Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

There were no apologies for absence.

To confirm the Minutes of the Meeting held on 11 January 2022.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 11 January 2022 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any declarations of interest.

The following Members made general personal declarations of interest:

·           Rachel Burgess - as a member of the Anti-Poverty Working Group.

·           Paul Fishwick - as his wife worked as a volunteer for Citizens’ Advice.

·           Jim Frewin – as a member of the Customer Excellence Programme Working Group.

·           Sarah Kerr - as a volunteer at the Wokingham Foodbank.

·           Alison Swaddle - as a member of the Anti-Poverty Working Group.

To answer any public questions. A period of 30 minutes will be allowed for members of the public to ask questions submitted under notice.

The Council welcomes questions from members of the public about the work of this Committee.

Subject to meeting certain timescales, questions can relate to general issues concerned with the work of the Committee or an item which is on the Agenda for this meeting.  For full details of the procedure for submitting questions please contact the Democratic Services Section on the numbers given below or go to www.wokingham.gov.uk/publicquestions

There were no public questions.

To answer any Member questions.

There were no Member questions.

To consider an update on the Borough’s Anti-Poverty Strategy and Year 1 Action Plan.  

The Committee considered a report, set out at Agenda pages 17 to 44, which gave details of the Council’s Anti-Poverty Strategy 2022/26. The report stated that the Anti-Poverty Strategy aimed to prevent people falling in to poverty, offer support to those already in poverty and help those in poverty to get out of it. Through working in partnership it aimed to develop an early intervention approach.

Councillor Laura Blumenthal, Deputy Executive Member for Equalities, Poverty, the Arts and Climate Emergency and Mark Gwynne, Interim Head of Insight, Strategy and Inclusion, attended the meeting to present the report and answer Member questions.

The report stated that the objectives of the Strategy over the next four years were to:

·           Support people in poverty;

·           Strengthen communities in their resilience to poverty;

·           Improve life opportunities for residents who are living in poverty.

The draft Anti-Poverty Strategy was appended to the report. It was being developed in partnership with the voluntary and community sector (VCS). In December 2021 a Hardship Alliance was created engaging four key VCS partners. Amy Garstang, Chair of the Hardship Alliance, attended the meeting to give a VCS perspective on the development of the Strategy.

The report stated that the draft Strategy had been subject to public consultation in January and February 2022 and would be updated to build in responses. Further development with the Hardship Alliance would take place in the coming months. The revised Strategy was due to be presented to the Executive for approval on 26 May 2022.

During the ensuing discussion, Members raised the following points:

The overarching strategy did not say much about preventing poverty in the Borough. Possible wording could be “doing all that we can to ensure that no one lives in poverty in the Borough”. Councillor Blumenthal commented that she was happy to look at wording which strengthened this aspect of the Strategy.

There were a number of issues currently which had an impact on poverty in the Borough. These included the effects of the pandemic, the energy crisis, house prices, changes to National Insurance and the rise in inflation. The Council and its partners should be lobbying on a range of issues. The introduction to the Strategy should be amended to reflect the range of challenges facing residents in the Borough. Councillor Blumenthal welcomed ideas for lobbying and exploring the steps that the Council could take to publicise the impact of these challenges.

Rachel Burgess raised the issues around in-work poverty and put forward a proposed recommendation to the cross party Anti-Poverty Working Group:

“Wokingham Borough Council will work towards becoming an accredited Real Living Wage Employer and will encourage local employers and supply chains to do the same”.

The proposal was seconded by Sarah Kerr.

Upon being put to the vote, the proposed recommendation was approved. Councillor Blumenthal stated that the cross-party working group would be happy to consider the recommendation.

Was there any additional funding to support delivery of the Anti-Poverty Strategy? Councillor Blumenthal confirmed that the Government had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.

To consider an update on the Council’s Equality Plan and the supporting Action Plans.

The Committee considered a report, set out at Agenda pages 45 to 58, which gave details of progress of the year 1 action plan which underpinned the Council’s Equality Plan 2021/25. The Equality Plan aimed to deliver a programme of improvements against the Equality Framework for Local Government (EFLG). The report also set out the action plan for year 2.

Laura Blumenthal, Deputy Executive Member for Equalities, Poverty, the Arts and Climate Emergency and Mark Gwynne, Interim Head of Insight, Strategy and inclusion attended the meeting to introduce the report and answer Member questions.

The report stated that the year 1 action plan had set out 29 actions which would progress towards the “Developing” level of the EFLG. The EFLG comprised four themes around which the action plan was structured and on which progress would be monitored. The themes were:

·           Understanding and working with your communities;

·           Leadership, partnership and organisational commitment;

·           Responsive services and customer care;

·           Diverse and engaged workforce.

Mark Gwynne highlighted progress in the Year 1 action plan in areas such as procurement, communications, customer experience and data collection. A cross-party Member working group had been established together with a Member learning and development programme. Externally, a Residents Equality Forum had been set up and work was ongoing to support a refresh of the BME Forum.

In the ensuing discussion, Members raised the following points:

In relation to Action 18 in Appendix 1 – what training had been provided on Equality Impact Assessments? Mark Gwynne confirmed that more details on training provision could be circulated to Members.

How did pay gaps fit into the Equality Plan? Councillor Blumenthal stated that she would discuss this issue with the Officers.

In relation to Action 17 – could some examples of Role Model behaviour be included, e.g. the calling out of hate speech? Councillor Blumenthal stated that this suggestion would be considered.

Could the list of protected characteristics be extended, e.g. to include socio- economic factors. Mark Gwynne stated that this could be considered.

In relation to the EFLG, was the assessment free of charge? Mark Gwynne confirmed that this was the case as a result of the Council signing up to the framework.

In relation to Action 2 – was the Plan co-produced? Councillor Blumenthal stated that the potential for more co-production could be explored in future.

In relation to Action 15 – Celebrate successes – where was the first case study published? Councillor Blumenthal confirmed that details of the first case study could be shared with Members.

Could RAG ratings be attached to the actions to give a clearer picture on which actions were progressing well and could the data be broke down into wards? Councillor Blumenthal stated that these ideas could be investigated further.

In relation to Action 11 – could a deeper dive take place into modern-day slavery within supply chains? Councillor Blumenthal confirmed that this suggestion could be pursued.

It was confirmed that the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service was doing good work on equalities.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

To consider an update on the Council’s Customer Excellence Programme.

The Committee considered a report, set out at Agenda pages 59 to 64, which provided an update on the Council’s Customer Excellence Programme. The report gave details of the existing Council access points and the overall aims of the programme which were to move to:

·           Standardised customer service across departments and ownership of customer experience o to be organisation-wide;

·           A new website centred on the needs of our residents;

·           Customer insight used proactively as part of a customer-centric strategy which drives continuous improvement across the Council;

·           Easy to use, streamlined customer journeys, focussed on customer need.

Gregor Murray (Executive Member for Resident Services, Communications and Emissions) and Jackie Whitney (Head of Customer Delivery) attended the meeting to present the report and answer Member questions.

The report gave details of the five year change programme, highlighting the key projects and workstreams and the expected benefits to be delivered for residents. The programme would be informed by data and customer feedback.

In the ensuing discussion, Members raised the following points:

How would Member feedback be incorporated into the programme? It was confirmed that a cross party Member working group would meet to consider progress and would act as a conduit for Member views. Members on the working group included Gregor Murray (Chairman), Shirley Boyt, Stephen Conway, Jim Frewin and Pauline Jorgensen.

As part of the data gathering exercise, would real life case studies be used? Jackie Whitney confirmed that real life situations would be used. The aim was to get to the root cause of any problems and to understand any unintended consequences from service changes.

What was the level of engagement with key services? Jackie Whitney confirmed that there was strong engagement with services. Customer delivery officers acted in a business partner role.

Some Members found contacting specific Officers challenging. Could Members be provided with a list of key Officers together with their contact details? Jackie Whitney confirmed that a list could be put together and circulated to Members.

A key issue was the use of jargon and Council speak. What steps were being taken to ensure that plain English was used as much as possible in Council communications? Jackie Whitney confirmed that the Council was working with a specialist company to review the content and tone of Council documents and forms. This would extend to the improvement plan for the Council website.

RESOLVED That:

1)     Gregor Murray and Jackie Whitney be thanked for attending the meeting to answer Member questions on the Customer Excellence Programme;

2)     the update on the Customer Excellence Programme be noted;

3)     Member comments and suggestions be used to inform the development of the programme.

To consider the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Annual Reports prior to their submission to Council in March 2022.

The Committee considered the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Annual reports for 2021/22, set out at Agenda pages 65 to 84. The reports gave details of the issues considered by each of the Committees and the impact of their work during the year. The reports would be submitted to the March Council meeting.

Alison Swaddle commented that the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee report should be updated to include reference to discussions held at the recent meeting.

RESOLVED That:

1)     the Overview and Scrutiny Annual Reports for 2021/22, as amended, be approved;

2)     the Annual Reports be submitted to the Council meeting in March 2022.

To consider the current published version of the Executive Forward Programme.

The committee considered a copy of the Executive Forward Programme as set out on Agenda pages 85 to 92.

RESOLVED: That the Executive Forward Programme be noted.

To discuss the work programme of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee and Overview and Scrutiny Committees

The Committee considered its forward work programme and that of the other Overview and Scrutiny Committees, as set out on Agenda pages 93 to 102.

RESOLVED: That the Overview and Scrutiny Forward Work Programmes be noted.

To consider the latest Action Tracker report.

The Committee considered the latest Action Tracker report, set out at Agenda pages 103 to 106.

The Chairman confirmed that she would be meeting with the Leader and Chief Executive on 6 March 2022 to discuss ways of developing the working relationship between the Overview and Scrutiny Committees and the Executive.

RESOLVED: That the Action Tracker report be noted.