Agenda and minutes

Venue: Civic Suite, North Warehouse, The Docks, Gloucester, GL1 2EP

Contact: Democratic and Electoral Services 

Items
No. Item

1.

Declarations of Interest

To receive from Members, declarations of the existence of any disclosable pecuniary, or non-pecuniary, interests and the nature of those interests in relation to any agenda item. Please see Agenda Notes.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

2.

Declaration of Party Whipping

To declare if any issues to be covered in the Agenda are under party whip.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

3.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 181 KB

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meetings held on 29th November and 6th December 2021.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED - That the minutes of the meetings held on 29th November 2021 and 6th December 2021 were approved and signed as a correct record by the Chair.

4.

Public Question Time (15 minutes)

To receive any questions from members of the public provided that a question does not relate to:

 

·       Matters which are the subject of current or pending legal proceedings or

·       Matters relating to employees or former employees of the Council or comments in respect of individual Council Officers.

 

To ask a question at this meeting, please submit it to democratic.services@gloucester.gov.uk by  12 noon on Wednesday 5th January 2022 or telephone 01452 396203 for support.

Minutes:

There were no public questions.

 

5.

Petitions and Deputations (15 minutes)

To receive any petitions and deputations provided that no such petition or deputation is in relation to:

 

·       Matters relating to individual Council Officers, or

·       Matters relating to current or pending legal proceedings

 

To present a petition or deputation at this meeting, please submit it to democratic.services@gloucester.gov.uk by 12 noon on Wednesday 5th January 2022 or telephone 01452 396203 for support.

Minutes:

There were no petitions and deputations.

6.

Action Points Arising From Previous Meetings pdf icon PDF 135 KB

To note the outcomes of action points arising from previous meetings.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED – That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee NOTE the updates.

 

7.

Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme and Council Forward Plan pdf icon PDF 246 KB

To receive the latest version of the Committee’s work programme and Council Forward Plan.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

85.1    The Chair introduced the latest version of the Council Forward Plan and invited suggestions as to any items Members wanted to add to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme.

 

85.2    It was agreed that the Tourism and Destination Marketing Report would be added to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on 31st January 2022. The Chair also expressed his wish for the Committee to consider the Blackfriars Priory Renewal Business Case and Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Review New Charging Schedule. It was agreed that these items would be reviewed by the Committee at the meeting on 28th February 2022.

 

85.3    Referring to the Green Travel Plan Progress Report 2022, the Chair noted that the date for this report was now confirmed in the Council Forward Plan for June 2022 and the Committee agreed to add this item to the Work Programme for the meeting on 6th June 2022.

 

85.4    Councillor Hilton referred to the request from the Committee to hold a scrutiny session on the financial position of Gloucestershire Airport and asked for an update on how these arrangements were progressing. The Democratic and Electoral Services Officer confirmed that enquiries had been made with the Chair of Cheltenham Borough Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee to ascertain his interest in being involved in a joint scrutiny session on the airport. She also confirmed that the Managing Director for Gloucestershire Airport had been approached and had been asked to confirm her availability on some upcoming Overview and Scrutiny Committee dates. It was agreed that follow-up enquiries would be made with the Managing Director to finalise a date for the scrutiny session.

 

RESOLVED

 

That the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme be amended to reflect the above and

 

To NOTE the Work Programme.

 

8.

Overview and Scrutiny Committee - Task and Finish Group Discussion pdf icon PDF 66 KB

To consider the wider work which Overview and Scrutiny Committees can undertake and to discuss potential Task and Finish Group items.

Minutes:

86.1    The Chair explained that one of the functions available to Overview and Scrutiny Committees was to establish Task and Finish Groups, where nominated Members could investigate a particular issue and work with Council officers and partner organisations to recommend improvements or possible solutions. He referred to the explanatory narrative at Agenda Item 9 and invited suggestions from Members on issues which they would like to see investigated by a Task and Finish Group.

 

86.2    Councillor Wilson noted that in his experience, the most successful Task and Finish Groups were tightly focused on a specific issue. He suggested that food hygiene and safety challenges in the city might be an interesting issue for a Task and Finish Group to look into. He also suggested a Task and Finish Group reviewing how gambling licenses were issued in the city as a potential option.

 

86.3    Councillor Pullen reiterated the need for any Task and Finish Groups to be clear and focused on a specific problem. He expressed the view that a small remit with a short time-scale would be the most effective way of getting the best from a Task and Finish Group investigation.

 

86.4    Councillor Durdey expressed the view that an establishment of a Task and Finish Group would be a good opportunity, particularly for newer Members of the Committee, to look into an issue they had an interest in.

 

86.5    Councillor Dee put forward an idea for a Task and Finish Group on Art and Cultural engagement in the city, and suggested that the Group could look into how the Council could better engage with communities who were less likely to attend or be involved with cultural events, such as young people or people from racially minoritized communities. She expressed the view that this might be a particularly relevant investigation, given the hope that the cultural sector would continue to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

86.6    The Chair endorsed this idea and expressed his own interest in how the Council could better engage with marginalised groups. He expressed the view that the Council needed to think differently about events were approached following the pandemic.

 

86.7    The Chair noted that all the suggestions were good ideas and invited Members who had any further ideas after the meeting to contact the Group Leads or Democratic and Electoral Services Officer with details of their suggestion. It was agreed that the list would be circulated to the Committee for discussion at a future meeting.

 

RESOLVED - That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee NOTE the discussion and revisit the item at a future meeting.

 

9.

Gloucester Commission to Review Race Relations Final Report pdf icon PDF 139 KB

To consider the report of the Leader of the Council presenting the work and findings of the Gloucester City Commission to Review Race Relations, and to consider the set of recommendations from the Commission that attempt to improve the lives of, and enhance opportunities for, Black and Ethnic Minority (BAME) communities within the City.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

87.1    The Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Environment, Councillor Richard Cook, introduced the report and explained that the purpose was to present the work and findings of the Gloucester City Commission to Review Race Relations. He noted that the Commissions’ report outlined a set of recommendations which ultimately attempted to improve the lives and enhance opportunities for Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities in Gloucester.

 

87.2    The Leader of the Council explained that the Gloucester Commission to Review Race Relations was headed by local businessman, Rupert Walters, and supported by officers from the City Council. He noted that Commissioners were selected from cross-sector organisations, including the Voluntary Sector, Police, County Council and the wider community in Gloucester. The Leader of the Council confirmed that the Work Programme of the Commission included investigations into several key areas including criminal justice, education, mental health and representation at senior management level in the local workforce.

 

87.3    Referring to the narrative at 2.2 in the report, the Leader of the Council explained that the report outlined four calls of action which the Commission considered must be delivered at a Gloucestershire-wide system level. These included the establishment of an independent, permanent, funded and high profile legacy institution for Gloucestershire, putting measures in place to monitor equality in the workforce and driving the required changes in culture to help collect high-quality ethnicity data, and a commitment at leadership level to step up and help tackle the existence of racism in Gloucestershire.

 

87.4    The Chair of the Gloucester City Commission to Review Race Relations, Rupert Walters, and the former Corporate Director and Commission Support, Anne Brinkhoff, delivered a presentation on the findings, conclusions and recommendations in the report. The Chair of the Commission explained that the Commission had been tasked with reviewing race relations and producing recommendations to improve the lives of racially minoritized people in Gloucester following the killing of George Floyd during the Spring of 2020. He provided an overview of the timeline of the Commission’s work and noted that the Call for Evidence was established early in the process to encourage involvement from the community. The Commission Support outlined the conclusions of the Race Commission report and the four Gloucestershire-wide ‘Calls to Action’, which were set out on pages 44 and 45 of the final report.

 

87.5    The Chair paid tribute to the Commissioners for their hard work in producing such an important piece of work. Referring to the emphasis on ‘education’ rather than session-based cultural intelligence training, he expressed the view that education was key to tackling race inequality issues and asked how Councillors could help the Commission achieve its goals.

 

87.6    The Commission Support confirmed that the preferred use of the term ‘education’ was due to the implication of longer-term and ongoing development. She suggested that Members could help by developing their own understanding of race inequality issues and noted that they could find a useful Equalities workbook for Councillors on the Local Government Association (LGA) website. The Chair  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

10.

Date of Next Meeting

Monday 31st January 2022.