Council and Democracy

Agenda, decisions and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 1, Town Hall

Contact: Charlotte Kearsey  01246 345277

Items
No. Item

1.

Declaration of Members' and Officers' Interests relating to items on the Agenda

Minutes:

No declarations of interest were received.

2.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Brunt, Catt and Wall.

3.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 52 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED –

 

That the Minutes of the meeting of the Joint Cabinet and Employment and General Committee of 10 April, 2018 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

4.

Exclusion of Public

To move “That under Regulation 21(1)(b) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements)(Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2000, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the following Paragraphs of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.”

Minutes:

RESOLVED –

 

That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1, 3 and 4 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

5.

Responding to the Homelessness Reduction Act

Decision:

*RESOLVED –

 

1.   That the changes enacted by the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 be noted.

 

2.   That the proposal to recruit an additional Homelessness Caseworker post be approved; the new post to be funded in full through the use of the Ministry for Homes, Communities and Local Government Homelessness Prevention Fund

 

3.   That the proposed financial contributions to support delivery of the key projects identified in the Homelessness Strategy be funded through the Ministry for Homes, Communities and Local Government Homelessness Grants.

 

REASON FOR DECISIONS

 

To ensure that Chesterfield Borough Council fulfils the statutory duties in respect of homelessness.

 

 

 

Minutes:

The Assistant Director – Housing submitted a report which sought approval to increase the staffing resource in the Homelessness Prevention Service, in response to the new legislation and guidance contained within the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017.

 

In recent years there had been a shift towards focusing on the prevention of homelessness which had led to a change in service delivery.

 

The new legislation would result in an increased workload for the Chesterfield Homelessness Prevention service due to the introduction of statutory duties and formal time limits. Southwark Council acted as a pilot for the new legislation and experienced a  workload increase of 466%.

 

The current Chesterfield Homelessness Prevention service comprised of an Assistant Manager, 3 Homelessness Caseworkers and 2 Homelessness Prevention Officers. The roles and job descriptions of the Homelessness Caseworkers and Homelessness Prevention Officers had recently been reviewed to ensure they would address the requirements of the new legislation. The review resulted in a removal of the discrepancies between the two positions and henceforth the 5 posts would become Homelessness Caseworkers.

 

In addition to the current staffing resource, it was recommended that an additional Homelessness Caseworker post be recruited to meet the increased workload.  

 

The new legislation placed emphasis on partnership working and the North Derbyshire Homelessness Forum had been established in September 2017 to deliver the actions set out in the North Derbyshire Homelessness Strategy 2016-2020.

 

The officer’s report detailed various projects which would aid with the delivery of the new requirements along with the proposed financial contributions to support these projects. It was explained that these initiatives would be met by external funding via the Ministry for Homes, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) Homelessness Grants.

 

The report provided detail on the financial implications and explained that the service was funded by a combination of the General Fund and the Homelessness Prevention Grant. It was proposed to use the MHCLG funding to recruit the additional Homelessness Caseworker post. This would result in no additional financial pressures on the General Fund at this stage.

 

Details of  the human resources, legal and equalities impacts were set out in Sections 7, 8 and 9 of the officer’s report respectively.

 

*RESOLVED –

 

1.   That the changes enacted by the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 be noted.

 

2.   That the proposal to recruit an additional Homelessness Caseworker post be approved; the new post to be funded in full through the use of the Ministry for Homes, Communities and Local Government Homelessness Prevention Fund

 

3.   That the proposed financial contributions to support delivery of the key projects identified in the Homelessness Strategy be funded through the Ministry for Homes, Communities and Local Government Homelessness Grants.

 

REASON FOR DECISIONS

 

To ensure that Chesterfield Borough Council fulfils the statutory duties in respect of homelessness.

 

 

 

6.

Arts and Venues Restructure

Decision:

*RESOLVED –

 

1.   That the proposed changes to the employee structure for Arts and Venues be approved.

 

2.   That the Arts and Venues Manager, in consultation with the Human Resources Manager, be authorised to implement the proposed changes.

 

REASONS FOR DECISIONS

 

1.   To provide a better service to visitors and residents of the borough.

 

2.   To make further progress towards a sustainable financial position for venues.

 

Minutes:

The Arts and Venues Manager submitted a report seeking approval for a new employee structure for Arts and Venues.

 

The new employee structure had been developed to support the aims and objectives of the Council’s Workforce Strategy and sought to deliver quality, efficiency, flexibility and resilience. The restructure also addressed concerns regarding spans of control, succession planning and the commercial requirement to reduce the operational deficit at the venues.

 

The report outlined the consultations that had taken place with affected employees, trade unions and other key stakeholders; and provided details of the financial, human resources and people management implications.

 

*RESOLVED –

 

1.   That the proposed changes to the employee structure for Arts and Venues be approved.

 

2.   That the Arts and Venues Manager, in consultation with the Human Resources Manager, be authorised to implement the proposed changes.

 

REASONS FOR DECISIONS

 

1.   To provide a better service to visitors and residents of the borough.

 

2.   To make further progress towards a sustainable financial position for venues.