Agenda and minutes

There were no disclosable pecuniary interests.

(a)  To agree the minutes from the meeting of Cabinet on 15th March 2022

(b)  Matters arising

The minutes of the meeting on 15^th March 2022 were agreed and signed as a true record. There were no matters arising.

Report of the Director of Law and Governance

The Cabinet considered a report of the Director of Law and Governance on the work and outcomes of the Scrutiny Autism Task and Finish Group and sought consideration of their recommendations. An Appendix to the report provided the Report back of the Autism Task and Finish Group to the Health and Social Care Scrutiny Board (5) at their meeting on 23rd March 2022.

At the start of the Municipal Year 2021/22, the Health and Social Care Scrutiny Board (5) agreed to set up a task and finish group to look at support for autistic children and young people. This work was prompted by concerns raised regarding the wait times for assessments and diagnosis. The Task and Finish group wanted to understand the reason for the waits and what support was available during the waiting time without a diagnosis, particularly for Children and Young People.

At their meeting on 11 March 2020 the Health and Social Care Scrutiny Board (5) considered an item on the Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) Pathway and Support to Children and Young People in Coventry (their minute 33/20 referred). The Chair identified that more in-depth consideration needed to be made of some of the issues and invited Members to join a Task and Finish Group. Members of the Education and Children’s Services Scrutiny Board (2) were invited to join the Group due to the cross over in the remit of the two Boards regarding autism.

The report sought Cabinet’s consideration of the recommendations identified by the Task and Finish Group to address issues around the assessment process and support for children and young people who were referred for an autism assessment, and their families, as well as transition into adult service, inclusion and other aspects of autism and neurodiversity.

The Cabinet thanked the officers and Members who had been involved in the work of the Task and Finish Group, in particular they recognised the work undertaken by the Chairs of the Scrutiny Boards, and asked that Cabinet’s thanks to all concerned be placed on record. 

RESOLVED that the Cabinet agrees the following recommendations of the Autism Task and Finish Group:

1)  That the Council work with partners to identify sustainable, long-term funding as there is currently only funding available for the first year of the All-Age Autism Strategy delivery plan.

2)  Ensure tackling health inequalities for autistic people is prioritised for delivery as part of the All-Age Autism Strategy implementation plan to improve physical health, mental health and emotional wellbeing.

3)  Work with partners to accelerate and build on existing workstreams, to reduce the unacceptably long waiting times for diagnostic assessment.

4)  The Council and health partners work with schools, colleges and universities to ensure that all educational professionals (teachers, senior leaders, early career teachers, support staff) have a good understanding of the needs which may present for autistic and neurodiverse pupils and provide appropriate Continuous Professional Development (CPD) to ensure high quality provision at both whole class and individual intervention level.

5)  The Council strengthen data  ...  view the full minutes text for item 100.

Report of the Director of Streetscene and Regulatory Services

The Cabinet considered a report of the Director of Streetscene and Regulatory Services that sought approval to renew the Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) for the St. Michael’s Ward and surrounding areas. Appendices to the report provided: The Draft Public Space Protection Order for St Michaels and surrounding areas; a map outlining the area covered by the PSPO; Partner Impact Statements; and St Michael’s Ward Crime Statistics.

In 2019 a Public Spaces Protection Order was created for St Michael’s Ward and surrounding areas. The Order was granted following public consultation that was overwhelmingly in favour of the Order being granted.  The matter was also considered at the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee (their minute 68/19 referred).

The original reason for the order being sought was in response to the serious instances of public place violence witnessed in the City and criminal exploitation of young people.

In the three years of the Order’s operation there had been 49 breach notices issued. Breach notices allowed further assessment to decide upon the most appropriate sanction, this may be a formal warning, a referral to other agencies regarding drug or alcohol use or it may result in a fixed penalty notice or a referral to court.  Most individuals were only encountered once and as such fixed penalty notices or referrals to court were not often issued.

The Police were looking to create a system of recording each interaction with the public under this power to better assess the number of interactions as well as breaches. All encounters would be recorded on body worn cameras and as such if people had a complaint regarding the use of the powers, the recordings could be assessed.

Recently there has been a downwards trend in the seriousness of incidents and the Local Authority could point to some excellent partnership work to address matters but could not discount that some reduction was as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As such it was still felt that there was justification for the renewal of the Order.

The Cabinet noted that the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee had included an item on Public Space Protection Orders in place across the City in their 2022/23 Work Programme, to review data and evaluate the Orders effectiveness.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet agrees to renew the Public Spaces Protection Order for the St Michael’s Ward of the city and the surrounding areas.

Report of the Director of Business, Investment and Culture

The Cabinet considered a report of the Director of Business, Investment and Culture that sought retrospective approval for acceptance of a grant of up to £624,624.00 from Sport England as part of the Commonwealth Active Communities Fund Programme.

Coventry City Council had successfully bid to Sport England for a grant of up to £624,624.00 as part of the Commonwealth Active Communities Fund programme. The Commonwealth Active Communities Fund was awarded to four West Midlands areas in total – Coventry, Solihull, Birmingham, and the Black Country – to support the creation of a wide range of opportunities to help people get active in their local spaces as part of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games legacy.

The focus of the funding for Coventry would geographically be on the whole of the city. However, the project would focus primarily on the individuals and groups that were suffering from social isolation – a particularly acute issue in the city heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic and successive lockdowns. Through the development of the successful Active Communities funding application, the aim of the project had been focused to reach those who were most inactive and those least engaged, to create opportunities and fundamental behaviour changes that would increase activity, reduce isolation and address social and health inequalities.

‘Coventry Moves’ was the name of the funded project. A project oversight group had been established, on behalf of Coventry City Council in partnership with Coventry Sport & Physical Activity Strategic Board, to support delivery of the project.

The funding secured would focus on three key themed areas and would further support delivery of the International Children’s Games to be hosted in Coventry in August 2022. The three areas focused on: young people’s participation taking place around local parks; closing a number of streets in local communities to engage with people around sport and physical activity; and an adult social care project that would develop pilot work around ‘Commonwealth care homes’ that aimed to increase physical activity amongst older residents.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet retrospectively approves the acceptance of the Commonwealth Active Communities funding in the sum of £624,624.00 awarded to Coventry by Sport England.

There are no outstanding issues

There were no outstanding issues.

There were no other items of public business.