Agenda and minutes

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Items
No. Item

37.

Apologies

To receive any apologies for absence.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors P I Carter, J M Heron and M Rose.

38.

Appointment of Substitute Members

To note appointments of Substitute Members.

Minutes:

It was noted that in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 4, Councillor B Gardner had been appointed as substitute member for Councillor J M Heron.

39.

Declarations of Interest pdf icon PDF 37 KB

To receive any declarations of interest from Members in respect of business to be transacted on the agenda.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

40.

Minutes

To confirm the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 3 July 2018 and 11 September 2018 (to follow).

Minutes:

The consideration of the Minutes was deferred.

41.

Public Speaking

Please note that in accordance with the agreed Protocol for Public Speaking at Overview and Scrutiny, the right to speak only applies to agenda item 12.

 

The right of the public to speak does not apply to the following agenda items: Apologies, Appointment of Substitute Members, Declarations of Interest, Minutes, the Forward Plan, the Scrutiny Work Programme, any agenda item that is not accompanied by a written report and items that are exempt business.

 

Members of the public wishing to speak must register to do so by no later than 2.00 pm on the second working day before the meeting.

 

Minutes:

The Democratic Services Manager advised that no members of the public had registered to speak on items on the agenda to which the public speaking protocol applied.

42.

Decisions of the Cabinet Relating to Recommendations from the Scrutiny (Policy and Performance) Committee

There were no decisions taken by the Cabinet at its meeting held on 1 October 2018 in respect of recommendations from the Scrutiny (Policy and Performance) Committee.

 

Minutes:

Members received the decisions of the Cabinet relating to recommendations made by the Committee.

 

RESOLVED:  That the Cabinet decisions relating to recommendations from the Scrutiny (Policy and Performance) Committee be noted.

43.

Issues referred to the Committee by Council, Cabinet, Scrutiny (Community and Regeneration) Committee or another Committee

There are no items for consideration.

Minutes:

There were no items of business to consider.

44.

Items called-in for Scrutiny or placed on the agenda by a Member of the Committee, any individual Non-Executive Members or Public Petition

(a)    Items placed on the agenda by a Member of the Committee or any individual Non-Executive Member

 

       Any individual Councillor may request that a matter is placed on the agenda of one of the Council's Overview and Scrutiny Committees by providing Democratic Support with notice of the matter prior to the agenda being published.

 

       There are no items for consideration.

 

(b)    Items the subject of Call-In

 

       Executive Decisions may be called-in by the Chairman or Spokesperson of the Scrutiny (Policy and Performance) Committee or any three non-executive members.

 

       There are no items for consideration.

 

(c)    Public Petition

 

       There are no items for consideration.

Minutes:

There were no items of business to consider.

45.

Notice of Forthcoming Key Decisions pdf icon PDF 38 KB

It is intended that Members should use the Notice of Forthcoming Key Decisions to identify topics within the remit of the Committee for future scrutiny.

Minutes:

The Democratic Services Manager presented the Notice of Forthcoming Key Decisions to the Committee for its consideration.

 

Members requested an updated on homelessness be included within the work programme.  

 

RESOLVED:   That the Notice of Forthcoming Key Decisions be noted.

 

46.

Scrutiny Work Programme pdf icon PDF 72 KB

It is intended that the Committee monitor and prioritise its rolling work programme.

Minutes:

The Democratic Services Manager presented the Scrutiny Work Programme to the Committee for its consideration.

 

Members were advised that the Chairman had requested that BREXIT be added to the work programme.

 

RESOLVED:  That the Work Programme be noted.

47.

Universal Credit Update

To receive an update from the Director of Customer Services, East Kent Housing on the impact of the implementation of Universal Credit.

Minutes:

The Director of Customer Services (East Kent Housing) provided an update on the impact of the roll out of Universal Credit in the district.

 

Members were advised that Universal Credit brought together six separate benefits together, including housing benefit, and it was paid direct to households not to the rent account. The process of changing to Universal Credit took 5 – 6 weeks and East Kent Housing (EKH) were notified 4 – 6 weeks after the change by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The Head of Community Services advised that he would speak to representatives of the DWP to ask them to advise EKH as soon as possible of any tenants due to switchover to Universal Credit.

 

EKH then wrote to tenants who had made the switch to reassure them that they wouldn’t be evicted as a result of arrears arising from the change to Universal Credit and to date no one had been evicted for this reason. It was expected by 2019/20 that the majority of housing benefit claimants would have switched over to Universal Credit.

 

EKH was working to understand the full financial impact of the switch to Universal Credit on its resources but the extent of the impact was dependent on how quickly the full roll out of Universal Credit took place in the district. It was estimated that approximately 700 housing benefit claimants had switched over with a further 4000 still to switch over.

 

The Head of Community Services advised that the Council had been working with the Citizens Advice Bureau over the provision of general financial advice on the issue and the Council was helping people in respect of digital access as Universal Credit was an online service. In addition, EKH provided more specialist assistance on the matter and had 3 officers allocated to dealing with Universal Credit issues across the whole of EKH, which equated to 1 FTE for the district. There were also two income officers working on the more technical side for Universal Credit in Dover. In respect of legal action in relation to Universal Credit arrears it was stated that this was a decision for each Council to take on a case-by-case basis.   

 

Members expressed concern that private landlords would be less tolerant on arrears caused by Universal Credit and the potential impact that this would have on the Council in respect of homelessness presentations.

 

RESOLVED: (a)   That the update be noted.

 

                        (b)   That a further update on Universal Credit be scheduled as part of the work programme.

48.

Launch of a Local Authority Lottery pdf icon PDF 96 KB

To consider the attached report of the Director of Finance, Housing and Community.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Head of Community Services presented the report on the Launch of a Local Authority Lottery.

 

The proposed Dover District Lottery would raise new funds for participating local good causes, and would help to fund an increase in the DDC Community Grants programme. The good causes would receive 50p in very £1 which would provide for a regular income stream to support their work in the community at no cost to them.

 

The players would have the option to specify which participating good causes they wanted to support, as well as making a 10p contribution to a Central Fund which would increase the amount of funding available to community groups and projects via the DDC Community Grants programme. Where players opted not to support specific good causes, 60p in the £1 was apportioned to the Central Fund.

 

It was emphasis to Members that while this was a lottery it wasn’t about gambling but rather providing an additional income stream to support the local voluntary sector and building social capital. The Council would also provide support to help the voluntary sector meet the governance arrangements needed to be eligible for the lottery scheme.  

 

In response to strong concerns expressed by Members that this would promote and normalise gambling, the Head of Community Services advised that there were robust safeguards in place and the nature of the registration process prevented any of the ‘instant gratification’ associated with gambling.

 

Members also expressed concern about the lottery being run by an external company and the use of Council funds to ‘pump prime’ the lottery.  

 

 

RESOLVED: That it be recommended to Cabinet that it not proceed further with plans to launch a local authority lottery for the Dover District (as per Option 2 of the report) until clarity can be provided to answer the concerns of the Scrutiny (Policy and Performance) Committee as follows:

 

(a)       What would happen to any monies in the prize fund should the lottery be wound up. 

 

(b)       What limit, if any, is proposed for the number of tickets that an individual can purchase.

 

(c)     That further information be provided in respect of safeguarding arrangements for individuals signing-up to the lottery. For example, whether registrations will be monitored, what arrangements, if any, are in place for spot checks to be undertaken to ensure people can afford the contribution and what consideration has been given to how operating a lottery affects the Council’s health and wellbeing responsibilities.

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