northlincs.gov.uk

PRESENT:-   Councillor Waltham (Chairman) in the Chair.

Councillors Briggs, Hannigan, Poole, Reed and Rose.

Councillors Armiger, Clark, A Davison, Ellerby, L Foster, Glover, Godfrey, Gosling, Mumby-Croft, Ogg, O’Sullivan, K Vickers, Wilson and Wells also attended the meeting.

Denise Hyde, Simon Green, Mick Gibbs, Becky McIntyre, Helen Manderson, Karen Pavey, Peter Thorpe, Peter Williams, Will Bell, Stuart Atkinson, Sean Brennan, Andy Tate and Richard Mell also attended the meeting.

The meeting was held at the Civic Centre, Scunthorpe.

1255   DECLARATIONS OF DISCLOSABLE PECUNIARY INTERESTS AND PERSONAL OR PERSONAL AND PREJUDICIAL INTERESTS – There were no declarations of interest made at the meeting.

1256   MINUTES – Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting of Cabinet held on 31 January, 2017, having been printed and circulated amongst the members, be taken as read and correctly recorded and be signed by the chairman.

1257   (37)    OUTSTANDING ACTION FROM PREVIOUS MEETINGS – The Director of Policy and Resources submitted a report which contained a schedule of outstanding issues on which cabinet had requested reports to future meetings.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

1258   (38)    REGULATION OF INVESTIGATORY POWERS ACT 2000 (RIPA) – The Director of Policy and Resources submitted a report informing Cabinet of the outcome of a recent RIPA Inspection, providing an update in relation to the required Senior Responsible Officer role and the council’s RIPA activity and sought of approval of the 2017 RIPA Policy.

RIPA created a regulatory framework to govern the way public authorities handled and conducted covert investigation.  This included covert surveillance directed at a person(s), the use of a “covert human intelligence source”, which involved the establishing of a relationship for the covert purpose of obtaining information and access to communications data such as telephone subscriber details and itemised phone logs.

The Council’s main use of RIPA relating to directed surveillance activities between the period 1 December 2015 to 31 January 2017, following authorisation of a number of RIPA applications were detailed in paragraph 2.5 of the report.

In accordance with the legislation and the RIPA policy, all applications were authorised internally and also by the Magistrates.  RIPA authorisations had assisted Trading Standards preventing counterfeit goods being sold online, resulting in numerous counterfeit sellers being identified who had now stopped selling, and online groups ceasing selling counterfeit goods. Information obtained had also enable the Council to secure a criminal conviction against a prolific online seller of counterfeit good.

The Director explained that the council was inspected on its RIPA usage on 5 October 2016. The Inspector met with officers involved in the RIPA process and said he appreciated the “lively, informed and enthusiastic participation of all officers”. The Inspection concluded that “…..the Council has in place effective systems for the management of RIPA, for the provision of authorisations and the obtaining of Magistrates’ approval”. The Inspector also made the several recommendations which were set out in the report. These recommendations had been incorporated into the council’s RIPA Policy, attached as appendix 1, which consequently required approval from the Cabinet. RIPA forms part of the Counter Fraud Strategy which is approved by the Audit Committee as surveillance may be necessary to investigate potential fraud in certain cases

It was also a statutory requirement that the Council had a Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) who was responsible for the oversight of the RIPA process. Mr Mike Wedgewood, Director of Policy and Resources, was currently the SRO, however it was suggested that due to Mr Wedgewood’s retirement from the Council, as from 1^st April 2017 Mrs Becky McIntyre, Director: Governance and Partnerships, be appointed the SRO.

Resolved – (a) That the content of the report in relation to the use of RIPA and recent inspection be noted; (b) that the RIPA policy be approved and adopted, and (c) that Mrs B McIntyre, Director: Governance and Partnerships be appointed as the Senior Responsible Officer for RIPA as from 1 April 2017.

1259   (39)    BRITISH STEEL SUPPORT FUND UPDATE – The Director of Places submitted a report which updated members on the progress made with the British Steel Support Fund since his progress report considered by Cabinet at its meeting on 11 October 2016, minute 1233 refers.

The report explained that to date, 51 businesses had engaged with the programme, with 13 grants approved to date, with a further two undergoing due diligence and an additional two having their applications considered. £2.09m had been approved in grants to date, and if all other applications referred to above were granted, the total allocation of £2.356m would be awarded, with the total fund remaining including pipeline projects would be £589,000. The total private sector leverage by the programme was currently £19.9m.

The Director in his report reminded Cabinet that the programme has a target from government to create 250 jobs. To date, 297 jobs had approved, with 413 jobs set to be created in total which was far in excess of the target. Monitoring was undertaken to ensure that these jobs remained for at least three years.

Resolved – (a) That the progress made to date with the British Steel Support Fund be welcomed, and (b) that Councillor Baroness Liz Redfern be thanked for chairing the Board of the British Steel Support Fund and for the associated success of the programme.

1260   (40)    GREAT BRITISH SPRING CLEAN 2017 – The Director of Places submitted a report which informed Cabinet of the success of the recent ‘Great British Spring Clean 2017’ initiative held across North Lincolnshire between 3 and 5 March 2017. The national initiative had taken place across the country following on from the ‘Clean for the Queen’ initiative held in 2016 to commemorate the Queen’s 90^th birthday. The 2017 initiative was led by the Keep Britain Tidy campaign and aimed to become an annual event to bring people together to clean the up the country.

The Director in his report stated that the council had supported local groups to participate in the ‘Great British Spring Clean’ with the aim of encouraging as many people as possible to take some sort of action to help keep their community clear of litter and to sustain the initiative in the long term. In total over 300 volunteers from 38 separate groups had collected 700 bags of rubbish which the council also collected and disposed of. This compared to about 400 bags collected in the 2016 initiative. Every group of a range of volunteers who participated also received a letter of appreciation from the Leader of the Council.

Following the success of the initiative it was also clear that the majority of volunteer groups wished to continue their litter picking on a regular basis and this would be facilitated by the council. All volunteers would be encouraged to contribute to the rest of the year with the council’s support on helping clean up their local areas. The report listed several proposals as to how the council could contribute and work together with all the volunteer groups.

Resolved – (a) That the Cabinet recognises the valuable work done by the volunteer groups, supports their on-going litter picking activities and agrees to adopt next year’s scheme for Keep Britain Tidy; (b) that the cabinet agrees that the council should continue to promote actively the opportunities and support available for groups who wish to continue conducting litter picking in their local communities, and (c) that the Director of Places be thanked for continuing to support all local volunteer groups, and that this council has a united message of zero tolerance to all those who continue to drop litter and that associated enforcement action will be taken.

1261   (41)    SUPPORTING THOSE WITH CO-EXISTING MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE MISUSE ISSUES (DUAL DIAGNOSIS) – Further to minute 1205, the Director of Place submitted a report which considered progress against the six adopted recommendations of the Health Scrutiny Panel report published in January 2016 on ‘Supporting Those with Co-Existing Mental Health and Substance Misuse Issues (Dual Diagnosis)’. Improving the delivery of services for those with co-existing mental health and substance misuse issues with North Lincolnshire was vital in respect of achieving improved outcomes for Public Health and Community Safety. The aim was to provide a more person centred pathway.

An action plan had been developed, attached as appendix 2 of the report, which indicated that good progress was already apparent in most areas. There were some areas requiring further attention and joint management across the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and the council for improved co-ordination. Progress against each scrutiny panel recommendation was summarised in the report, together with outstanding action and further work to be carried out. Appendix 1 detailed each recommendation.

The Director in his report also explained that a common joint assessment framework for Dual Diagnosis was required and still outstanding. Public Health was supporting this element of the plan. However, the pathway was still not agreed fully by RDASH (Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber – NHS Foundation Trust) A meeting had been held recently to clarify roles and agree pathways/assessments processes, and although the CCG was present, the provider was not and therefore the CCG had taken action to obtain the commitment required. Further meetings had been arranged to progress work and it was essential the RDASH attended these meetings so that sustained progress and full delivery of the action plan could be achieved. Similarly, it was proposed that officers explored the possibility of assigning a senior public health specialist with the responsibility of overseeing deliver of the actions to progress the coordination of the Dual Diagnosis work.

The report in appendix 3 also included two case studies that demonstrated that a multi-disciplinary approach was needed for supporting those with complex needs, for example, Dual Diagnosis. They showed the positive outcomes that could come from this should it be embedded into all care for service users with such complex and high risk needs.

Resolved – (a) That the progress made to date against each of the recommendations contained in the Health Scrutiny Panel report entitled ‘Supporting Those with Co-Existing Mental Health and Substance Misuse Issues (Dual Diagnosis)’ be noted; (b) that the action plan aimed at taking forward further work in relation to the recommendations in question, be approved, and (c) that the assignment of a senior Public Health Specialist to take a lead in progressing the action plan be supported.