A question session with the Lead Councillor for Community. Councillor Julia McShane’s areas of responsibility: Health; Wellbeing; Access and Disability; Safety; Grants and Voluntary Services; Careline; Handyperson; and Care and Repair.
Minutes:
The Chairman welcomed the Lead Councillor for Community and reminded the Committee of Councillor McShane’s main areas of responsibility: health; wellbeing; access and disability; safety; grants and voluntary services; careline; the handyperson service; and care & repair.
The following information and responses were provided during the ensuing discussion:
· The Lead Councillor for Community described the impact of COVID-19 on the services and teams within her portfolio, including a comparison with operations the previous year. She stated that the Council’s welfare response to COVID-19 had been co-ordinated by Community Services. With reference to community safety, the Committee was advised that that there had been a significant increase in applications for community triggers during the pandemic. The Lead Councillor for Community indicated that the careline service for 1,800 residents had continued throughout the pandemic, although periodic maintenance visits had been paused for a time and members of the team redeployed to conduct welfare visits. The meeting was informed that the grants and adaptations services had experienced a significant increase in demand caused by occupational therapy referrals. The Lead Councillor for Community indicated that the care and repair service was experiencing above average caseloads and almost 1,000 handyperson jobs had been completed in the six months since April 2020. In addition, she indicated that the number of community meals provided had doubled since the previous year.
· In reply to a question, the Lead Councillor for Community referred to the difficulties of confirming whether initiatives to address food poverty over half term had helped every family in need, including the stigma of food poverty. The Committee was informed of the Council’s contributions to food insecurity initiatives during the October half-term, including working with the North Guildford Food Bank. In addition, the Lead Councillor for Community indicated that such support was likely to be repeated during the Christmas holiday notwithstanding the Government’s announcement of school holiday provision.
· The Lead Councillor for Community confirmed that the Council’s care and repair team treated referrals and adaptations for residents with motor neurone disease as urgent. The Director for Service Delivery indicated that the Council’s maintenance staff were currently dealing mainly with urgent and emergency repairs but would also be supporting work for the vulnerable in the community to ensure adaptation work was carried out as quickly as possible.
· The Corporate Public Health Co-ordinator confirmed that the Council was involved in Guildford and Waverley mass vaccination group and had been asked to help identify sites to deliver the vaccination.
· A Committee member referred to a Community Foundation for Surrey webinar held that day and run in conjunction with Epsom and Ewell Food Bank and she advised that statistics on local food insecurity would soon be available on the Foundation’s website.
· In response to a query about measures to audit and improve accessibility to churches and other places of worship in the Borough, the Lead Councillor for Community confirmed that currently Council resources were not available for such a piece of work. She suggested that quinquennial inspection reports by parochial church councils were a possible mechanism for identifying access issues.
The Chairman thanked the Lead Councillor for Community and officers for answering questions.