Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room One, County Offices, Newland, Lincoln LN1 1YL

Contact: Emily Wilcox  Democratic Services Officer

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies for Absence/Replacement Members

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed Councillor B Adams to his first meeting of the Board.

 

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Mrs W Bowkett and Patricia Barnett (Parent Governor Representative).

 

2.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

All declarations of interest will be declared under the relevant items.

3.

Minutes of the meeting held on 25 April 2019 pdf icon PDF 199 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED:

 

          That minutes of the meeting held on 25 April 2019 be approved as a             correct record and signed by the Chairman. 

4.

Announcements by the Chairman, Executive Councillor for Resources and Communications and Chief Officers

Minutes:

The Chairman announced that he had attended a meeting of the Executive on the 8 May 2019, where he had presented the Board's comments on the Formation of a Company for Legal Services, and the Procurement Strategy reports.

 

It was noted that the Board's comments on the IMT Strategy Document; Office Supplies and Energy Procurement reports had also been passed on to the relevant Executive Councillors for consideration.

 

Members were informed that at the Environment and Economy Scrutiny Committee on the 21 May 2019, the committee had considered the Energy Procurement report, and recommended that the Council procured green energy. A decision had since been made by the Leader of the Council for the Council to buy green energy for the period 1 October 2019 – 30 September.

 

Members were reminded that the Joint Workshop with the Audit Committee on Culture and Accountability, taking into account lessons learnt from Northamptonshire County Council, would take place at 2pm, following the meeting.    

 

The Executive Councillor for Community Safety and People Management announced that the Police and Crime Commissioner's office had obtained a grant of £1.8million from central government, which could contribute to providing more Police Officers, PCSO's and a number of staff to support with assisting rehabilitation through collaboration.

 

 

5.

Consideration of Call-Ins

Minutes:

None were received.

6.

Consideration of Councillor Calls for Action

Minutes:

None were received.

7.

Commissioning Strategies pdf icon PDF 1 MB

(To receive a report from George Spiteri (Senior Strategic Commercial and Procurement Manager), which invites the Board to consider a report on the commissioning Strategies which is due to be considered by the Executive on 4 June 2019. The views of the Board will be reported to the Executive as part of its consideration of this item)

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report by the Strategic, Commercial and Performance Manager, which invited the Board to consider a report on the Commissioning Strategies which would be considered by the Executive on 4 June 2019.

 

Members were referred to the Appendix A of the Executive report, which set out the following commissioning strategies for consideration:

 

  • Specialist Adult Services
  • Safeguarding Adults
  • Carers
  • Adult Frailty and Long Term Conditions
  • Community Wellbeing
  • Public Protection

 

Members were invited to ask questions, and it was agreed that the following points be passed onto the Executive for consideration:

 

  • The Board considered the issue of timing and was advised that a decision had been made to submit the commissioning strategies to the Executive as a single item, after all six had been considered by the relevant scrutiny committee. This had led to a delay, for example two of the commissioning strategies had been considered in September 2018.  With the benefit of hindsight it might have been better to have presented each strategy immediately after they had been considered by the relevant scrutiny committee.  

 

  • Although certain services and contracts were under the remit of a particular scrutiny committee, some items inevitably impacted on other scrutiny committees.  For example the public health services commissioned by the County Council (Wellbeing Commissioning Strategy) were under the remit of the Adults and Community Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee, but were also of interest to the Health Scrutiny Committee.  Issues covering two or more scrutiny committees were managed by the Board. 

 

  • The Board was advised that the performance information at the end of each highlight report for quarter 3 (2018-19) had already been considered in detail by the Board on 28 February 2019; and by the two relevant overview and scrutiny committees (Adults and Community Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee on 27 February; and Public Protection and Communities Scrutiny Committee on 12 March 2019).

 

  • It was noted that the report was not a 'performance' item and the performance information (on pages 21, 25, 30, 34, 39 and 43 of the Executive report) was included for background information only.  Members were informed that the Quarter 4 performance would be considered by the Board on 27 June 2019.  In addition, detailed quarter 4 performance for these commissioning strategies would also be considered by the Adults and Community Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee on 3 July; and the Public Protection and Communities Scrutiny Committee on 23 July 2019.

 

The Board highlighted the following points in relation to the strategies listed below:

 

Specialist Adult Services Commissioning Strategy

 

·         An example of a scheme using capital investment to reduce revenue costs was extra care housing, which could be developed jointly with district councils; with one scheme in particular planned in Lincoln, which would support adults in one facility, rather than in residential care.

·         The importance of NHS health checks for adults and children with learning disabilities was highlighted.

·         That the NHS should be encouraged to improve access to mental health services.

 

Carers Commissioning Strategy

 

·         The importance of the development of the carers portal for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.

Draft Final Report From The Transitions Scrutiny Review pdf icon PDF 44 KB

(To receive a report from Councillor Mrs Angela Newton (Chairman of the Transitions Scrutiny Panel), which invites the Board to consider the draft final report arising from the scrutiny review into Transitions)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor Mrs J Brockway declared a personal interest as her family were service users.

 

Councillor M Whittington declared a personal interest as a member of his family was a service user.

 

Consideration was given to a report by Councillor Mrs A Newton, Chairman of the Transitions Scrutiny Panel, which invited the Board to consider the draft final report arising from the Transitions Scrutiny Review.

 

The scrutiny panel had been established with the purpose of reviewing the individual experiences of young people transitioning into adulthood for young people with more complex educational needs, who received support through an Education, Health and Care Plan, as well as Looked After Children.

 

The Scrutiny Panel had engaged with professionals from Children's Services, Adult Care, and had undertaken visits to New College Stamford, Bourne Willoughby School and Lincolnshire Wolds Federation St Bernard's School in Louth. Panel Members had also engaged with two service users who had relevant experience with the transitions process. 

 

The Chairman of the Panel was pleased to report that the vast majority of transitions were supported successfully, and the overall transitions arrangements at Lincolnshire County Council were good.

 

The report set out three recommendations to be forwarded to the Executive Councillor for Adult Care, Health and Children's Services for consideration. Members were provided with the opportunity to discuss the recommendations, in which the following points were noted: 

 

·       Members raised concerns about the difficulty in identifying the needs of home educated children.

·       The Head of Paid Service explained that it was a requirement that the Council made reasonable attempts to check that a home educated child was receiving satisfactory educational provision. However, as there was no compulsory requirement for guardians to notify the local government authority that a child was being home educated, it could be difficult to ensure that every child's needs was being met.

·       It was felt that more support needed to be provided for adults who had previously been in foster care but did not remain in contact with their foster families.

·       Members emphasised the need to support young people with the transition to adulthood and independence, and to help identify skills that could help them succeed in adulthood. 

·       It was clarified that the SEND action plan was progressing positively and the County Council were working with the Clinical Commissioning Group's (CCG's) to improve the diagnosis of autism and other neurological conditions.

·       It was noted that there was generally a low level of feedback received from parent carers regarding the scrutiny review on their Educational Health and Care (EHC) needs planning process, but the feedback provided was generally positive.  It was thought that the lack of feedback suggested that parents were generally satisfied with the service, and therefore did not feel the need to routinely provide feedback.

 

The Board supported the recommendations set out in the draft Final Report on Transitions, and were satisfied that the report be submitted to the Executive on 9 July 2019, without amendment.

 

On behalf of the Board, the Chairman thanked all members of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

9.

Statutory Guidance on Overview and Scrutiny in Local and Combined Authorities pdf icon PDF 20 KB

(To receive a report from Nigel West (Head of Democratic Services and Statutory Scrutiny Officer), which advises the Board of the recent publication of the latest Statutory Guidance on Overview and Scrutiny, and seeks approval to set up a working group to consider the document)

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report from the Head of Democratic Services and Statutory Scrutiny Officer, which advised the Board of the recent publication of the latest Statutory Guidance on Overview and Scrutiny.

 

Members were informed that on 7 May 2019, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government had published statutory guidance on Overview and Scrutiny in Local and Combined Authorities, which provided an opportunity for the Council to review its scrutiny practices.

 

The report sought approval to set up a cross party working group to consider the document in relation to the Council's current Overview and Scrutiny arrangements.

 

The Chairman welcomed the opportunity to establish a cross party working group, and proposed that the group be made up of five Conservative Group Councillors, one Labour Group Councillor and one Independent Councillor.

 

Members were informed that the Chairman would be attending a Government Scrutiny Guidance Symposium scheduled for the 20 June 2019, and would provide feedback to the Board on the content of the symposium. 

 

RESOLVED:

 

    That the committee approve the formation of a cross party working group      to consider the latest statutory guidance on Overview and Scrutiny.

 

10.

Scrutiny Committee Work Programmes pdf icon PDF 509 KB

(To receive a report which sets out the work programmes of the Adults and Community Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee; Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee; Public Protection and Communities Scrutiny Committee; and the Health Scrutiny Committee for Lincolnshire, in accordance with the Board's agreed programme)

 

Minutes:

The Board reviewed the Work Programme of four of the Scrutiny Committee Work Programmes:

 

Adults and Community Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee:

 

The Chairman of the Adults and Community Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee highlighted the recent work of the committee, and outlined the committee's prospective work programme.

 

Members were invited to ask questions, in which the following points were noted:

 

·       The Leader of the Council explained that the Government had given assurance that they would continue the work on the fair funding review. It was noted that that there had not been any progress made on the Green Paper for Adult Care.

 

 

 

 

 

Children's and Young People Scrutiny Committee:

 

The Chairman of the Children's and Young People Scrutiny Committee highlighted the recent work of the committee, and outlined the committee's prospective work programme.

 

Members were invited to ask questions, in which the following points were noted:

 

·       It was clarified that the Policy under Section 117 of the Mental Health Act 1983 was due to be reported to Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee as it concerned inpatients around mental health and disability. It was noted that that the policy would only apply to a small number of children compared to adults.

·       It was noted that 83% of Lincolnshire pupils were placed in a school rated by Ofsted as outstanding or good, which was above the national average.

 

Health Scrutiny Committee for Lincolnshire

 

The Chairman of the Health Scrutiny Committee for Lincolnshire highlighted the recent work of the committee, and outlined the committee's prospective work programme.

 

Members were invited to ask questions, in which the following points were noted:

 

  • Concerns were raised over the performance of the Thames Ambulance Service and whether it would be beneficial to switch to an alternative provider.

            The Chairman of the Health Scrutiny Committee for Lincolnshire explained          that the Committee had made clear to the CCG that they should procure an             alternative provider, however the CCG had to date indicated that there needed         to be contingency arrangements in place before they could issue a notice of           contract termination.   

·       The Head of Paid Service confirmed that there had been discussions between officers which had considered alternative strategies and alternative procurement approaches for the ambulance service. 

·       It was suggested that the Healthy Conversation engagement sessions could have been better advertised to members of the public. The Health Scrutiny Committee had been pushing for better advertising of these sessions. It was felt that there was a role for Councillors to advertise these events.

·       The Chairman of the Health Scrutiny Committee for Lincolnshire highlighted the importance of engaging with the Public on Healthy Conversation, to ensure that the services in Lincolnshire could be improved.

·       It was suggested that providing an excellent health service within Lincolnshire would mean that Lincolnshire residents would be more likely to use the services offered within the county, rather than travel outside of the county to receive health care. 

 

 

 

Public Protection and Communities Scrutiny Committee:

 

The Chairman of the Public Protection and Communities Scrutiny Committee highlighted the recent work  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

11.

Overview and Scrutiny Management Board Work Programme pdf icon PDF 226 KB

(To receive a report which enables the Board to consider and comment on the content of its work programme for the coming year, to ensure that scrutiny activity is focussed where it can be of greatest benefit)

 

Minutes:

The Head of Democratic Services and Statutory Scrutiny Officer presented the Board's prospective work programme.

 

Members were informed that a report on the Formation of a company for Legal Services would be brought back to the committee in June 2019.

 

RESOLVED:

 

          That the work programme be agreed.

 

 

 
 
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