(Members Code of Conduct – Part 4A of the Constitution)

To receive disclosures of interests from members and co-opted members on matters to be considered at the meeting. The disclosure must include the nature of the interest.

An interest must also be disclosed in the meeting when it becomes apparent to the member during the meeting.

Notes:

(1)       Members must consider their interests, and act according to the following:

(2)       Disclosable pecuniary interests relate to the Member concerned or their spouse/partner.

(3)       Members in arrears of Council Tax by more than two months must not vote in decisions on, or which might affect, budget calculations, and must disclose at the meeting that this restriction applies to them.  A failure to comply with these requirements is a criminal offence under section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992. 

(4)       Officers must disclose interests in accordance with Council Standing Order 44.

No disclosures of interest were received in relation to matters under consideration.

Recommended –

That the minutes of the meeting held on 28 November 2023 be signed as a correct record (previously circulated).

(Su Booth – 07814 073884)

Resolved –

That the minutes of the meeting held on 28 November 2023 be signed as a correct record.

(Access to Information Procedure Rules – Part 3B of the Constitution)

Reports and background papers for agenda items may be inspected by contacting the person shown after each agenda item.  Certain reports and background papers may be restricted. 

Any request to remove the restriction on a report or background paper should be made to the relevant Strategic Director or Assistant Director whose name is shown on the front page of the report. 

If that request is refused, there is a right of appeal to this meeting. 

Please contact the officer shown below in advance of the meeting if you wish to appeal. 

(Su Booth – 07814 073884)

There were no appeals submitted by the public to review decisions to restrict documents

The report of the Assistant Director Office of the Chief Executive and the Business, Employment and Skills Board (Document “Q”) will be presented to the Board and provides an update on the District’s strategic and collaborative approach to employment and skills, including examples of more recent achievements and future plans.

Recommended –

1.         That the content of this report, the challenges faced by the Bradford District and the strategic response be noted;

2.         That Members welcome the continued impact and progress of the partnership in 2022/23 and 2023/24 to date, and to promote within wider networks;

3.         That Members actively promote and support the new Employment and Skills Strategic Framework and our vision to work towards an all-age integrated employment and skills system within the other partnerships and their networks; and

4.         That Members consider ways to work together to maximise the impact and reach across the Bradford District (as detailed above in Sections 2.5 and 2.7).

(Melissa Gallimore - 07890 418297)

The report of the Assistant Director Office of the Chief Executive and the Business, Employment and Skills Board (Document “Q”) was presented to the Board providing an update on the District’s strategic and collaborative approach to employment and skills, including examples of more recent achievements and future plans.

A detailed PowerPoint presentation was provided to explain the challenges faced in the district.  The presentation detailed  the strategic response planned; governance arrangements in place; progress made and the impact of that progress, details of an employment and skills strategy refresh and an all-age integrated employment and skills framework..

Proposals on how the District’s partnerships’ anchor organisations could contribute to plan through their own activities was also reported, suggestions included  investments in time, capacity, expertise and funding to fully utilise current provision and infrastructure and growing both paid and unpaid placement opportunities; the provision of ‘supported’ employment and internships for people of all ages and committing to upskilling our existing  workforce to at least Level 3 and the use of local higher education and further education provision. Examples and suggestions of how those ambitions could be met were reported.

Members were asked to note the content of the report, the challenges faced by the Bradford District; to welcome the continued impact and progress of the partnerships, to promote the new Employment and Skills Strategic Framework and to consider ways they could work together to maximise the impact and reach across the Bradford District.

The  Skills House service has been supporting  the Social Care Sector since April 2023 to recruit to entry level roles.  There is an ambition that all three independent NHS organisations in the district will eventually  have all entry level roles processed through the Skills House which would support local people into jobs. A pilot scheme to ensure NHS jobs went via that route had commenced in April 2024 and it was expected this would be rolled out to the Voluntary and Social Care sectors in September 2024. In response to questions, it was confirmed that job seekers would be able to access both the Skills House and NHS on-line portals but the ambition was that the primary route would be through the Skills House Team.

Details of a support package being provided to employees of a local distribution centre to be closed shortly were also provided. 

The opportunity to prioritise children in care or care leavers was discussed and it was confirmed that guaranteed interviews for those young people were being considered.  A member stressed, whilst referring to neuro diverse residents or people with no qualifications or limited use of systems, that the Skills House systems must be easy to understand. It was agreed that the design of the system was crucial.  Work was ongoing to ‘hide the wiring’ whilst continuing to promote the Skills House initiative

A Member referred to the challenges faced around job density in the district and noted that there were fewer than seven jobs locally for every ten people of working age.  He  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28.

The report of the Strategic Director, Adults Social Care and Health (Document “R”) will be presented to the Board to update the Members on progress being made in early help and prevention in localities and seek support to further embed this way of working across the Partnership and unblock some of the remaining issues.

Recommended –

That the progress over the last 12 months be noted and that Members be requested to provide a steer on the direction of travel and key issues to resolve.

(Iain MacBeath - (01274 432990)

The report of the Strategic Director, Adults Social Care and Health (Document “R”) provided an update to Members on progress being made in early help and prevention in localities and sought support to further embed that way of working across the Partnership and unblock some of the remaining issues. Comments provided by Sam Keighley, the VCSE Lead to the Board were read out, this included disappointment that the rationalisation of front doors was not currently considered and also thanking staff for the hard work in improving locality working. The impact of the VCSE in supporting locality working was highlighted.

The report outlined that system partners had worked closely together over the last 12 months to strengthen local professional relationships between different organisations to deliver on an agreed early help and prevention approach in the five localities in the district. A strategic approach had been agreed, resources had been allocated   and are led by locality based leadership teams which are in the process of developing delivery plans tailored to local communities..

Wellbeing Board members were asked to provide a steer on the ambition for locality working in the future. Locality leadership teams requested  the Board’s assistance in respect of  co-location of teams in localities, a steer on further integration of services and to flag that housing remained a priority  issue that locality teams dealt with regularly.

A discussion took place regarding the proposal for “one front door” and whether the current model could be improved to develop a single ‘front door’ It was explained that the efficiency of the ‘one front door’ model would be assessed to ensure it was effective and not confusing.  There was a risk of adding  another layer of administration and governance to a complex landscape, creating greater confusion and cost. Currently, staff expressed a preference to keeping individual front doors. 

The Strategic Director, Children’s Services reported a similar ‘front door’ scheme which was co-ordinated with children, young people and families which could be shared.

The Strategic Director, Health & Wellbeing confirmed that there was no ‘wrong door’ but that work was required to ensure people knew about all services available.

The representative of the West Yorkshire Police reported that they had created five early action teams with police officers working together.  He stated his belief in co-location but believed it must be co-ordinated across geographical areas. 

It was acknowledged that working together in a clear co-ordinated fashion would reduce the demand on all partners. 

Concerns were raised that politicians provided information to the Ward Partnership meetings but did not always receive information in return.  It was confirmed that the police held meetings with professional partners and agencies but could not share that information on individuals.  

It was reported that a structured process to discuss complex individuals requiring complex multiagency assistance between partners was in operation however there were always opportunities to improve information sharing to improve outcomes for individuals. 

[SH1] 

A Member, whilst commending the progress being made in early help and prevention in localities, questioned how  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.