To receive apologies for absence.

No apologies for absence were received.

To receive details of members nominated to attend the meeting in place of a member of the committee.

No substitutions were made.

To receive any declarations of interest by members.

There were no declarations of interest.

To note questions received from the public and the items to which they relate.

(Questions are welcomed for consideration at a scrutiny committee meeting subject to the question being directly relevant to an item listed on the agenda below.  If you have a question you would like to ask then please submit it no later than 4.00 PM on Thursday 14 January 2016 to sam.tweedale@herefordshire.gov.uk)

No questions had been received in advance of the meeting in relation to the following items.

To review the work and activity of the Herefordshire community safety partnership (CSP)

The cabinet member for Economy and Corporate Services introduced the representatives from West Mercia Police, the office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), public health commissioning, and Addaction. It was noted for a full meeting of the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) there would be 26 people.

It was explained that the purpose of the CSP is to consider a broad range of issues and to develop strategy. The CSP is not intended to handle the detail of cases but to develop conjoined strategy between multiple organisations.

Funding for the CSP was received from the office of the PCC. There were four priority areas identified by the CSP for funding:

-       Reoffending

-       Community cohesion and antisocial behaviour

-       Domestic Violence

-       Substance abuse involving the activity of street pastors

In total £496017 was received from the office of the PCC, additional funding is targeted for specific activities. Additional there is a business unit operated by Herefordshire Council with a running cost of £75,000 for the adult safeguarding board, the children’s safeguarding board, and the Community Safety Partnership.

The Cabinet member for Economy and Corporate Services introduced Superintendent Sue Thomas to discuss items regarding funding and to recount the latest crime statistics for Herefordshire.

Superintendent Thomas explained that there were two sections of relevant funding: the superintendent’s fund and the business and rural fund. In response to budget cuts, a focus had been placed on methods of crime prevention which were the most cost effective for reducing crime. A number of examples of cost effective methods were given, including engagement activity in the night time economy as well as household alarms.

It was explained that rural and cyber crime were a focus of the PCC. In Herefordshire this had led to a number of successful initiatives:

-       Work had been done with action plans to develop neighbourhood watch, and to improve community and farm watch schemes. Funding for these schemes was limited going forward.

-       A mobile contact centre had been secured allowing better provision in rural areas.

-       Noise teams had been made available during peak times during the summer. These had previously only been available form Mondays to Fridays.

It was stated that Herefordshire is experiencing a 26% increase in recorded crime year on year. However, it was important to understand the context of this:

-       Following an audit process, old records had been backdated. This led to an increased number of recorded crimes even though some of these may not have actually occurred in the current year.

-       Procedural changes in the recording of crime had led to an increase. For example, in domestic violence cases, methods of investigation had changed generating a higher number of reported crimes from a single case.

-       Reported cases of harassment had increased significantly. Many of these cases involved communication technology which had not existed on the same scale previously.

-       There had been a 10% increase in crime with injury, notably linked to the night time economy. While there had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 62.

To seek the views of the committee of engagement undertaken with the housing sector and of proposed new strategic housing documents for Herefordshire, including homelessness review and strategy, allocations policy and housing strategy, in order to inform the recommendations to cabinet.

The chairman introduced the item stating that the provision of affordable housing was vital to all communities. It was noted that homelessness is a persistent problem so it was positive to note that bed and breakfast accommodation had not been used in three years.  The chairman expressed the importance of allocation policies and commented on the proposals for the SHYPP contract. 

The cabinet member for adult’s health and wellbeing explained that housing was of significant importance for young people. It was explained that the housing strategies would be received by cabinet in March and the comments of the committee would be welcomed.

The director of adult’s wellbeing addressed the issue of the SHYPP contract advising the committee of the process being undertaken.

The director introduced the report explaining that housing has become a central element of national government policy only very recently. While the housing strategy was being developed there were major policy statements by national government which needed to be reflected in the strategy. It was not clear that the changes to national policy had been completed and this meant the housing strategy was in a draft form in order to be adaptive.

The joint commissioning manager summarised a number of key areas of the report identifying the legal status of each of the strategies:-

·         The Housing Strategy is no longer a legal requirement but as it identifies key themes, including those requiring joint working with major parties, such as the NHS and Registered Providers (housing associations), its role was to prioritise areas of activity to meet required outcomes.

·         The Homelessness Review and Strategy is a statutory document which focuses on measures to prevent and relieve homelessness

·         The Allocation Policy is a statutory document which seeks to ensure that social and affordable housing is allocated to those in housing need in a fair and transparent manner.

It was explained that in developing the strategies there had been a considerable amount of joint working with various providers. There had been a number of workshops and a larger consultation event in the autumn which had been popular and very productive with 60-70 attendees at the Housing Strategy event. The Homelessness Strategy and the Allocations Policy had been discussed widely with service providers and partners.

A summary of the key national changes was provided. These included:

·         Statutory reduction in social housing rents by 1% per annum for four years from April 2016 limiting the revenue available to social housing providers.

·         Reduction in the obligations on housing developers to provide affordable housing on larger schemes

·         Reduction in the benefit cap to £20,000, extension of shared accommodation rates for housing benefit applicants to under 35 year olds and loss of automatic right to housing benefit for 18-21 year olds

·         Legislation now requires landlords to ensure that tenants have the right to remain in the country.  This is predicted to impact negatively on   the willingness of private landlords to house some households.

·         A central government scheme to build ‘one for one’ social houses lost under  ...  view the full minutes text for item 63.

It was noted that this item had been deferred from the previous meeting of the committee held on 19 January 2016 at 10.00 am.

The committee considered and agreed the scoping statement for the community infrastructure levy task and finish group. The membership of the committee was agreed as Cllrs Bartlett, Johnson, and Hardwick. Cllr Harvey was appointed as the chairman of the task and finish group.

The committee received the executive response on the future of the smallholdings estate (county farms).

A member of the committee requested that the forward plan be included in documents for work programme items on future agendas of meetings of the committee.

The next scheduled meeting is Tuesday 8 March 2016 at 10.00 am.

Tuesday 8 March 2016 at 10.00 am.