Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed councillors, officers and members of the press to final meeting of the 2022/23 meeting cycle and noted apologies for absence from the following councillors; David Baines, Linda Taylor, Steve Houghton, Gerald Vernon Jackson, Chris Poulter and Abi Brown.

The Chairman thanked all members for their hard work giving a special thanks to those who had stood down or were sadly not re-elected in May. In particular, he thanked the following, for their dedication to the work of the LGA:

·       Lord Gary Porter CBE – Former Chairman of the LGA

·       David Renard – Former Chairman of the EEHT Board

·       Peter Fleming – Former Chairman of the Improvement and Innovation Board

Thanks were given to Izzi Seccombe and Shaun Davies at their last meetings as Group Leaders and Vice-Chairs as well as to Rob Alden, Anntoinette Bramble and Jon Fuller in their last meetings as Deputy Chairs.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Executive Advisory Board agreed the minutes of the previous meeting held on Thursday 9 March 2023.

Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive, introduced the report before bringing in the other members of SMT to introduce sections relating to their work areas. Jess Norman, Senior Adviser, also offered answers to questions raised by members. The main issues were asylum, waste reforms, changes to the infrastructure levy and Voter ID. During discussion, members raised the following points:

·       Concern was raised about the deadline for resettlement of asylum seekers with the end of the pipeline being a home. An estimated 100,000 homes were needed which would not be resolved by the August 2023 deadline. ‘What if’ conversations needed to commence and the LGA should lobby strongly for a housing solution before deadlines are imposed.

·       Concern was raised following the Metropolitan Police’s announcement that it would no longer attend mental health calls unless there was danger to life and the impact this would have on other parts of the system without a transitional plan in place.

·       A view was expressed that people experiencing poor mental health episodes or suffering from dementia should not be dealt with by the police who are not trained to respond in such cases. Police provide security and safety and are not part of the health service. It was suggested that the health service must step up and use their emergency powers when needed.

·       The proposed changes to CIL collection were concerning, upfront borrowing against future sums that may never be collected is a bad model and would mean financial and reputational risk for councils.

·       The proposed waste changes were concerning, there was no standardised approach to collection and disposal of waste.

·       Concern about the effect on voter turnout following the introduction of Voter ID and the burden this would continue to place on councils to deliver.

·       The LGA should lobby hard on rules to allow online meetings for decision making.

Decision

The Executive Advisory Board agreed to note the report.

David Pealing, Member Services Manager, introduced the report which set out the definitive figures for the LGA’s proportionality for 2023/24.

Following the local elections in May 2023, the Labour Group became the largest party of Local Government and would assume the Chair of the Local Government Association following formal the nomination processes at General Assembly in July 2023.

In addition, from the start of the next meeting cycle in September 2023, the Liberal Democrat Group would gain an extra seat on every Policy Board as well as the chair of an additional Policy Board.

The Conservative Group would chair one less Policy Board and lose a seat on each.

The Independent Group would retain the same number of seats on each Policy Board as the current year.

Decision

The Executive Advisory Board endorsed the proportionality figures for the 2023/24 meeting year.

Action

Political Groups to agree the allocation of places across all LGA structures.

The Chairman welcomed Cllr Marianne Overton, Chair of the Civility in Public Life Programme Steering Group and Jess Norman, Senior Adviser, to introduce the report which set out the context for a recently completed research project looking into the support councils and other agencies can provide to councillors to prevent and handle abuse and intimidation from the public.

Decision

The Executive Advisory agreed without comment to the recommendations set out in paragraphs 4, 6 and 8 and to delegate final sign off to Political Group Leaders.