Agenda item

Minutes of the meeting held on the 23 October 2015 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Referring to points raised from the minutes of the meeting held on the 23 October 2015, the Corporate Scrutiny and Performance Manager provided the following updates:-

• Item 5 paragraph 5 – published national figures for zero hour contracts were 697,000, 2.3% of the workforce with a high representation in retail;
• Item 5 paragraph 7 – the link to the directory of services had been emailed to members following the last meeting;
• Item 5 paragraph 9 – unemployment figures as a result of the closure of Redcar Steelworks were 39 people registered in County Durham, with 26 registered in the Peterlee area. The figures did not include the number of people who may be affected by supply chains and the figures only reflected the number of people who had applied to Job Centre Plus;
• Item 5 paragraph 11 - the fuel poverty strategy was reported at a special meeting of the Environment and Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 1 December and the invite was extended to all scrutiny members. Minutes of the meeting were available on the Councils website;
• Item 6 paragraph 4 – details of asset transfer timelines and action plans was reported to Cabinet on the 15 July 2015 and a copy had been emailed to Councillor Wilson;
• Item 7 paragraph 3 – the Barnard Castle walls were not owned by the Council, however Durham County Council were working with other organisations to progress the matter;
• Item 7 paragraph 4 – the petitions scheme criteria was reviewed and found to be a statutory stage by stage process.