Agenda and minutes

There were no disclosable pecuniary interests.

a)  To agree the Minutes of the meeting held on 22 November, 2023

b)  Any matters arising

The Minutes of the meeting held on 22 November, 2023 were agreed and signed as a true record.

There were no matters arising.

Briefing Note of the Director of Business Investment and Culture

The Committee considered a Briefing Note of the Director of Business, Investment and Culture which provided an overview of the next steps in the ongoing development and delivery of the Coventry Cultural Strategy 2017-2027, drawing on and considering learning insights from the UK City of Culture 2021 (UK CoC 2021) Impact Evaluation Final Report. 

In January 2017, Cabinet approved a new, partnership Coventry Cultural Strategy 2017-2027, in support of the long-term positioning of culture in the city.  The Cultural Strategy set out a ten year-vision for the cultural life of Coventry, building on the existing heritage and culture of the city.  The Strategy was structured around Five Goals for cultural growth in the city, each of which was under-pinned by ‘Seven Big Ideas’ that support the transformation of the cultural life of the city.  The Strategy was designed to span a timeline in which Coventry was bidding for and had the potential to be UK CoC 2021.  It was therefore acknowledged from the outset that the Strategy approach would need to remain flexible, consultative, and responsive, continuing to evolve over the full ten-year period in order to achieve the vision.

The Final UKCoC 2021 Impact Evaluation Report was published on 2 November 2023 and forms part of a platform which contains over forty evaluation reports, research outputs and analysis relating to Coventry’s time as the UKCoC 2021. The report details the impact of taking a hyperlocal, community co-production approach to supporting engagement with cultural activities.  The report includes considerations regarding the success of the approach and the resource commitment required to achieve success. The Briefing Note detailed the following Learning Insight:-

a)  Culture makes a significant contribution to community engagement through co-creation and hyper local projects and to wider non-cultural outcomes through working with voluntary and community organisations.

b)  Investment in cultural and heritage assets and the public realm transform the city’s landscape and internal and external perceptions of Coventry as a city to live in, work in and visit.

c)  The title and year-long programme helped bring millions of pounds of investment to the city and stimulated a £150 million boost in tourism income above pre-Covid levels.

d)  Co-created programmes have a direct impact on local policy development and can influence change in practice though building a deeper connectivity with, and understanding of, community need, interests and/or key global and social agendas.

e)  Projects which engage the most vulnerable residents have the highest Social Return on Investment.

f)  Engagement and participation have a direct impact on the individual lives of many participants. These impacts include the formation of new social connections, a developing sense of agency and inclusion, and a growing sense of ability to influence change at a variety of levels.

g)  Significant communication problems within the Trust led to difficulties in maintaining partner relationships, lack of timely communication of the programme (both locally and regionally) and missed opportunities to market the UK CoC 2021 more effectively.

h)  The lack of clarity about agreed budgets and costs for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38.

Report of the Chief Partnerships Officer

The Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee considered a report of the Chief Partnerships Officer which indicated that the One Coventry Plan includes the Council’s vision and priorities, new ways of working, and core areas of activity to deliver the plans objectives, key strategies, and approaches. The current plan, last refreshed in 2022, covers the period from 2022-2030. It builds on the Council’s long-standing principles (being globally connected, locally committed, and working together to deliver priorities with fewer resources) and continues to set out new ways of working to help the Council face the current challenges of increasing demand and reduced real terms funding.

The annual performance report sets out the progress made towards the One Coventry Plan. For each objective, this report sets out the trends, actions taken, and performance metrics, to provide an assessment of the progress made against previous years and other places.

The Council uses agreed indicators to show progress made towards its priorities. This is supported by a wider basket of measures such as equality and perception measures that help explain the trends and story behind the headlines. Indicators are selected from key strategies and aligned to directorate priorities and equality and health inequalities objectives.

The Council’s priorities are delivered through strategies aligned to the One Coventry Plan; as set out in the performance management framework. As part of the performance management process, leadership teams within each directorate and the Corporate Leadership Team have been involved in ensuring that the organisation’s key strategies are aligned to the One Coventry Plan.

The One Coventry Plan is currently measured using 73 indicators, of which 36 indicators improved; 6 stayed the same; 15 indicators got worse; can’t say for 1 indicators; and progress is not available for the remaining 15 indicators. This means, 74% (42/57) of directional indicators (excluding cannot say or not available) improved or stayed the same. This compares to the performance seen in previous years: 69% (40/58) in 2021-22; 79% (50/63) in 2019/20, 78% (52/67) in 2018/19, 71% (42/59) in 2017/18, and 75% (43/57) in 2016/17.

Many of the Council’s key priorities have an equality dimension or address an inequality caused by economic or social circumstances.

The Committee were informed of the intention to refresh the content and regularity of the suite of performance reports available in the future and were provided with a demonstration at the meeting of an interactive dashboard programme that would facilitate this.

The Committee asked questions, made comments and sought assurances/information on a number of issues including:-

·  The importance of receiving performance data, recognising that this was not a statutory requirement

·  How members of the community can be involved in accessing performance information as well as understanding the achievements of the Council.

·  Specific performance areas including:

o  NEET numbers

o  Early Years performance

o  Migration data

o  Foreign inward investment

o  Tourism statistics

o  Fly-tipping and tip booking process.

o  Prosecutions

(It was noted that further information/data in relation to these issues would be available at an all Members Seminar to be held  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39.

Report of the Chief Legal Officer

The Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee received their Work Programme for the Municipal Year 2023/24 and noted the following changes:-

1)  Scrutiny of the West Midlands Combined Authority would be considered at the meeting on 24 January, 2024

2)  The One Coventry Climate Change Strategy would be considered at the meeting on 20 March, 2024.

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 other items of urgent public business.