Agenda item

The Chairman invited Grace Abel (Advisor – Productivity) and Cllr Liz Green (Vice-Chair) to introduce the report. Liz asked board members to encourage their respective authorities to provide best practice case studies for inclusion in the Climate Change Hub.

Grace gave an overview of some of the recent climate change improvement and support work:

-          Four online engagement events have been delivered through the LGA green webinar series.

-          The Design in Public Sector programme is being rolled out for 2020/21.

-          A new Universities and Councils programme is being established that will create partnerships on working toward net-zero carbon emissions.

Following Grace’s report, the following items of discussion were raised by members:

·       Discussion arose on whether the content of recent webinars has been too focused on a Unitary authority model. Views expressed recognised the work of borough, district and county bodies but also stressed that consideration is needed of whether central government opts for greater use of the unitary model in the future.

·       Questions were raised about the updating or release of certain resources including the ‘Acting on Climate Change councillors’ workbook’ and ‘10 Questions to ask when scrutinising services to tackle climate change’. Grace explained that the former should be updated by the end of the calendar year, and the latter will be launched shortly with an accompanying webinar.

Decision

The members of the Improvement & Innovation Board noted the report and agreed the proposed work programme for the rest of the financial year set out in paragraphs 23-31.