Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Robert Allen (Bolton), Chris Goodwin (Oldham), Kallum Nolan (Rochdale), Dena Ryness (Stockport). 

The Chair extended thanks to substitute member Councillor Greg Stanton, for his attendance at the meeting.

It was agreed that the December 2019 Committee meeting would be cancelled, given its proximity to the election, and no essential business which couldn’t be deferred to the January 2020 meeting.

The Committee were advised that future meetings would include an informal Members discussion, which would be held at 5.30pm, in preparation for the formal Committee meeting at 6pm.  The Chair welcomed Members attendance where possible.

Members were informed that Officers would seek to identify a further date, for a GMFRS briefing

Session, to be held in early February 2020. The session would focus on the challenges faced by the fire service, so that Members were better prepared to scrutinise, and support the identification of potential deep dive themes.

RESOLVED:

1.      That the meeting due to be held on 10 December 2019 be cancelled, and the business deferred until January 2020.

2.      That Officers consult with Members and Officers on developing a GMFRS briefing session in early February 2020.

To receive declarations of interest in any item for discussion at the meeting. A blank form for declaring interests has been circulated with the agenda; please ensure that this is returned to the Governance & Scrutiny Officer at the start of the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest received.

To consider the approval of the minutes of the meeting held on 17 September 2019, as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 September 2019 were submitted for approval.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 17 September 2019  be agreed.

Report of Paul Dennett, Portfolio Leader for Housing, Homelessness and Infrastructure.

City Mayor Paul Dennett, Portfolio Leader for Housing, Homelessness and Infrastructure, introduced a report, which outlined the progress of the Greater Manchester High Rise Task Force (GMHRTF), and the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service High Rise Team (GMFRSHRT), in regard to high rise residential buildings in Greater Manchester (GM), and its contribution nationally in this area.

Also in attendance was Jim Wallace, Chief Fire Officer, Tony Hunter, Director of Protection and SPPCI, Jenni Seex, Head of Protection, and Robin Lawler, Chief Executive of Northwards Housing, and Chair of the GM Fire Safety Technical Group.

The following key points were highlighted:

·         The GMHRTF had been set up following the Mayoral Summit on the 25 June 2017, with the purpose of overseeing the GM response to the fire at Grenfell Tower.

·         The ultimate priority for the GMHRTF, was to provide reassurance on GM fire safety, and to ensure buildings were safe, and that GM could respond effectively to a major high rise incident.

·         A survey of residents living in high rise buildings was undertaken over the summer, and utilised as part of the GMHRTF response, to the Governments consultation on ‘Building a Safer Future’. The survey was subsequently extended until the start of September 2019 and a final report was being prepared.

·         Following the publication of the Hackitt Report, MHCLG working with NFCC and Local Authority Building Control (LABC) had created a series of working groups to consider what work was necessary to develop and deliver a Joint Competent Authority (JCA) arrangement.

·         The significantly positive work undertaken by the GMHRTF and the GMFRS High Rise Team in GM, and on the national stage, had been recognised nationally, with GMFRS invited to be a member of the new Protection Board.

·         The Grenfell Inquiry Phase 1 report has been published, and included a number of recommendations, which were carefully being considered by the GMHRTF, GMFRS, and partners.

·         The GMHRTF currently meet every six weeks, and is attended by GMFRS, representatives of local authorities, housing providers, universities, utility companies, and representatives of managing agents for privately owned blocks of flats.

·         The GMHRTF had developed a number of task groups/cells to carry out focused work, and the majority of these were led by GMFRS.

·         The current number of blocks where interim measures are required was currently 79. The definition of high rise, was currently buildings which were more than 18 metres in height.

·         A major element of the work to ensure operational readiness, was the development of guidance, for the role of operational crews in supporting and ensuring the evacuation of residents at an incident, in buildings, where an evacuation strategy has been implemented. The fire incident at the Cube, in Bolton, on Friday, had tested this response.

·         The Operational Assurance team had implemented smoke curtains on all appliances, supported by operational guidance, to support the effective escape of residents, in the event of a fire.

·         The main concern was the number of buildings, which still had unsafe cladding on the outside of them, and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

Report of Jon Rouse, Chief Executive Portfolio Lead for Children, Young People and Cohesion. Meeting attendance by Jane Forrest, Assistant Director, Public Service reform, GMCA.

Jane Forrest, Assistant Director Reform, introduced a report which provided an update on the School Readiness programme, in light of the recent approval of £2.1m investment, from the Health and Social Care Partnership (H&SCP), to accelerate progress.

Members were informed that the challenges to improving school readiness outcomes at a locality and GM level, had been considered by the Committee’s School Readiness Task and Finish group, and their findings had subsequently been used to inform the GM programme of work as detailed at paragraph 1.4 within the report.

The Task Group’s findings were tabled at the meeting, and presented by Councillors Stella Smith and Colin McLaren. It was acknowledged that the findings demonstrated the value of task groups in deep diving into issues in more detail. 

The following key points were highlighted:

·         Rates of child poverty were important to bear in mind when contextualising GM’s GLD results; the proportion of children living in income-deprived households is higher in GM than the national average.

·         There had been a positive improvement in outcomes for disadvantaged children and outcomes for pupils eligible for Free School Meals. This had improved by 4 percentage points since 2015, and provisional DfE data showed that we had now closed the gap between the GM and England GLD average, for pupils eligible for free school meals.

·         Although the gap between GM and national performance has narrowed slightly in recent years, the trend towards a plateau in performance was a feature of the national trend data as well as the GM data. There was an ambitious objective for GM to reach the national level for GLD within 2 years.    

·         Performance across GM varied, but results in Tameside and Oldham had improved by 1% and 4% respectively. Over the last 3 years, the proportion of 5 years olds reaching GLD in Oldham had increased by over 7 percentage points, and they were the most improved local authority in the North West, and one of the most improved in the country. Oldham had benefited from additional investment as a DfE funded, Opportunity Area; early years initiatives funded as part of this programme would inform further improvement work across GM.

·         Work to embed best practice pathways, had included the recent soft launched ‘Tiny, Happy, People website across GM’ by the BBC; the website provides resources that can be used by parents and front line professionals to help improve a child’s speech, language and communication. GMCA has worked closely with the BBC to develop resources and provided marketing materials, which were being given out by Midwives and Health Visitors to raise awareness with parents.

·         GM had been recognised nationally for its work to develop a GM pathway for antenatal parenting support, aligned to the wider work taking place to implement the perinatal and infant mental health (PIMH) strategy across GM. Work was underway with CCG’s to ensure that the pathway was embedded within future commissioning plans.

·         A roundtable event had taken place (in November 2019), with potential investors and delivery partners, to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.

Report of Richard Paver, Treasurer, GMCA

Members considered a report on the forecast budget outturn position for 2019/20, the proposed budget for 2020/21, and the process to update the Levy Allocation Methodology Agreement (LAMA).

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

Report of Joanne Heron, Statutory Scrutiny Officer, GMCA.

Joanne Heron, Statutory Scrutiny Officer, introduced the 2019/20 work programme for Members to review, develop and agree.

The Committee’s focus in January and February 2020, would be to scrutinise the budget process.

RESOLVED:

That the work programme be agreed.

Report of Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, and Portfolio Lead for Policy and Strategy.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

Report of Sir Richard Leese, Portfolio Lead for Economy and Business.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

https://democracy.greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CommitteeId=386

RESOLVED:

That the Register of Key Decisions be noted.

Tuesday 10 December at 6pm, GMCA Offices

CI30/19                       DATE OF NEXT MEETING

Tuesday 21 January 2020, at 6pm, GMCA Offices.

That, under section 100 (A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the press and public should be excluded from the meeting for the following items on business on the grounds that this involved the likely disclosure of exempt information, as set out in paragraphs 3 and 5 of Part 1, Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

RESOLVED:

That, under section 100 (A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the press and public should be excluded from the meeting for the following items on business on the grounds that this involves the likely disclosure of exempt information, as set out in paragraph 3, Part 1, Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Report of Richard Paver, Treasurer, GMCA.

The Committee considered a report, which outlined a forecast budget outturn for 2019/20, and an overview of the proposed budget and levy requirements for 2020/21.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.