Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on 23 September 2021 were approved as a correct record.

(Moved by Councillor S Peaple and seconded by Councillor J Harper)

For the purposes of transparency, Councillor S Peaple declared a non-pecuniary interest in the Homelessness and Winter Relief Arrangements item on the Agenda as the Chair and a trustee of the Heart of Tamworth charity.

The Chair moved and the Committee agreed that the agenda order be amended such that item 8 (Homelessness and Winter Relief Arrangements) and 9 (Safeguarding Children and Adults at Risk of Abuse Report) be considered prior to the remaining agenda items.

(Update from the Assistant Director, Neighbourhoods and Head of Homelessness and Housing Solutions)

The Chair welcomed Councillor Alex Farrell, the Portfolio Holder for Social Housing and Homeless Prevention, Tina Mustafa, Assistant Director, Neighbourhoods and Sarah Finnegan, Head of Homelessness and Housing Solutions to the meeting.  Councillor Farrell introduced the presentation and handed over to the Officers to take the Committee through it.

The Assistant Director reported that the objective of the presentation was to provide the Committee with an understanding of homelessness, to share the progress made on the rough sleeping initiative and to provide an overview of the proposed Winter Relief Arrangements for the Committee’s comments prior to consideration by Cabinet on 11 November 2021.

The Assistant Director provided an overview of the Government’s strategy and the vision to half rough sleeping by 2022 and end it by 2025 and Tamworth borough Council’s own strategy which was built around the three pillars of prevention, intervention and recovery.  The Assistant Director reported that the Borough had no entrenched rough sleepers, however there were transient rough sleepers in the Borough and that the next annual rough sleeping count would take place on 20^th October 2021 and the target the Council had set itself for 2021 was 0.  The count would be submitted to Government.

The Head of Homelessness and Housing Solutions explained that someone could be considered homeless if they were rough sleeping, or they did not have a right to stay where they were or if their housing was unsuitable, this could include staying with family or friends, or in a hostel or night shelter, squatting or living in poor conditions that affect their health, as well as being at risk of violence or abuse in their home, or living apart from your family because there was no place to live together.

The Head of Homelessness provided an overview of the processes and steps followed under the legislation and the changes brought in from 2018 where additional prevention and relief duties were introduced and where additional decision points of the local authority could be reviewed.

The Assistant Director provided an overview of the application of the Rough Sleeping Initiative funding received following a successful bid and the creation of new officer posts to provide mental health support, outreach support and neighbourhood coaching which were aimed at preventing homelessness.  It was reported that work continued to identify initiatives for the remainder of the funding including a proposal to launch a begging initiative as well as supporting targeted interventions to support rough sleepers’ resettling.

The Assistant Director reported that the proposed Winter Relief Arrangements which would go forward to Cabinet included the proposal to continue to work with the Heart of Tamworth charity through the winter months to provide wrap around support and to work closely with the Housing Solutions team.

The Committee sought further clarification on:

·       How the Council was notified of rough sleepers, where it was reported that there were a variety of ways that the Council would learn about this which included notifications from staff within Street Scene, from Community wardens,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.

(Report of the Portfolio Holder for Regulatory and Community Safety)

The Chair welcomed Councillor Stephen Doyle, the Portfolio Holder for Regulatory and Community Safety and Steph Ivey, Partnership Vulnerability Officer to the meeting.  The Report of the Portfolio Holder provided the first of two biannual safeguarding updates to the Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee.  The report provided an overview of the safeguarding processes and procedures in place to discharge the Council’s legal duty to safeguard children and adults with care and support needs from abuse and neglect.  Following an introduction from the Portfolio Holder, the Partnership Vulnerability Officer highlighted to the Committee:

·       The safeguarding statistics for the period 1 April 2021 to 30 September 2021, where referrals were received from a wide range of council staff.

·       That the Council’s section 11 audit, which focussed on the Council’s activities in supporting staff learning and development to recognise any abuse of children and in the priority areas, to the Staffordshire Safeguarding Children’s Board had been completed, and feedback was awaited

·       That the Council had completed an audit for the Staffordshire and Stoke-On-Trent Adult Safeguarding Partnership Board, which whilst not a statutory requirement for the Council to complete was considered good practice, and the feedback on this audit was awaited.

·       The training available for staff which now included two E-Learning modules as well as online virtual safeguarding training delivered by the Partnership Vulnerability Officer, as well as suicide prevention training which was delivered by Staffordshire MIND.

·       That the safeguarding training for taxi drivers had recommenced online. This training helped taxi drivers to understand what safeguarding was, and what to do if they believed a child or an adult was at risk.  Refresher training had been completed by 37 drivers and 11 new drivers had completed the training.

·       The multi-agency working undertaken which included work with the Multi-Agency Child Exploitation Panel, Local Partnership Meetings, and other meetings with local partners to identify trends and share expertise on modern slavery, as well as the weekly Tamworth Vulnerability Partnership meetings to provide a joined up response to vulnerability within the community and early interventions.

The Committee sought and received clarifications on:

·       The suicide prevention training provided by Staffordshire MIND and Mental Health First Aid training and the regularity of training, including training for members. 

·       A recent County Lines awareness campaign which was run Staffordshire wide with the Police, and the Partnership Vulnerability Officer reported that there was work ongoing to work with the local prevention team to run a local awareness campaign in Tamworth on County Lines.

·       The impact if any the pandemic had on safeguarding, where it was recognised that when children were unable to attend schools, this could have impacted young people, as well as the pressure on families and young adults where the safeguarding officer worked closely with the housing team, and the importance of the support from the community and the organisations in Tamworth to provide varied support during the pandemic.

·       Modern slavery, which could be seen in many forms, and the fact that this remained very much a hidden crime, and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

The Chair reminded members that the Partnership Team had organised a Voluntary Sector Members Seminar for all Councillors on 20^th October to which many of our partners and voluntary sectors had been invited.

The Chair provided a brief update on the mental wellbeing work plan item in respect of which this Committee had already received updates from Midlands Partnership Foundation Trust on the work they were doing across Staffordshire and more specifically locally here in Tamworth.  The Chair reported that she had had further discussions with Executive Directors and Assistant Directors and also with the Leader to discuss this work plan item and how to progress this through this municipal year and beyond.  The Chair proposed that at this Committee’s November meeting, following the Voluntary Sector Members Seminar there would be an agenda item included to discuss how to take this further forward and to set up any working groups and further sessions required.

(Update on responses to the Reports of the Health & Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee)

None to report.

(Discussion item)

No further matters referred.

(To receive the Digest from Staffordshire County Council’s Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee and an update from County Councillor T Jay)

The Chair reported that a written report of the County’s meeting on 20^th September was attached to the agenda.

Please see the link to the Forward Plan:

http://democracy.tamworth.gov.uk/mgListPlans.aspx?RPId=120&RD=0&bcr=1

No further items were items form the Forward Plan.

To consider items for 2021/22 Health & Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee Work Plan

The Committee updated its Work Plan as follows:

Health & Wellbeing Scrutiny Work Plan