EMC POLICY BRIEF A weekly round up of local government news in the East Midlands brought to you by East Midlands Councils

11 SEPTEMBER 2015

Syrian Refugee Resettlement Progress on HS2 Health Inequalities Upcoming EMC Events

Top items this week

EMC update on Syrian Refugee Resettlement

In his statement to the House of Commons on 7 September, the Prime Minister announced that Britain should resettle up to 20,000 Syrian refugees over the life of this Parliament. These refugees will be taken from the camps in the countries neighbouring Syria using the established UNHCR process for identifying and resettling refugees. The Prime Minister also announced that the criteria for the existing Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation scheme will be expanded. The details of the proposals are yet to be

announced. The East Midlands Strategic Migration Partnership is working with the Home Office, LGA, local authorities and other key stakeholders to put in place the arrangements to house and support refugees as the process emerges. The cost of supporting the refugees in their first year in Britain will be funded from foreign aid spending.

The Migration pages of the East Midlands Councils website will be updated as we progress. Information is also available on the LGA website here.

For further information on offers of support please visit the East Midlands Councils website here. The Officer to contact for further information is Sarah Short sarah.short@emcouncils.gov.uk

EMC News

Progress on HS2. The region’s HS2 Leadership Board, chaired by Cllr Jon Collins, met on Wednesday 11 September. To ensure the region maximises the benefits from this significant infrastructure scheme, council and business leaders agreed proposals that will underpin a connectivity plan for the area, design requirements relating to the HS2 Hub

station at Toton, and plans for establishing a joint fund to kick start the necessary technical work on key projects.

EMC Boards Activity

Improvement and Transformation Board - The meeting on 9 September included a presentation on LGInform. Councillors remarked on its usefulness to support self-improvement and benchmarking and agreed to work with the LGA in further promoting its use to the sector. Alongside this, work is continuing on supporting collective leadership on health and social care, and linking this to the wider health and wellbeing, adults and childrens chairs’ networks.

EMC Support Work

Intra-EU Migration Event - EMC this week has delivered a seminar on Intra-EU Migration and its impact. The well attended event included a presentation from Chris Lawton, of Nottingham Trent University, which provided detailed analysis of national and East Midlands migration statistics. The presentations can be accessed from here

EMC Councillor Events

Being on the Frontline! Maximising your impact in the Community, 8 Oct 2015 - EMC is holding a workshop for Councillors on Community Leadership, which will deepen Councillors’ understanding of their leadership and engagement role, explore key trends in the changing current climate. Further details of the event can be found here.

Raising the Bar in Scrutiny and Effective Challenge, 14 Oct 2015 - EMC is holding an event for Councillors involved in leading Scrutiny and setting its overall strategic direction. The event will explore the new avenues and opportunities opened up following the 2015 elections. Further details of the event can be found here.

Infrastructure, Planning & Housing

‘Planning for the Past’ Seminar - EMC held the third event in the 2015/16 Low Cost CPD Programme for Planners on 10 September, which explored the latest ideas in heritage planning. The event was attended by over 80 planning officers from around the region who heard from a range of organisations involved in heritage planning and protection, including Historic England, the National Trust and a number of local authorities. Presentations will shortly be available here.

The next event in the programme is on ‘Planning Control in an era of de-regulation’ on 8 October 2015.

Starter Homes: Will they be affordable? - A study by housing charity Shelter has provided regional analysis on the affordability of starter homes by 2020. Their report concludes that dual earners on the National Living Wage (NLW) would be able to afford to buy Starter Homes in 40% of local authorities and if on an average salary they could afford all but one local authority (South Northamptonshire). Families and single people on the NLW though would not be able to afford a Starter Home in any of the local authorities in the East Midlands.

Nottingham Tram Extension Feasibility Study — A feasibility study has estimated that a fourth tram line in Nottingham would cost up to £168m. The study by Mott MacDonald for Broxtowe Borough Council looked at a

route under the M1 to Glitbrooke Retail Park with a possible extension into Derbyshire. BBC News has details.

Derby City Council Draft Core Strategy - The pre-submission draft core strategy open for consultation between 27 August 2015 and 23 October 2015, will form Part 1 of Derby City Council's Local Plan and sets a strategic vision for the development of the area up to 2028.

New online ecology advice handbook published - Thomson Ecology has published a new guide, the Wildlife On Site Handbook, aimed at providing an overview of current wildlife legislation to planners, construction managers and project managers.

Economic Development, Skills & Education

3 million New Apprenticeships by 2020— The Government has announced plans to improve the quality of apprenticeships by setting 59 new ‘apprenticeship standards’. A consultation has also been launched on the proposed Apprenticeship Levy to encourage large firms to invest in training and apprenticeships.

Economics Short Courses - Nottingham Business School is offering two CPD short courses approved by the IED: Economics for Evaluation on Wednesday 25 November 2015 and Economic Assessment on Thursday 26 November 2015 . Chick on the course titles above for further information or to book.

Health & Social Care

Health inequalities among young children across England - In a report published this week the National Children’s Bureau has found wide variations in levels of obesity and tooth decay in children under the age of 5, even in areas of similar deprivation. The report found for example that In five regions – East Midlands, London, North West, North East and Yorkshire and the Humber – more than a quarter of five-year-olds have tooth decay. Click here to read the full report.

Nottinghamshire County Council considers staff smoking break ban - The Council is currently consulting on proposals to ban smoking during work time. The ban, which covers all 9,000 employees and extends to all buildings, land and vehicles, is aimed at boosting its workers' health, increasing time spent working and reducing levels of sick leave. The ban would prevent staff in uniform smoking on their way to and from work, and also extends to e-cigarettes. The BBC has details.

Employers’ Issues

Regional Pay Briefing, 18 September (AM) – EMC is holding a regional pay briefing event for Council Leaders, Elected Mayors, Portfolio Holders and members of the Regional Employers Board. The roadshow will be delivered by Harry Honnor from the national LGA. For further information about the event visit here.

Heads of HR Event, 18 September (PM) - EMC is holding an event to provide information on services and development opportunities available to local authorities through the collaboration

of EMC with other regions and the LGA. The event will follow the regional pay briefing on the same day. Further information on the event is available from here.

East Midlands Councils

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Click on our Twitter & YouTube ac-counts for further information.

EMC Leadership

Chair: Cllr Martin Hill OBE Vice Chair: Cllr Jon Collins Vice Chair: Cllr Neil Clarke MBE Conservative Group: Cllr Chris Millar Labour Group: Cllr Robert Parker . Lib Dem Group: Cllr David Bill MBE Independent Group: Cllr Alan Walters

Executive Director: Stuart Young

Climate Change & Sustainable Development

Tackling Climate Change Event - Derbyshire County Council is hosting a peer learning event in association with Climate East Midlands on 17 September for officers and members in other local authorities to showcase some of their successes in tackling climate change, including boosting renewable energy generation by identifying former colliery sites which are suitable for solar farms. The free event, at the Derbyshire Eco-Centre in Middleton-by-Wirksworth will also look at how the Council is improving sustainable travel, mitigating the risks of local flooding and seeking

to improve people’s health via a healthy homes project in association with GPs. More details and booking here

Council takes on Energy Giants - Nottingham City Council is taking on the ‘big six’ energy companies by setting up its own company. Robin Hood Energy, the first local authority-owned, not for profit, energy company will fight back against the multi-billion pound industry. The Nottingham Post has details.

Local Government Policy

Library Enrollment - All children over 8-years old will automatically be enrolled at their local li-brary, in a bid to improve literacy and stop the closure of public libraries. Under plans unveiled over the summer, education secretary Nicky Morgan has said it was a 'national mission' to im-prove the literacy levels of schoolchildren.

Lincolnshire councils launch 'fraud-fighting force’ - Councils in Lincolnshire have joined forces to crack down on people falsely claiming discounts on their council tax. The new Lincolnshire Counter Fraud Partnership, formed by the county council and all seven districts councils, will enable the councils to share resources and expertise, and pool fraud intelligence.

Equality and Human Right Commission - Recently published guides aimed at the public sector include; Public Au-thorities and the Human Rights Act, available here; Human Rights in Health and Social Care, available here; and Hu-man Rights in Action: Case studies from regulators, inspectorates and ombudsmen, available here.

EMC Events

Planning Masterclass: The Local Authority Role in Neighbourhood Planning, 29 September 2015 - This Planning Masterclass for local authority officers will provide advice on supporting local com-munities to prepare their Neighbourhood Plans. For further information please visit here

Executive PA Skills, 18 November 2015 - EMC is holding a seminar for Executive Secretaries, this is a very interactive, developmental programme with lots of opportunities to get to meet and

share ideas with colleagues. Further details of the event can be found here.

Effective Reading, 10 February 2016 - East Midlands Councils is holding a half day seminar for Officers and Council-lors on Effective Reading. Further details of the event can be found here.