The Labour Group

The Labour Councillors elected to sit on North Yorkshire Council are referred to collectively as the Labour Group. The Labour Group for the period from the 2017 County Elections to the next elections in 2021 is:

Eric Broadbent (Leader), Cllr for Northstead Division Scarborough.

Tony Randerson (Chair), Cllr for Eastby and Osgodby Division, Scarborough

Liz Colling (Secretary), Falsgrave and Stepney Division Scarborough

Steph Duckett (Treasurer), Barlby Division Selby.

Service Overview and Scrutiny Committees

The services that the Council provides are overseen by five Committees known as Scrutiny Committees. There is a useful guide to these Online. These meet formally every two months. Anyone can observe the Committees, live or recorded, ask questions by prior arrangement and access agendas, minutes and papers. In addition Councillors get informal midcycle briefings allowing them to look at upcoming items in detail and on occasion task groups are set up to look into specific issues.

The Committees are:

Care and Independence. Deals with the needs of vulnerable adults, older people and people whose independence needs to be supported by intervention from the public or voluntary sector. Committee members, agendas & papers.

Corporate and Partnerships. Deals with the Council’s  corporate organisation and structure, resource allocation, asset management, procurement policy, people strategy, equality and diversity, performance management, communications and access to services; and Partnership working, community development, community engagement, community strategies and community safety. Committee members, agendas & papers.

Health. Deals with planning, provision and operation of health services in the county, including ambulance trusts and the policies of the strategic health authority;  act as a lever to improve the health of local people;  to examine how health services address the needs of local communities; to address health inequalities; to ensure that local health and health related issues are being tackled jointly and in a co-ordinated way across agencies.Committee members, agendas and papers.

Transport, Economy and Environment. Transport and communications infrastructure of all kinds, however owned or provided, and how the transport needs of the community are met; Support to business and helping people develop their skills, including lifelong learning; Sustainable development, climate change strategy, countryside management, waste management, environmental conservation and enhancement and cultural issues. Committee members, agendas & papers. There is also a Climate Change Sub Committee.

Young People. The interests of young people, including education, care and protection and family support. Committee members, agendas & papers.

Planning and Regulation Committee. In addition to its duties to provide services the council has powers and obligations to deal with certain planning applications and apply regulations. There is a separate committee for this. Members, agendas & papers.

 

Labour Group Committee Responsibilities

The Labour Group, with only four people, is clearly very stretched to cover the full range of the County’s activities. They have nevertheless taken on the following responsibilities

Care and Independence: Eric Broadbent.

Corporate and Partnerships: Tony Randerson.

Health: Liz Colling.

Planning and Regulation; Eric Broadbent.

Transport Economy and Environment: Not currently covered.

Young People: Steph Duckett

 

Labour Group Reports for North Yorkshire Local Government Committee 15^th February 2021

 

Care and Independence. Eric Broadbent

Following a question to the North Yorkshire County Council officer for Care Home admissions at a recent Scrutiny meeting in which I asked was it a sensible policy to admit Covid 19 cases into Care Homes from Hospitals in order to free up beds, I have seen the outcome of the policy that I was concerned about and it’s consequences.

It has been widely reported that Care Home residents have accounted for almost a third of all Corona Virus deaths in England and Wales, according to the Office of   National Statistics.

As the UK has now recorded more than 100,000 deaths in this pandemic I am still very concerned that the mixing of Care home residents with patients from Hospitals is not the right thing to do.

Also the the lack of past provision of protective clothing and equipment for health staff and care workers have been a concern to many Care home managers both in the Private homes and also in local authorities.

Care home are are being told to be vigilant over visits from relatives and friends from entering the homes to see their loved ones, which is sensible as the roll out from vaccines being now stepped up in care homes. But there are still a lot of relatives who find it very difficult to hold the hand of their loved ones.

I am still of the opinion that during this pandemic a lot of policies were not right in the first place and yes hindsight is a wonderful thing but we do need to learn from our mistakes in order to let us all live a full life.

 

Corporate and Partnerships. Tony Randerson.

We had a Youth Justice Briefing which is near and dear to my heart. They call these establishments Youth Offenders Institutions. They are in fact Prisons, as I saw for myself a couple of years ago when a group of us visited Wetherby Y.O.I.

Welfare of Children detained in Wetherby Young Offenders Institution.

Wetherby Y.O.I.’s current population is 151. A third are remanded children.

50% occupancy, but high levels of staff absence, mostly due to precautionary self isolation rather than illness.

Fortnightly face to face family visits and free video call system, but professional visits still video only, unless exceptional grounds.

The late admissions concern that our group had has now been resolved.

Inspection outcome & Improvement work. The quality of the service could be enhanced with more consistency in post court work to address the risk of harm to others presented by some children.

Supporting Staff over the COVID-19 Pandemic Period.

There has inevitably been an impact on the workforce with the number of staff Covid-19 cases falling in line with national and local rates. The proportion of staff working has been around 90-93%. COVID absence includes factors such as positive test results, symptoms, the requirement to self isolate due to contact and quarantine prior to / after planned hospital admission.

Protecting the Workforce.  Identification of Staff for COVID-19 testing. Testing for COVID saw steady staff numbers referred through a central team, originally focused on Critical Key Workers it expanded to cover the full workforce and family members.

Motion Banning Sky Lanterns.

A proposed revision to the wording of the Notice of Motion so that it reads:

‘On any property and land which NYCC own or lease or have any interest in or control over’.

The committee questioned what the implications associated with a ban would be e.g. where a contract or lease was already in place for land/property owned by the council. What would be the cost and other implications associated with changing those agreements, how would enforcement of a ban be managed etc..Further legal advice was deemed to be necessary.

 

Health. Liz Colling

Broad themes are as you would expect:-

Response to the Pandemic across the wider health system, including primary and secondary duty care and public health.

Changes to health service configuration –  integrated care systems and the implications for north York’s as there is not that matches to our georgraphy

Changes to service provision.

Last meeting we discussed Scarborough Hospital . East Coast Reviw service redesign –  hyper acute stroke – urgent urology – some oncology moved to York . Investment of £40 mil for a New Emegency Department and will receive updates on the new build and audit of the outcomes of the changes to services

We also looked at the proposed changes to the Healthy Child programme delivers by Harrogate Foundation Trust.

Items on the forward plan for the committee are :-

Catterick Integrated care campus

Harrogate and Rural Alliance – adult community and Health Service’s

 

Young People. Steph Duckett.

I attended my first Looked after Children’s board meeting last week. Among items raised was safe guarding and corporate parenting performance report.

Reported foster carers are at high risk of Covid because they are taking in children at short notice with no tests being done. Suggested they should be treated as a special case along with teachers and get vaccinated sooner than most.

Virtual visits to homes taking place for now.

Problems with dental checks for kids in care to be raised with the Health Scrutiny Committee.

A senior officer has left and not been replaced. We need to keep an eye on this as it will mean more work for other officers and may see drop in standards and reports to committee.

Upcoming work for Feb and March, includes looking into the risks faced by social workers trying to keep in touch with families safely.

Children’s mental health, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAHMS) how are they coping with increased demand.

Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) services to give a report. Selby SEND school site had been removed from Selby local plan allocation sites. After I complained it has been confirmed that it will still go ahead on that site once DofE produce a planning application.

On line learning and re-opening of schools.

Attainment gaps between private schools and North Yorkshire Council  schools. Private schools are giving children 8-30 to 6 tutoring, some primaries only giving out 4 hours work and an on line work session lasting 30 mins. This to be confirmed and Cllr Mulligan quizzed on.

Supporting teachers to prevent burnout, how can we help ease their load.

Early years sector how they have coped.

Pathways support for 18-25.  This work goes to next exec meeting but expecting them to want District councils and Foundation organisations, to take on more of the cost and work.  NYCC currently puts in more than required but this is a vital service to help and house young and homeless.