To receive any questions of which members of the Council have given notice.  Deadline for notification for this meeting is 4.30pm on Friday 1^st February 2019.

Cllr Roger Evans submitted the following question:

What is the situation regarding the Community Enablement Team (CET) please.

My understanding is that the posts are fully funded under the agreed Council Budget until the end of March 2019 so assume the duties and work carried out by the team will continue until around that date.  After that date, subject to the council making a decision regarding the budget for next year at the meeting in February, all funding for this team will be cut.

Which officers will be taking on the duties at present carried out by the CET including of course Local Joint Committees. This latter point is fairly urgent as I wish to ask for the committee covering my area to urgently meet and discuss Youth Club Funding after April in the area covered by my LJC. Who do I ask to organise this meeting please?

Can we be told when Parish Councils and elected members will be informed as to what plans Shropshire Council has regarding who and how the work at present carried out by the CET is to be carried out when the team is disbanded. What if any work will no longer be carried out.

It is further understood that an additional 6 posts are being created in the Place Directorate to carry out work. Where and what work will these posts be responsible for please.

RESPONSE from Steve Brown Interim Head of Infrastructure and Communities provided the following briefing note.

Community Enablement Team (CET) Briefing Note (January 2019).

I thought you would appreciate an update regarding the CET team, as you know the team and their roles and responsibilities will cease by the 31^st March.

Six of the staff from the CET have been successful in securing new posts as Place Plan Officers, which will sit within Economic Growth and Planning Policy. These are new roles, which will focus on developing and delivering Place Plans, CIL funding and infrastructure development across the county, Local Plans and will link and support at a place plan level to ensure that advice and support to Members and Towns and Parishes is provided to ensure these opportunities are maximised.

The Officers that have secured these roles are Corrie Davies, Tracy Johnson, Andrea McWilliams, Mathew Meade, Lucy Roberts and Vicky Turner. The geographical areas and key themes of responsibility are:

The new roles will commence full time on 28^th January 2019, although the approach will be flexible as there is an appreciation that existing CET works needs to be completed and finalised so partners are supported and the transition to the Place plan work is as smooth as possible, further there has been a transition process in place now for some time from CET members with Parishes and a Town Councils as the CET ends its current responsibilities.

If you have any queries about these roles please contact Hayley OwenHayley.Owen@shropshire.gov.uk  or Adrian Cooper, adrian.cooper@shropshire.gov.uk  whilst the withdrawal process takes places, and the role of the Place Plan Officers develops.

Key areas of transition are detailed below for information …

Resilient Communities and Social Prescribing.

Areas of activity within Resilient Communities include creating hyper-local information directories, creating networks of Community Connectors and working with the community to develop solutions to fill those gaps – to support and promote well-being and independence. This is a key element of both the council’s approach to delivering care and support services and its Social Prescribing programme.

Whilst the design and development of Resilient Communities was initiated by the CET, related activity is now delivered around the county through a partnership approach between council services, primary care, voluntary organisations and communities. This will continue with the Adult Services Community Partnerships team leading from the council's side.

For more information about Resilient Communities and the Community Partnerships team contact Kate Garner – kate.garner@shropshire.gov.uk, and for Social Prescribing contact Jo Robins jo.robins@shropshire.gov.uk

Bronze level Tasking and Community Safety.

Bronze level Tasking (BLT) was established in 2010 by the Community Safety Partnership (CSP) with a wide range of partners including the Community Enablement Team who provided administrative and facilitation support. The CSP is currently reviewing BLT and considering a number of options that will provide the most appropriate local model to dealing with community safety issues, recognising that a different approach to organisation and facilitation is needed.

Whilst discussions take place with partners, the CSP will be supporting any outstanding projects, pieces of work and funding applications that the CET was previously involved. For more information contact andrew.gough@shropshire.gov.uk

Commissioning of youth activities.

Commissioning of youth activities will continue under the current contracts and will be managed by Children's Services. Please contact Fran Doyle for more details, Francean.Doyle@shropshire.gov.uk

Local Joint Committees.

A proposal for support of LJC`s is anticipated to be circulated in the next few weeks …

The Interim Head of Infrastructure and Communities confirmed that the Communities Overview Committee had established a task and finish group to look at a wide range of issues including the future of the Local Joint Committees, he stated that the former Community Enablement Officers were in a transitional process and would still be undertaking some of their former duties until the end of March 2019.