Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Carol Gandy, Gay Hopkins and Joe Baker.  Councillors Andrew Brazier, Roger Bennett and Natalie Brookes respectively attended as substitutes.

To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests, and any Party Whip.

Councillor Jane Potter declared an other disclosable interest in respect of Minute No 16, the Proposals for Change by Tudor Grange Academy, as she was a member of the board of governors at Tudor Grange Academy.  She left the room and took no part in the discussions about this item.

Councillor David Bush declared an other disclosable interest in respect of Minute No 16, as a member of the board of governors at Walkwood Middle School, part of the pyramid group which would be affected by the proposed changes by Tudor Grange Academy.  Following discussion and advice from Officers, Councillor Bush left the room and took no part in the discussions of this item.

In the absence of the Vice Chair and in light of the Chair having to leave the room it was noted that a Chair would need to be appointed to preside over Minute No 16 during the Committee’s consideration of the scoping document for the Proposed Changes by Tudor Grange Academy.

RESOLVED that

Councillor Roger Bennett be appointed Chair for Minute No 16 during consideration of the scoping document containing terms of reference for the review of Proposals for Change by Tudor Grange Academy.

RESOLVED that

the minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 17thJune 2014, be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

To consider the Voluntary and Community Sector Task Group’s final report and to determine whether to support the group’s recommendations.

(Report attached, presentation to follow)

Former Councillor Roger Hill was welcomed back as a co-opted member of the Task Group.  Councillor Pat Witherspoon, as Chair of the group, delivered a presentation outlining the work and the final ten recommendations of the group (Appendix 1).  Councillor Witherspoon thanked her fellow Members and Officers for their support during a long and detailed investigation.

Following the presentation the Grants Officer provided additional information:

·         A coffee morning was held following the launch of the Grants Programme, which had proved very popular, with the last event being attended by over 50 members of the Voluntary Sector.

·         BARN also attended this session to assist with applications and had delivered a series of social media workshops via the training programme funded by the Council.

·         A funding feedback session was also being considered and it was hoped that this would assist organisations to source funding from elsewhere in order to become more self-sustaining.

Members of the group also responded to a number of questions covering the following areas:

·         The role of the apprentice and the need for this to include specific training.

·         The difficulty in providing training for Grants Panel Members and of taking formal minutes at its meetings.  It was felt that these would be time consuming and were not appropriate, although it was acknowledged that a formal list of action points could be recorded.

·         It was acknowledged that the Panel needed to be open and transparent in view of the significant sum of money involved and to ensure that the Council complied with the Local Government Transparency Code 2014.

·         The Redditch Hour on twitter and how this would be administered and how those of other areas were maintained.

·         Members were keen to ensure that volunteers were rewarded for their work and suggested a prize giving event should be held for this purpose.

·         How the group had established that the grants awarded to groups provided the Council with value for money.

·         Match funding and how currently those in receipt of a grant were encouraged to seek funding from other sources.  There was a danger that smaller groups would be unable to access other funding and would be unable to continue if this were made a pre-requisite of an application.

·         The monetary value of a volunteer, which was estimated at approximately £11 per hour.  Members were informed that a piece of work would be undertaken in the future to try and ascertain the monetary benefit to the Council of the work carried out by the groups who were successful with their grant applications.

In respect of recommendation 5, the Framework Agreement for the Provision of Debt and Budgeting Advice, the Committee noted that whilst funding for the first year of this framework had been secured additional funding would be needed to support the framework in the following two years.

RECOMMENDED that

1)        the following should be addressed in relation to the Council’s grants programme:

a)       the timescales for the Council’s grants process should be reviewed to ensure that decisions are made in sufficient  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

To consider information about the Community Infrastructure Levy.

(Members may want to refer to item six of the minutes of the meeting of the Executive Committee held on 24th June when this subject was also considered).

(Presentation to follow).

The Chair reminded Members that this item had arisen following the Committee’s request for further information whilst discussing the Executive Work Programme at the previous meeting.

Members received a presentation from Officers in respect of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) as detailed in Appendix 2.  Officers stressed that they were still at the very early stages of investigating the option of using CIL and further information would be provided to Members in due course through various means, including the Planning Advisory Panel.

Following the presentation Officers responded to questions which covered the various areas including:

·         The cost of the annual audit in the longer term and how these costs could be recovered.

·         The knock on effect on the Council if Bromsgrove District Council (BDC) were to use CIL charges and the option to transfer monies between the authorities.  Work was being carried out in conjunction with BDC to ensure that the Council did not loose out.

·         The impact on the price of land should the Council chose to go down the CIL route.

·         How the money would be collected from the developer and how it could be used.

·         Although CIL had been in place since 2010, the Council had only recently begun exploring whether it was suitable.  The delay was due to firstly needing to have a local plan in place, which had taken some time, however, the Council’s Local Plan was in the final stages and this would run alongside the early development stages of CIL.

·         Currently only 12% of local authorities had CIL in place, but nationally there was a push to encourage all authorities to go down the route of CIL.

RESOLVED that

the presentation on the Community Infrastructure Levy be noted.

To consider any scoping documents provided for possible Overview and Scrutiny review. 

(The documents have been listed in the order in which they were received).

·         Provision of Support Networks for LGBT Community – Proposed by Councillor Baker

·         Tackling Obesity – Proposed by Councillor Potter

·         Proposals for Change by Tudor Grange Academy – Proposed by Councillor P Witherspoon

(Draft scoping documents attached)

A number of topic proposal forms had been submitted for Members’ consideration and would be presented and considered in turn.  Councillor Potter reminded the Committee that it had agreed to hold only two Task Groups at any one time (it was confirmed that this figure did not include the Football Task Group as this was being facilitated by other Officers).

Provision of Support Networks for LGBT Task Group

Due to unforeseen circumstances Councillor Joe Baker who had proposed this topic was unable to attend the meeting.  He had contacted the Chair and she had agreed to defer consideration of this topic proposal until the following meeting of the Committee.

Obesity Levels Task Group

Councillor Potter provided the Committee with background information as to why she felt this topic should be the subject of a task group.  Senior Officers had highlighted during the Member induction process in May 2014 that obesity was an area of concern at both a national and local level.  Obesity led to other physical health problems such as diabetes which required significant treatment and support from the health service.  It was also an area which affected both adults and children and it was important to ensure that the measures put in place to tackle the problem were as effective as possible.  She believed it would be useful to find out what was available and how the information was provided to the community to ensure it was reaching those that needed help the most.  Councillor Potter also noted that lessons could be learned from international practices and made reference to a project which had been successfully carried out in Oklahoma, USA, which was now one of the healthiest parts of the country.

Some Members, though supportive of the idea, questioned whether a Task Group was necessary as it was understood that t some positive work was already being carried out locally.  Tackling obesity was also a priority at county level and a comprehensive health education training programme was being rolled out.  The Children and Young People’s Plan at Worcestershire County Council had also picked up this issue and were particularly concerned about the impact of obesity amongst deprived communities. 

Councillor Potter was keen to reassure Members that she did not want the Task Group to duplicate the work already being carried out but for it to galvanise that work and bring all that was available together to ensure it was visible to those in most need of support. 

Work that had been carried out by Birmingham City Council on this matter was highlighted and it was suggested that the programmes that they had put together could be useful to learn about as they had been carried out in a holistic and cost effective way.  It was acknowledged that sporting activities and healthy eating could be expensive and that those most affected might not be able to afford some options.

Councillor Potter explained that she was keen to Chair the review.  Councillor Swansborough also expressed an interest in participating  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

To discuss the outcomes of the second half of the Overview and Scrutiny Training session held on 2nd July.

(Report attached)

Councillor Potter introduced this item and commented that she had been disappointed with the low attendance at the follow-up scrutiny training session on 2nd July. 

There had been a list of subjects which had been put forward during the training and Members were asked if they wished to highlight anything in particular.  It was confirmed that Councillor Potter had already identified a number of items that could potentially be included on the Committee’s Work Programme from this list.

RESOLVED that

the Overview and Scrutiny Training Event Report be noted.

To consider the first quarter update on action that has been taken to implement recommendations made as part of the Overview and Scrutiny process.

(Report attached).

Officers informed the Committee that the report detailed actions which had been taken in order to implement scrutiny recommendations in the first quarter of 2014/15.  Appendix 1 referred to recommendations which had been implemented and Appendix 2 of the report referred to actions which were outstanding and for which Officers had requested progress reports.  It was highlighted that in respect of the Market Task Group a detailed update report would be received by the Committee at its October meeting.

A number of Members commented that one of the Access for Disabled People Task Group’s recommendations, regarding the equalities training organised for 24th July, clashed with a meeting which a large number of Councillors would be attending.  It was therefore requested that this be cancelled and rescheduled for a more convenient later date.

Councillor Potter commented that she felt the way in which the tracker was designed was both repetitive and difficult to understand.  Following discussion Officers were asked to investigating alternative formats for the Committee’s consideration.

RESOLVED that

1)    Officers investigate revising the format of the Quarterly Recommendation Tracker with a view to simplifying the report;

2)    Officers make arrangements for the equalities training planned for 24th July to be cancelled and rescheduled at a later date; and

3)    the report be noted.

Officers confirmed that the Executive Committee had considered the Abbey Stadium Task Group’s final report as detailed in the minutes.  They had accepted four of the recommendations, subject to slight re-wording, and had deferred making decisions on recommendations three and four in respect of therapeutic services and a sauna/steam room as they wished to look at the trust option for managing leisure services in further detail before making a decision on these areas.

Councillor Mason informed the Committee that neither he nor Councillor Gandy were happy with the fact that the Executive Committee had deferred making a decision in respect of these recommendations and were concerned that there was the possibility that these recommendations could get lost and no final decision would be made in the future.  Following discussions the Committee agreed that a revised wording of the recommendations should be submitted to the Executive Committee for further consideration which it was hoped would address the Executive Committee’s concerns.

RECOMMENDED that

When exploring the option for Council leisure facilities to be managed by a trust the potential for the following facilities to be introduced at the Abbey Stadium should be investigated further, in both cases taking into account whether these options would be economically viable:

a)    therapeutic services

b)   a sauna/steam room

RESOLVED that

the minutes of the Executive Committee held on 24th June and the latest edition of the Executive Committee’s Work Programme be noted.

Members discussed whether it would be prudent to include an item on the Work Programme in respect  of any policy which arose from the Community Infrastructure Levy as it had generated a great deal of debate earlier in the meeting.  Officers confirmed that the Committee could pre-scrutinise any new draft policy if they so wished.  However, it was highlighted that the Council’s Planning Advisory Panel, to which all Members were invited, would be involved in any policy development and that this was a more appropriate route to follow if Members wished to be part of the decision making process.

RESOLVED that

the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s Work Programme be noted.

To consider progress to date on the current reviews against the terms set by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

The current reviews in progress are:

·                Football Task Group – Chair, Councillor Bush.

 (Oral reports)

Football Task Group – Chair, Councillor David Bush

As Councillor Bush had left the meeting Councillor Potter provided an update on his behalf.  It was understood that the Redditch Football Stakeholders Group were carrying out a piece of work similar to that of the Task Group and therefore Members had agreed to hold a meeting, which was due to take place on 6th August, to discuss whether to continue with their investigations.  In particular, Members were mindful that they did not wish the Task Group to duplicate any work being carried out by the Stakeholders Group.

RESOLVED that

the update be noted.

Councillor Pat Witherspoon, as the Council’s representative on the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC), provided an update from the most recent meeting.  The main areas of interest had included information on the outbreaks of the Winter norovirus which had been lower than previous years and “Winter Schemes”.  The information in relation to this had been gathered from one day’s observation in January 2014 which had been classed as satisfactory.  The aim of the Winter Schemes was to improve patient flow in hospital and the HOSC had questioned how this could be based on an accurate assessment from such a limited observation.

There had been lengthy debate and criticism around the report writing and the use of what was judged to be an excessive amount of jargon and acronyms.  The areas discussed had included:

·         The five health hubs and the impact on the Clinical Commissioning Groups.

·         The frailty unit at the Worcester Royal Hospital.

·         The future of the acute hospitals including the need for capacity to be in place and the centralising of paediatrics in Worcester and maternity services to be midwife-led.

·         A pilot scheme of “clinical navigation” to be trialled, whereby the reception would sign post patients to either a doctor, nurse or emergency services.