This meeting was scheduled to review a performance report on the council's strategic plan. It also provided the opportunity to discuss social value procurement policy and the activities delivered by the Community Safety Partnership.

Lichfield District 2050 Strategy Q2 2024/25 Performance Report

The report pack contained a report on the progress of the Lichfield District 2050 strategy and its delivery plan.

The report says the Delivery Plan contains 53 actions across four priority areas: confident communities, prosperous communities, active communities and green communities.

It says that 89% of those actions were either on track or had been completed at the time of reporting, and six actions were at 'warning' or 'off track' stage.

The report highlighted several 'on track' actions, including:

• The launch of a 3 year community and voluntary sector funding programme, giving over £780,000 to local groups.
• Progress with the delivery of the new Local Plan.
• Development of the Lichfield District Design Code.
• The Council approving plans to directly intervene and invest in providing more temporary accommodation across the district.
• Significant progress in plans to regenerate the Birmingham Road Site in Lichfield.
• The awarding of £200,000 to small rural businesses and farms in the district to help them expand or diversify.
• Construction of a new Leisure Centre at Stychbrook Park commencing.
• The launch of an environmental digital dashboard on the council website.

It says there were three actions set to 'warning':

• Implementing a new approach to major developments to agree more Section 106¹ agreements ‘up front’ with a focus on securing infrastructure investment.
• Engaging with stakeholders to develop a Burntwood masterplan and putting forward capital bids as part of the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS).
• Identifying and agreeing several LDC-owned sites to put forward as biodiversity offset sites.

It says there were two actions set to 'off track':

• Working to ensure that the Lichfield Greenway between Lichfield and Brownhills is opened to walkers and cyclists. The report says that although site clearance work is continuing, and Back the Track are making good progress, several risks had been identified.
• Working with Citizens Advice South East Staffordshire to deliver a joined-up advice and signposting service. The report says a joint way forward had been developed but due to the financial ask from Citizens Advice South East Staffordshire implementing it would lead to additional costs rather than efficiencies.

Social Value Guidance (Policy)

The report pack included a report on the council's Social Value Policy Statement and Guidance document. It notes that the council spends approximately £15m each year on goods, services and works, and that:

It requires us to consider how we might design and deliver our services in a way that generates even greater value for our communities.

The report says that the council has:

• Selected Social Value measures to support the Lichfield 2050 strategy: Confident Communities, Prosperous Communities, Active Communities and Green Communities.
• Developed a range of standard Social Value questions to be used in tenders.
• Identified any Social Value commitments or opportunities within existing Council arrangements.

The report recommends using the following tiers to ensure more social value can be delivered from higher value contracts:

• Under £150,000: a light touch approach including a social value question in requests for quotations.
• £150,000 to Public Contract Regulations thresholds: procurement will guide specifications and tender documents to ensure social value outcomes are included.
• PCR thresholds and above: social value must be included in tenders.

The report says that following the implementation of the draft guidance and template questions, the Council had 17 contracts with firm Social Value commitments to the value of circa £3.2m. This has included:

• Donations and sponsorships to local community groups and food banks.
• Fully funded courses, training opportunities and entrepreneur programmes.
• Promotion and advertisement of local job opportunities.
• Site visits and talks at local schools and colleges.
• Commitments to prioritise local companies and spend within the district.
• Diversion of materials away from landfill.
• Volunteer days for local projects and events.

Community Safety Partnership

The report pack contained a report on the activity of the Lichfield District Community Safety Partnership.

It describes the three key funding streams used by the partnership to tackle local crime and disorder: the Locality Deal Fund, the Anti-Social Behaviour Tasking Fund and the Violence Reduction Alliance Fund.

It notes that the partnership is working with Impera Analytics, an organisation that helps local partnerships to design community-led strategies. The aim of this work is to:

• Recruit two local residents to become community-based researchers.
• Train these community researchers to gather insights into local crime and disorder.
• Use this research to develop a 4-year community safety partnership strategy.

The report also describes the work of the community safety team, which is comprised of 1.5 full-time equivalent staff. This team is responsible for supporting the programme of works determined by the community safety partnership, as well as delivering:

• Responding to reports of anti-social behaviour, offering advice and signposting to relevant agencies.
• Managing low level anti-social behaviour cases involving privately rented or home-owner properties.
• Attending fortnightly hub meetings with other agencies to discuss and solve complex cases.
• Working with Staffordshire County Council on issues such as PREVENT, modern day slavery, hate crime and child sexual exploitation.

Health Matters

The report pack included a report by Councillor Steve Norman, the Chair of the committee, on the previous meeting of the Staffordshire County Council Health and Care Overview & Scrutiny Committee. It says that the committee received updates on the following topics:

• Freedom To Speak Up arrangements in NHS providers and the ICB.
• Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care System People / Workforce Report.
• Staffordshire Adult Social Care Workforce Update.
• Women’s Health Strategy Working Group Report.

Notes from Task Groups

The report pack included notes from two Task Groups:

• The New Leisure Centre Task Group, which met on 21 August 2024 to discuss value engineering options for the new leisure centre at Stychbrook Park. The group were happy with the options presented, subject to a reversion to the original heating system sufficiently covering the costs.
• The Lichfield City Centre Masterplan Task Group, which met on 3 October 2024 to discuss the Birmingham Road Site Development Brief. The group were content with the proposals set out, and agreed to suspend all future meetings until something significant arises.

Work Programme

The report pack contained a copy of the Committee's Work Programme for 2024-25.

Health Matters Task Group Scoping Document

The report pack contained a Scoping Document for a task group on local health priorities.

This document outlines the objectives of the group:

• To focus on local NHS and associated services with a view to influencing NHS decision-makers.
• To scrutinise the decisions of the ICB and their impacts on Lichfield District residents.
• To engage with local PCNs[^3] in order to strengthen partnership working.

The document also lists the desired outcomes of the group's work:

• To ensure that NHS decision makers including the County’s Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee are aware of and take into account local impacts.
• To reassure our residents that their concerns are being addressed as fully as possible.
• To increase transparency and democratic accountability.
• To influence internal LDC decision-making to take account of health implications.

Lichfield District Youth Council

The report pack noted that a verbal update from the Lichfield District Youth Council would be provided.