Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors P M Dilks, D M Hunter-Clarke, R J Hunter-Clarke, C E D Mair, J R Marriott and Miss E L Ransome

There were no declarations of interest at this point in the meeting.

RESOLVED

            That the minutes of the meeting held on 16 September 2016 be signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

RESOLVED

            That the minutes of the Extraordinary meeting of Council held on 20 October 2016 be signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

The Chairman reported that since the last meeting of the County Council he had continued to carry out his civic engagements with pride, representing the Council by visiting places and meeting people and organisations from all around the County. 

He thanked the chairman's lady Rosemary Woolley for supporting him on these engagements and also the Vice-Chairman and Lady, Councillor Andrew and Mrs Lucille Hagues, for representing them at civic functions when they had been unable to attend.

It had been an honour to have been involved in the Remembrance Day commemorations at Stamford.  The Vice-Chairman had also attended the Day Service in Lincoln Cathedral, which had been well supported and attended by hundreds of people. 

The Chairman and Lady had been delighted to have welcomed HRH The Duke of Gloucester when he had visited developments at Londonthorpe Woods and the Belton House estate.  The Chairman had also welcomed HRH The Princess Royal to the County when she visited Boston Stump to open the new Boiler House on Thursday, 15 December 2016.

The Chairman and Lady had also been delighted to have attended the Lincolnshire Fire & Rescue Long Service and Good Conduct Award Ceremony where they had been given the opportunity to meet and talk with the recipients of this prestigious and well deserved award.

The Chairman reported the death of former County Councillor Mrs Pat Metcalfe. Former Chairman of the Education Committee, Mrs Metcalfe had represented the Lincoln Minster electoral division from January 1984 until May 2001.  The Chairman advised that he intended to represent the Council at her funeral at Lincoln Crematorium on 22 December.

Members stood in silence as a mark of respect for former County Councillor Mrs Pat Metcalfe.

A number of councillors spoke to pay tribute to former county councillor Pat Metcalfe.

Petition requesting that the Council replace all the lights that will be switched out at night with energy efficient LED lamps so that they may be kept lit

In accordance with the Council's petition Scheme, Gainsborough Town Councillor Paul Key spoke in explanation of the petition requesting that the Council replace all the lights that will be switched out at night with energy efficient LED lamps so that they may be kept lit.

It was reported that the Chief Executive had determined that the petition be referred to the Executive Councillor for Highways, Transport and IT.

Statements by the Leader and Members of the Executive had been circulated with the agenda.  There were no additional announcements.

Questions pursuant to Council procedure Rule 10.3 were asked and answered as follows:

A report by the Executive Director responsible for Democratic Services had been circulated.

It was moved, seconded and

RESOLVED

That the Council

1.    Note the work undertaken by the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee and the Review of Scrutiny Working Group.

2.    Adopt with immediate effect the Scrutiny – Executive protocol, 'Developing Effective Relationships between the Executive and Scrutiny' as set out in Appendix A of the report.

3.    Approve the proposals for the restructure of scrutiny arrangements at Lincolnshire County Council set out in recommendations A – N in section 3of the report to be implemented with effect from 1 May 2017.

4.    Receive a report at its meeting on 24 February 2017 on the amendments to the County Council's Constitution arising out of the changes agreed.

5.    Review the new arrangements 12 months after implementation.

A report by the Monitoring Officer had been circulated.

It was moved and seconded:

1.    That the report be noted.

2.    That the Audit Committee continued to monitor the response to KPMG's recommendations.

3.    That given the range and scale of issues that had been experienced and the unfortunate effect upon the Council's reputation, a report on progress on remediation of these issues be presented to a future meeting of the County Council in addition to any monitoring work that the Audit Committee may undertake.

An amendment to recommendation 2 from the Labour Group was moved and seconded as follows:

            2. Given the scale of the problems, the impact on the Lincolnshire   community and the damage done to the Council's reputation, we ask            that he Chief Executive's response to KPMG's recommendation be            presented to a future meeting of the County Council in addition to any             monitoring work that the Audit Committee may undertake.

Upon being put to the vote, the amendment was lost.

A vote was taken on the original motion, and upon being put to the vote the motion was carried and it was

RESOLVED

1.    That the report be noted.

2.    That the Audit Committee continued to monitor the response to KPMG's recommendations.

3.    That given the range and scale of issues that had been experienced and the unfortunate effect upon the Council's reputation, a report on progress on remediation of these issues be presented to a future meeting of the County Council in addition to any monitoring work that the Audit Committee may undertake

A report by the Executive Director for Finance and Public Protection had been circulated.

It was moved, seconded and

RESOLVED

That the Council:

1.    Appoints external auditors for an appointment commencing 1 April 2018 by means of opting in to the national scheme operated by Public Sector Appointments Limited a sector led procurement exercise undertaken by the Local Government Association; and

2.    Authorises the Executive Director for Finance and Public Protection, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, to take all decisions and approve all documentation necessary to give effect to the opt in and support the national procurement process.

A report by the Chairman of the Audit Committee had been circulated.

It was moved and seconded:

            That the Council receive the Audit Committee Annual report 2016.

An amendment was moved and seconded by the Labour Group as follows:

That Council receive the Audit Committee Annual Report 2016 and agree that a review of the work of the Audit Committee should be carried out to include seeing how other councils run their audit services, looking at best practice and homing in on those councils that have won awards for their audit work.

Upon being put to the vote, the amendment was lost.

Upon being put to the vote, the original motion was carried and it was

RESOLVED

            That the Council receive the Audit Committee Annual report 2016

The Chairman advised that as the two motions were similar in nature, there would be one debate, but two separate votes.

(1) Motion by Councillor M Whittington

It was moved and seconded:

In response to the recently released NHS document the Lincolnshire Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) the Council is asked to support the following motion.

We welcome some of the positive proposals for future healthcare contained in the STP such as the development of Neighbourhood Teams, measures to improve preventative healthcare and public health and closer working between local NHS organisations and this Council in areas such as adult  social care and mental health provision provided that they are properly funded and resourced. However, we believe that the proposal for the downgrading of A&E service provision at Grantham Hospital is completely unacceptable and will have a serious and detrimental effect on the health and wellbeing of the residents within the Grantham Hospital catchment area. We also believe that the proposal for the creation of a single maternity unit for the whole county at Lincoln County Hospital with the ending of provision at Boston Pilgrim Hospital is also completely unacceptable and will have a serious and detrimental effect on the health and wellbeing of the residents within the Boston Pilgrim Hospital catchment area. We are also concerned that the plans contained within the STP are not financially viable dependent as they are on £200m to £250m of capital expenditure which may not be available.  

We believe that the views of the residents of Lincolnshire are of paramount importance in deciding the future direction of healthcare provision in the county and call on all the NHS organisations within the county to conduct a full, meaningful and proper public consultation on the STP proposals which must actively engage with all of the county’s residents.

This Council therefore:

1)    cannot support the Lincolnshire STP in its current form.

2)    confirms that we are prepared to work with all local NHS organisations to encourage them to adhere to and act upon the views which emerge from the public consultation.

(2) Motion by Councillor J D Hough

It was moved and seconded;

This council has major reservations about the proposals for the future delivery of health and social care services set out in the recently published Lincolnshire Sustainability and Transformation Plan (LSTP).

Amongst our concerns are

• the downgrading of Accident and Emergency services at Lincoln, Grantham  and Boston Hospitals,
• the ending of maternity services at Boston Pilgrim Hospital and the proposal to centralise maternity services at Lincoln County Hospital,
• the failure in the report to make the case for adequate government funding to deliver quality health care services in a rural county which has difficulties in recruiting and retaining medical and nursing staff.

This council takes the view that if implemented these proposals will adversely affect the quality of life of people in Lincolnshire. It is of concern that these proposals will also have the potential to put a greater strain on the council's  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52.