Report No. 237/2018 from the Scrutiny Commission was received, the purpose of which was to provide the final report arising from the Scrutiny Poverty Review and seek Council approval of recommendations as detailed in the report.

Mr Conde introduced and moved the recommendations in the report.  Mr Cross seconded the recommendations.

During debate the following points were noted:

i.      Mr Dale welcomed the report as positive outcome of the review and congratulated all members that had taken part in it.  He hoped that the recommendations would be approved so that information for members of the public on where they can go for help and support would be improved;

ii.     Mr Baines felt the report was positive and that the Council should rightly focus on providing support to those that need it, but that as the Citizens Advice Bureau had already published a very good report on poverty he did not feel that it was necessary for the Council to have produced its own report.  Mr Baines requested information on how much time and resource had been spent on this report;

iii.    Mr Lammie highlighted the fact that this had been a new approach for Scrutiny and that engagement had been challenging, however, the report would be valuable in ensuring that focus remained on vulnerable residents when considering budget pressures and delivery of services in the future;

iv.   Mr Oxley felt the report was an important platform in increasing the profile of problems faced by those living in poverty and building on the information and support offered to those people;

v.     Mr Conde agreed that the recommendations in the report would ensure that the impact on residents in relation to poverty was a consideration in all proposed changes to policies and service delivery;

vi.   Miss Waller suggested that a future Scrutiny Panel item might look at the impact of proposals in the report on alleviating poverty;

vii.  Mrs Briggs, Chief Executive, confirmed that the website information to be improved would be the Rutland Information Service and the Council’s Financial Assistance pages;

viii. Mr Cross asked members to consider the effect of high fuel levies imposed by central government on poverty; and

ix.    Mr Conde confirmed that lessons had been learnt from trying a new approach to Scrutiny and that Scrutiny Commission were working on proposing improvements to the Scrutiny process.  They were awaiting the Government guidance on Scrutiny which was due to be published shortly to enable them to develop these proposals further.

RESOLVED

Council ENDORSED the Poverty Review Final Report (Appendix A) and APPROVED the recommendations detailed on page 8 of Report No. 238/2018.