crisis faced.
- Rather than be
spoken about, people needed to be involved.
- There appeared to
be a bias towards those in financial ...
view the full minutes text for item 12a
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13. |
Cost Of Living Crisis
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Committee
received a presentation from Martin Walmsley (Head of Shared
Revenues and Benefits), Kate Bell (Climate Change Manager) and Sara
Boothright (Food Health and Safety Manager) regarding the
Cost-of-Living Crisis and the support available to residents.
During consideration of the presentation, the following points were
noted: -
- It was confirmed
that the information provided during the presentation was correct
and accurate as of Friday 2 September 2022.
- New Prime
Minister, Liz Truss was due to make an announcement on Thursday 8
September 2022 regarding the freezing of energy prices.
- The City of
Lincoln Council had a cost-of-living support button on their
website as a live and fluid area of knowledge to advise residents
on the support available to them.
- As community lead,
we had worked in partnership with a number of organisations in the
delivery of national and local schemes. This included the private
and voluntary sector, communications and the Portfolio Holder for
reducing inequality.
- 19% of residents
were ‘just about managing’ and classified as fuel
poor.
- The Council Tax
Energy rebate scheme of £150 had been a difficult scheme to
deliver with work nearly concluded and due to cease at the end of
September 2022 (mandatory scheme) and end of November 2022
(discretionary scheme).
- During the
presentation, it was noted that customers on pre-payment meters
were paying more than those paying by direct debit. As such,
additional vouchers had been made available for the previous two
winters for residents that struggled to top up their meter.
- A presentation on
the Disabled Facilities Grant informed members that Lincoln
received £750,000 per year for the scheme however previously,
it was very restrictive.
- In 2018, the
Regulatory Reform Order provided a more flexible approach to how we
improved home facilities within the city.
- The applicant
would need to demonstrate a physical health-related issue through
the discretionary route. However, the new approach also considered
chronic mental health issues.
- The City of
Lincoln Council Private Housing Health Assistance Policy Grants
included the Safe, Warm & Well and Gas Central Heating schemes
worth up to £10,000 subject to eligibility criteria being
met.
- Funding of
£200,000 had been ring fenced to target and encourage more
people to come forward for help.
- For residents who
privately rented their home, it was confirmed that under the
Housing Act, we had powers to enforce landlords to make changes to
substandard accommodation.
- Funding of
£72,000 had been secured to facilitate education of local
landlords where their properties had an energy performance
certificate (EPC) of below E to ensure that work was carried out to
make homes more efficient.
- There had been a
collaborative approach with West Lindsey and North Kesteven
District Councils on the Home Energy Upgrade Scheme.
- The Home Energy
Upgrade Scheme detailed a range of fully funded energy efficiency
home improvement to eligible homeowners with an annual income below
£30,000.
- The amount of
individual home funding available could be up to £25,000,
however most properties would receive upgrades to the value of
£10,000.
- The scheme was
available to ...
view the full minutes text for item 13.
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14. |
Work Programme 2022/23 PDF 110 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Consideration was given to the Committee’s work programme.
The Chair advised that further to scoping discussions with
officers, the focus of the Committee’s work programme for the
remaining municipal year would include Community Policing and
Suicide Rates in Lincoln.
Discussion took place regarding the presentation of Community
Policing and it was agreed that the item would be brought before
the Committee in October 2022. The Chair requested that officers
work with the communications team to arrange a press release for
the meeting.
The
Chair confirmed that the Committee’s work would include a
focus on suicide rates within Lincoln. It was agreed that this item
would be brought before the Committee in December. The Democratic
Services Officer confirmed attendance had been received from Sarah
Connery, CEO of Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and
Lucy Gavens, Consultant in Public
Health, Lincolnshire County Council. The Chair requested
that officers work with the communications team to arrange a press
release for the meeting.
Discussion took place regarding an update on the Cost-of-Living
Crisis and it was agreed that the update would be brought before
the Committee in January 2023.
It
was agreed that feedback from the Poverty Truth Commission would be
brought before the Committee in March 2023. The Democratic Services
Officer confirmed the work programme for the remainder of the
municipal year.
NOTE: -
Future meetings would include the use of name plates
for all attendees.
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