My team
Here you can find out more about the areas that my executive team are responsible for.
Details of responsibilities for each Executive Member are set out below. In addition to the responsibilities within specific portfolios, there are a number of matters that the Executive Team work together on that have significant financial or public implications. These include the use of the Council's resources, its assets and employees, equalities and by promoting community cohesion.
All Executive Members will be responsible for ensuring that:
- In the delivery of all services, that the Council consults and works effectively and appropriately with our partners, those who use our services and other stakeholders;
- Agreed budgets are monitored effectively and adhered to, including driving forward spending reductions that are required to balance our budgets; and
- The commitments for all portfolio areas are understood and delivered over the next four years.
All of the team are expected to be held accountable:
- To the people of Leicester through the media; public meetings and correspondence;
- To the Council though proper engagement and co-operation with the scrutiny and Council processes
Councillor Adam Clarke, Deputy City Mayor
Responsible for the following Council services:
- Environmental protection services including air quality, pollution control, flood planning, natural environment, conservation and improvement of water courses;
- Transportation services;
- Street cleaning, litter and vandalism removal services;
- Waste management and recycling services;
- Street lighting; and
- Residents’ parking.
Specific responsibilities for the following, but please note this list is not exhaustive:
- To ensure that energy consumption is minimised and accords with best practice;
- Our local energy company;
- Our sustainable transport policy;
- To invest in the cycle network;
- To increase the number of daily cyclists;
- With the Deputy City Mayor for Culture, Leisure, Sport and Regulatory Services, the conservation and protection of the built environment;
- To drive delivery of the Air Quality Action Plan;
- To extend Leicester’s tree canopy coverage, planting more than one tree for any tree lost;
- Trees, Woodlands and Allotments;
- Leicester Eco-Schools programme to deliver high quality environmental education & engage young people;
- The Cultural Quarter;
- To be the Council’s Heritage Champion;
- The delivery of our sustainable transport policy, including accelerating the development of cycling, walking and public transport being the chosen methods of transportation for many more people in Leicester;
- To explore and introduce, if appropriate, a Workplace Parking Levy for Leicester;
- Work to achieve a significant step change in the reduction of the Council’s and City’s carbon footprint to mitigate the impact of climate change;
- To deliver an action plan ensuring that Leicester quickly becomes a Carbon Neutral city;
- To reduce harmful emissions that contribute to climate change;
- To work towards a circular economy for waste and resources in the City, encouraging reuse, recycling and waste minimisation;
- To continue to convert Council fleet to clean energy/low emission vehicles and to support the take up of clean energy/low emission taxis;
- Highways surfaces, pavements, bridges and watercourses; and
- To make a further 230 streets 20mph zones, as well as being responsible for residents parking in the city, together with the Assistant City Mayor for Neighbourhood Services.
Councillor Singh-Clair, Deputy City Mayor
Responsible for the following Council services:
- Regulatory Services, including Licensing;
- Taxi and Private Hire licensing;
- Tourism and promotion of the City;
- Bereavement Services;
- Our Festivals and Events service;
- Sports Services and Centres;
- Public Conveniences;
- Museums;
- Planning and Development Control;
- Building Control and Enforcement;
- Parks & Open Spaces; and
- Community Safety.
Specific responsibilities for the following, but please note this list is not exhaustive:
- Community Cohesion;
- The Council’s Community Safety Strategy;
- Leicester Community Safety Partnership;
- Neighbourhood working with the Police;
- Responsibilities of Council and all related matters in respect of the Police and Probation Services;
- To develop an investment plan to improve the network of sport and leisure facilities;
- To make Leicester a more active City;
- To protect, develop and promote wider use of the Council’s Parks and Play Areas;
- To creating jobs in the tourist and visitor economy;
- To do more to protect, enhance and value the city’s heritage and built environment;
- Lead on work to protect and develop our parks and play areas and to promote their wider use and, with the Deputy City Mayor for Environment to focus on protecting and enhancing the biodiversity of the city;
- Conservation and protection of the built environment;
- To ensure that there is a good range of opportunities for organised sport and physical activity in all our communities for people of all ages;
- Working with the Licencing Committee, you will have specific responsibility for the cross-cutting issues and oversight of the economically important taxi and private hire trade in the City including the provision of adequate ranks; the age and condition of vehicles and robust but fair inspection - improving our relations with operators while ensuring we safeguard the public;
- Tourism and how we market the City;
- To establish an affordable undertaking service;
- To support our local voluntary sector with a local lottery; and
- To build community partnerships with schools and community organisations to tackle hate crime.
Councillor Sarah Russell, Deputy City Mayor
Responsible for the following Council services:
- ASC Social Work – Localities
- ASC Social Work – Contact and Response
- ASC Social Work – Mental Health
- ASC Social Work – Learning Disabilities
- ASC Independent Living
- ASC Contracts and Assurance
- ASC Commissioning
- ASC Enablement
- Children’s Early Intervention;
- The Safeguarding Children’s Service;
- Children’s Fieldwork;
- The Youth Offending Service;
- Looked After Children’s Service;
- Youth Services;
- Children’s Specialist Passenger Transport;
- Disabled Children’s Services;
- Adoption Services; and
- Domestic Violence Services.
Specific responsibilities for the following, but please note this list is not exhaustive:
- To continue to transform our Social Care services;
- To continue to ensure adult social care in Leicester promotes choice, dignity and respect and that people can live independently and play an active and full part in society;
- Protecting vulnerable adults is a top priority and you will ensure our safeguarding adults arrangements remain effective and robust;
- Partnership working between related NHS and Council services, both in relation to commissioning and integration of ASC related services;
- To help drive up the quality of care in the independent sector;
- To be a member of the Health and Well-being Board;
- To introduce a programme of measures to make Leicester a Dementia Friendly City, including working with businesses, retailers and voluntary and community sector organisations to raise awareness of dementia;
- Adult Mental Health and ensuring work continues to deliver the commitments the City Council has made in signing the Local Authorities Mental Health Challenge;
- To strengthen our arrangements to keep children from potential and actual harm
- To ensure the appropriate standards of Children’s Social Care through the Ofsted Framework;
- You will lead Children’s social care to a good outcome through the Ofsted inspection framework;
- Protecting vulnerable children is a top priority and you will ensure our safeguarding children’s arrangements are effective and robust;
- Transition arrangements for moving children into care, and to ensure that 70% of looked after children leaving care are in education, employment or training;
- You will ensure we have a targeted and effective Youth Service in the City;
- You will continue to ensure an effective Youth Offending Service;
- The recruitment, training and retention of Childminders;
- You will carry out the responsibilities as set out in the current description of the Children’s portfolio as detailed in the Council’s Constitution and determined by statute;
- Providing a housing adaptation service for homeowners and a programme of housing adaptations for people with disabilities moving in Council properties;
- Support to our Adventure Playgrounds;
- To tackle holiday hunger through appropriate mechanisms;
- To develop a 5-year anti-poverty strategy;
- Campaigning to maximise welfare take-up so that everyone in Leicester receives their benefit entitlement; and
- To be the Councils Reading Champion.
Councillor Danny Myers, Assistant City Mayor
Responsible for exploring the council’s long-term financial resilience, other ways that the City Council could generate additional income, and ways of making use of assets or resources to address market failures which have wider social impacts. This includes:
- Policy development;
- Digital Transformation and channel shift;
- Social value;
- Looking into the rise of entrepreneurialism on Local Government and whether this could benefit us;
- Considering how the Council could become more commercially aware;
- Exploring opportunities for generating revenue, including through:
- Shared Services
- Traded Services
- Better use of our property and assets
- Joint Ventures
- Improved commissioning activity
- Chargeable activity
- Exploring the policy approach to stimulating growth;
- Creating ‘Commercial Councillors’ – that is increasing the understanding amongst colleagues about the notion of entrepreneurial Councils; and
- Looking into the challenges, issues and barriers that prevent a more entrepreneurial approach.
Specific responsibilities for the following but please note that this list is not exhaustive:
- Communications and Marketing;
- Press, Media and Digital Media;
- Making Leicester a living wage city using the Council as a provider and driver for better working conditions and workers’ rights across all sectors, including the textile industry;
- Further increasing the amount the City Council spends with local businesses, while securing more social investment, local job opportunities and training and apprenticeship opportunities through our procurement activities;
- Establishing a fair payday lending service to help reduce reliance on private high interest payday lenders; and
- Brexit preparedness.
Councillor Elly Cutkelvin, Assistant City Mayor
Responsible for the following Council services:
- Housing Options;
- Housing Repairs;
- The Tenancy & Estate Management Service;
- The Private Sector Housing Team;
- Gypsy and Traveller Authorised Site Management;
- The Housing Development Team;
- The Children’s Educational Psychology Service;
- The School Meals Service;
- School Placement and Admissions;
- Education Welfare;
- The Behaviour Support Service;
- The SEN and Special Needs Teaching service; and
- The Leicester Adult Skills and Learning Service (LASALs)
Specific responsibilities for the following, but please note this list is not exhaustive:
- To work with our family of schools, and providing a supportive network;
- You will ensure every young person to be in education, employment or engaged in a work-based training programme;
- Early Years Settings and School quality and standards;
- To enable all children in Leicester to go to a good or outstanding school
- You will raise school attainment levels and educational outcomes for our school children year on year for the next four years
- You will carry out the responsibilities as set out in the current description of the Children’s and Schools portfolio as detailed in the Council’s Constitution and determined by statute;
- To ensure that we have the mechanisms in place to actively engage with and listen to our children and young people;
- To oversee the significant investment in our Primary and Secondary schools;
- To develop a School Readiness Strategy;
- Support to move from school to FE/HE/apprenticeships/employment/work-based learning programmes;
- School assets;
- Maintaining our adult education service with an improved offer for careers advice, ex-offender programmes, digital technology and English language courses;
- You will be responsible for maintaining the high quality of performance across our housing services bringing creativity and innovation to improve that performance and finding solutions to the problems people face in meeting their housing needs;
- Tenant participation;
- Monitoring of existing housing accommodation;
- Consideration of future needs for housing;
- To continue to implement our Homelessness Strategy, to reduce the number of families and individuals placed in temporary accommodation, and to ensure that no one has to sleep rough on our streets;
- Seek authorisation and all possible funding from Government to build new council and other affordable homes in the City;
- Use every opportunity to continue and to restart programmes of private housing renewal;
- Develop a new local standard for energy efficiency, safety and overall quality of all private rented homes;
- Promote private landlord and housing association responsibility;
- Introduce a landlord licensing scheme for all rented housing to help protect tenants;
- Build on progress getting empty homes back into use;
- With Council tenants, set new high service standards for maintenance and repairs;
- Continue to simplify and extend the Leicester Home Choice system and the Council’s housing allocation policies;
- Protect the most vulnerable homeless people;
- To continue to invest in our Council estates; and
- To use our Housing Company to tackle housing shortages.
Councillor Kirk Master, Assistant City Mayor
Responsible for the following Council services:
- Community Cohesion and the ‘Prevent’ agenda;
- Citywide CCTV;
- Neighbourhood Enforcement Services and activity including our Noise Team, Dog Wardens, Pest Control and City Wardens;
- Neighbourhood Services;
- Customer Services;
- Revenues & Benefits Service (incl. Business Rates);
- Library Services;
- Emergency Planning and Resilience;
- The Multi-Agency Travellers Unit; and
- Welfare & Advice Services.
Specific responsibilities for the following but please note this list is not exhaustive:
- Working with the Deputy City Mayor for Social Care & Anti-Poverty you will ensure an integrated neighbourhood offer of Community Centres and Neighbourhood Centres, Libraries, Customer Service Centres, Children’s Centres and Youth Centres;
- To manage the impact of the national Welfare Reforms;
- To develop and oversee customer care policies;
- To develop our online services to enable channel shift;
- Residents’ Parking Schemes and 20mph zones, together with the Deputy City Mayor for Environment and Transportation;
- Working with the Assistant City Mayor for the Voluntary and Community Sector, you will look at the future support and facilitation of Ward Community meetings;
- You will further develop the Council’s online services enabling significant channel shift, where appropriate away from face to face and telephony;
- To continue efforts to strengthen neighbourhood engagement and give residents a say;
- Protect, enhance and expand welfare rights service provision across the city; and
- Work with partners to establish a city-wide knife crime strategy.
Councillor Rita Patel, Assistant City Mayor
- Leading on our work with the Council of Faiths and other faith based representative organisations in the City;
- Embedding equalities and diversity across Council services;
- Championing the work of employee equality groups;
- Contributing to the successful functioning and work of the Faith and Community Forum;
- Working with partners to extend the use of restorative justice in Leicester;
- Continuing to improve our decision making and equality impact assessment process;
- Supporting communities and citizens to participate in running the city;
- Developing models of improved citizen participation;
- Looking into improved community and citizen engagement with decision makers and the democratic process, especially in the design and delivery of local services;
- Making Leicester a welcoming place for people from all backgrounds, including those fleeing conflict from elsewhere in the world;
- Supporting partnerships and partnership working between the Council, other agencies and the VCS;
- Developing and supporting engagement and community cohesion opportunities in our neighbourhoods by supporting the voluntary and community sector to access grant opportunities; and
- Supporting our local voluntary sector with a new five-year strategy;
Councillor Vi Dempster, Assistant City Mayor
Responsible for the following Council services:
- Public Health, including all public health services and commissioning
Specific responsibilities for the following but please note this list is not exhaustive:
- To introduce a programme of measures to make Leicester a Dementia Friendly City, including working with businesses, retailers and voluntary and community sector organisations to raise awareness of dementia;
- Manage relationships with NHS partners;
- With partners, to make sure that there is a properly funded and effective Children’s and Adults mental health service;
- To be the Councils Mental Health Champion;
- Raising awareness and reducing drug and alcohol dependency;
- Deliver the Local Authority Mental Health Pledge;
- To chair the Health and Wellbeing Board;
- Working with partners to improve health through the Health and Wellbeing Board and Strategy;
- With the Deputy City Mayor with responsibility for Culture, Leisure, Sport and Regulatory Services, to enable appropriate staff to have a more holistic approach in in-house gym and swimming provision;
- Leadership and oversight of cross cutting initiatives to tackle poverty in the City;
- Good mental health & wellbeing promotion;
- Integrated public health outcomes including ‘lifestyle services’;
- To increase the number of people stopping smoking year on year for the next four years;
- To work with the CCG/NHS to improve/integrate primary care;
- Partnership working with the NHS on commissioning and integrating services;
- Building on the Cities Changing Diabetes pledge, each of our professional sports clubs and the council – Team Leicester – will establish a partnership promoting healthy lifestyles;
- Publish an alcohol strategy and look to set up a Community Alcohol Partnership;
- Make Leicester a part of the World Health Organisation Network of Age Friendly Cities;
- Support further work to meet complex needs experienced particularly by women and BAME communities who may not be sleeping on our streets but are homeless;
- To Chair the Older Persons Forum; and
- As Armed Forces Champion, to support our work as part of our commitment to supporting the Armed Forces.
Councillor Sue Hunter, Assistant City Mayor
Responsible for:
- Working with service teams across the City Council to pioneer a programme of work that challenges racism or disadvantage in all of its forms.
- Ensuring that all elements of Council policy consider forms of working practices that align with our approach in tackling racism and disadvantage.
- Working closely with voluntary and community sector organisations and drawing on the expertise of other organisations in establishing the rational for a broader programme that tackles racism and disadvantage across Leicester.
- Drawing upon the work of the emergency services, the NHS, neighbouring local authorities and other key public sector partners in shaping an agenda that influences change across the wider realm of the sector.
- As part of this overall approach, to lead and develop an agenda for Leicester in response to the emergence of the Black Lives Matter campaign.
- Looking into improving the mechanisms for engaging those from disadvantaged groups with the democratic process, especially in the design and delivery of local services.
- Working alongside Executive colleagues to examine issues relating to racial representation within City Council structures and more generally across the public, private and voluntary sectors.
- Building on the work of the Council’s Equality Action Plan and ensuring that it appropriately sets out work that aligns with the ambition in eliminating racism and disadvantage.
- To lead on an expansion of the Council’s reverse mentoring scheme.