STATEMENT OF THE CORPORATE AND PARTNERSHIPS OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN

Since the Chairman’s last statement to Council on 22 February 2023, the Corporate and Partnership Overview and Scrutiny Committee has met once on 6 March 2023, when the following items were considered:

· Bi-annual Update on Community Safety Plan Delivery and Partnership Working

· Bi-annual Stronger Communities Programme & Corporate Volunteering Update

· Annual Workforce Update

· Foodbanks Scrutiny Review.

At the committee meeting on 6 March 2023, members raised the following issues:

· The scale of the work being done to support the priority area of ‘Violence Against Women and Girls’ and the challenges arising

· The changing role of the Stronger Communities Team post pandemic and how it will adapt to working in the new North Yorkshire Council as a key service supporting local community action and intervention

· The post pandemic nature of volunteering and what actions needed to be put in place to support volunteering in the longer term as an increasingly important element of local delivery of services

· The action being taken to manage staff vacancies in key areas of work, particularly social work and technical roles, and what impact the creation of the North Yorkshire Council will have on vacancy levels.

There was also an update from the Foodbanks Scrutiny Review Task Group, which noted that: there remained a stigma associated with the use of food banks, which risked deterring those people most in need from seeking support; the donations from businesses were falling as bigger organisations work hard to reduce their waste and as supermarkets focus on improved stock management; there was increasing demand for food banks in the county.

The next meeting of the committee is on 5 June 2023 and the following items are scheduled for scrutiny at that meeting:

· Annual review of Councillor Locality Budgets 2022/23

· Annual review of the Refugee Resettlement Programme

· Bi-annual Performance Update on the work of Property Services and estates management

· Annual Update on Library Services.

It is anticipated that the work of the committee will evolve over the next 12 months as scrutiny of aspects of the work of the former district and boroughs councils is taken on as well as scrutiny of some of the changes associated with the creation of the new North Yorkshire Council.

COUNCILLOR DAVID IRETON

2 May 2023