Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor K. Taylor, Bromsgrove District Council and Councillor I. Hardiman, Wyre Forest District Council, with Councillor C. Rogers in attendance as the substitute Member for Councillor I. Hardiman.

To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests.

There were no Declarations of Interest.

The minutes of the meeting of the Worcestershire Regulatory Services Board held on 26^th September 2024 were submitted.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Worcestershire Regulatory Services Board meeting held on 26^th September 2024, be approved as a correct record.

The Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Resources, Bromsgrove District Council (BDC) and Redditch Borough Council (RBC), introduced the report and in doing so drew Members’ attention to the Recommendations as detailed on pages 17 and 18 of the main agenda pack. The report covered the period April to September 2024.

Members were informed that the detailed revenue monitoring report, as attached at Appendix 1 to the report; showed a projected outturn 2024/25 of £5k surplus; and was based on the following assumptions: -

• A 3% pay award had been added to the projected outturn figures, as per the original budget. A final agreement for the 24-25 pay award of £1,209 per annum on all pay points below spinal points 43 had been received. The agreement was received after the completion of Quarter 2 revenue monitoring. Therefore, the impact would be reflected in Quarter 3 revenue monitoring.

• WRS had budgeted for a 3% pay award in 2024-25. The current pay award of £1,290 per annum on all pay points (pro rata for part time work) had now been accepted by employers and unions, the additional pressure on WRS salaries would be £21,405. WRS were unable to cover this increase, therefore an increase to partner funding would be required of:-

• If April to September 24 spend on pest control continued on the same trend for the rest of year, there would be an overspend on this service of £13k. WRS officers would continue to monitor and analyse this spend and advise of any changes in the projected outturn figure at Quarter 3.

The projected outturn figure to be funded by partners was:-

Redditch Borough Council           £7k

Wychavon District Council           £6k                         

• The following were the actual bereavements costs April – September 24 to be funded by partners. These costs were charged on an as and when basis. Due to the nature of the charge, it was not possible to project a final outturn figure:                               

                                Bromsgrove District Council       £3k

                              Malvern Hills District Council      £4k

                                Redditch Borough Council          £6k

                              Worcester City Council              £1k      

     Other items for Members to note were: -  

• £122k Ukrainian employees, offset to income on Appendix 1.
• £4.1 million salary budget on Appendix 1.

In response to a question raised on using reserves to meet any overspend, the

Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Resources explained that, although there was a small general reserve, it was not wise to use this for something that would be ongoing expenditure and it was better corrected now to reflect the costs of the partnership.

RESOLVED that the Board

1.1note the final financial position for the period April – Sept 2024

1.2partner councils are informed of their liabilities for Apr – Sept 24 in relation to Bereavements, as follows:-

The Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Resources, Bromsgrove District Council (BDC) and Redditch Borough Council (RBC), introduced a report detailing the draft Worcestershire Regulatory Service Budgets 2025/26 – 2027/28. Members’ attention was drawn to the Recommendations as detailed on pages 25 to 27 of the main agenda pack.

Members were informed that, Appendix 1 to the report showed the 2025/26 – 2027/28 budget breakdown for the district councils’ partnership.

The following assumptions had been made in relation to the projections:-

• The enhanced pay award for 2024/25 had been accepted by employers and unions, the additional pressure on WRS salaries would be £21k. WRS were not able to fund this increase, therefore an increase in partner funding would be required.

·       3% pay award across all staff for 2025/26, 2% for 2026/27 & 2027/28. This would be subject to the National Pay Negotiations that were ongoing and therefore the final position would reflect any formally agreed increases, the budget also included any employee entitled to an incremental increase.

·       Increase in Rent of £2.6k in 2025/26, a further 3% in 2026/2027 and 2027/2028.

·       Increase in ICT Hosting of £2.6k, a further 3% in 2026/27 and 2027/28.

·       Increase in Support Hosting of £3.8k in 2025-26, a further 3% in 2026/27 and 2027-28.

·       Pension back-funding to be paid by all partners.

The unavoidable salary pressures were not able to be met by WRS generating additional income, therefore, an increase to partner funding would be required  year on year, as detailed on page 28 of the main agenda pack. Salaries equated to 80% of the turnover so the higher pay award cost needed to be met.

Following the autumn budget, NI costs had increased from 13.8% to 15%, also the per-employee threshold at which employers become liable to pay NI reduced to £5k. This had created a pressure of £71k on the salary budget

It was understood that this increase in cost pressures would be covered for local authorities by way of additional new burdens funding, however, in the absence of clarity about how this would be delivered, officers would ask Members to approve the budget at this stage and would commit to bringing a further paper back to the Board at the meeting scheduled in February 2025, hopefully having received clarity on the Government’s intentions of how that funding would be delivered.

The Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Resources mentioned the re-valuation of the pension fund, which happened every three-years and the potential this had for having further financial impact going forward. He suggested to the Board that, should Members so require, he would invite a representative from the Government Actuary’s Department to a future meeting of the Board with regard to this as the shared service and staff were part of the Worcestershire Pension Fund.

In response to questions from Board Members on the rent, ICT hosting and support hosting, the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Resources explained that these increases were in-line with the RPI (Retail Price Index)  for the current  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25/24

The Community Environmental Health and Trading Standards Manager presented the Activity and Performance Data, Quarter 2 2024/2025 report, and in doing so the following key points were highlighted: -

Activity Data

The second quarter of 2024/5 was yet another damp affair.  This had impacted on at least one or two of our measures. Worcestershire continued to be a draw for outdoor activities with a range of events and festivals continuing to feature now we were beyond the pandemic, the crowds appeared to be returning, but it was clear that this was not to everyone’s liking.

Some 891 proactive interventions at food businesses were undertaken during the year to date, with only 3% resulting in a business being rated as "non-compliant" (i.e., being issued a rating of 0, 1, or 2). A higher proportion of non-compliant ratings continued to be issued to the takeaway sector and small retailers.

The overall number of Licensing cases recorded between 1st April 2024 and 30th September 2024 represents an increase of 5% compared to 2022/23 and an increase of 6% compared to 2023/24. Applications had fallen slightly following the Q1 peak, probably reflecting that most businesses had tried to get their Temporary Event notices served well ahead of time.

The number of Licensing enquiries, such as queries about regulations, by-laws, and licence conditions, invariably exceeded the number of actual Licensing complaints. Of the actual complaints received during the year to date, approximately 43% had related to taxi licensing, such as reports of poor driver behaviour, unauthorised parking, or poor driving standards, and 21% were related to alcohol licensing, usually indications that a business may be breaching the licensing objectives. A further 14% of complaints related to animal licensing with most cases relating to the unlicensed breeding and/or sale of dogs. Work remained on-going during the period in relation to the investigations relating to Operation Lisbon 2.

Planning enquiries continued to show an increasing number of cases, with volumes between 1st April 2024 and 30th September 2024 representing an increase of 26% compared to 2022/23 and 16% compared to 2023/24. Approximately 90% of enquiries had been consultations for air quality, contaminated land, and nuisance.  Around 20% of enquiries continued to be processed, on a contractual basis, on behalf of other local authorities.

The overall trend on dog related complaints and enquiries remained slightly upwards, officers a significant increase in strays compared to Q1. Most of the cases had been reports of lost or stray dogs with most categorised as "contained strays," meaning dogs were found and held by members of the public. There had, however, been a notable increase in the number of dogs picked up with welfare concerns and subsequently requiring veterinary treatment or examination. Around 55% of dogs were successfully reunited with their owners, although this figure varied between district authorities. The number of dog control complaints remained  low, with 42 complaints received during the year to date, 19 of which related to dogs which were persistently straying from residential properties and 12 related  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26/24

The Licensing and Support Services Manager, Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS) provided Members with an update on the Automation Project.

The Temporary Events Notice (TEN) form went live for 5 of the 6 districts in Worcestershire by close of play on Friday 27^th September. Due to a planned internet update Worcester City Council had requested to wait until a week later to launch the form on their website.

Members’ attention was drawn to the figures in Table 1 and Table 2, on pages 79 and 80 of the main agenda pack. The tables showed the number of TENs received as of the 6^th November 2024. 

Overall, the shift to moving to online forms had been a huge success, duty officers had received a few queries and there were a few technical glitches.

Currently a total of 160 TEN forms had been received, so the vast majority of forms were now being received on-line. There had been a few challenges, including the requirement for the Uniform database system being switched off for routine back-up scheduling. This needed to be looked at and was being swiftly dealt with.

Members were further informed that the ‘Next Steps’ scheduling had changed since the last meeting of the Board, and that Personal Licence Application forms were due to be the next set of on-line forms being launched.

Following a query raised at the last meeting of the Board, Members were reassured that the on-line forms were accessible, this had now been confirmed by IDOX that the forms met the WCAG2.2 AA standards, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

Progress continued on the ‘service request’ form where the task and finish group had developed a series of questions for different scenarios received by all the teams across WRS.

It had proved to be quite a challenge to scope out by the teams involved as it had required the need to address a very wide range of potential requests relating to the work of all three WRS service areas. It had also required members across WRS teams to get together at various points of the scoping exercise.

Officers continued liaising with the communications leads to ensure district websites were easy to navigate alongside the ‘help’ guidance and FAQ’s. These were tested with external stakeholders.

With regards to taxi ID cards, alongside the wider automation project, officers were working with MyTAG to implement the roll out of electronic ID Cards for the taxi trade for both safeguarding and nighttime enforcement measures. There had been some challenges with MyTAG but worked continued. IT colleagues at Wyre Forest had have progressed with work on the dashboard and SANDBOX requirement and were now working with SmartTag to enable remote access to the IDOX database. This would enable testing to commence and templates of the Taxi ID cards to be created.

In response to questions from Members, the Licensing and Support Services Manager, explained that officers were not at that stage yet to explain the MyTAG scheme to the taxi trade. Once  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27/24

The Technical Services Manager, WRS presented a report on the Air Quality Behaviour Change Project, and in doing so, stated that he welcomed the opportunity to share, with Board Members, information on key initiatives and activities that aligned with WRS priorities and policies.

Members were informed that between 2018 and 2022, staff from WRS had engaged with Public Health at Worcestershire County Council (WCC) to mirror work done by other Local Authorities to fund and engage behaviour change work.

WRS had utilised external funding to develop a behaviour change project. A Behaviour Change Officer (BCO) was recruited in late February 2024 on a fixed term contract for 2.5 years.  The aim of the project was to improve air quality through encouraging sustainable travel initiatives, particularly within schools and local businesses in specific locations. Key aims included reducing short car journeys by encouraging walking and cycling, raising awareness of air quality impacts, and encouraging community partnerships. The funding received was tied to certain areas.  The specific target areas for the project included London Road, Worcester and the Lickey End M42 Junction, Bromsgrove

The report therefore sets out the work of the BCO to date and future work plans.

Key Activities and Achievements:

The BCO’s work could be classed into 4 workstreams, as detailed on pages 84 to 88 of the main agenda pack, and titled as follows:-

1. Survey Insights.

2. School Engagement.

3. Community Outreach.

4. Promotional Materials.

Survey Insights:

HoW College – WRS AQ Survey

Since the main baseline survey failed to gather sufficient information from the younger end of the population, those aged between 16 and 30 years old; a new survey was conducted in September and October 2024 with the participation of the HoW College group, which involved all campuses, in Worcester, Malvern, Bromsgrove and Redditch. This survey was developed in-house, and the online survey reached 741 college students and staff, to assess transportation habits, awareness of air quality and barriers to sustainable commuting.

Respondents were mainly aged 16-30, with many living more than four miles from the relevant campus. Findings showed a reliance on cars, gaps in understanding of pollution sources, and identified personal and infrastructure barriers to low-emission travel options like walking or cycling. Further details of the results were detailed in Appendix 2 to the report. Key Information derived from the Surveys was further detailed on pages 85 and 86 of the main agenda pack. 

School Engagement

Survey data indicated that some focus was necessary on young people, with schools and colleges as potential venues for promoting air quality awareness. Hence, the BCO prioritised outreach to schools to foster engagement and identify participation opportunities.

A database was created with 264 schools as potential contact points across the County (242 state schools and 22 independent schools.)  Between March and June 2024, 49 school visits were conducted, introducing the BCO role and promoting the AQ Worcestershire 2024 initiative.

From July to October 2024, emails were sent to schools to arrange meetings and explore potential air quality projects, resulting in 10  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28/24

There was no Urgent Business on this occasion.