Agenda and minutes

None.

RESOLVED – that the minutes of the meeting held on 30 May be confirmed and signed by the Chair.

Key Decision identified as Marches Local Enterprise Partnership Governance in the Notice of Key Decisions published on 15 May 2019.

Councillor S Davies, Leader, presented the report of the Assistant Director: Business, Development & Employment.

Following a Government directive that all Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) must have a legal personality, the existing members of the Marches LEP agreed that the Marches LEP would be incorporated as a company limited by guarantee.

The report set out the proposals for Local Authority representation on the LEP. The new arrangements would continue to allow Telford & Wrekin Council to benefit from access to significant government funding distributed through the LEPs and to influence the LEPs role in supporting economic development in the area.

It was noted that due to the ongoing process of establishing the company, it was recommended that authority be delegated to the Assistant Director: Governance, Procurement & Commissioning, in consultation with the Leader, to appoint a director to the Board.  

RESOLVED – that:

a)    Telford & Wrekin Council becomes a Public Sector Member of the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership Ltd and that the company is added to the Council’s list of outside bodies to which the Council makes appointments

b)   Authority be delegated to the Assistant Director: Governance, Procurement & Commissioning, in consultation with the Leader,  to appoint a director as the Council’s representative on the Board of the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership Ltd.

Key Decision identified as Telford & Wrekin Drugs & Alcohol Strategy 2019 – 2022 in the Notice of Key Decisions published on 15 May 2019.

Councillor R Mehta, Cabinet Member: Communities & Inclusivity, presented the report of the Assistant Director: Health & Wellbeing, which provided an overview of the Drug and Alcohol Strategy for Telford & Wrekin. A copy of the Strategy was appended to the report. 

The Strategy set out the intention to work with partners to reduce the harm caused by alcohol and/or drug misuse in local communities, and would make a key contribution to the Council’s priority to ‘Improve the health and wellbeing of our communities and address health inequalities’. It provided an update on the following strategy, following consultation with service users and partner agencies.

Cabinet Members welcomed the Strategy, and highlighted in particular the importance of prevention and early intervention. Investing in this work, particularly for young people, reduced local authority and NHS treatment costs, reduced the cost of crime in local communities and offered life-time benefits in terms of health, education and employment.

Cabinet Members noted the reduction in the public health grant and expressed that money spent on preventative work saved significant amounts in the long term.

In response to a question from the Conservative Group Leader, it was confirmed that, as outlined and highlighted in the report, education played an important role in the strategy, building on the schools programme in already place, which included events such as Crucial Crew, Loudmouth Theatre in Education productions. The refreshed strategy would look at opportunities linked to the development of mandatory PHSE. 

RESOLVED that the refreshed Telford & Wrekin Drug & Alcohol Strategy 2019 – 2023 be approved.

Non-Key Decision

Councillor R A Overton, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Neighbourhood Services, Enforcement & The Pride Programme, presented the report of the Assistant Director: Governance, Procurement & Commissioning which set out the appointments to outside bodies that the Council was required to make for 2019/20.   Nominations had been sought from the political groups for those appointments that were not by position.  Following discussions with the political groups, a list of representatives for approval by Cabinet had been proposed, and this was tabled as Appendix 1.

It was noted that there was an amendment to the published report, with the nomination for Healthwatch to be Councillor Stephen Reynolds in place of Councillor Arnold England.

RESOLVED – that the nominations to represent the Council on Outside Bodies for 2019/20, as set out in Appendix 1 of the report, subject to the amendment to appoint Councillor Stephen Reynolds as Healthwatch representative, be approved.