Agenda item

The Committee received a report which provided an update on the recommendations from the Fairness Commission. The report was introduced by Jean Taylor, Head of Policy and Claire McCarthy, AD for Strategy, Communications and Delivery was also present for this item.   The following arose during the discussion of this item:

1. The Committee enquired about Recommendation 15 on the additional licensing scheme, which had been introduced in 2019. The Committee questioned whether an estimate had been done of what proportion of the overall number of eligible houses in the Private rented sector had been licensed since the scheme began (C.1000 homes). The Committee also requested further information about what was being done to push landlords who had not joined the scheme to do so. Officers agreed to ask the service to provide a response. (Action: Jean Taylor). 
2. Officers advised that they would be unable to answer questions relating to the detail behind a number of the recommendations as these were service specific. Officers from the Strategy and Policy teams were responsible for collating the Fairness Commission recommendations but a lot of the work behind this was necessarily done by specific services across the Council.
3. In noting the above response, the Chair sought a written update around Recommendation 3 and the number of people that would fall within the protected characteristic of socio-economic disposition. (Action: Jean Taylor). 
4. The Committee commented that they would like to see more detail behind the work that had been done to date to achieve the recommendations of the Fairness Commission. The Committee suggested that in future updates they would like to see RAG ratings, targets and details about what officers were seeking to achieve. Officers advised that the Borough Plan was due to be refreshed in the wake of the upcoming elections and that this would include delivery plans as well as KPIs attached to the delivery plans. It was suggested that more specifics could be expected at this stage about how the recommendations were being implemented.
5. The Committee commented that they would like to see more work done around Recommendation 7 and that after fairly wide ranging discussions on this topic as part of the evidence gathering process, they would have expected to see more progress made around some of the easier to implement outcomes around disability access, such as reasonable adjustments at meetings. In response, officers acknowledged these concerns and agreed to include feedback on specific recommendations, as appropriate, in future. By way of context, it was commented that not everything in the discussions could be captured in the recommendations but that officers would welcome specific feedback on particular areas that it was felt had been omitted or on specific points around reasonable adjustments.
6. The Chair added that she would like to see better engagement from officers with groups who had been involved in the fairness commission as part of a co-production process and that these organisations, such as disability groups and Children and Young People’s groups should be actively engaged going forwards, as part of the delivery of the Fairness Commission. (Action: Officers to note).

RESOLVED

That the update to the recommendations from the Fairness Commission was noted.