Agenda item

(To consider a report by Nigel West (Head of Democratic Services and Statutory Scrutiny Officer), which invites the Committee to consider the content of its work programme and the work programmes of the Council's other scrutiny committees)

The Committee gave consideration to its own work programme as detailed at Appendix A, and the scrutiny committee work programmes for 2016 as shown at Appendix B.  During consideration of these programmes, the Committee received the following updates.

Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee

Nigel West, the Head of Democratic Services and Statutory Scrutiny Officer brought the Committee's attention to its work programme for 28 April 2016, at which the Committee would be reviewing the Review of Scrutiny Working Group – Closer working with the Executive.  Members noted that the first Scrutiny Review Working Group meeting was taking place later on in the day.

Adults Scrutiny Committee

Simon Evans, the Health Scrutiny Officer advised the Committee that the only change to the work programme for the Adults Scrutiny Committee, as shown on pages 90/91 and 92 of Appendix B was that the item on the Carers Commissioning Strategy and Services for Carers listed on page 91 for 29 June 2016 would now be brought forward to 25 May 2016.

Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee (CYPSC)

Councillor R Wootten, Vice-Chairman of CYPSC advised that further to the work programme for Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee (CYPSC) as detailed on pages 93/94 of Appendix B, that there was one further amendment to the work programme, which was that the report of the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Boards Scrutiny Sub-Group Update had been deferred from the 4 March to the 15 April 2016 meeting.

The Committee was also advised that at the next meeting of the CYPSC on the 4 March 2016, the Committee would be receiving the draft final report from the Grammar School Transport scrutiny review. 

The Committee also noted that there was to be a workshop for the CYPSC on Progress 8 and assessment developments in schools after the above said March meeting.

Community and Public Safety Scrutiny Committee

Councillor C Brewis, Chairman of the Community and Public Safety Scrutiny Committee, advised the Committee of the following changes to the Community and Public Safety Scrutiny Committee work programme, as detailed on pages 95/96 of Appendix B.

·         13 April 2016 – The Lincolnshire Association of Local Councils (LALC) item scheduled for April would now be likely to move to a later meeting date, once confirmation of a date had been received from Trisha Carter from LALC;

·         13 July 2016 – The Committee was considering an offsite visit for this meeting;

·         2 November 2016 – The Committee was advised that Tony McGinty, Consultant in Public Health had suggested the November meeting date as a possible option for a site visit and update with Greenwich Leisure Limited.

Other issues highlighted were:-

·         That a future Heritage Services pre-decision item was due to be considered at the 14 September 2016 meeting date;

·         That a policy on 'engaging with spontaneous volunteers' through the scrutiny process would be presented to the Committee in the coming months, as an outcome of the 'Barnes Wallis' exercise; and

·         That an item on the Local Welfare Support Scheme was expected to be received at a future meeting of the Committee.

Economic Scrutiny Committee

Councillor A Bridges, Chairman of the Economic Scrutiny Committee, advised that further to the Economic Scrutiny Committee work programme as detailed on page 97 of Appendix B, there was one further amendment to the work programme, which was a report on the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership's Draft Rail Strategy, would be added to the agenda for the meeting on 24 May 2016.

Environmental Scrutiny Committee and Flood and Drainage Management Scrutiny Committee

Councillor C Strange, Chairman of the Environmental and Flood and Drainage Management Scrutiny Committee, advised with regard to the following:-

That for the Environmental Scrutiny Committee work programme as detailed on pages 98/99 of Appendix B, no further changes were proposed at this moment in time.

Other issues highlighted to the Committee were:

·         Offsite Visit to the Flood Alleviation Schemes/Gibraltar Point/English Coastal Path would be considered at the 29 April meeting; and

·         A further Offsite visit was scheduled for the 29 July meeting to visit the Carbon Neutral Business Zone (CaNeBuZo), Wash Frontagers' Group and Sutton Bridge Marina.

The Committee was advised that there were changes to the published work programme for the Flood and Drainage Management Scrutiny Committee, as detailed on page 98 of Appendix B.  The Committee noted that for September 2016, a roundtable discussion with Internal Drainage Boards and other partners was being considered at a venue to be agreed.

Health Scrutiny Committee for Lincolnshire

Councillor C Brewis, Vice-Chairman of the Health Scrutiny for Lincolnshire advised that further to the published Health Scrutiny Committee for Lincolnshire work programme on pages 100/101, the following changes were likely:

·         16 March 2016 – The outcomes from the Care Quality Commission Inspection of Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust was now expected to be later than March, therefore this item would be re-scheduled accordingly; and that the St Barnabas Hospice item would now be considered at the meeting on 20 April 2016; and

·         For 20 April and 18 May 2016, other than the addition mentioned above, there were no further changes to the work programme.

It was also highlighted that there was an expectation that there would be a public consultation on Lincolnshire Health and Care Programme after 1 July 2016.  The Committee would have to consider how this item would be reflected in the Health Scrutiny Committee for Lincolnshire work programme.

The Committee also noted that there was now a requirement for each local health economy to submit a Sustainability and Transformation Plan to NHS England by 30 June 2016, one element of that Plan being that local health economies should return to financial balance; it was noted that this would be a particular challenge for Lincolnshire.

The Vice-Chairman responded to questions raised with regard to response times for the East Midlands Ambulance Service and 'Exercise Black Swan'.  The Health Scrutiny Officer agreed to circulate information relating to response times to relevant members after the meeting.

Highways and Transport Scrutiny Committee

Councillor M Brookes, Chairman of the Highways and Transport Scrutiny Committee advised the Committee that there were no changes to the published work programme for Highways and Transport Scrutiny Committee as detailed on pages 102/103 of Appendix B.

The Committee noted that the Future Service Delivery item would be considered by the Committee on 18 April 2016 and that the Permit Scheme – Outcome of Consultation had been included on the agenda for the 11 July 2016 meeting.

Value for Money Scrutiny Committee

Councillor Mrs A Newton, Chairman of the Value for Money Scrutiny Committee advised the Committee that further to the work programme as presented on page 104 was an additional item for the 26 April 2016 meeting relating to Assets held by the Council – ensuring that the Council received best value for money from its assets.