Issue - meetings

To receive a report from the Assistant Director (Recovery) and Recovery Programme Manager presenting “Shaping the Future – our approach to recovery from COVID 19” which outlines how the Council will continue to prioritise work with communities and partners to ensure residents and businesses can get the right support, at the right time, in the right way.

Executive Councillor: S J Criswell.

Cabinet adopted “Shaping the Future – our approach to recovery from COVID-19” as the foundation for the Council’s approach and way of working to ensure it takes the lead with its partners, communities and its services to ensure residents and businesses can get the right support, at the right time, in the right way to recover and deliver the Vision for Huntingdonshire that:

·  Supports a safe and healthy environment

·  Delivers economic growth

·  Provides value for money services; and

·  Creates opportunities for the people of Huntingdonshire.

The Cabinet considered a report by the Assistant Director Recovery and Recovery Programme Manager (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) to which was attached the “Shaping the Future – our approach to recovery from COVID 19” document which outlined how the Council would continue to prioritise work with communities and partners to ensure residents and businesses could access the right support to meet the challenges faced emerging from the Coronavirus pandemic.

Members’ attention was drawn to the original Community Impact Assessment and Recovery Programme established to mitigate potential risks as the pandemic continued and the further Impact Assessment that was undertaken to identify where the impacts of COVID had been the most significant.

In noting the comments of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel (Customers and Partnerships) particular attention was drawn to interest in the Recovery Programme projects associated with the promotion and supporting of jobs through the Job Club and the successful Kickstart scheme. Whereupon, the Cabinet

RESOLVED

  that the “Shaping the Future – our approach to recovery from COVID-19” document be adopted as the foundation for the Council’s approach and way of working to ensure it takes the lead with its partners, communities and its services to ensure residents and businesses can get the right support, at the right time, in the right way to recover and deliver the Vision for Huntingdonshire that:

·  Supports a safe and healthy environment;

·  Delivers economic growth;

·  Provides value for money services; and

·  Creates opportunities for the people of Huntingdonshire.

The COVID Recovery – Shaping the Future report is to be presented to the Panel.

By means of a report by the Assistant Director Recovery and Recovery Programme Manager (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book), the COVID Recovery – Shaping the Future report was presented to the Panel.

Following a question from Councillor D’Souza regarding the diagram on page 68 of the report on the lack of significant impacts under the good work area, the Panel heard that this was due to the interventions rolled out to businesses. Whilst residents had been adversely affected by the pandemic, businesses had not faired as badly due to Government assistance, for example: Furlough, Business grants etc. so the impacts for businesses had been much less. The Panel were reassured that partnership working with the Combined Authority and their Growth Hub was being undertaken to ensure the best outcome for residents in terms of improvements to skills and employability and Cambridgeshire County Council through Cambridgeshire Skills, adult and community learning service.

Following a further question from Councillor D’Souza on the scope of projects in Appendix B, the Panel were advised some projects were directly delivered by the Recovery programme and others were delivered by our partners. The committee were also advised of the practical interventions that the Council continues to be involved with through jobs club provision and work with the DWP including the successful Kick Start project.

Councillor Gardener commented on the increase in active travel within the district, in particular the local bus services being run in conjunction with the Combined Authority. The Panel heard that the model presented was one of close working with key partners which allowed access to baseline data highlighting the impact and trajectory of trends even if there was no statutory duty on the district.

Councillor Alban provided anecdotal evidence of local businesses who had positive feedback on business grants that they had benefitted from. The Panel heard that the team were acutely aware of qualitative analysis and ensured that data collected was fed into the evidence base and the next Impact Assessment.

Councillors West and Councillor Mrs Wilson praised the report and stated that it gave confidence for future working. The Panel heard that the impact assessment was being undertaken for a third time to ensure early indicators were flagged and to better allow for future forecasting.

Having welcomed the report, it was thereupon

RESOLVED

that the Cabinet be encouraged to endorse the recommendations contained within the report.