Transcript

Okay, welcome everybody, good afternoon, thanks very much for attending, welcome to the first meeting of Strategy and Resources Policy Committee for this municipal year. Meetings open to the public today, welcome everyone who's joined us. As usual we're webcast and the recording will be made available later on. Today we've received one petition and five questions from members of the public, which we'll come to in item five. If I could just ask everyone in the room to make sure phones are switched off and on silent, or on silent. There's no fire test planned, but if there is, follow Town Hall staff and we'll head over to Tudor Square. I'll ask, as we begin, each member of the committee here today to introduce themselves and then also the senior officers. But first let me just welcome Councillor Abdul Khayyum and Councillor Curtis Crossland as new members of this committee. We look forward to working with you both. So, let me go around. So my name is Tom Hunt, I'm leader of the council and chair of this committee. And we'll go around as usual, starting with Anja. Councillor Andrew Argyen, CEO member for Broomhill and Sharwell and Chair of adult health and social care policy committee. Thanks then. So, Douglas Johnson, Councillor City Ward, Chair of Housing. Councillor Zahira Naz, Donald Ward and Chair of the Finance Committee. Councillor Abdul Khayyum, Fred Clark, Joint Chair of Licensing Committee. Councillor Dawn Dale, Councillor for Shagreen and Brightside and Chair of Education, Children and Families Policy Committee. Fran Bellbin, Councillor for Firth Park Ward and Deputy Chair of this committee. Laura Moynihan, Councillor for Manor Castle and Deputy Chair of Communities, Parks and Leisure. Councillor Jonathan, Councillor for Doran Tockley and Chair of Wasting Street. Councillor Curtis Crossland, Councillor for Bayton and Chair of Communities, Parks and Leisure. Martin Smith, I'm Councillor for Doran Tockley Ward and Chair of the Economic Development Skills and Culture Committee. Good afternoon Diane Hurst, I'm a Councillor for Richmond Ward and the leader of the Sheffield Community Councillors Group. Thanks very much everyone and if the officers could introduce themselves starting on my left. Good afternoon everyone, I'm James Anderson, Director of Policy and Democratic Engagement. Kate Joseph, Chief Executive. David Hollis, General Counsel. Craig Richardson, Democratic Services. Sorry, good afternoon, I'm Ajman Ali, Executive Director of Neighbourhoods. Hello, I'm Meredith Teasdale, Director of Children's. Thank you very much indeed. So we've had apologies received from Councillor Ben Miskill and Councillor Anjefic Mohamed and Laura Moynihan is substituting for Ben today. My note says members will be well aware of the forthcoming general election so in case you hadn't heard there's one on July 4th which means that soon we will be officially into the pre-election period but it would be helpful if we could bear that in mind today for our discussions even though we are just a few days out of the official pre-election period. There's no items today that contain exempt information and does any member want to declare any interest in any of the items on the agenda today? Okay, thank you. Item 4 minutes of the previous meeting, we've got the minutes of the meetings that we held on 17th April and also the 15th of May. Our members are happy to approve them as a correct record of those meetings. Thank you very much. So item 5 then, we have public questions and petitions. We were first going to have a petition but I'm just going to check with Democratic Services. The petitioner hasn't arrived yet. Okay, we're going to reverse this, we're going to do questions first and then a petition. So if that's alright we will do, we've got one set of questions which was deferred from the pre-election period before the local elections and then there are four questions. So in order we'll go Isabel O'Leary, then Sue Owen, Julie Pern, Val Johnson, Hilary Smith and then there will be a petition at the end of that. So Isabel if I could ask you to come up and as per usual it's the right hand button just to turn on the microphone. Not at the minute. There we go. Left hand button. Okay, thank you. So I've got a bit of background and then my questions. The Strategy and Resources Policy Committee meeting on the 19th of June 2023 was devoted to the Council's response to the LOCOP report. At that meeting 11 months ago I asked about allocating funds to strengthen the SCC Ecology Unit. I noted that this would allow in-house professional ecological advice to be sought for decisions taken by the Council across many areas and this was in the light of LOCOP's recommendation to improve the management of contracts and Council services and to consider the biodiversity and ecological impact across all decision making. The answer of the leader of the Council at the time said the Council is committed to ensuring we have the right resource in the right place at the right time and that included the Ecology Unit. We know that part of the reason for the whole Street Tree debacle was that the Council's Ecology Unit was shut out of the original planning for the Streets Ahead contract. The Ecology Unit could have explained the misinterpretation of the terms 'mature' and 'overmature' which were used as a justification for felling street trees. We also know that street trees are just one part of the whole ecological system within the City and this holistic view should be taken when considering the management of street trees. The Ecology Unit is staffed by professionally qualified ecologists with up-to-date knowledge of the requirements of the Environment Act and nature recovery networks. They have decades of experience of urban tree planting working closely with the Community Forestry Team. In March this year I asked the leaders of the Sheffield Street Tree Partnership why the Council Ecology Unit have not been included in that partnership. On 2 April I had a polite reply from the Council lead on the Street Tree Partnership agreeing that the Ecology Unit would be a valuable addition to the partnership. The reason given for not fully engaging with the Ecology Unit up to now was said to be due to a lack of resources in the Ecology Unit team. The reply said that this resources issue has now improved so that the Ecology Unit will be brought on board shortly with the partnership. This is of course welcome. I just want to note that the Highways Department seem quite powerful in Sheffield City Council and the Ecology Unit less so and I would urge you not to let your statutory duties under the Highways Act trump the duties you have under the Environment Act. So question one is how are the Council assessing the right level of resourcing for the Ecology Unit? Two, what improvement in resourcing for the Ecology Unit has been made in the past ten months or eleven months? Why have the Ecology Unit been routinely excluded from oversight of the Streets Ahead contract since its inception? And what is the Ecology Unit's current stated opinion of the Sheffield Street Tree strategy? Five, I understand that the previous Council biodiversity officer resigned due to being refused a role in monitoring Streets Ahead contract. Since the start of the contract how many times have the Ecology Unit requested a role in street tree management and what are the reasons for turning them down? And finally, oh no, two more, sorry. Six, does the Council believe that AME have fulfilled their contractual obligations in regard to ecology? And finally, does AME currently have an in-house ecologist? Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you for coming today and answering your questions and thank you for your patience because we couldn't take them at our last meeting. So your first question about the right level of resourcing for the Ecology Unit. A new ecology manager post has been created and recently appointed to. As part of that role there will be continued assessment of the required resources within the team as is the case across all Council teams. In light of the additional duties that have been placed on the Council as a result of the Environment Act 2021 a number of pieces of work are underway to inform the resourcing needs of the Council. It should be noted though that central government guidance on some of these areas is still broad and indeed changing so that work is ongoing. You asked about the improvement in resourcing for the Ecology Unit in the last 10-11 months and as stated a new ecology manager is now in post. On the question of the oversight of the Streets Ahead contracts, as part of the Streets Ahead contract AME are required to provide their own ecological monitoring resource as is required to meet project demands, outcomes and performance requirements. Any relevant metrics are checked by qualified ecologists within the client team. Regarding the Sheffield Street tree strategy, it's not appropriate to ask individual teams within the Council for their views on a Council contract. But what I would like to say, and I'm sure all members of the committee would agree is that Sheffield has come a long way since the tree protests. We've talked about this on a number of occasions. But to evidence that, in 2022 Sheffield became the first local authority in Europe to attain the trees outside of forests accreditation and has been recognised for the past three years as a tree city of the world reflecting on the success of the Street Tree Partnership and the partnership's strategy. The Sheffield Street Tree Partnership independently verify and publish various metrics on an annual basis showing improvement in the overall health, condition and benefits flowing from the highway tree stock. I remain incredibly grateful to all of the partners who were involved in the work of the Street Tree Partnership. You asked a question about a particular officer and it wouldn't be appropriate to comment on individual Council employees. As I've explained in a previous question response, the Streets Ahead client team within the Council have their own qualified ecologist. With regards to the contractual obligations in regard to ecology, question 6, as per the published minutes of the Sheffield Street Tree Partnership, Amy have not been able to provide an updated version of the local biodiversity action plan to a standard which is satisfactory to officers of the Council. The lack of compliance with this specific contractual obligation has been managed through the appropriate contractual management mechanisms and a specific project group has been set up to work with Amy's ecology team, with the Wildlife Trust and with other key stakeholders to jointly deliver a mutually agreed and updated version of that document as soon as is practical. With regards to your final question, Amy are contractually required to provide their own ecological resource, ecological monitoring resource I should say. It's for them to decide how to exactly deliver that resource. So, thank you very much for your questions today and hopefully those answers are helpful. Thank you. So, next question of today is Sue Owen. So, it's just the microphone on the left. Thank you. My question concerns a plausible case of genocide in Gaza and crimes against humanity and potential complicity. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court documents in Article 5, the court's jurisdiction, namely the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, the crime of aggression. It further goes on to define individual criminal responsibility in Article 25, where it makes it clear that a person is responsible even if they are not directly being committed by this person, but simply if by their actions they contribute to the crime in the knowledge of the intention to commit the crime. In the light of this, it is essential that all Sheffield business and citizens of Sheffield and the council itself, mindful of the recent judgments of the ICC with respect to Prime Minister of Israel and the Defence Minister of Israel and the ICJ with respect to the State of Israel, conduct their business so as to avoid any complicity, direct or indirect, with the actions of the Israeli state and its agents. And I would add in here that this week a case is being brought by the Geneva International Peace Research Institute to the ICC about Ursula von der Leyen, who is president of the European Commission, and on a number of counts, and one of them is on her financial and economic complicity. So people in power are being held to account and will be held to account. So the question is how will the council ensure its own operations are devoid of any association with the Israeli state and its procurement of weapons? In particular, how does the council now see its relationship with Barclays Bank, whose investments in Israeli weapons manufacture is well documented, and with some of the South Yorkshire Pension Authority investments in companies that sell arms to Israel? And the second part is that the citizens of Sheffield and businesses in Sheffield have adequate information to meet their obligations. Thanks very much. Thanks for coming today to ask questions. I think since this committee last discussed the tragic situation in Gaza, there have been and continue to be many appalling developments. The scenes of devastation in Rafah over the last week have been horrifying. Last week the ICJ ruled that Israel should immediately halt its military offensive in Rafah. And look, as we have said before, on a cross-party basis, Israel must stop and comply with the ICJ's ruling. This council voted for an immediate ceasefire back in November, and I am sure all colleagues will agree will continue to call for an immediate ceasefire to allow aid to flow unimpeded into Gaza, the return of all hostages, and for the resumption of the political process for a two-state solution. Regarding contracts, all contracts that the council enters into with any third-party organisation are let in accordance with the council's ethical procurement policy. This includes the contract that the council holds with Barclays Bank. That policy allows us to ask for and take into consideration how that contract will generate social value within the city and more broadly. As we have discussed at this committee on several occasions, we are not legally allowed to take into account non-commercial matters that are prohibited by the Local Government Act 1988. This would include and does include the set of issues that you are raising in your question. A review of the council's ethical procurement policy is currently underway and it will be considered by this committee, Strategy and Resources, during this municipal year as part of a wider commercial strategy for the council. What I can say is as part of this review, concerns that you and other citizens have raised will be considered and taken into account. With regards to pensions, again, we have had exchanges about this in this committee and at full council meetings, the council can't direct or influence how members of the South Yorkshire Pension Authority, an entirely separate organisation, take decisions regarding the administration and management of the pension fund. The members of that authority have a responsibility to follow the requirements set out in legislation and independent of their position in this council. They must make their decisions based on what they feel is genuinely in the best interest of the pension fund. As a responsible investor, South Yorkshire Pensions Authority aims to take into account environmental, social and governance issues when they are managing and making any investment. This includes issues relating to human rights. Finally, on the question of providing information, I think most recently we can point towards a cross-party statement of solidarity that was issued back in March by the leaders of all of the groups on the city council. Furthermore, as chair of this committee and as leader of the council, I've made a number of public statements including here in this chamber and we've had full council debates about this, all of which are published. We all have a role to play as local councillors to share details of our work and disseminate information in our communities and that is a role that we will all continue to commit to. Thanks very much for your questions today. Can I just say that I find it very difficult to see how an ethical procurement policy could possibly include banking with Barclays, which we know has multiple investments in the arms companies. As I've said, that ethical procurement policy is being reviewed and we will take into account all of the concerns that you and other citizens have raised in the course of that review and it will be brought back here to this committee. Thank you. Okay, next question is from Julie Pone. On 26th of January, 2024, the world's highest court, the International Court of Justice, ruled there were plausible grounds under the prevention and punishment of Genocide Convention to issue binding measures to which Israel will be held to future account. Grounds for issuing these measures include a large number of deaths and injuries, massive destruction of homes, forceful displacement of the vast majority of the population of Gaza, and extensive damage to civilian infrastructure. In addition, deprivation of access to water, food, fuel, electricity, and other essentials of life, as well as to medical care and medical supplies. Further, the ruling cited dehumanizing language issued by ministers and even the President of Israel, as well as a sharp increase in racist hate speech and dehumanization directed at Palestinians since 7th of October. International political failure to act through arms embargoes and sanctions has emboldened Israel to defy the court's rulings and pursue its war on the people of Gaza uncurved. In this context, the University of Sheffield has profound ethical issues to address, as it receives more funding from companies supporting Israel's military capability, such as BAA Systems and Rolls-Royce, than any other UK university, contributing millions of pounds worth of research to the development of parts for military aircraft, surveillance, and drones, which inflict inordinate suffering on a captive and largely civilian population. Students have played an inspirational role in awakening the conscience of the world and, through direct action, seeking to force change for good. Our students in Sheffield were amongst the first in the UK to establish a peaceful encampment, exemplary in its organization and communication, and determined to have a say. The students are important members of our community, and the university is an anchor institution in which all citizens have a vested interest. Since thousands of Sheffield citizens want to see the city break ties with the apartheid state of Israel, will representatives of the City Council visit the campus to listen to the students' demands? Thank you. Thank you very much, Julie. I'm going to repeat my earlier comments about the appalling situation in Gaza, which is heartbreaking to see. We in this chamber have raised our voices. Lots of citizens in this city and, further afield, have raised their voices over the last nine months about that situation. I am aware that Sheffield councillors have already visited the campus and, of course, members of the council are free to do so. And that is what they're able to do. So, they have visited and anyone is free to do so. Thanks, Julie. I haven't visited, no. Thank you. I have spent a lot of time listening to people on this matter and will continue to do so. Thank you. Val Johnson is the next questioner. That's the left-hand button. There we go. Thank you. Sheffield's Code of Conduct to Councillors applies to all councillors when acting in an official capacity. It forbids actions which call the integrity and reputation of the council into question. It demands respectful speech and, of course, harassment, intimidation and racism are beyond the pale and must be robustly challenged by all members of the council. Yet, in this very committee, a councillor made remarks about the Sheffield Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid that were deeply offensive and, worse still, characterised the Palestinian right of return in a way which we believe to be racist. His unprincipled tirade was met with a very mild comment from the chair and total silence from the committee. No point of order was called for, no reference to the Code of Conduct, no rebuke for insulting an inflammatory, potentially racist language. A formal complaint from the coalition, which cited the principles of the Code of Conduct, has been dismissed with not even a single reference to the expectations which this code places on councillors. No councillor has yet responded to a letter sent on 15 May, specifically asking the leader of the council and the leader of the Liberal Democrats to reply and requesting all councillors to raise this issue. The decision of the Disciplinary Committee has brought this council into disrepute by showing that the Code of Conduct is irrelevant and councillors can insult citizens and even use racist terminology with impunity. So, will the council order a re-hearing of the complaint using the Code of Conduct as its benchmark for testing conduct in public office? If not, will the council remove the Code from its policies as no longer applicable? Does the committee understand that the decision not to challenge but effectively to endorse insulting and arguably racist language brings the council into disrepute? Will the council now commit the same freedoms of speech to members of the public in the council chamber as it has done to one of its own? Will the leader of the council, the Liberal Democrat leader and the chair of the Standards Committee answer the letter sent to them, or has this too been ignored? Thanks very much, Val, for your questions. I can assure you that your letter of 15 May hasn't been ignored. I wanted to answer your questions today verbally and I will follow up with a written response setting out what I will now say, which is that as leader of the council and as chair of this committee, I have no formal role in standards, nor does this committee. These fall within the remit of the Audit and Standards Committee, so to be clear, it's not within the remit of this committee or my remit as leader to order a re-hearing. The investigation of complaints under the standards regime are rightly confidential and the council doesn't comment on individual cases. The reason for the confidentiality is an important one, which is to provide the confidence of all parties that they can raise what might be sensitive issues without them being made public. The confidentiality is therefore maintained after the process to ensure that all parties can retain confidence to participate. That confidence is lost if any one party can breach the confidentiality. I will respond in writing with the information that I've just shared with you today, but thank you for your questions. We have a question from Hilary Smith now. Thank you. Hilary, you just turned it off. On the 1st of November, 2023, this council passed a resolution which included the statement, this council believes that all political leaders have a responsibility to try to prevent genocide. In March 2024, this council acted following the presentation of a public petition to prevent a vote on declaring Israel an apartheid state, on supporting the work of the ICJ and on working towards making Sheffield an apartheid free zone. And at that meeting, Tom Hunt, leader of the council, stated that, I quote, The report on the petition will be considered at the first meeting of the Strategy and Resources Committee after the election. Today is that meeting and the report on the petition is not on the agenda. The reality that Palestinians are facing is partly the responsibility of every political representative who failed to take action, who has failed to act to end complicity with Israeli apartheid and has failed to apply sanctions against Israel. These failures are what enables Israel to act with impunity and to believe that its actions have no consequences. Last night I attended a public meeting with Professor Nick Maynard, an Oxford surgeon who has spent much of the last few months working in Gaza. Not a single Sheffield MP attended the meeting and to my knowledge, not a single counsellor was there either. Professor Maynard spoke of the utter destruction of the health system in Gaza, of the execution of Palestinian doctors inside hospitals, about the abduction of doctors from hospitals, the torture of doctors in Israeli detention, of children dying in agony on the floor of hospitals without even morphine or in some cases any painkillers and of the malnutrition which will cause hundreds of thousands of deaths over the coming months due to malnourished bodies being unable to heal from what would otherwise be treatable blast, shrapnel and gunshot wounds. Professor Maynard has taken testimony from Dr, I call him Dr. Karim with whom he had worked previously in Palestine. Dr. Karim was held for 61 days in Israeli detention. He was stripped naked, blindfolded and tortured under interrogation for up to 12 hours a day. During 61 days he was not allowed to lie down. He had to kneel or sit. His blindfold was never removed and his hands were tied behind his back. He was beaten with sticks, with fists and with guns, all the while being shouted at you are a doctor. He could often hear dogs barking around him. This doctor now has dislocated shoulders from being handcuffed behind his back for 61 days. Starvation as a weapon of war is being used throughout the Gaza Strip. Thousands of tons of food are being dumped from lorries after it has gone rotten and this is happening no more than a mile from where people are starving. For the last three weeks Israel has not allowed any food, fuel or medical supplies in at all. It is not allowing any international health workers who often themselves in their personal baggage carry amounts of medical supplies. And the Palestinians living in the West Bank in Palestine are enjoying increasing violence and being terrorized. Only last night the Israeli army invaded Ramallah, set fire to the vegetable market, leaving it in charred ruins. Professor Maynard ended his talk by asserting that every one of us will be defined by how we respond to what is happening to the Palestinian people and what is happening here in this room. Not one member of this committee, not any officer, not the chief executive has been able to persuade the council leader to take the pitifully small step of writing to Barclays Bank to ask them questions about their investments. Will this committee now do what it has so far failed to do, to declare Israel a state practicing the crime against humanity of apartheid and to begin the process of ending Sheffield's complicity with Israeli apartheid? Thanks very much Hilary. What you've just described there is harrowing and I don't think any of us can listen to that. It is a tiny, tiny part of what we heard last night. Sadly I can imagine, I haven't seen some of the scenes of devastation over the last week. You can't comprehend what people are having to live with and have had to live with over the last six, seven, eight months. The leaders of the political groups represented on the council have met to discuss the petition that your question referred to and we sought advice on the requests that are contained in the petition. Unfortunately there wasn't sufficient time between the recent council AGM following the council elections and the publication of papers for this meeting for those discussions to be concluded and that is the reason why the petition isn't being considered at this meeting. A report will be prepared in time for the consideration of this committee at the July meeting. Unfortunately, as I'm sure you can understand, it's not possible to bring forward that for the June meeting of this committee because of the pre-election period that we've mentioned ahead of the general election. But I can assure you that the points that are made in the petition and your questions today will be fully considered in that report when it comes back to this committee. Thank you. The people of Sheffield don't want to wait for this council to acknowledge that responsibilities about genocide outweigh any lack of bravery you have about steps that you can take and you can take steps. Maybe not everything we want but you can take steps and you can take them tomorrow and July is not acceptable. So we'll loop back to the top of this agenda item, we have a petition to be presented to us and Simon Ogden has joined us and is going to present the petition. Thanks very much Simon. Four petitions, there's three minutes to present the petition. Can I read the petition out or is that taken as read? That's a good question. Democratic Services, can you advise me? Does reading the petition out count as three minutes? Yes. It does. Take it as read. As in the petition has been circulated, we've had a chance to take it. Thank you. So the petition is calling on the council to review the governance of the Stockbridge Town Deal Board. The response that I've seen from the Stockbridge Town Deal Board completely misses the point in that it says that the petition is from the Upper Don Trail Trust and talks about the handling of that particular project. The petition is not about any particular project. It is about the actual conduct and governance of the whole Stockbridge Town Deal in the light of clear guidance from DELUC, Department of Leveling Up, where the money comes from, from the council's own best practice and our Nolan principles. So for instance, people who signed that petition are asking why that board never produces agendas or reports in advance of their meetings, which they're required to do in public. Why the minutes are posted months after the meetings take place, by which time there's no chance to question the decisions taken. Why they're usually devoid of any objective evidence or reports and apparently, according to the minutes, based on verbal reports only. Why the project champions of projects refuse to meet willing stakeholders who are offering local advice, funding and work. And on the basis of those concerns, which are all against the Department of Leveling Up's regulations for how Town Deal Boards should work and the funds be dispensed, why is the council, as if the accountable body for that fund, with two board members on the board, not exercising its responsibility to review governance? The regulations that DELUC has set down require an annual governance review of Town Deal Boards. None has taken place according to a Freedom of Information request, which we put in a few months ago, for the last three years. So we're really asking the council to take on its role as an accountable body. We're not asking them to intervene in any particular decisions. We're not disputing, as such, the right of the board to take those decisions, but they should be taken in a transparent, evidence-based and open way. And that is not happening. That's the basis of the petition. Thank you very much, Simon, for coming today, for presenting, and thank you to everybody who has signed the petition. Let me respond to some of the points that I mentioned in the petition before turning to your points that you've made today. The Town Fund website does include details on the status of all projects being delivered by the Town's fund, together with details of the consultation that have been undertaken by the board on specific projects. The City Council's website does include agendas, papers and minutes of the board meetings, together with the scheme of governance in place for the board. I note your comments about the speed with which the minutes are prepared and provided via the Council website, and I will take that away. Business cases that are required by the government and have been submitted to the government have been provided to interested parties where they've been requested. I think I just want to set out a bit of background to some of the issues that I raised in the petition. I think it's worth highlighting the wider issue, which is that the funding given by government for a whole range of regeneration schemes crucially was not index-linked. That applies to a range of levelling up funding as well as Town Steel's funding. As such, the challenges that programmes have suffered are therefore because of the levels of inflation that we've seen across the construction industry and a range of different industries over the last couple of years. These are familiar to us. These challenges have been experienced across a number of schemes in the city where decisions have had to be made about prioritisation of projects and the scope of projects that can be delivered to meet the fit within the funding available. The initial list of ten projects that is listed in your petition does reflect the list of projects that were identified in the initial Town's Fund investment plan. The Board were then charged with validating whether these suggested projects were deliverable and maximise the outcomes for residents and businesses for Stockbridge with the funding available. But look, what I would say is the City Council will continue to work with the Board and all stakeholders about the delivery of these projects and we will be picking this up once the General Election is concluded and we know who the MP and the Co-Chair of the Board will be and to ensure that the Board continues to operate in accordance with the approved scheme of governance. So, we will be picking this up after the General Election but thank you for everyone who signed the petition, thanks for coming today and I'm happy to put that in writing to you formally so that it can be shared with you on behalf of the petitioners. Not to offend my welcome but several of the things you've read out there I'm afraid I'm sure you've been misinformed. Right, thank you everyone for coming today to ask questions and present petitions. Item 6 is member questions, none were received on this occasion. Item 7 is retirement of staff and I on behalf of the committee would like to thank everyone who is listed in the report for their many years of service and dedication to the City Council. Are we all happy to add our thanks to those staff? Thank you. Item number 8 on our agenda is the Work Programme and I'll hand over to Craig to just run through the Work Programme. Thank you Craig. Thank you Chair. Members are presented in their pack with the committee's latest Work Programme for approval. You will see that the Work Programme has started to be populated with items 4, 24, 25, in particular the new items are listed on page 30. However the Work Programme was published before the announcement on the general election so we've begun to have a look at the items scheduled for the June meeting to have a look at which items are appropriate for consideration during the pre-election period. There are two specific requests of members which are on page 31. We're asking for your agreement for the Council Tax Support Scheme item to be considered by Finance Committee. That is something that you agreed to do last year and which finance members would like to happen again this year and we're also recommending on a cross-cutting theme there the Yorkshire and Humber shared care record item be discussed for decision at adults and Education Committee be briefed. Thank you very much Craig. Any questions, comments on the Work Programme from anyone? Councillor Smith and Councillor Johnson. Thank you Chair. It was just a question relating to the productivity plan. We have this target for 19 July to be reviewed in June. Given the pre-election period is that still a valid timetable? I suspect that's one of the items that Craig was referring to which is being looked at right now to determine if it's possible to bring it in June. Not to prejudge that but I think it's probably a good case to not bring it in June. Thanks. Councillor Johnson. Hang on, sorry. Chief Executive. Yeah, just on that point I think what we have not yet had is confirmation from the Department for Levelling Up Housing Communities that we are not required to submit that plan so if the deadline is going to be maintained into 19 July we will need to think about a way to ensure that that receives appropriate approval through members. We haven't had any confirmation that deadline has been dropped. Thank you. Okay. Councillor Johnson. Thanks. So on those two points that you mentioned there, I think we're happy to support both of those and Councillor that supports being the adult shared care record. I think we also completely accept the work the officer is doing to deal with perp and I'm sure we'll be flexible with all those opportunities there. There's two specific things though that really arisen out of the questions that we've heard this afternoon and I think probably should go on the work plans. I'm going to propose these and see if we can get them fitted in even though I suspect they should probably go into the category of items where there's no date fixed and we'll have to see where they come to. So one is the ethical procurement policy and then secondly something about the stocks which governance issues. So the ethical procurement policy I mean quite rightly as chair you've just said that we will be reviewing that as an organisation we will bring it back to the committee. So I'd like to see that reflected in the work plan. I think that any of us who've looked at the ethical procurement policy will have questions and will think it's not really proved itself and does certainly merit a review but that's surely got to be overseen by this committee. So I'd like to see that on the work plan. And then secondly with the stocks which governance issue I mean it is something that questions around that and the council's role in terms of accountability have been dogging this committee for some time. We're in this very unusual situation where it's a bit like the way the levelling upwards are run but clearly not in a very satisfactory way and that's why there seems to be ongoing difficulty with that. So I think I'd like to see something on the agenda. What I'd actually like to see is a review of the governance arrangements with the report being brought to this committee in due course. That's obviously going to be out of the perp in which case Mervyn Cates may no longer be troubling us and nor may her husband but who knows. But you know the fact that I mean to mention those is just you know it is one of the difficulties at the core of that and there may well be nothing going on there. Has not started yet so I'm just mentioning Mervyn Cates in that context sorry. But no there's a serious question of governance there and I think the council really ought to be in a position to look at this afterwards because although the decision making is of the town's board and not of the council and that's an important fact. We clearly have a role. I think it would be good if we could show that the council is on top of this issue and that we are taking those duties seriously and if we don't put on the work plan it will just look as though we're a document issue. I don't think we are but I think we do need to have assurance that that is the case. So I'm proposing those two items. Okay thank you. The ethical procurement policy is the answer that I gave earlier on, alluded to is we'll be brought back to this committee as part of the commercial strategy for the council. That is not timetabled so but that is well we can certainly do that and we can at our next committee meeting we can make sure that that's on there. Okay on the question of Salisbury town's fund again as my answer said we will be returning to this post general election when we're able to have a bit more of a free flowing conversation here should we wish to but also recognising that there could well be changes to that board. That feels like an appropriate moment to look at governance arrangements as the question and answer said that we would. I think there is a genuine question about whether or not it is transport regeneration and climate that looks at this or SNR. The petition obviously came to us today but with all other similar levelling up schemes it has been the TRC committee that has had the most interaction with them. I think it would be right for the work to be done to look at any arrangements after the election and then make an appropriate decision at that point based on advice from officers about which committee it would be best to go to. So that would be my suggestion back on that one. Were there any other questions or comments that people had on the work program? I do want to push this as a problem proposal. Really just make sure that there is some marker on the recorded work plan so that we have that. It's very easy to lose sight of these things and I'm sure the work be done but I think we do need to show and have a piece of evidence to show that we are addressing these issues. Just given the number of concerns that have been raised about this for quite a long time now. Is it not likely that we will be reviewing the work plan anyway by the time we get to the next meeting in the light of other events so perhaps we could just look at it then and make sure that anything that is relevant is on there unless as you say we push some of these issues to TRC where the work has been going on so far. I think that would be sensible. I think at our next pre-agenda meeting, Councillor Johnson, let's have a look at the work program and if at that point I can perhaps ask the monitoring officer and others to have had a look at where would be the most appropriate committee to take any consideration of any governance changes then in our next pre-agenda meeting when as you know as per usual we go through the work program and look at where would be most appropriate. That is a conversation we can have then. In light of that, sorry Tom, I mean I am going towards a proposal but that is a perfectly sensible practical thing which I welcome but I'm going towards a proposal. Maybe someone will second it. Okay, well I suppose then the proposal has been at this point I'm just going to look to demonstrate so can we do we take a proposal in this way? Just clarifying what the exact proposal is. So proposal is to add to the list of items for which there is no date scheduled so it's at the back of the table here, page 38, to add two items, one on the review of the ethical procurement policy and number two is on a review of the Stocksbridge Transfund governance. I don't think there is any need for us to get bogged down in this. Ethical procurement policy is going to come to this committee as part of the commercial strategy, we're agreed on that, I've already outlined that, it will be ministered. When it comes to Stocksbridge Transfund, yes we can add it on but I think with a caveat that if advice from officers is such that it doesn't come to SNR it goes to TRC as has other regeneration projects then that would be the appropriate way forward. So that's fine, so it goes on the work plan now then of course it can be reallocated to that perfectly proper. Great, OK, fine, I think we have progress there, thank you. So in light of those changes, which don't make me read them out, is everyone happy with the work programme? Great, thank you. So item number nine is the Strategy and Resources Policy Committee Year Ahead document. Now this came out as a supplementary document on Friday so if you've got the main public document pack it's not in there, it's a supplementary report in case you were looking for it. And to introduce the report, we're being joined by the Chief Executive for the benefit of people watching at home, Kate could you just introduce yourself and then briefly introduce the report? Thank you Chair. So yes again Kate Joseph, Chief Executive of the Council and I'm really pleased to be presenting this report. Obviously we're at the beginning of a new municipal year and the paper sets out a proposed forward agenda for municipal year 2024/25, building on the progress made over the course of the last year as recognised in our LGA peer review. It's worth being clear, as is set out in the paper, that as ever our context is challenging. Councils across the country deliver somewhere in the region of 700 services, many of them critical and statutory, and we continue to see our core funding constrained and pressures in the wider system affecting our demands on the Council. So making the point that as a Council we're not on Ireland, we work across the public sector, across the private sector and the challenges we see in our city affect us just as heavily as core funding constraints. For the first time since 2015 though, Sheffield City Council has a medium term outcome focused Council plan and this enables us to prioritise our resources, navigate anticipated challenges like the public spending context that I've described, and new opportunities. And obviously in our last meeting we talked about our digital and customer services strategies which are good examples of how we are taking those forward opportunities. As has been mentioned a number of times, we have a parliamentary general election on the horizon and we can anticipate potential changes in national direction regardless of the result of that election. But as an ambitious core city, we want to ensure that we are on the front foot, so that involves us making sure we maintain good financial health with a sustainable medium term position and we value and continue to work to support and empower our skilled staff, all 8000 or so of them. That we are really clear on the priorities for the city we serve, linked to our city's goals, that we drive forward work to transform our organisation, making sure we're on track as a Council to be one of the best performing in the country by 2028. And that we maintain focused, stable and collaborative leadership which will give national government, whatever they look like, investors and partners confidence to work with us. So this paper reflects on important achievements over the last year, from making progress in this organisational DNA through our outcomes and performance framework for example, to delivering visible changes all over the city. And for the coming municipal year the paper sets out key issues of focus for the cross party administration. These aren't intended to be exhaustive, they identify where there is a need for focus, where there is a need for prioritisation and where there is a need for sustained leadership. Political leadership obviously comes through our committees and each of those identified areas in the paper is aligned to a lead policy committee. Recognising the centrality of our Council plan, each area is grouped according to either one of the five priority outcomes in the plan or identified as a key activity in how we as a Council make it happen and deliver for Sheffield. Happy to take any questions on the paper, but that's the context and the recommendation is that we note and use that framework as the guiding framework for the work going forward across the municipal year. Thank you very much indeed and I would just add that this is very much a continuation of the work that we started as a committee over the last 12 months, always acting on the priorities of residents in the city and ensuring that we provide the Council with stable, competent cross party governance and strong leadership. So, any questions, comments from any members of this committee? Thank you and first of all thank you for putting the people together, just to put in perspective how much work has happened, how much is going on, how much there is still to do and it's actually really exciting, all the things that are in train are happening. Just a couple of things that probably are already happening, but I would like it to be more explicit on here. On page 13.1, it's really important that we look at the growth plan, but I would like a more obvious way of saying that we're not just looking at economic growth, but it's the growth of the city in lots of different directions in terms of wellbeing as well for the city and why that is important and it cannot just be economic growth. And on point three on the same page and linked to the housing thing that is on one of the other pages is housing is important, I can't remember where it is, but it's green jobs so on point three look at really the jobs for the future and not get bogged down with things that are going to be obsolete in a few years time. And finally, just the PCC doesn't exist anymore as such, so on page 12.8, obviously this was written before the mayor, the South Yorkshire mayor took over that role, so I don't know what we would call them if it's still PCC. Okay, thank you. I think just on that I think members were able to provide comments on this in advance. This is a starter, this is a direction of travel for our work this coming year, and as things change, the work, the detailed concepts of the work in it will adapt accordingly. So I'll let the chief executive come back in a minute, but I think rather than make specific amendments at this point, if we can accept that this is a direction of travel for us as key priorities, and then it is by its nature high level, and the detailed work will be done by committees, but certainly note those comments and we can take them on board in future work, Councillor Agencio. Councillor Smith. Thank you, Chair. So thank you for the report. I agree with the framework and I agree with what you said just there, Tom. It's just a request for emphasis, particularly around the prosperity part of the framework. It's very easy for us to just to talk about the big ticket items, like heart of the city and the investment zone. They are incredibly important, but far more important, far more people are employed by SMEs, small businesses, they contribute a much higher percentage of the value add for the city. So it's just a request to make sure, please, chief exec, that we give that part of our city's economy the support and emphasis it deserves. That's all there was. Thank you. Thank you very much. Councillor Dale and Councillor Belbin have indicated, then Councillor Johnson will take all the comments and then we'll come back. Councillor Dick. Thank you, Chair. Just speaking on behalf of the Children and Young People of Sheffield, who I've spent a fantastic morning with this morning at a conference, I just feel that it is really important that we, and I'm completely trusted that this is going to happen, but this is about setting the foundation for our children and young people in Sheffield in order for them to be able to achieve and feel like they belong. I just feel that within the language within this report, there is a fantastic focus on children, which I've campaigned for relentlessly, but there's not much of any of our families, and children belong to families, and I think we need to look at how we're going to sort of embed some of that in there. And I think cross-cutting across all of these fantastic areas of work, there's a conversation we need to have about neighbourhoods, because we're talking about housing, we're talking about leisure, we're talking about children and young people and health and wellbeing. And how we design our neighbourhoods will impact on all of what we're trying to do. So we talk about housing, and the brilliant work that's going to be going on in housing, and building new homes, but with new homes come demands into communities which need social infrastructure, and I think we need to be mindful of that. Thank you. Thank you. I think all the comments so far indicate exactly why you're all in the jobs that you're doing. It will be the detailed work that will be taken forward by each committee to expand and take forward those points. I think that this whole report could be summed up with lots done, lots more to do. Councillor Belman. Indeed, on that theme, I just wanted to reflect briefly on how much work has been done over the last year in the supporting work within the Council to get this plan out here, and I think it reflects really positively on all the officers and colleagues who have contributed to that. I think the fact that we have got the city goals in place, that we have got the Council plan in place, and that is increasingly supported by things like the performance and delivery framework, by the Future Sheffield programme, you did refer to the work around customer experience and digital strategy. All that is absolutely crucial for us to be able to deliver externally, so I just want to really briefly reflect on that. There's still, I know, a lot we've got still more to do, and there's a way to go, particularly making sure that the transformation that we have promised through the Future Sheffield now moves into that kind of delivery stage, and that will enable all this work to happen. But I think it's very positive that we're actually, over the last year in particular, we've really brought all those frameworks and strategies together, that we are in a position to deliver much better for the city. Thank you. Councillor Johnson. Yeah, thanks. Actually, much the same as Councillor Belvin, I just want to say that it is really encouraging to have a plan that's as concise and punchy as this, which is something that we've lacked as a Council for many years, so completely just really thanks for everyone on the team who's put this together, Kate. Just on specific ones, from the point of view of housing, the issue on homelessness, page 12, box 6, and I flagged this up informally previously, but the point about demonstrating it's possible to end homelessness in our city is absolutely where we want to be going. I just want to have a record, but we're not saying this is a commitment to sort of achieving this in this year, it's of the same status as the other issues there. I am glad it's on there now, and one of the things I'll be pressing for in the Housing Committee is to treat the homelessness situation in the city as one of our top priorities, if not our top priority. So it's good to have this recognised at a Council-wide level, and we will need to ensure as much resource as possible goes into that. One point is on the housing strategy, so on page 10, box 1, it says the housing strategy. I'd like to suggest we take that as our very next item. Formerly seconded. Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Chief Executive. The last two comments from Councillor Johnson and Councillor Belbin are really important. This work is built on the foundation, the solid foundation of the Council plan, and that is a product of us coming together as an S&I committee with senior leaders and the whole organisation over the last year to get that in place. And you can immediately see the impact that it's having providing that strong strategic direction for the organisation, which, as has been noted, has not been present for a number of years prior to this year. Kate. Thank you. So not to repeat comments, I'll just make a few points. So in relation to both Councillor Agensio and Councillor Smith's points on the growth strategy, and again, making the point that this is a high level document and I think it's important we don't get into sort of drafting detail. Obviously, we took the framework for growth at this committee before the pre-election period and for the local pre-election period, and members will remember that that strategy, that framework, includes a number of key aspects, one of which is growing our neighbourhoods together, which speaks to Councillor Dale's point, recognising that our approach to growth and prosperity in the city needs to think about the entire city, all our neighbourhoods, and how the benefits of growth are felt across Sheffield. I think that also links to one of the other key themes in that paper, members will remember, was something about really being clear on our strengths as a city in terms of our economic base, and our strengths in terms of SMEs, as a place for start-ups to grow and thrive is absolutely clear, it's well evidenced, and it's something that in that framework is front and centre. So, as ever, when you summarise things down, there is a risk that you can't capture everything, but I think what's going to be really important in our discussions around the growth plan over the course of the coming months, will be that this committee is able to own and I guess balance out all those different priorities and needs. I will say at this point, the timing of a parliamentary general election I think probably does mean that we may need to look at accelerating some of that work, so we are ready to respond to likely requests from national government, and I'd ask for your forbearance and support in doing that, because it's far better for us to have something strong and good that we can put forward post a general election as a core city than council perfection and miss the boat, to be completely honest, so I'll add that in there. I think, Councillor Dale, to your point around the importance of families and neighbourhoods in all of this work, obviously the belonging framework is coming to education, children, families, committee and communities, parts and leisure over the course of the next few months. It's one of the frameworks I think is important, it's held in those committees, but again we need to do everything we can to ensure that all committees understand what that means and are internalising the shift in culture that thinking about belonging for children and people means for all of our services and all of our policies. And then you'll see obviously underneath, I think it's on page 12, we're quite clear in here that we recognise that as a council we still have work to do around community engagement, and we talk about needing to deliver a step change in our approach. I think that's something that as senior offices and as members I know we've discussed about being something we want to really prioritise in the coming year. So on Councillor Johnson's point around homelessness and homewards, absolutely noted, I do think it's really important that we acknowledge that we are one of only six areas in the country working with the Royal Foundation around the Homewards Programme and that does require us to again internalise the commitment and the belief that it's possible to end homelessness, not just in our city but in our country, and while that feels like a gargantuan task right now, setting those moonshot goals is one of the ways that you create the conditions for real innovation and creative thinking around how we solve some of our most tricky problems. I think that's probably everything I would say on the detail, hopefully I've captured everything that needed a response, I think. That's great, thank you. And thank you for the work that's gone in, particularly to the policy team who have helped to prepare this document. So a number of recommendations, colleagues, that this committee, SNR, notes progress made in the last municipal year recognising the work of members, officers and partners to establish strong strategic foundations for the organisation. Two, that we consider the key issues identified in section three of the report as part of our forward agenda for this coming municipal year, and three, agree to work across policy committees to ensure that the opportunities and issues identified in the report are taken forward as part of committee work plans in this year. Our colleagues are happy to agree those recommendations. Great, thank you very much indeed. And item number ten then is the draft housing strategy. And we've been joined by a number of colleagues. So, for the purposes of people in the room and people watching online, perhaps you can just introduce yourselves and then briefly introduce the report please. Thank you. Good afternoon everybody, my name is Antoine Elliott, Executive Director of Neighbourhood Services, and just for the benefit of viewers at home, I'll just give a bit of a background in terms of... Testing, one, two, try again. Okay, good afternoon again everybody, my name is Antoine Elliott, Executive Director of Neighbourhood Services, and for people watching at home, I'll just give a bit of a background in terms of this report, and then I've got colleagues here who will also be able to answer questions, and Suzanne Allen's here who's been working on this with her team at the back as well. So, first of all, I'm sure you'll agree that good quality and affordable housing provision is vital to the wellbeing of residents and the success of our city. And we know that housing gives people early life chances and security, enabling them to live healthy, active lives. It attracts new people to live in the city, and is part of our growing prosperity. So this draft housing strategy is a key component of our developing strategic framework. It sets the long term direction for housing to deliver the ambitions of the city goals, and the council plans, as well as our local plan. It focuses on key city-wide challenges and opportunities, and sets out a clear statement of the city's housing needs and ambitions. It's deliberately quite high level, and will now be enhanced by other junior strategies. So, for example, the homelessness and rough sleeping strategy, the housing growth delivery plan, which will also come to this committee later on in this year, around September time, the older persons independent living strategy, to name but a few. The draft strategy is about all housing in our city. It's not just restricted to council housing. It costs us all tenures, both public and private. It's really important to bear that in mind. And it's a strategy that's been developed with citizens and partners. And what I'm proposing today is that further consultation is undertaken over the summer before the final strategy is brought back to this committee later on in the autumn. In terms of the development of the strategy before you today, there's been a lot of work that's been undertaken to produce it, as I've said by Suzanne and colleagues and other members of the team. Initially, it involved analysis of several primary and secondary data sources to understand the needs and priorities of the city. Some of that included private sector housing condition surveys, strategic housing market assessments, as well as the census data. There's also been extensive consultation discussions that have taken place with key stakeholders, and this has included council officers, members of the housing policy committee, to name but a few. And the aim of that work has been to try and make sure that we have the right challenges, we've identified the right challenges, the opportunities and the priorities have been identified properly so we can have a proper strategy to address those. You'll also remember that earlier this year, around about February and March time, there was a first day consultation that was carried out. And feedback from that consultation was generally speaking, most people that we consulted were very positive and complimentary about the key themes that were in this strategy. So turning to the strategy itself, this is a ten year plan, it's a long term plan, it's not something that's here today and gone tomorrow. And what it focuses on are five key ambitions, and I'll just remind you of what they are, and they are in no particular order. So ambition number one is about providing more homes and housing choice in the city, it's really important that we do that. Secondly the ambition is around reducing housing carbon emissions to achieve that net zero target by 2030. Ambition three is about providing safe, good quality and comfortable homes in our city. And ambition four is about providing great, safe neighbourhoods that people are happy to call home and I've heard people express their views about that here already. And the final ambition is about homes and housing services that don't necessarily end homelessness, but try to end homelessness and support healthy and independent living. So there are five ambitions that's been set out in the draft strategy, and underpinning some of those you'll see in the document, there are a range of actions that will be undertaken over the course of the next few years. So in terms of what's the next steps, what we're proposing here is that we have a final consultation process that will be launched, that will gain opinions of people and partners, as well as in particular trying to reach people that we weren't able to reach in the first round of the consultation process, and there have been also I'd refer to in the report itself. Those consultations will be city-wide, and that will include qualitative work with partners and communities. And we've brought in more additional support to support the team through a company called Campbell to help, who have been procured to lead on this consultation phase. We are planning to have that from June, but as the trend is in today's meeting is that there is something of an election coming through next month, so what we've done is we've actually sort of pulled that back a month, so that consultation will start in earnest around about July/August time. So what that does mean is that the report that we envision will be brought to this committee in terms of the final strategy, which we plan to bring in September, that will have to be delayed probably until the autumn, and I'll propose some amendments to the four recommendations that we've had after you've had an opportunity to ask any questions that you want to. Thank you, Chair. Thank you very much. Suzanne at this stage, is there anything further you'd like to add? I think Adjman gave a very good summary, but myself and the team are here to answer any questions, and I would just reflect that having the council plan and city goals agreed have given us a really good framework, and that this strategy is part of contributing to deliver on those very important developments. Absolutely, and let's thank you and your team for the work that's gone into producing the housing strategy that we've got in front of us today. So, I've got a number of colleagues who have indicated. Councillor Johnson was first, and then I've got Councillor Moynihan, Agencio and Crossland. Councillor Johnson. Thanks very much. First of all, to echo what the Chair just said about thanks to the team. Just because, as Chair of Housing, I'm aware of the huge amount of background work that's gone into this, and it's a relief in a way that it's become now we've got something in the final version or near final version that's much more of a higher level strategy. And I just want to comment on just what a huge thing housing is. Because when we talk about the council about housing, people either tend to think about the council doing all the operational stuff of being a huge landlord and providing a really important public service to 38,000 households. Or you think about the planning side of it, where you're talking about the huge range of new house building and the 35,000 or 40,000 homes to be built over the next 10 years under the local plan, which are really important aspects of housing. But it's almost really easy to neglect the 200 and odd thousand homes already in the city, that already exist and not being new built, and not council homes. And that is a really important thing that the council also has a responsibility for and into a really key part of the housing strategy. So very briefly, I just want to link that in to just the scale of that or the impact on the economy, but also on climate change. And we know that one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases comes from heating housing. And that is a really important thing. So we need the housing strategy to address that in the long run. And of course, finally, if we're going to end homelessness, that means we need all the people in the houses. And so we've got to have that supply of housing there. So yeah, that's why it's such a big task. And I just want to commend everyone who's been involved with that. So thanks everyone. Thank you very much. Councillor Moynihan. Thank you, Chair. I really just want to expand on what Councillor Dale said earlier. We're building communities here, not just housing. And I think we need to have, I think this is really good. I'd like to see in the final draft a bit more emphasis on the social infrastructure. One of the major issues that people think about, where they decide where they're going to live, is schools. We've got to ensure we've got adequate places. It's access to facilities. And we need to think about this, particularly in developing new neighbourhoods. And the other thing that's really important is connectivity, particularly to employment opportunities. So the transport links are going to get people to the leisure facilities, the libraries, the schools. But importantly, economic opportunities. So some sort of connection. I'd like to see a bit more connectivity there. Thank you. But thank you for all the work. This is a brilliant start. Thank you very much. And I'm sure when Angela and Suzanne come back, they'll be able to provide reassurance that when we're thinking about the new neighbourhoods that are being planned, social infrastructure is being thought about very much from the beginning. Councillor Agensio and then Councillor Crossland, followed by Councillor Hurst and Melbourne. I want to echo some of the comments that have already been made. And thank you, because I know that it's taken a long time to get here. And there's been an amount of work going into this because it's a long term strategy, not something for the short term. And I just want to add the health angle, health and wellbeing angle to this, because housing, having a home, not a house, having a home is a fundamental human right and has a huge impact on children, families and their health and wellbeing. So we need to ensure that this strategy is fit for purpose, because if people are not healthy where they are, if they don't feel safe in their homes, in their communities, then we pay the price for it because we have to pick up the pieces, including, you know, homelessness is often caused by people not being safe in their communities, in their homes. So thank you for all the work. And I look forward to seeing how it trickles down in all the different bits of the council, because all of the committees will have to deal with some things that have to do with this strategy. So thank you very much. Thank you. I'll take all of the comments and questions before coming back to yourself, Edgman and Suzanne. So, Councillor Conlon. Thank you, Chair. It's obvious that a lot of work has gone into this strategy and it's great to see some long term thinking here. And obviously the five ambitions are a really great start for this. On page 82 in the presentation of the report, it does say that dissatisfaction was expressed by council tenants around the council's repair service. But on page 67 in the table showing the housing delivery strategies, I can't see anything to do with council house repairs. So, if you're a resident in the city who's got a maintenance issue, and first you have to wait an hour or so for the phone to be answered, then you get given a date two months in advance for the repairs, you have to take a day off work, then the repair staff don't turn up. I'd want to know how my life was going to be made better by this report. So, this is great at setting the top level strategy and the direction that we're going in. But if residents raise issues in the consultation, as this points out, will this be then fed into the housing delivery strategies as well? Thank you. Councillor Hirst. Thank you. I would also add, Curtis, as well, the money that we spent on disrepairing is still investing in disrepair. But that's a complete aside. I want to thank officers for this. We know, don't we, that the safety and security of a home is fundamental to allowing people and communities to thrive. And I think that will give the framework for this. I want to thank officers who came to the Sheffield Community Councillors Group last week and talked through this strategy and received our comments on this. But I also want to make a plea here for let's not get so focused on the strategy that we forget about the people that we're delivering for and the opportunities that may come up. Yes, we need to have the strategies and the plans in place. But we also have an eye, need to have an eye to the main chance and the opportunities that will come and start to work and deliver on those alongside developing the overarching strategy. Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Bellman. Thank you. And again, thanks for all the work that's gone into this. I'm really pleased to say I think it's made some really rapid progress actually since the strategy has sat under Strategy and Resources. So I'm just pleased to say that that is moving on fast. And I think, again, it sits alongside those other pieces of work, doesn't it, that address, I think, some of the issues that Councillors Crossland and Hearst have raised around performance and delivery and how all that is going to be monitored. So there's other pieces of work that sit alongside this. I think we need to bear in mind as well. I just want to ask about the consultation process. So I think it's picked up in the report around, you know, there were gaps in the initial consultation. It would be interesting to understand a little bit more where some of those gaps were. Were they just around, for example, protected characteristics or, as you mentioned, Ajman, during your presentation, you know, there are different types of tenancy. Are there different types of tenants or ownership models that, again, are we getting feedback from all those different groups and not just perhaps focusing on geographical areas and so on? And the other question was around going, I know it says in the report that there'll be a bit more focus on doing focus groups and so on with some of those underrepresented groups when this strategy, as this strategy goes out to consultation. But it also talks further down the line about how people will be involved with the strategy going forward. I think it talks about, is it the strategic housing group, I think it is, or forum, I'm not quite clear what that is or who's involved in that and how will residents within the city be able to continue to contribute to this. As it develops, what thoughts are there around that at the moment? Thank you. Thank you very much. Really helpful points drawn out there and I think it underscores how this strategy is fully embedded in both the forward plan document that we looked at earlier on, the council plan, it can't be separated from the customer experience strategy, the work that will go on in the housing growth delivery plan and also individual reviews of functions of the housing service. There will be lots feeding into this and again it is deliberately high level for the next 10 years, setting out that direction of travel and how we're going to meet those ambitions. So a number of points I'm sure you want to come back on, so I'll hand it over to you. Okay, thanks. I think I'll take a lot of those points as supportive in terms of what it is that we're proposing in the strategy. There will be quite a lot of detailed delivery plans that supplement those, that will have the details in terms of action that's going to be taken and officers will be working on those over the course of the next few months to ensure that materialises. I think the main point I would say is that this is a strategic document that brings together and sort of harnesses all the other documents that we talked about this afternoon as one direction of travel for the whole city, for the whole organisation. But importantly it's about how we work together, how we work together as a council, as different council departments with our partners across the city to be able to deliver against this. And as you rightly say, housing is so important to the quality of life people have both in terms of their health and their wellbeing, but also in terms of the stability that it creates in our communities. So, you know, having good quality homes allows people to hopefully have a sort of a belonging in those communities that's really important and has lots of other associated benefits. The proposals in here will also result in economic benefits, you know, building houses has that economic factor as well, job creation, employment creation, both in terms of large companies, large contractors, but also smaller supply chains, so there's real benefits around that. As well as making sure that we help give the opportunity to people to develop new skills and new technologies and so on. So there's a whole range of benefits that new housing development brings to the city and I think those five ambitions try to sort of bring all those elements together. If I can pick up on the specific question about the repair side, as I mentioned previously, this isn't specifically just about social housing, about council housing, it's much more broader than that, but it does need to tie into it. We do have separate improvement plans in place to deal with the housing repair side, we're acutely aware of the issues there and how we need to improve and a lot of work is being taken place to make sure that happens and we'll be reporting regularly to the housing policy committee in terms of the performance and the direction of travel and the improvement to customer services there. I'll pass on to Suzanne to answer the question about the consultation and some of the missing gaps. Thank you Adjman and thanks for all of the comments because I think they're very useful and I will emphasise this is a draft strategy and as well as the general public and all of our partners of course feedback from councillors and will continue to be sought, including through the LAC cycle over the summer. So it is really important that we emphasise this is a high level document and the delivery will be in those junior strategies and action plans and if there are new ones that we need that we haven't identified so far, we will make sure they're in place as well. It's over 10 years, it isn't something we need to rush at to get everything right now but we want to make sure all of the high level important things are there. In terms of the interconnectivity I think it is really important, this is a cornerstone strategy and one of the things we're working on very hard with other council colleagues and partners is making sure strategies really are connected and we don't just say they are, absolutely comments have been made to me before and they're quite right, no point building lots of nice houses if you can't get to school or you can't get to a job. So it's really making this happen and we've listed within the document some of the key interconnected strategies but we will continue to develop and review that over the next 10 years. I think there is something around the consultation which is really important in terms of who we want to reach out to. So the initial consultation that we did with the public was largely through online as well as some focus groups and we did receive nearly 900 responses which is great, it's a really great start to know that we're going in the right direction. But there were specific gaps in terms of younger people and we know that most, I think over half the respondents were over 50, is that correct, age wise? Yeah, team low. And there were also gaps in terms of people living in private rented accommodation which again we've identified some of the issues that are really, really important for the wellbeing of the city. And there were also gaps around black and ethnic minority and minoritised communities that again we're going to work with our consultant service to make sure we reach out in the appropriate ways to people. I would also emphasise that this isn't seen as a one off, this is about getting the high level strategy but we will continue to consult with residents and citizens of Sheffield in delivering over the next 10 years and all of the plans, the junior strategies will involve consultation. It's a conversation essentially, it doesn't stop and finish over this summer. We will also as part of the consultation ask people how they want to be involved, what do you want to say about housing, how are we working with you so far and how could that be different? And I think part of that is not seeing it as a siloed housing issue but saying if we're talking to people at school we can talk to them about housing as well through the social care route and so forth, our partners in business, what is it that connects with other things that we are doing? Because I think sometimes people feel like council ask them lots of times things that seem really similar and we can streamline that more. So I hope that's answered the key points but if there's anything else? Okay that's great, thank you so much. Really helpful conversation there, thank you for your answers. We all know in our communities the importance of good quality, safe, secure, affordable housing is the bedrock for living a good, fulfilling, healthy life and this strategy sets that high level ambition. We're a growing city, we know we need more homes and again that's in there. Homes that help us to tackle our climate change challenge, homes that are part of great neighbourhoods that Ajman mentioned, people are happy and proud to call home and that we're able to then through housing help people to fulfil their own individual potential. So housing by its very nature is kind of pervasive, it's part of all of our lives and this strategy is deliberately high level and wide ranging and it sets us out on a good steer but as has been mentioned we need to now get the input of the people of Sheffield to make sure that this is truly reflective of their own lives, what they want now and what they want for their children, their grandchildren and their families. So I think as leaders of this council we have a responsibility when the consultation is launched to make sure that we are also promoting it and encouraging people to feed in their views to shape the strategy for the next decade. So we have some recommendations, Ajman let me just read out the high level recommendations and then Ajman you can tell us which ones you want to amend. So it's recommended that we consider and endorse the draft housing strategy, that we approve the launch of the second phase of public consultation on the strategy which has been mentioned will come after the general election. We agree that the outcome of the consultation on the draft housing strategy will be presented back to the September SNR policy committee and on that one Ajman I think we just need an amendment and also that we agree a final draft will be presented to September's committee. So, the amendment there is to the autumn. Yes, if we can have just my amendments to recommendation three and four and change the September to autumn 2024 on both those three and four recommendations that would be really helpful. Okay, thank you. With those recommendations as amended our colleagues happy to accept them. Great, thank you very much and thank you for the work that's gone in and we'll go into this over the next few months and we'll look forward to seeing you again in the autumn. Great. Thank you everybody. That is the last agenda item for today's meeting. So that brings us to the end of this meeting. Our next meeting will be in June. Subjects for the agenda are being worked through right now and thanks everyone for your contributions today.