Agenda and minutes

Councillor D Green declared a pecuniary interest in minute number 11 due to her employment at Lifeline.

Councillor Williams declared a non-pecuniary interest in minute number 10 due to his involvement with the YMCA and with DIAL.

The meeting received the minutes from the previous meeting of Central Area Council held on 4^th July, 2016.

With regards to the reconvening of advisory group meetings for the contract with RVS, it was noted that this would be covered within the Performance Report.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Central Area Council held on 4^th July, 2016 be approved as a true and correct record.

The report was introduced by the Area Council Manager, which covered the period April-June 2016. 

Members considered Part A of the report. This detailed the cumulative impact of the services commissioned by the Area Council.  The number of sessions delivered to children and young people to date was 1455, with 547 attending 3 or more sessions.  1616 Fixed Penalty Notices had been issued for dog fouling and littering.  949 private sector households had been engaged, and 444 had received 3 or more contacts.

Members noted that 283 adult volunteers had been engaged to date with 23 community groups supported.  13.5 full time equivalent jobs had been created and 22 part time/sessional jobs.

The meeting went on to consider Part B of the report, and feedback from each of the commissions.

With reference to the contract with RVS, members noted that amber ratings had been given for ‘Milestones achieved’ and ‘Overall satisfaction with delivery against contract’.  This was due to delays in establishing regular Service Advisory Group meetings. The service had engaged with 107 additional older people in the quarter, with the total number of people engaged at 616.  Many of these were now taking part in community activities. 

Thanks were given to the inclusion worker from RVS, for their support to community activities over and above the demands of the contract.

Members noted that referrals from GPs to the service had not increased and that pressure on the CCG to help remedy this should continue.

Members heard of the performance of the contract with YMCA, with all areas rated as ‘green’.  83 new children aged 8-12 years had been engaged, with 2487 attendances within the quarter. 61 children had also achieved accreditation.  3 sessions were held in each ward every week, and there were 14 active peer supporters involved with the service.  The service continued to work in partnership with other organisations in the area.

Members considered the performance of the contract with Kingdom Security, noting that 276 Fixed Penalty Notices had been issued for dog fouling and littering within the quarter.  The rate for payment for notices was approximately 70%.

The meeting considered the service provided by Twiggs Grounds Maintenance.  Feedback in relation to the service was positive, including on social media, and all targets had been met or exceeded.  All requests for service had also been responded to.

With regards to the Private Sector Housing and Enforcement service level agreement, 269 different properties had been visited within the quarter equating to 949 since the service commence.  Approximately half of all properties received 3 or more visits.  The meeting noted that officers are normally called to addresses for a single issue however, once engaged families were often supported with multiple issues.  The performance in relation to ‘outcome indicators met’ was rated as ‘amber’ as a result of an outstanding piece of work to more specifically define the term ‘vulnerable households’, though generally the service was performing well.  The feedback provided to Members was thought exemplary.

The Home Visiting  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

The Central Area Council Manager introduced the item, referring to the report circulated.

Members were reminded of the Area Council’s priorities and underpinning principles.  With regards to the priority of ‘Clean and green/environmental’ Members acknowledged that this was being addressed through the contracts with Twiggs Grounds Maintenance and with Kingdom Security.   It was noted that the previous meeting of the Area Council agreed to the development of a business case for a new private rented housing management service to run from April 2017, for which work was underway.

In order to address the priority of ‘Reducing loneliness and isolation in vulnerable adults and older people’ information was being gathered in order to inform discussion at a task and finish group on the subject, which was to be arranged towards the end of September, 2016.

With reference to the priority ‘Family support’ the meeting heard that a number of initial meetings had taken place with relevant officers with the Family Centre and Family Support service.  However, it was noted that the service only came in to operation on 1st April 2016.  It was therefore suggested that a ‘Check and Challenge’ exercise be undertaken on this subject towards the end of the first year of operation i.e. at the end of March 2017, with the findings feeding into a task and finish group to discuss how the Area Council could address any gaps highlighted.

The priority ‘Building emotional resilience and wellbeing and resilience in children’ was discussed, noting that a task group had met to consider the area.  The group considered a briefing paper, which highlighted the national context and the Barnsley context, including statistical comparisons.  Learning from existing contracts was included, as was current provision.  The preferred option suggested was to procure a service for 8-14 year olds in the area, based on the approaches detailed in the ‘Resilience Framework’ document, with a budget of up to £200,000 delivered through one provider.

The meeting discussed the proposal in depth, including the positives and negatives from such a sizeable commission, and from commissioning a single provider.  It was felt important to balance the difficulties in managing a number of providers, with the desire to support smaller organisations in the area.  It was thought of paramount importance to ensure a sizeable budget was available to ensure any commission had the desired impact, though the finite budget of the Area Council was noted. The meeting also discussed the age range proposed and noted the rationale behind this.

Following the discussion it was agreed that the business case be supported, however rather than the service being delivered by a single provider, it was agreed that opportunities should also be made available for a number of smaller local providers to deliver a supplementary/complementary service. It was agreed that a specification of requirements and procurement strategy (including cost) to procure a main provider to deliver a service to ‘build emotional resilience and wellbeing and resilience in children’ be brought to the next meeting of Central Area Council  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

The item was introduced by the Locality Manager, who reminded Members that the other 5 Area Councils had produced and distributed two issues of a community magazine for their area.

A recent review of the community magazines by Communications had identified a few minor issues, such as with delivery, but it was hoped that sequencing the production of magazines would help alleviate this. 

Members were asked whether they would like to reconsider their position, and agree to produce a community magazine.  This would be funded through advertisements in the publication; however distribution to every household in the area would be in the region of £3,500 per edition.

The meeting discussed the proposal, noting that a number of the Ward Alliances produced their own magazine.  Concern was expressed at the resource implications in producing a publication, noting the workload of officers.

RESOLVED: - that the Area Council does not produce a community magazine at this time.

Central – held on 25^th May, 22^nd June, and 27^th July, 2016

Dodworth – held on 24^th May, 21^st June and 26^th July, 2016

Kingstone – held on 22^nd June, 2016

Stairfoot – held on 13^th June, 11^th July, and 8^th August, 2016

Worsbrough – held on 23^rd June, and 11^th August, 2016

The meeting received the notes of various meetings of the Central, Dodworth, Kingstone, Stairfoot, and Worsbrough Ward Alliances held in May, June, July, and August 2016.

Attention was drawn to the membership of the Worsbrough Ward Alliance, and its diversity was commended.

Members heard that the Ardsley Picnic in the Park had been well attended and a brief update was provided on the work on the Stairfoot area of the Transpennine Trail and Barnsley Main site.

Noted was the request for the redeployment of the Dome Camera in the Worsbrough Ward, and the response provided that they would no longer be being redeployed.

RESOLVED that the notes and feedback from the Ward Alliances be received.

The meeting received a report detailing expenditure from Ward Alliance Funds for the year to 17^th August, 2016.

It was suggested that a future meeting of the Area Council discusses the current spending profile of the Ward Alliance Funds, and the process for delegating any additional funds from the Area Council in future.

RESOLVED:-

(i)         that the report be noted

(ii)       that a future meeting of the Area Council considers the spending profile of Ward Alliance Funds and the process for agreeing any future devolvement of Area Council Funds to the Ward Alliances.