Agenda item

(The Mayor and the Executive Director for Policy and Strategic Development entered the meeting.)

The Chair welcomed The Mayor to the meeting and sought questions from members.

Members enquired about The Mayor’s pledge on cancer detection and asked how he planned to influence this. The Mayor responded that South Yorkshire has some of the highest cancer rates in the UK, and that there can be many challenges and delays for patients. In his role as Chair of the Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) Board, he maintains links across systems and services. He noted that exploration of different ways of diagnosing cancer can be carried out as well as looking at data to identify where certain communities can be supported with further engagement.

Members queried the Pathways to Work scheme and asked how the Mayor would influence employers to take on people with health conditions and disabilities. The Mayor responded that there were various providers supporting with getting individuals back into work, and a roundtable had been held with employers and business representatives to identify possibilities and lessons learned.

Members asked about The Mayor’s pledge on how money confiscated from criminals and community payback schemes would be used to clean up streets and how much would this be. The Mayor responded that it is not possible to predict an exact figure, but that an estimated £1m would allow for a team to be hired to clean up the worst cases of graffiti and fly tipping in South Yorkshire.

ACTION: The Mayor will provide further detail on this pledge when information is available.

Questions were raised regarding the trial of free travel for young people in South Yorkshire, what the age cap would be and when trials would take place. The Mayor responded that there is no age cap as of yet and that there was no immediate timetable as discussions would be needed with partners and stakeholders.

Members enquired as to whether discrimination against older people will be removed with franchising. Concern was expressed that the current senior bus pass for cannot be used after 11pm. The Mayor noted that he could not make a commitment to changing this, but that it could be examined as part of Bus Reform work.

Members queried the pledge on a single point of entry for skills and employment in South Yorkshire. Members showed concern that regional commissioning had been planned but believed that some services should be focussed locally. The Mayor responded that this was not the intention for this pledge but he did wish to remove that complexity of accessing support. Concerns remained around commissioning being undertaken regionally and members asked for clarity.

ACTION: The Mayor will write to members around the operation of this scheme.

Members asked if pledges in the manifesto would be put into a workplan with timescales. A response was given that the MCA was working through the thirty pledges as well as the ongoing workstreams, and statutory responsibilities. These would be prioritised and presented to the Mayor and Leaders in the Autumn.

Members asked how The Mayor has found the increased workload and how the appointment of a Deputy Mayor was progressing. The Mayor explained that the staff from the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner have joined the organisation and have taken on a lot of the workload and that their joining of the organisation should be completed in the Autumn. A Police and Crime plan was being developed and must be completed within the first year of office. The Mayor had spent time understanding policing and crime functions, including visiting the Call Handling Centre and speaking with the Child Sexual Exploitation Team. However, he noted that greater resources and capacity were needed from the Government to meet these responsibilities.

Members queried the Mayor’s views were on scrutiny and pre-scrutiny of MCA Board decisions. The Mayor responded that he welcomes scrutiny, accountability, and transparency so that the public can see that MCA decisions are made in public interest. A further question was asked on the role of Portfolio Holders, and the Mayor agreed to raise the possibility of new accountability and scrutiny measures with Leaders. ACTION: The Mayor.