Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Cllr Bill Withers. Cllr Chris Carter attended as the Conservative Substitute.

All Members who believe they have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting must declare that interest and, having regard to the circumstances described in Part 3 Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members' Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter is discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code. Furthermore all Members with a Non-Pecuniary interest in a matter being considered at the meeting should consider whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 2 of the Code, consider whether it is appropriate to leave the meeting while the matter is discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter considered at the meeting they must declare that interest at the time of the relevant debate and, having regard to the circumstances described in Part 3, Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members' Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code. Furthermore Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Non-Pecuniary interest in a matter being considered at the meeting they considered whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 2 of the Code, considered whether it was appropriate to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting

The minutes of the last meeting were reviewed and agreed.

To receive any deputations notified under Standing Order 12.

No deputations were received at this meeting.

To receive any announcements the Chairman may wish to make.

The Chairman highlighted to Members that at the last meeting a question had been asked about reservists working at the Council, and the answer had been emailed to committee members.

The Chairman reported that at a recent Members Briefing, a voluntary sector item had been presented by Sue Dovey (from Action Hampshire) and Tim Houghton (from Community First) who had made comments about third sector engagement with the Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs). The Chairman had invited them to this meeting as an item on LEPs was on the agenda, however they had been unable to attend.

The Chairman also announced that he had been contacted with a request for an item on broadband to be added to the work programme for this Select Committee. This would be discussed further under the work programme item.

To receive a report providing an update on Community Safety, and a presentation from the Willow team relating to the strategic priority of serious and organised crime and child exploitation and the County-wide collaborative arrangements responding to this priority risk.

Councillor Jan Warwick had been invited to attend the Select Committee for this item, to provide an update on the work of the Hampshire Police and Crime Panel. The Police and Crime Panel (PCP) scrutinise the Police and Crime Commissioner, and Cllr Warwick was the Hampshire Member appointed to this panel. Cllr Warwick gave an overview of the remit and workings of the PCP, and highlighted that the PCP undertake ‘pro active scrutiny’ of particular topics in further detail. In 2017 the Panel considered rural crime and traffic crime, in 2018 operational policing, and in 2019 was looking at festival security.

The Select Committee then received a report on behalf of the Director of Adults’ Health and Care providing an overall update on community safety issues, focusing on the remit of this Select Committee to scrutinise partnership working in relation to crime and disorder. It was reported that work had been undertaken over the past year to strengthen the overarching governance around community safety. The County Strategy Group had identified strategic priority areas, one of which was organised crime and child exploitation. It was noted that Councillor Joy was the Executive Member for community safety. Some Members commented that there could be improved member oversight of this area of work. The Chairman suggested a further update on the work of the County Strategy Group come to this committee sooner than the next annual update.

The Select Committee then received a presentation from the Willow Team in Children’s Services and a representative from the Police Missing Exploited and Trafficked (MET) team, regarding child exploitation. Members heard about the complex issues involved in child exploitation, and the ‘county lines’ model used by organised criminal gangs, which included using children to carry and sell drugs. Often the arrangements cross local authority boundaries, and Hampshire children could be drawn in by gangs based in London. Joint working between the County Council and the Police identified at risk children, and categorised their level of risk as red amber or green. A number of joint operations had taken place, identifying individuals involved in particular operations and then finding ways to disrupt their activities and reduce the level of risk to the children involved.

The Police representative indicated that not all drug networks involved children, and it was mainly cocaine and heroin they deal in as those drugs were the most lucrative. It was noted that recent legislation regarding modern slavery provided another way to target those involved in this type of criminal activity, as it provided a better threat than a drug related conviction. Members asked questions to clarify points and debate what they had heard. The Chairman thanked the presenters for their time.   

RESOLVED:

That the Select Committee:

1.    Note the establishment of the Hampshire County Strategy Group for Community Safety.

2.    Note the current work programme of the County Strategy Group for Community Safety.

3.    Note the work undertaken to develop the Strategic Assessment of Community Safety and the establishment of strategic priorities for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 59.

To receive a presentation from the Director of Economy Transport & Environment providing an introduction to the Hampshire Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs).

The Select Committee received a presentation from the Director of Economy Transport and Environment regarding the Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) in Hampshire. Members heard that two LEPs cover Hampshire; the Enterprise M3 LEP that covered parts of Hampshire and part of Surrey; and the Solent LEP that covered Southampton, Portsmouth, surrounding parts of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

A national review of LEPs had taken place and made recommendations about their transparency and governance processes over how they spend public money allocated to them for economic development. The Government had recently allocated an additional £20m to LEPs and tasked them with producing local industrial strategies. Infrastructure funding was also increasingly being channelled through the LEPs.

In future LEPs would be expected to operate as companies. Solent LEP was already set up on this basis, but the M3 LEP would need to transition to this model by April 2019. The LEP review had also looked at the geography of LEPs. The County Council had provided feedback that it would be preferable to merge the LEPs so there was only one for the Hampshire area. The LEPs had provided a response with a proposal to change their boundaries to avoid some district council areas being covered by more than one LEP. A response from the government on these proposals was awaited.

Councillor Mans was in attendance, who was the County Council’s representative on both LEP Boards. He reported that it was important for the LEPs to work closely with the County Council to deliver infrastructure schemes, and to work together on cross boundary issues e.g. north to south Hampshire connectivity. He also highlighted that it had been identified that Hampshire was lagging behind neighbouring areas in provision of high quality office space.

The Chairman indicated his intention to invite the Chief Executive’s and Chairmen of both LEPs to attend a future meeting of the Select Committee, which was supported. It was discussed that it may be preferable to do so once the government had responded on the issue of the LEP geography, in case there were due to be any changes.

RESOLVED:

To retain LEPs on the work programme for further scrutiny, including inviting the Chief Executive and Chairmen of the LEPs to a future meeting.

To receive an update from the Director of Economy Transport & Environment regarding the Hampshire 2050 Commission.

The Select Committee received an update from the Director of Economy Transport and Environment regarding the Hampshire 2050 Commission. The Commission was seeking to understand how future changes, for example in technology, the natural environment, life styles or the economy would affect the county. The Commission would explore what action was needed to ensure that Hampshire in 2050 maintains or improves economic prosperity, quality of life, and a diverse, rich and attractive environment.

Members heard that the Commission was halfway through a number of evidence gathering hearings, and was due to report to Council in July 2019. There could be a role for the Policy & Resources Select Committee following the publication of the report, to input to policy development being undertaken in response. Information about the hearings that had taken place to date was on the website, and the remaining hearings were due to take place on: 14 December 2018, 25 January 2019 and 22 February 2019 in Ashburton Hall.

RESOLVED:

The Select Committee note the update on the Hampshire 2050 Commission.

To receive an update from the Director of Transformation and Governance regarding Hampshire County Council’s compliance with the General Data Protection Regulations that came into force in May 2018.

The Select Committee received a report from the Head of Risk and Information Governance regarding the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) that had come into force in May 2018. Members heard that this legislation was primarily targeted to provide greater transparency about use of data and give individuals more control over their data.

The County Council had developed expertise as a result of ensuring our compliance with the new regulations, and was now able to offer this expertise to other public sector bodies. This included offering training to schools from December 2017. It was noted that mandatory e learning on GDPR was part of the induction programme for all new staff at the County Council.

Some members queried the implications for elected members. It was noted that the County Council had placed a privacy notice on each Councillors webpage on hantsweb, to explain to the public what would happen to any information they gave to a county councillor.

RESOLVED:

That the Committee notes the contents of the GDPR update report and that the County Council has the appropriate management systems, processes and procedures in place to meet the statutory requirements of GDPR and the associated Data Protection Act 2018.

To receive a presentation providing an overview of the registration service and the future impacts of legislation.

Due to the length of time spent on earlier items, this item was deferred to a future meeting.

To consider proposals to establish task & finish groups or working groups by other Select Committees.

No Working Group proposals were put forward at this time.

To consider the forward work programme for this Select Committee.

The Chairman presented the forthcoming work programme for the Policy and

Resources Select Committee. Cllr Anna McNair Scott indicated that she had requested Broadband issues be added to the work programme, as she was supporting a community in her area who found that BT Openreach doubled the cost of a scheme to upgrade their broadband late on in the process. Cllr Porter commented that she had experience of similar issues in her area. It was agreed to have an item on this on a future agenda, to investigate the extent of such issues.

RESOLVED:

The Work Programme be agreed, subject to any amendments made at this

meeting.