Agenda item

Scrutiny Panel Chairman

Councillor David Hennigan

RESOLVED that

a) the update from the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Panel, as presented, be received and noted;

b) Cabinet acknowledges and supports the following ideas and suggestions arising from the Panel discussions at its 5 November 2020 meeting:

1. concerns for the ongoing viability and survival of sole traders and small businesses should lockdowns continue.

2. to avoid undue worry and to allow local businesses to react proactively to the current climate, a request for additional communication regarding the latest Government guidelines to be sent out to business communities in a swift and timely manner;

3. to make all businesses aware of existing local business forums like Discover Ashfield Board and our Town Centre Trader Groups and encourage their participation and if needed, to establish new forums where existing provisions are not suitable;

4. to continue work around the establishment of a shop recognition scheme for businesses that have provided exemplary Covid-secure environments for customers;

5. options for how the Council and local businesses can continue to support local foodbanks and health and wellbeing organisations during the pandemic;

6. appreciation to Cabinet for the imminent provision of hand sanitiser stations at car parking ticket machine location;

7. concerns around the extensive, ongoing, cost of providing PPE to protect employees and a hope to see a tax relief of reimbursement scheme from Government in the near future.

The Chairman and Vice Chairman of the COVID-19 Response and Recovery

Panel gave an update to Cabinet regarding the work undertaken at the latest meeting of the Panel.

COVID-19 Response and Recovery Panel Meeting – 5 November 2020

The fourth meeting of the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Scrutiny Panel was held on the 5 November 2020 and focussed on business recovery in Ashfield. Both the Chairman and Vice Chairman had been busy contacting and supporting businesses across Ashfield and to date, there had been 926 business grant funding applications received with 522 businesses having been successfully awarded around £1.92 million. Thanks were extended to the Council’s Finance, Revenues and Communications Teams for their continued commitment towards facilitating the programme in a swift and timely manner.

Ideas/Suggestions from the 5 November 2020 Panel Meeting

The Vice Chairman informed Cabinet of the ideas and suggestions that had arisen as a result of the Panel’s discussion and advised Members that item 3 had been amended slightly to include recognition for the Discover Ashfield Board and the Town Centre Trader Groups already established within the District:

1. concerns for the ongoing viability and survival of sole traders and small businesses should lockdowns continue;

2. to avoid undue worry and to allow local businesses to react proactively to the current climate, a request for additional communication regarding the latest Government guidelines to be sent out to business communities in a swift and timely manner;

3. to make all businesses aware of existing local business forums like Discover Ashfield Board and our Town Centre Trader Groups and encourage their participation and if needed, to establish new forums where existing provisions are not suitable;

4. to continue work around the establishment of a shop recognition scheme for businesses that have provided exemplary Covid-secure environments for customers;

5. options for how the Council and local businesses can continue to support local foodbanks and health and wellbeing organisations during the pandemic;

6. appreciation to Cabinet for the imminent provision of hand sanitiser stations at car parking ticket machine location;

7. concerns around the extensive, ongoing, cost of providing PPE to protect employees and a hope to see a tax relief of reimbursement scheme from Government in the near future.

Work was also ongoing by the Economic Regeneration Unit to formulate some appropriate case studies, to reflect the experiences shared by the business owners in attendance at the meeting and to be showcased via the Council’s media platforms as appropriate.

Due to the lack of clear and concise information from Government in relation to the latest lockdown guidelines, the Chairman advised that both himself and the Vice Chairman had trawled the internet for the most up to date information and had shared it with Members accordingly. The Communications team had also been busy with developing and circulating informative ‘Questions & Answers’ for Members.

In relation to Ashfield’s local businesses, the Council remained concerned as to how some of the smaller concerns would continue to trade in the longer term and felt compelled to tell and share their stories. This week would see the ‘Small Business Saturday’ event and free parking was being offered at weekends during December to encourage customers to shop local in Ashfield’s town centres following the latest lockdown.

The Town Centres Manager and Covid Information officers were also continuing to work extremely hard to offer support and guidance to local businesses in a variety of ways including the distribution of leaflets containing the latest Government information.

To conclude, the ongoing issues of the large costs being incurred by businesses providing PPE equipment for its employees was considered and it had been hoped that the Government might continue to offer its relief scheme to ease the financial burden being placed on businesses. It was therefore extremely disappointing to learn that the Government has recently scrapped the temporary 0% VAT waiver on PPE equipment, returning to the 20% VAT tax from November.