Issue - items at meetings - Covid-19 Recovery & Renewal Update

Report of the Executive Director Economy Environment & Culture (copy attached)

RESOLVED: That the Sub-Committee noted the progress update in the report.

25.1    The Committee considered the report of the Executive Director Economy, Environment & Culture which provided an update on the progress of the Covid-19 Recovery & Renewal Programme.

25.2    The Executive Director Economy, Environment & Culture advised that officers had also provided a presentation which provided greater detail on the recovery progress of two key areas: City Employment & Skills Recovery Plan and the Cultural Recovery Plan. As the intention was to try to limit the time Councillors spent in the Council Chamber, those presentations had been sent to members of the Sub-Committee for information and not included on the agenda. Officers would be happy to take any questions or comments on those presentations. Those presentations had also been published on the Council’s website.  

25.3    Councillor Miller asked if the Council were now looking at a return to normal business. The Executive Director Economy, Environment & Culture said the Council were increasingly working on recovery and a return to core business, rather than ‘normal’ business as it’s not necessarily a return to normal business. As we go through the different waves of the pandemic there would be a need to re-set and re-think how we look at recovery as there would be different impacts with each wave. As we move out of the pandemic the focus may be more on resilience and how we can support the city and the economy, alongside the commitment to tackle climate change.

25.4    Councillor Appich referred to customer service and said that she was still receiving complaints from residents who couldn’t access services by phone and asked what plans there were for improvement. The Executive Director Economy, Environment & Culture said the Council were going through massive changes as more services moved to digital provision, but it was important to ensure that customers who weren’t able to access services online would be able to do so in other ways. The Chief Executive said that there had been huge changes in the way we worked which had been accelerated by the pandemic, and many residents preferred to access services online, for example 95% of our customers paid their penalty charge notice online and 99% of residents paid for their parking permit online. However, the Council recognised that not everyone wanted, or had access, to do that and that was being addressed.

25.5    Councillor Allcock noted the extortionate increase in energy costs, and asked how the allocation, distribution and delivery of the Household Support Fund was progressing for those in need. The Executive Director Economy, Environment & Culture said that he didn’t have that information but would provide a response after the meeting.

25.6    Councillor Allcock referred to housing and homelessness and said that colleagues were concerned about how effective the Street Link system was and asked for more information on how expensive and responsive it was. He also noted that rough sleepers had no where to go during the day, and First Base was supposed to supply that, but it was only open for two hours in the morning during the week and so it would be useful to have more information on that and the costs involved. It would also be useful to have more information about SWEP as the location was being kept under wraps. This could be for a good reason, but if would be useful to know so rough sleepers could be directed there whilst they wait for assistance. The Chair said that these were issues which were a concern for many councillors and that a full written response to the points raised would be provided by the Executive Director Housing Neighbourhoods & Communities

25.7    RESOLVED: That the Sub-Committee noted the progress update in the report.