Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors R J Phillips and R Wootten.

No interests were declared.

RESOLVED

That the minutes from the meeting held on 13 January 2016 be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

The Chairman read a statement written by Councillor N Worth, Executive Councillor for Libraries, Heritage, Culture, Registration and Coroners Service as follows:

This will be the last meeting of this Committee before the delivery of our library services moves out of the Council and I would like to thank the staff across the Library Service for their sterling work in maintaining delivery to the public in what has been a challenging time.  I would reflect upon the fact that:

1. The 15 core libraries have exceeded interaction targets by 8%, with Gainsborough currently exceeding their target by 20%.

2. Customer satisfaction with libraries has remained extremely high, with regards to staff friendliness, user enjoyment and overall experience.

3. Nearly all community hubs planned have now been delivered, with the final few opening over coming months.  Collectively, opening hours at the community hubs have increased by 27.45%, from 479 hours to 610.5 hours per week, since they transferred to community leadership.    Major contributors include Spilsby Library with an increase from 12 hours to 43 hours - a 258% increase!  Birchwood, Boultham and Ermine community hubs have more than doubled their opening hours going from 16 hours to 43.5 hours, and Bracebridge Heath Library has gone from 6 hours to 14 hours per week - an increase of 133%.

4. Of the 30 Tier 3 Libraries only three communities did not come forward to run a community run library; Washingborough, Skellingthorpe and Coningsby.  There are currently 29 hubs in operation with the following opening over the coming months; Welton, Donington, Swineshead, Sutton Bridge, and Wainfleet, with Swineshead being a new community library. 

(To receive a report from Donna Sharp, County Services Manager Registration, Celebratory and Coroners regarding the future of the Coroners' Service)

The Committee considered a report on the Future Shape of the Coroners' Service which was due to be considered by the Executive on 5 April 2016.  The views of the Committee would be reported to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item.

The Committee supported the recommendations made in the report and in addition, the following points were noted:

1. Members queried the support provision for one Coroner and specifically how workload would be managed within the service. Concerns were also highlighted with regards to caseloads and questions were asked in relation to the use of Assistant Coroner. Officers confirmed that Senior Coroners would be responsible for ensuring cases were managed and the allocation of caseloads would be on a common sense approach;

2. Members highlighted concerns around the involvement of external parties in the service and how this would affect cover for annual leave, sickness, etc. Officers confirmed that Coroner’s Officers were employed by Lincolnshire Police but the proposal was that they would be managed by Lincolnshire County Council. An agreement had been reached with Lincolnshire Police to enable better workload management;

3. Members raised concerns regarding the location of inquests and appointments as part of the changes and how these would impact on the Coroner's time should Lincolnshire become one geographical coronial area. Officers confirmed the commitment to retain local inquests was possible and practical. However, the Committee highlighted that there may be occasions when an inquest outside of Lincolnshire may be more convenient and kinder to the recently bereft;

4. Members queried whether the Coroner's Officers being employed by Lincolnshire Police would result in a reduction of staffing levels in the future. Officers confirmed that there was no intention to reduce the capacity at the moment and that while the Coroner’s Officers were employed by Lincolnshire Police they would only be seconded to the Coroners Service and managed through Lincolnshire County Council.

5. Members queried what impact the reduction in Magistrates Courts would have on the proposed changes. Officers confirmed that the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 amended some of the geographical requirements to hold inquests and the Magistrates Courts impact would be limited with the offer of the use of Registration Service accommodation.

6. Members queried whether there would be any charges for service delivery as part of these changes. Officers confirmed that there would be no charges to the bereaved; however, a copy of inquest paperwork would incur a nominal charge of £5, but that copies for the family would normally be free of charge;

7. Members questioned whether consideration had been given to a Greater Lincolnshire geographical coronial area. Officers confirmed that consideration had been given but that agreement of other Local Authorities would be needed to progress this; however, there could be opportunities to consider further savings in the future.

Members praised the report writers for producing a comprehensive report.  It was noted that the Committee would receive progress reports as the reorganisation of the coroners' service took place.

RESOLVED  ...  view the full minutes text for item 62.

(To receive a report from Tony McGinty, Consultant in Public Health, which provides the Committee with an update on libraries)

Following the decision by the Council Executive on 3 February 2015 to adopt a new model of library provision for Lincolnshire, the Executive subsequently approved the decision to award a contract for the delivery of the Library Services to Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL) on 1 December 2015.

The Committee considered a report which provided an update on progress with the transition of the library service from the Council to GLL and the following points were noted:

1.    The transfer would become effective on 1 April 2016;

2.    The contract with GLL had been signed and a 30-day consultation with staff who would transfer to GLL had commenced.  Staff transferring would be subject to TUPE regulations (Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment));

3.    In terms of property for the libraries, the sub leasing of the premises for the Mablethorpe library had been resolved. The site at Grantham had recently been bought by a venture capital company and communicating with them to negotiate a lease was proving difficult.  The existing lease was on a peppercorn rent, and an equivalent lease would cost 40-50K per annum.  The staff at Grantham library and the lease would remain under LCC control until issues had been resolved.  A property trawl in Grantham for an alternative had taken place, however, as yet nothing suitable had been found;

4.    The future branding of libraries had been discussed with GLL and it had been decided this would be organic and would be phased in from site to site;

5.    29 community hubs were now operational, with several more yet to come;

6.    GLL were keen to get a new ICT system in place, however the libraries would stay on the Council's system for a reasonable period of time whilst proposals were developed;

7.    Customers would not notice any difference in service from 1 April onwards.

Questions from Members confirmed the following:

1.    GLL had applied for admitted body status in the Lincolnshire Pension and expected to achieve this;

2.    The main changes for existing LCC library staff would be a mandatory GLL uniform and a change of pay date, all other working conditions would remain the same;

3.    LCC would retain its duty as Library Authority with GLL operating the service on our behalf.  Executive was still responsible for making decisions on the libraries service and updates would still be brought to scrutiny;

4.    Tony McGinty (Consultant in Public Health) was the lead commissioner for the service;

5.    Discussion regarding self-service machines took place and it was reported that these were more of a priority on sites where there was not always a library assistant present whilst the building was open (for example in a post office or village shop).

It was agreed that the Committee would receive an update on the Library Service in the autumn of 2016.  It was also suggested that the Committee visit a library for one of its meetings in the autumn.

RESOLVED

That the progress made since 1 December 2015 towards the delivery  ...  view the full minutes text for item 63.

(To receive a report from Nick Borrill, Acting Chief Fire Officer, which provides the Committee with an update on the Integrated Risk Management Plan)

As part of its normal planning process, Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue (LFR) aimed to seek the views and opinions of its stakeholders on any proposed key changes to service delivery.

The Committee considered the Integrated Risk Management Planning (IRMP) consultation document which outlined a number of proposed changes for 2016/17 and sought feedback as appropriate.  The consultation period began on 1 March and would run until 16 May 2016.

The Committee received a presentation from Nick Borrill (Acting Chief Fire Officer), which outlined the proposals in the consultation as follows:

Proposal 1        Agree new IRMP Baseline Document for 2016-2020;

Proposal 2        Savings option – change Lincoln South fire station from Shift                              Duty System to the Lincolnshire Crewing System;

Proposal 3        Reduce the number of Rescue Support Units;

Proposal 4        Permanently relocate an Aerial Ladder Platform to Boston;

Proposal 5        Further develop the Joint Ambulance Conveyance Project;

Proposal 6        Introduce a cost recovery process for attendance to                                                 Unwanted Fire Signals;

Proposal 7        Service priorities for 2016/2017

The Committee discussed the options at length and the following points were noted:

1. There was strong opposition to the reduction of funding for LFR and the consequences to the public.  Some Members felt the Council should lobby for more funding for the service.  Officers had to deliver the best service possible with the available funding;

2. Changing Lincoln South Fire Station to the Lincolnshire Crewing System was discussed and it was noted that with this system, firefighters would be required to live within 5 minutes of the station during night time hours. They would be required to work a rotating pattern of 4 days on 4 days off, 4 days on, 4 days off followed by 5 days on 3 days off.  It was already in action at other stations and worked well;

At this point in the meeting, the following motion was proposed;

The Committee are of the view that the Executive takes every step to acquire more funding for LFR before the Community and Public Safety Scrutiny Committee consider it further.

This motion was not carried.

At this point in the meeting, the following motion was proposed and carried:

RESOLVED

That if Proposal 2 – Savings Option – Change Lincoln South Fire station from the Shift Duty System to the Lincolnshire Crewing System was implemented, the Executive must inform the Government that the consequences of their decision to cut funding would adversely affect the people of Lincolnshire.

There was discussion and support for Proposal 5 to further develop the Joint Ambulance Conveyance Project, the pilot of which had been successful.

It was noted that the consultation ended on 16 May 2016 and a further update would be brought back to the Committee at a later date.

RESOLVED

That the proposals within the consultation document and comments made be noted.

(To receive a report from Dr Tony Hill, Executive Director of Community Wellbeing and Public Health, which provides the Committee with the Annual Report on the health of the people of Lincolnshire 2015)

Consideration was given to the Annual Report on the health of the people in Lincolnshire from the Director of Public Health.  The Committee received a presentation on the report from the Assistant Director (Healthy Communities).

It was highlighted that the report was the personal and professional observations of the Director of Public Health (Dr Tony Hill) and not a report of the Council's.

The focus of the report was liver disease and its main causes: alcohol, obesity and viral infections of the liver (Hepatitis B).

Following questions from Members, the following was confirmed:

1. Certain areas of Lincolnshire seemed to be more prone to liver disease than other and some of these were inexplicable;

2. Liver disease seemed to be more prevalent amongst low income areas;

3. The suggestion was made for hepatitis home screening tests and officers made a note of this for further research;

4. Blood samples taken could not be tested for hepatitis as a matter of course, as it was too expensive;

5. Hepatitis was a notifiable disease in the UK and there were often more cases of it amongst migrant populations who travelled out of the country regularly.

The Committee praised the Annual Report for its topic and content.

RESOLVED

That the report and comments made be noted.

(To receive a combined report from Mark Housley, County Officer Public Protection; Tony McGinty, Consultant in Public Health; and Nick Borrill, Acting Chief Fire Officer, which provides key performance information relevant to the work of the Committee)  

The Committee considered the Quarter 3 Performance report from 1 October to 31 December 2015.

The following points were noted:

1. The target for reducing the number of Primary Fires had not been achieved, however it was reported that the number of primary fires had reduced year between 2009/10 and 2013/14;

2. The number of Fire Fatalities in Primary Fires  was higher than the same period last year.

The Committee praised the new performance report template as it was easy to read and digest.

RESOLVED

That the Quarter 3 Performance Report 2015 be noted.

(To receive a report from Daniel Steel, Scrutiny Officer, which provides the Committee with an opportunity to consider its work programme for the coming months)

The Committee considered it work programme for the coming months.

RESOLVED

That the work programme and changes made therein be noted.