During the pre-election period, there are limited activities and events that councillors can take part in, due to compliance with election law.
I did manage to get out and about, especially as the sun started to shine.
I attended a regional training session on Counter Terrorism and chaired a Briefing on the ‘Prevent’ agenda for all County Councillors.
I was delighted to attend the Leicestershire Music Hub spring concert at De Montfort Hall on 24th April. The evening's show I attended featured six local primary schools performing a musical extravaganza; Leics Create, co-produced by Sinfonia Viva and Orchestras Live. This was an amazing production, and it was great to see two of our special schools joining in.
I attended Birmingham's Youth Endowment Fund Conference on ‘What works to prevent children becoming involved in violence’. It was an interesting day and lots of information was shared, including their very useful toolkit: - An overview of existing research on approaches to preventing serious youth violence: - https://youthendowmentfund.org.uk/toolkit/
On 5th May on a lovely sunny Sunday, I popped along to Woodhouse Eaves to visit the Woodhouse Eaves Sustainable Living Fair. The fair was being held at the local village halls.
There were some great stalls to visit and lots of information to take away. It was very busy when I visited, which was good to see, and the homemade cakes were delicious.
On Monday 15th April the County Council’s Children and Families Department received notice that their services would be inspected by Ofsted. As this is within my portfolio and responsibilities, I was interviewed by the Lead Inspector, to gain my thoughts on the department and how we provide support to families and children across the county. I also attended the feedback meeting on 3rd May. The 3-week inspection went well, and all the staff were keen to show their work to the inspectors. The Inspector’s report will now go through the quality assurance process, and I am hoping for the report and our grading will be in the public domain towards the end of June.
On Wednesday 15th May, the Annual Council meeting was held, and we welcomed the new Chairman for the year, Joe Orson, who represents Melton Wolds and Richard Shepherd who represents Sileby and The Wolds who became the Vice-Chairman.
Police and Crime Commissioner (PCP) Elections
Thank you to everyone who came out and voted at the local elections at the beginning of May. I thought I would share the results with you and share the turnout data.
Rupert Matthews was re-elected as the PCP for the next four years. You will see from the data that the turnout was very low, with Leicester City having the highest turnout across the area.
If you would like to know more about the role of the PCP, please visit the Office for the Police and Crime Commissioners website: https://www.leics.pcc.police.uk/Home.aspx
Lord-Lieutenant Young Person of the Year Winners
A group of 16 remarkable young people from Leicester and Leicestershire have been celebrating their achievements as the Lord-Lieutenant’s Young Person of the Year Award 2024 finalists.
Alyssa Tapley, who overcame a terminal cancer diagnosis and now works to raise awareness and funds, received the top prize, becoming the Lord-Lieutenant’s Young Person of the Year.
The ‘red carpet’ awards evening, held on 25th April, was hosted at County Hall by the Lord-Lieutenant, Mike Kapur OBE CStJ, supported by his Deputy Lieutenants.
The category winners were:
- Young Person of Courage – Alyssa Tapley, who attends Brookvale Groby Learning Campus
- Young Volunteer – Charlie Tripp, who attends Castle Rock Academy
- Young Leader – Benjamin Shadbolt, who attends The City of Leicester College
- Young Artist of the Year – Lina Rehab, who attends The City of Leicester College.
They were all considered for the overall award of the Lord-Lieutenant’s Young Person of the Year which this year went to Alyssa Tapley.
The awards were sponsored by a variety of organisations offering services to young people and are supported by Leicestershire County and Leicester City Councils, together with universities and the business community.
Home Energy Retrofit Offer (HERO)
Households across Leicestershire could benefit from tailored help and advice about energy efficiency improvements, and advice on how to access grants and funding to pay for their installation.
Leicestershire County Council’s Warm Homes service, in partnership with district authorities, has been awarded £400,000 by the government to support the HERO scheme. This will connect eligible people to advice and funding for the installation of energy efficiency improvements, which will reduce energy costs as well as making households warmer and greener.
The HERO scheme targets owner-occupiers who are vulnerable and on low incomes who may be eligible for funded grants, those at risk of ill health due to cold, inefficient, or damp homes, and residents living in hard-to-treat properties.
Eligible residents may be offered in-home advice or assessment of their homes, which will determine which energy-efficient measures are most appropriate to the home and household.
The project also aims to support households by providing knowledge and confidence on what steps can improve home energy efficiency and connect them to financial support.
The scheme will not fund the retrofit of the recommended energy-saving measures, but HERO advisors will help and support residents to access all available funding and apply for relevant grants.
The HERO scheme will host and attend events across Leicestershire to promote household retrofit of energy efficiency measures, working with local building societies to showcase a ‘retrofit dolls house’ which will help residents to visualise the types of improvements possible.
The scheme will also link with health and housing partners to provide wider access to information about retrofit, grants, and financial options and enable residents to visit demonstrator homes to witness modern technologies.
For more information on the grants, including the full eligibility criteria, and eligible postcode areas or to apply, visit: https://www.leicestershire.gov.uk/leisure-and-community/community-schemes-and-funding/home-energy-retrofit-offer-hero or call the Warm Homes service on 0116 305 2524.
Stalking
Following National Stalking Awareness week held in April (an annual event that is led by the Suzy Lamplugh Trust) the Violence Reduction Unit shared some useful information from the University of Leicester.
What is Stalking?
Stalking is defined as persistent and unwanted attention by any person including; a partner, family member or stranger. To be defined as stalking, the behaviour needs to be seen as; fixated, obsessive, unwanted, and repeated. This can result in the victim experiencing; alarm, distress, fear and significantly impact their quality of life.
The website is packed with insights and support services for students and the wider community: https://reportandsupport.le.ac.uk/campaigns/national-stalking-awareness-campaign-2024
If you have any issues or concerns, I’m here to help.
