Agenda item

Improvement Plan Objective 5 – Supporting Young People into Education, Employment or training

 

Invitees:

·        Head of Regeneration, Investment and Housing

·        Strategic Director - Place

·        Cabinet Member for Education and Skills

 

Members requested that the agenda be printed in colour for future meetings, as the performance information was difficult to read in black and white due to the colour coding.

 

The Head of Regeneration, Investment and Housing gave an overview of Improvement objective 5 – Supporting young people into education, employment or training, and updated the Committee in progress being made in achieving the objective. It was explained that many of the targets were annual, and as such, there was no data for these within the report, such as those that related to NEETs. Progress had been made over the last three years to bring these figures down; the last indication was a figure of 1.7% which was low for this indicator. Newport was currently the 7^th in Wales for this indicator. 

 

Members were advised that the KPI relating to NEETS included those individuals in Prison, and as such there would always be a small percentage of this figure that would be hard to reach. Members queried whether a breakdown of the figure of 1.7% was available to determine the proportion of this figure that related to those in prison. The Committee were advised that this figure was not broken down to reflect individual groups.

 

The Committee commended the Council in its development in this area over the last few years, noted the complexity of the cases within the Communities in Newport, and the level of multi-agency support that it had taken to get to 1.7%. 

 

The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills outlined the progress being made towards this objective, specific mention was made to the work being done to address at risk 16-18 year olds, building on positive relationships with Careers Wales, the EU funding for inspire to work, communities for work and traineeships.

 

Members queried whether the impact of BREXIT on the European Funding and grants process was known at this stage. The Head of Regeneration, Investment and Housing advised that the current funding programme were agreed up until the end of 2020, very few grant funding were committed past 3 years. Concerns were raised on the impact of any reduction of EU funding on the performance of the service, and the provision it would be able to offer.

 

Conclusion

 

The Committee noted the good progress being made in relation towards this objective, particularly the progress in relation to NEETs.

 

Members discussed the risk of the potential reduction in EU funding in the future as a result of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. Assurances were given that the current funding schemes were in place until 2020 and as such the short to medium term impact of this was being managed. Members wished to highlight this as an area of concern and risk in the longer term, and the potential impact this would have to the provision of services and the performance in this area.

 

Improvement Objective 7 – Increasing Recycling

 

Invitees:

·        Strategic Director – Place

·        Senior Strategy Manager

·        Cabinet Member – Streetscene

 

The Cabinet Member for Streetscene outlined progress being made in achieving this Improvement Plan Objective, highlighting the overall judgement as green. The Council was currently meeting the 58% target for diverting landfill waste, and the tonnage of materials being recycles increasing.

 

Members briefly discussed issues with the kerbside collection service including difficulty for flats in storing the recycling, and the city demographic making it more difficult to recycle.  The Committee were reminded that a Waste Strategy Policy Review Group had been set up through Scrutiny, with representatives from this Committee, and were currently considering options for the strategic direction for waste services. As such it was agreed that discussion on approaches considered addressing the recycling targets would occur once this group had reported to Scrutiny. The report would then be forwarded to the Cabinet Member for consideration and a decision.

 

Members discussed previous concerns raised in relation to collection of recycling from flats, and questioned what progress had been made to address this. Members were advised that there had been limited progress in increasing the recycling rates from flats.

 

Members suggested considering a pilot scheme with housebuilders to incorporate the necessary storage facilities into the design of the kitchen areas, to make recycling in flats and smaller dwellings easier in the future.

 

Members also suggested that an education programme on recycling be developed with schools to engage with young people from an early age to improve awareness of the environmental importance of managing waste and increasing recycling rates.

 

Conclusions

 

Members noted the progress being made towards achieving this objective, and noted the impending Scrutiny review that will have relevance to this objective in the future.

 

The Committee made the following suggestions to the Officers and Cabinet Members for further exploration:

 

·        A pilot scheme with housebuilders to incorporate the necessary storage facilities into the design of the kitchen areas, to make recycling in flats and smaller dwellings easier in the future.

 

·        The development of an education programme on recycling with schools to engage with young people from an early age to improve awareness of the environmental importance of managing waste and increasing recycling rates.

 

Improvement Objective 3 – Ensuring people have access to suitable accommodation

 

Invitees:

·        Cabinet Members – Regeneration and Housing

·        Head of Regeneration, Investment and Housing

·        Strategic Director – Place

 

The Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Housing presented the report an outlined the overall performance in achieving this objective. Particular reference was made to the provision and viability of affordable housing as an area where the Council was not performing as effectively as expected.

 

With regard to homelessness, the Committee were advised that 491 applications had been received by the Council from those at risk of homelessness, and there were currently 7,400 applications on the list for affordable housing. It was noted that this was not reflective of an increase in numbers of applications, but rather an increase in the complexity of these cases.

 

Members queried the process of challenge undertaken by the Council to ensure that developers include social housing within their schemes. The Strategic Director – Place assured Members that a robust challenge on these types of development was provided by the Officers, whilst ensuring that it would not be overturned on appeal. Members were advised that there had been a significant proportion of affordable housing provided within the last period, and there was confidence that there would be an improvement for the figures for this performance measure reflected within the next quarter.

 

Members discussed the relationship with Newport City Homes and whether the figures were an accurate reflection of the situation. Members were advised that the Authority worked within 8 partnerships on the common housing register, for which the Local Authority was responsible for its administration. This provides an overview of the situation at any point in time, and how organisations are managing it.  The impact of Rentsmart Wales was mentioned, and impacted upon the availability of suitable rental housing.

 

The Cabinet Members advised that the Housing Strategy was being developed and would be consulted upon. Members discussed the potential for the council to build housing, however without the necessary resources and economies of scale this was unlikely to be successful.

 

The Committee queried how the targets were set. Members were advised that this was dependent on the individual targets and who they were reported to. Some were set by the Welsh Assembly where they were reported nationally, and those that were internal to Newport Council would be set by the Council Officers.

 

Members queried what sanctions were available to address perceived ‘landbanking’ by developers, whereby permission is granted for a development with the requirement for social housing, but the development is not progressed in a timely manner.  The Strategic Director –Place explained that as planning permission is granted for a set period of time, there were limitations to what the Council could do to progress developments as it was often within a timescale or programme for the developer within a larger context of the development.

 

Conclusions

 

Following discussion with the Cabinet Member and the lead officers, the Committee noted the positive progress being made in achieving this objective.

 

 

Improvement Objective 4 – City Regeneration and Development

 

Invitees:

·        Cabinet Members – Regeneration and Housing

·        Head of Regeneration, Investment and Housing

·        Strategic Director – Place

 

The Cabinet Member introduced the Improvement Plan Objective and outlined the progress that has been made within the first quarter. The Council had benefited from Vibrant and Viable places scheme which had acted as a catalyst, with £14 million coming from WAG, which then attracted private investors resulting in around £40 million of investment. This scale of investment was progressing with many projects and work still to be completed. Members were advised that the Council was currently developing a City Centre Master Plan and was also looking at the second phase of Vibrant and Viable placed WAG funding. The importance of working with Partners in developing the bids was discussed, as well as the complimentary work of partner’s schemes and how the Council can utilise a wider network of investment and schemes to complement the work of the Council.

 

The Committee discussed a number of key projects that would feature within the City Centre Master Plan including the Market and the development of Commercial Street, and the development of the Business Improvement District to progress the projects.

 

Conclusions

 

Members acknowledged the progress being made towards this objective, and noted that the City Centre Masterplan would provide an important steer for progressing the regeneration and development of the City Centre. The Committee suggested that the Performance Scrutiny Committee – Place and Corporate monitor the implementation of this plan once it is adopted. The purpose of this would be to consider and monitor the progress in delivering the schemes and projects within the plan.