Venue: Sparkenhoe Committee Room, County Hall, Glenfield
Contact: Miss. A. Rog (Tel. 0116 305 0455) Email: anna.rog@leics.gov.uk
No. | Item |
---|---|
Webcast. A webcast of the meeting can be viewed at http://council.webcast.vualto.com/leicestershire-county-council/home?EventId=13895. |
|
In Attendance. Mr. R. Blunt CC, Cabinet Lead Member for Heritage, Leisure and Arts (Minutes 74 and 75 refer). |
|
Minutes: The minutes of the meeting held on 19 January 2016 were taken as read, confirmed and signed. |
|
Question Time. Minutes: The following questions were put to the Chairman of the Adults and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee. Questions by
Quorn Parish Councillor Olwen Jones: “(a) Is the Committee aware of the difficulties facing Quorn
Parish Council and the proposed Quorn Community Library regarding their
continued use of facilities at Rawlins Academy, and will the Committee instruct
its officers to expedite matters in this regard and keep the Parish Council
fully informed? (b) Will the Committee recognise the hard work and
commitment of both the volunteers and the Parish Council in agreeing a library
business plan, and the risk that the continuing delays in establishing the
community library will de-motivate them? (c) Will the Committee work to ensure that the
Library Service in Quorn is able to continue without interruption and for the
extended opening hours set out in the Library business plan agreed with the
County Council?” Reply by the
Chairman: “(a) I have been informed by officers of the
current status of Quorn Community Managed Library and the ongoing dialogue with
Rawlins Academy. As stated in my response to the Parish Council (tabled for
members of the Committee), I have asked that officers provide an update on the
matter at a future meeting of this Committee. The matter has been provisionally
scheduled for consideration at our meeting on 5 April; (b) I
am aware of the work that has been undertaken to get to this stage and that
this has been indicative of the commitment of the local community to sustain
its library. Officers are currently working to resolve the legal issues that
have arisen around the use of the Rawlins Academy site; (c) Officers
have been asked to do everything they can to expedite
a resolution with the Academy to enable community plan for the Library to
progress.” Councillor Jones
asked a supplementary question in respect of question (c) to the following
effect:- Would the County Council ensure that, in the event that alternative premises are required in Quorn as part of the transfer of the library to community management, its full support be provided to the Parish Council? On behalf of the
Chairman, the Director responded as follows:- “The County Council will do as much as possible to enable the successful transfer of Quorn Library to community management as set out in their business plan and will ensure every effort is made to support the resolution of issues concerning the lease arrangements at Rawlins Academy.” |
|
Questions asked by members. Minutes: The Chief Executive reported that no questions had been received under Standing Order 7(3) and 7(5). |
|
Urgent Items. Minutes: There were no urgent items for consideration. |
|
Declarations of Interest. Minutes: The Chairman invited members who wished to do so to declare any interest in respect of items on the agenda for the meeting. The following declaration was made:-
Mr. T. J. Richardson CC declared a personal interest in the Future Strategy for Delivery of Library Services (minute 75 refers) as the Leader of Blaby District Council and a member of Narborough Parish Council. |
|
Declarations of the Party Whip in accordance with Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rule 16. Minutes: There were no declarations of the party whip. |
|
Presentation of Petitions under Standing Order 36. Minutes: The Chief Executive reported that no petitions had been
received under Standing Order 36. |
|
Change to the Order of Business. Minutes: The Chairman, having sought and obtained the consent of the Committee, changed the order of business from that set out on the agenda. |
|
Cabinet Report. Future Strategy for Delivery of Library Services. Additional documents:
Minutes: The Committee
considered a report of the Director of Adults and Communities to be submitted
to the Cabinet on 1 March, concerning the outcome of the public consultation
and engagement held in four communities of Barwell,
Braunstone Town, Mountsorrel and Narborough regarding
alternative library provision. The report also set out the progress made with
regard to Kirby Muxloe library. A copy of the report,
marked “Agenda Item 9”, is filed with these minutes. The Chairman
welcomed to the meeting the Cabinet Lead Member for Heritage, Leisure and Arts,
Mr. R. Blunt CC. In introducing the report the Cabinet Lead Member made
reference to the issues faced in respect of the four libraries and stressed
that, despite the good will and efforts of local people in Barwell
it had unfortunately not yet been possible to find a way to keep the Library
open. He did however stress that he would personally ask his colleagues on the
Cabinet that the Council should remain open to any groups who wished to come
forward to run the Library up until it was due to be closed in June and for a
further year thereafter. The Cabinet Lead Member expressed his personal thanks
to all communities who had committed their own time and skills to assist in
running their local library. The Director advised
that a further report providing an update on the work currently being
undertaken to achieve feasible business plans for Braunstone Town, Mountsorrel,
and Narborough libraries would be provided at the
Committee’s meeting on 5 April 2016. An
update on the legal issues encountered in the transfer of Kirby Muxloe Library, would also be provided at that meeting. The
Director, in response to a request from members, indicated that every effort
would be made to provide members with details regarding leasing arrangements
for these libraries. Arising from a
discussion, the following points were noted: (a) The
nearest alternative provision to Barwell
were the libraries situated in Earl Shilton (7
minute journey time including a full cost bus fare of £4.20) and Hinckley (12
minute journey time including a full cost bus fare of £4.80). Bus services to
these locations ran roughly every hour. It was recognised that this would
mostly impact elderly and young people though it was noted that concessions and
over 65 bus passes could be used on these bus routes; (b) It
was difficult to capture the extent to which the Library in Barwell
was used as a meeting venue, however it was noted that the George Ward Centre
in the village was most commonly used for this purpose. Customers primarily
used the Library for the loaning of books, however it was also used for
accessing IT services and the education of young people; (c) A
local group in Barwell had presented what was
considered to be a good solution regarding the running of the Library at the
George Ward Centre. However, a number of issues had meant that the group felt
they could not ultimately guarantee the long term sustainability of the library
and reluctantly withdrew its business plan. Despite this, it remained a
possibility that the community’s IT provision would be based there; (d) Deprivation
in Barwell had been taken into account in drafting
the proposals. Data had indicated that 44% of the community were not deprived,
33% were deprived in one dimension and 22% were deprived in two or more
dimensions; (e) The current plan for alternative provision in Barwell was for a mobile library service. It was noted that this would be accessible to the community after school hours as this was deemed to ... view the full minutes text for item 74. |
|
Draft Communities and Wellbeing Strategy 2016-20. Additional documents:
Minutes: The Committee considered a report of the Director of Adults and Communities which sought the Committee’s views on the draft Communities and Wellbeing Strategy which was being consulted on up to 2 May. A copy of the report, marked “Agenda Item 8”, is attached with these minutes. In his opening remarks Mr. R. Blunt CC, Cabinet Lead Member for Heritage, Leisure and Arts, advised that the draft Strategy was based around a principle of “supporting more, providing less”, owing to the Council’s resource pressures. He hoped that the consultation exercise would allow services to be mapped to ascertain which were used and valued most by customers, as well as how the services could be co-designed and co-delivered with the users where possible. He emphasised that the Council had no pre-conceived plan in regard to how services would be delivered following the consultation process. In response to questions raised, members were advised as follows: (a) By asking questions of consultees around value to the health, education, business and tourism sectors, it was hoped that a more responsive service could be provided addressing the needs of communities working in partnership with service users. It was recognised that the capacity of communities to run further services was an issue, though it was emphasised that it was not intended for all Council services to be run in this way; (b) The Adult Learning Service (ALS) was not included in the draft strategy as it received funding from the Skills Funding Agency, the level of which was not yet known for the upcoming academic year. In addition, it was noted that the Combined Authority had a remit for “skills” which made the issue more complex. It was noted that the costs provided on page 40 of the report took account of the exclusion of ALS; (c) The breakdown of staff cost and income by categories for each Communities and Wellbeing Service was not included in the consultation document, as the primary aim of the consultation was to seek views on which services were valued the most. The feedback received would inform a more detailed report; (d) The Department was aware of the importance of making the consultation process as inclusive and accessible as possible though it was noted that obtaining the views of all communities remained a challenge. The Committee was advised that the way in which the views of the public and stakeholders were gathered was continuously reviewed in an effort to improve response rates; (e)
The net budget for the Communities and Wellbeing
Service in 2010/11 was £10.7 million (expenditure of £18.3 million and income
of £7.5 million).The net budget for the service in 2014/15 was £6.1 million
(expenditure of £10.5 million and income of £4.3 million); RESOLVED: That the comments of the Committee be forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration at its meeting on 17 June 2016. |
|
Date of next meeting. The
next meeting of the Committee is scheduled to take place on 5 April 2016 at
2.00pm. Minutes: RESOLVED: It was noted that the next meeting of the Committee would be held on 5 April 2016 at 2.00 pm. |