Agenda item - Chair's Communications

5.1 The Chair gave the following communication: As this is the first meeting of the People Overview & Scrutiny Committee of this municipal year, I’d like to welcome our new members, particularly Cassie Hoffman-Kazlauskas our new Parent Governor Rep, to the committee.

Today we will be hearing from Cllr Paul Nann, Cabinet Advisor for Homelessness, on the council’s ambitions to tackle homelessness. The council is currently working on its policy regarding Homelessness and when it is more developed the policy will come to this committee for scrutiny.  Todays’ report is very much to provide an understanding of the current situation and its complexities.

We will then have a presentation from Cllr Emma Daniel, cabinet member for Children, Families, & Youth Servies, on the council’s support for those pupils with special educational needs and disabilities. This is an area which is currently being reviewed by the government with the focus on how to improve outcomes for SEND pupils.  Brighton and Hove Council are thus anticipating changes in SEND policy which will inform their own policy going forward.  We will be able to scrutinise that policy when it comes to this committee later in the year or early next year. For this item I have invited some guests to also speak to the committee in order to provide extra depth of experience and knowledge on this subject.  We have Euan Hannington, who is head teacher at Rudyard Kipling School, and Kirsti Hadley, who has lead campaigns on this issue and has lived experience of it with her son. Kirsti was also a co-organiser along with b of the Mental Health Summit that was held recently in Saltdean. I’d like to thank them both for taking the time to join us as I’m sure that they will be able to provide an important perspective for members.

We also have a scoping report on our proposed next Task and Finish Group, the first for this committee, which will be on antisocial behaviour in council housing and housing association properties.  This will be a major piece of research on an issue that is causing major problems for, and often blighting the lives of, residents in all types of social housing not just in Brighton and Hove but across the country and we look forward to being able to put forward some well thought out recommendations to the committee in January 2026.