Agenda item

The Chairman reported that the draft Statement of Licensing Policy under the Gambling Act 2005 was approved to go out to a public consultation exercise by the Licensing Committee at its meeting on 20 October. The Scrutiny Officer would circulate the link to view and respond to the consultation once it was live on the council’s website. Members were advised that under the terms of the transitional legislation, Buckinghamshire Council had been given two years to prepare and publish a new single policy under the Gambling Act and align service provision which led to this draft policy being produced for consultation. In producing the work programme it was felt that other items were more beneficial for this committee to look at in detail as this Act was relatively prescriptive and allowed for limited local influence. Should members have any questions they were encouraged to contact the scrutiny officer who would co-ordinate responses from the licensing team.

The Chairman advised that two public consultation survey links had been circulated to Committee members in recent weeks. These were the 2021 Domestic Abuse Strategy Survey and the Community Safety Survey 2021, these surveys had now closed but it was hoped members had managed to respond.

The Chairman reported that with Community Boards having been highlighted by the Committee as a priority area to include in its work programme, she had attended a number of Community Board meetings since the last meeting of this Committee and planned to attend further meetings with a view to gaining a greater understanding of how the different boards operated across local areas. The Chairman would be meeting with the Cabinet Member for Communities to feed back her views of these meetings to date.

Further, the committee was given an update on the support being given to those arriving from Afghanistan. Buckinghamshire Council had been committed to keeping people safe from vulnerable situations, close partnership working had been taking place to welcome people arriving from Afghanistan who were in urgent need of protection. After months of planning and discussions with the Home Office, matching a family to an accommodation offer, Buckinghamshire was looking forward to welcoming its first family. The family was being helped to integrate into society and build a new life. A further twenty-nine families were expected to arrive within the next few years as part of Buckinghamshire’s pledge to take in up to 30 families. The local community was highly praised; landlords across the county had responded to the call for much-needed homes, huge offers of support had come in from communities and considerable amounts of money had been donated to the Afghan Crisis Fund, hosted by Heart of Bucks, which currently stood at £65,000. For people wanting, there were a number of volunteer organisations and groups that the council works with who can be contacted about volunteering, befriending opportunities or donating clothes and toys for the Afghan nationals. The council website holds more information - https://www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/community-and-safety/how-we-are-supporting-the-afghan-crisis/ . For individuals wishing to donate money to the Buckinghamshire Afghan Crisis Fund they can visit this link  https://www.totalgiving.co.uk/appeal/helping-hand

The Chairman provided an update on work ongoing as part of the Armed Forces Covenant work streams. The Chairman who is also the Chairman the Civilian Military Partnership Board reported that there were four task and finish groups which had been set up and members were encouraged to put people in contact with the groups where relevant. These groups included NEETS and Cadets; Veterans Hubs and Clubs; Events and Commemorations; and Going for Gold, which focused on the Council ambition to achieve gold employer scheme accreditation.