Agenda item

The Cabinet Member for Finance and Corporate Services, Councillor Radley announced:

In regard to the various grant schemes which we are administering on behalf of the government to local businesses:

Statistics today are as follows:

· We have received 172 valid discretionary restart grant applications and we have authorised 105 for payment.

· We have received 270 valid main scheme restart grant applications and we have authorised 119 for payment.

· The total value of restart main grant authorised is £953,340.

· The total value of restart discretionary grant authorised is £163K.

Therefore, we have paid in excess of £1m in just the last 12 days. After a government U-turn and there retracting the restart grant from Parish Council Halls, bridal shops, and tailors, we propose to amend our own policy on discretionary grants and use Additional Restrictions Grant funding to pay both the Parish Councils for halls and top up the bridal shops and tailors from non-essential shop level to personal care level.

In an update from the community Safety Team:

In regard to Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) one Closure Notice is in place and goes to Court in June for a Closure Order hearing and another Closure Order was granted through the Court on 1st April. These have both been successful outcomes in two very persistent and ongoing ASB cases where the impacts of

the behaviours were far reaching on particularly vulnerable victims. A further Closure Notice (and then Order) is being pursued through Legal at present.

A presentation of approximately 40 minutes has also been prepared to share what Hart Community Safety covers, which can be delivered to Members that express an interest. This will be after the elections.

The Cabinet Member for Community, Councillor Bailey, reported:

Lateral Flow Test Centre:

The centre that has been hosted by Hart District Council, closed on Friday 30th April. Thanks to staff and volunteers for tremendous efforts in setting it up and running such an effective resource for Hart residents. We have completed circa 1400 tests and a huge thanks to the 35 volunteers who made the operation of the Centre possible. Lateral Flow tests can now be collected from most high street pharmacies or ordered online for postal delivery.

Hart into Employment:

A pilot service has commenced and will run for six months initially. It is a supportive online community to support people into employment and has three aspects of delivery:

1. There are weekly Zoom sessions by trained career advisors

2. Online community for networking and information sharing

3. Access to online learning and career assessment tools

The Cabinet Member for Regulatory, Councillor Kinnell, reported:

Following the departure of our Dog warden, we took the opportunity to review how this service is delivered. Environmental Health have been providing interim cover for the service using existing internal resources and I can advise that as of the 22nd April the Dog collection service has gone live with its outsourced contract to SDK Environmental.

SDK will be the designated contact point for all reported stray dogs. This will include matters of dog returns, dog rehoming enquiries, and 'Out of Hours' dog collection services.

The service will be contactable 24hours per day 7days per week (including all National holidays).

With regard to 'dog on dog' attacks, this is not a service Hart can currently offer, (this is not a statutory service) although any incidents involving dangerous dogs, dogs dangerously out of control, banned breeds, or 'dog on human' attacks should be reported directly to the Police.

Complaints concerning noise from dog barking will continue to be investigated within the Environmental Health Team. Concerns regarding dog welfare should continue to be reported directly to the RSPCA.

Matters in respect of 'Animal Welfare licensing' will continue to be dealt with internally by Environmental Health. This includes Dog breeding licensing, kennels, and home boarders.

Councillor Kinnell agreed to give a written response to Members with regard to the nature of the service levels agreed with East Hampshire District Council.