Agenda and minutes

It was noted that following receipt of the temporary resignation of Councillor Furnell from the Committee, the Director of Legal and Business Services, acting under delegated powers, had appointed Councillor Coombs to replace them for the purposes of this meeting. The Committee also noted the apologies of Councillor Stead.

To approve and sign as a correct record the Minutes of the meetings held on 8 September 2022 and to deal with any matters arising, attached.

RESOLVED: that the minutes for the Committee meeting on 8 September 2022  be approved and signed as a correct record.

The Committee considered the report of the Director, Legal and Business Services enabling the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee to examine the content of the Forward Plan and to discuss issues of interest or concern with the Executive.

In regard to Appendix 1 the briefing paper “Introduction of fees for Council’s public electric vehicle chargers” Councillor Mitchell – Cabinet Member for Housing & Green Environment, Steve Guppy – Green City Lead and Chris Griffin - Sustainability Projects Lead (Electric Vehicles) were present and with the consent of Chair addressed the meeting.

RESOLVED:

(i)  That, during the Electric Vehicle (EV) charging consultation exercise, officers explore with EV owners the existing barriers to charging EV vehicles via the publicly accessible electric vehicle chargers in the City Council’s car parks and highways.

(ii)  That the Administration explores best practice when considering the future approach to Southampton’s EV charging infrastructure.

The Committee considered the report of the Cabinet Member for Safe City requesting that, as part of the 12 week consultation process, the Committee consider the attached draft Domestic Abuse and Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy and provide feedback to inform the final version to be considered by Cabinet.

Councillor Renyard – Cabinet Member for Safe City, Mary D’Arcy – Executive Director for Communities, Culture and Homes, Jason Murphy – Stronger Communities Manager, Caroline Bate – Domestic Abuse Co-ordinator and representatives from Yellow Door (a Southampton Based charity that works with people who have experienced sexual and / or domestic abuse) were present and with the consent of the Chair addressed the meeting.

A number of issues were raised and discussed including:

·  the importance of education in both preventing and addressing issues related to domestic and sexual violence;

·  the need for action from numerous stakeholders across Southampton;

·  the importance of ensuring that the strategy is responsive and reflective to the needs within the City; and

·  the importance of the use of a wide range of data sources thereby reducing reliance on police statistics. 

RESOLVED that the Committee requested that the Cabinet Member takes into consideration the issues raised at the meeting when developing the final version of the report and that the final draft is circulated to the Committee.  

Report of the Cabinet Member for Health, Adults and Leisure requesting that the Committee consider the attached draft, five-year, combined Tobacco, Alcohol and

Drugs Strategy (2023 – 2028) and recommend any amendments as part of the consultation process.

NB decision by Cabinet 14 December 2022

The Committee considered the report of the Cabinet Member for Health, Adults and Leisure requesting that the Committee consider the attached draft, five-year, combined Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Strategy (2023 – 2028) and recommend any amendments as part of the consultation process.

Councillor Fielker – Cabinet Member for Health, Adults and Leisure, Dr Debbie Chase – Director of Public Health, Collin McAllister and Helen Dougan – Senior Public Health Practitioners were present and with the consent of the Chair addressed the meeting.

Councillor Fielker introduced the strategy detailing the issues, the need for the City to have an effective strategy and explained how the strategy was designed to ensure that services across the Council take responsibility, and act collectively, to improve outcomes related to the use of tobacco, alcohol and drugs.  The Committee discussed a number of issues including the development of key performance indicators across  Council departments that would provide a mechanism to monitor the impact of the strategy on key outcomes.

RESOLVED that the Committee requested that the Cabinet Member takes into consideration the issues raised at the meeting when developing the final version of the report and that the final draft is circulated to the Committee.

The Committee considered and noted the report of the Director, Legal and Business Services, enabling the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee to monitor and track progress on recommendations made to the Executive at previous meetings.