Agenda and minutes

Apologies for lateness were received from Councillor Ann Rosenberg

To confirm attendance, the Chair will perform a roll-call. Members will also have the opportunity to declare any interests.

If a Councillor has a disclosable pecuniary interest in a particular item, whether or not it is entered in the Authority’s register of interests, or any other significant interest which they consider should be declared in the public interest, they should declare the existence and, unless it is a sensitive interest as defined in the Member Code of Conduct, the nature of the interest at the commencement of the consideration of that item or as soon as it becomes apparent.

Where Members of the public are not allowed to be in attendance and speak, then the Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest should withdraw from the meeting whilst the matter is under consideration. Councillors who have declared other significant interests should also withdraw from the meeting if they consider their continued participation in the matter would not be reasonable in the circumstances and may give rise to a perception of a conflict of interest.

Councillors are not obliged to withdraw from the meeting where a dispensation to that effect has been obtained from the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve the minutes of the previous meetings held on 10 November 2020 and 25 January 2021.

The minutes of the meetings held on 10 November 2020 and 25  January 2021 were agreed as an accurate record.

For the Chair to invite those members of the public that have

registered to speak, to ask questions on the reports within the

agenda.

To ask a public question, you will need to register to speak at the

meeting.

To do this, please send an email to charles.francis@lbhf.gov.uk

by 12pm on Thursday 1 April 2021and joining instructions to

the Zoom meeting will be sent to you.

The Chair confirmed that no public questions had been received.

This report sets out the eight recommendations made by the Arts Commission in its final report, for consideration by the Council for adoption.

Yvonne Thomson – (Interim Strategic Manager, Economic Development) provided an overview of the report, which sets out the eight recommendations made by the Arts Commission in its final report, for consideration by the Council for adoption.

The Chair thanked Yvonne Thomson for the overview and invited Councillor Andrew Jones, Cabinet Member for the Economy to address the committee. Councillor Andrew Jones expressed his thanks to Jonathan Church, the Commissioners and all the participants in the Arts Commission review which had taken over two years. He acknowledged the degree of adaption which had been required to overcome the challenges posed by Covid in producing such a comprehensive document.

Turning to the report itself, Councillor Andrew Jones highlighted that it outlined a set of early successes and the process the Commission had followed. He explained that there was a significant amount of work to do to build on the recommendations set out in the report. However, the report was a tremendous achievement which put the Authority in a strong position to develop the Arts in the future.

Chair introduced the Commissioners and invited Jonathan Church, Chair of the Arts Commission, to speak. Mr Church thanked Richard Watts, Consultant  and his organisation for providing the research and documentary backbone for the Commission. He explained the reason everyone participated in the Commission was the belief they had in the Authority to take what was already excellent in the borough and develop it further.

Jonathan Church provided details of the report and explained that recommendations 1 and 7 were significant. Recommendation 1, which focused on the new knowledge base and making the new strategy and recommendation 7  which centred on building capacity and developing the economic growth of the Arts sector, alongside the Cultural Strategy. Richard Watts, Consultant, highlighted the importance of the new Cultural Strategy, its ability to address the challenges posed by Covid, the inequities (of opportunity) across the borough  and the need for additional investment to amplify and leverage all the (arts) activities in Hammersmith and Fulham. He highlighted that it was important that a representative group of people had contributed to the Arts Commission’s report but underlined the importance of Recommendation 1 and developing a Cultural Strategy to further enhance (cultural) representation across the borough.

Victoria Brignell, Arts Commissioner, commented the Commissioners had been drawn

from a diverse range of backgrounds. Numerous in-depth evidence-gathering sessions were held, and these informed a number of underlying principles. She explained that the challenge was not only how the Borough nurtured excellence in the arts, but also  how to ensure it was as  inclusive as possible. She felt that the Arts worked best when the Authority was seen as an enabler rather than as a  producer. Highlighting Recommendation 5, it was noted this focused on joining up arts events across the borough.

The Chair invited Melanie Nock, H&F Arts Fest, to explain how arts organisations had been involved and contributed to the Arts Commission’s work. Melanie Nock commented that the work had been invaluable  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

This report in conjunction with a presentation, sets out how Beam uses community-powered crowdfunding and technology, to empower and support residents impacted by homelessness into employment and their own rented homes.

Councillor Lisa Homan, Cabinet Member for Housing, made some opening remarks. Given the significant challenges posed by homelessness and unemployment, she confirmed the borough sought to utilise innovative ideas to support its statutory services and help residents through challenging times. Beam had been extremely successful, and she commended its work to the Committee.

Kamal Montalib - (Head of Economic Development), confirmed Beam was a ground-breaking initiative and the Authority was the first council in the country to work with Beam from April 2019. Kamal provided an overview of the current economic climate in the borough (to provide the context in which Beam was operating), before asking Chloe Moore from Beam to provide her presentation.

Chloe Moore provided a presentation on what Beam did, as well evidencing its success through a series of case studies. The following key points were noted:

·       Beam is a service for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

·       A summary of the process was provided:

1.    Client referral to Beam by the Council or charity partners.

2.    Caseworker assigned to each client.

3.    Beam crowdfunds all the resources needed to assist the client begin their new career.

4.    Each client is assisted to find stable work with in-work support provided for 6 months after entering employment.

·     Beam’s assistance cuts across users with multiple support needs.

·     Partnership with Council begins in April 2019, January 2020 - £100K was donated (crowd funded) to fund training and work, July 2020 – Beam add Housing support to its service

·     January 2021 – H&F submit external bid for Beam to support another 250+ residents over 3 years.

·     Currently: 87 residents funding with Beam, £245,861 donated from public, 37 clients have entered work, 33 clients moved on / prevented from homelessness.

·     Jobs provided by a diverse range of organisations including: NHS, Ocado, Football Clubs and Thames Water.

·     Money Beam saves the Council: £10,300 costs saved per person who leaves homelessness, £6,500 costs saved per person who is prevented from becoming homeless, £1,600 increase in council tax paid per person starting work.

The Chair thanked Chloe Moore for her presentation and invited Councillor Sue Fennimore to address the Committee. Councillor Sue Fennimore confirmed that Beam worked and was about helping people to help themselves. The Committee learnt that the referral pathway had been an extremely useful mechanism to assist residents in numerous ways, to achieve sustainable employment and housing. Moving forwards, Councillor Sue Fennimore explained the Council would assist Beam where possible.

Councillor Helen Rowbottom asked if the social networking aspect of Beam’s work was captured in its operating model. In response, Chloe Moore explained that with Beam’s health foundation bid recently submitted, Beam hoped to do more direct tracking of well-being outcomes on the project in the future. Beam’s own platform also currently allowed clients to view and interact with persons which had donated to their specific crowdfunding page.

The Chair commented that Beams’ approach was very person-centric and clearly assisted clients to weigh up and assess their possible  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

This report alerts members to the recently launched draft Equalities Plan

2021-2025, currently open to public consultation for a 12-week period

until the end of April.

Karen Galey – (Assistant Director for the Economy) provided an overview of the report, which alerted members to the recently launched draft Equalities plan 2021-25, which was currently open to public consultation for a 12-week period until the end of April 2021.

Making some opening remarks, Councillor Sue Fennimore, Deputy Leader of the Council, commented that the Draft Equalities Plan was a longstanding piece of work which not only addressed the Council’s Duty under the Equalities Act but went further and confirmed equalities and social inclusion mattered on all fronts. Councillor Sue Fennimore encouraged all Committee members to make individual submissions.

Councillor Helen Rowbottom explained that she had already provided feedback, as the Chair of Finance PAC, but commented that one of the pledges to continue to support people after the pandemic had ended, needed to be re-worded to make the pledge clearer.

The Chair, Councillor Rory Vaughan, confirmed the Committee welcomed the statement and supported the objectives which had been set out in the Plan. Especially the aims of objective 4 (employment / training and improving opportunities), which dovetailed with the  Beam agenda item the Committee had considered previously. He stressed the importance of supporting employment opportunities as a mechanism to improve equality within the borough.

The Chair asked Officers to provide further details on objective 5, in terms of becoming an employer of choice and fostering greater inclusion. In response, Karen Galey explained that in the past few years, the Authority had strived in its employment and recruitment activities to become a gold standard inclusive employer and to lead by example. And in doing so, to encourage employers throughout  the borough to emulate the Authority in providing apprenticeships, work experience opportunities, mentoring and encouraging residents to become an integral part of the Authorities’ workforce (which reflected the borough’s communities).

Councillor Helen Rowbottom highlighted the importance of the Authority being very data driven in identifying vulnerable groups in relation to the way in which the economy was likely to be affected in the next year. She also commented it was important that actions were taken in ‘live time’ rather than taking a reflective approach. Karen Galey confirmed officers within The Economy were working closely with the Business Intelligence Unit to use real time data, so that an effective targeted approach to could be taken to provide support.

Councillor Helen Rowbottom highlighted that some vulnerable groups were invisible in the Authorities’ datasets and it was important to cross refence other sources of intelligence to help identify these.

Concluding the item, the Chair thanked Karen Galey and Councillor Sue Fennimore for the opportunity to comment on the Plan.

RESOLVED

That the Committee note and comment on the report.