Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

Briefing Note of the Executive Director of People

Councillor Lucas, Cabinet Member for Policy and Leadership has been invited to the meeting for the consideration of this item

The Committee considered a briefing note and received a presentation of the Executive Director of People which informed of the methods in which a Top Ten City could be measured.  Councillor Lucas, Cabinet Member for Policy and Leadership and Councillor Maton, Cabinet Member for Business, Enterprise and Employment attended the meeting for the consideration of this item. The Committee also took into account data for Coventry from the Cities Outlook provided by the Centre for Cities organisation which was tabled at the meeting.

The Committee were informed that there was not a single standardised ranking of cities or local authorities as each of these had a different focus. Consequently, there was scope for the Council to develop what it meant to be a Top Ten City. Reference was made to the Council Plan, the Council’s top level strategy setting out its priorities over the next ten years, highlighting what the Council meant  by being a Top Ten City – a globally connected city working together to improve the quality of life for Coventry people. The Council’s aspiration was a recognition that as England’s 10^th largest city by population it needed aspirations to match its stature.

Whilst there were no single standardised rankings or measures of cities, there were, however, many indices developed by external organisations that allowed places to be compared and contrasted. The briefing note highlighted a number of indices including the name, the organisation that created it, the scope of comparison (country level or city level) and when it was last updated. 

Attention was drawn to the Composite Liveability Measure (CLM). It was possible to utilise methods similar to the indexes from other agencies to develop a CLM based on council priorities. It could be used to compare and contrast prosperity, liveability and sustainability and could potentially be used to measure the city’s progress towards becoming a Top Ten City. Work was currently on-going in the area including working with the University of Warwick to refine and validate the methodology. A poster of the CLM and the Good Growth CLM were set out at appendices to the briefing note.

The members questioned the officers on a number of issues arising from the presentation and responses were provided, matters raised included:

·  Thoughts on what it meant to be a Top Ten City including was it just an academic exercise

·  Concerns that because of all the different measures, many cities could claim to be a Top Ten City

·  The view that it was the opinion of residents that should determine whether Coventry was a Top Ten City

·  The importance in being able to use this aspiration when promoting the city to help attract business and tourism

·  The need to be able to set out what would make Coventry a Top Ten City

·  Concerns about some of the data on the Centre for Cities Coventry Factsheet - positives could be viewed as negatives and vice versa

·  Further information about the work to develop the CLM

·  The importance of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 67.

All outstanding issues have been included in the Work Programme

The Committee noted that all outstanding issues had been included in their Work Programme for the year.

Report of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator

The Board considered their Work Programme for the year for the current year.

RESOLVED that:

(1) The Work Programme for 2015/16 be noted

(2) Members of the Education and Children’s Services Scrutiny Board (2) be invited to attend the next two Committee meetings for the following issues:

9^th March - Coventry Alcohol Strategy 2014-17 and Coventry Drugs Strategy 2015-17, in particular the update on progress on the Family Drug and Alcohol Court

20^th April – Barnardo’s project concerning children missing from care. 

Any other items of public business which the Chair decides to take as a matter of urgency because of the special circumstances involved.

There were no additional items of business.