Agenda and minutes

No declarations of interest were received.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors J Barr and Perkins.

5:05pm

The Customers, Commissioning and Change Manager and Executive Director, James Drury, attended to provide members with a progress update on the Great Place, Great Service (GP:GS) transformation programme.

The Customers, Commissioning and Change Manager began with an introduction to the programme which had been reviewed and revised in December 2015. The programme was based on 6 key pillars and members were informed of the progress made for each pillar along with plans for the next 6 months. The key points for each pillar were:

Customer Service Delivery – There had been improvements to the rent collection process and public website. Developments had been made in procurement, Resource Link and the customer charter. The Customer Service Excellence accreditation had been retained and the support services review was underway. The next steps would be to develop and implement a Customer Services delivery plan.

Workforce Development – The pay and reward project and living wage had been implemented and occupational health drop in sessions had started. The E-Learning system was in development and the Investors in People (IIP) review had been completed. In the next 6 months the apprentice programme would be implemented, there would be improvements to leadership skills and capabilities, and work undertaken towards IIP re-accreditation.

Members asked if physio appointments for staff had been considered as part of the Occupational Health review. The Customers, Commissioning and Change Manager advised that the review had been done in consultation with COPE, the occupational health services provider, who had provided the recommendations, however members’ comments would be fed back to the HR group.

ICT Development – The Council’s new intranet, aspire, had been implemented and was increasingly used. Wi-Fi had been implemented in key public access buildings and the roll out of laptops and tablets for agile working was on-going. The Information Assurance Manager had been recruited and the Information Governance Framework and corresponding security policies developed. A digital strategy was in development along with some improvements to the ICT infrastructure and mobile telephony contract. The Public Services Network accreditation and annual ICT health check would take place in the coming months and there would be a complete contractual review of the Public Private Partnership contract.

Members recognised the need for significant work to the ICT core infrastructure and advised that they were still experiencing problems with ModGov and emails on their Ipads. James Drury advised that he would raise these issues with ICT.

Estate Rationalisation – Chesterfield Borough Council had continued to be a key partner in One Public Estate activity. The electronic property information mapping service (Epims) had been completed and the data was available to ward members. Derbyshire County Council’s Register Office would relocate to the Town Hall from September 2017 as part of the Town Hall refurbishment project. The next steps would involve the development of a detailed asset management plan and the commencement of work on the museum store.

Commercialisation – The Commercial Strategy had been approved and training procured. Commercialisation work had been undertaken in the building  ...  view the full minutes text for item 40.

-      Public Space Protection Orders and Alcohol Licences Management

-      Health Equalities

-      Partnership work, strategy and review of funding arrangements

5:30pm

The Health and Wellbeing Manager and Senior Environmental Health Officer attended to provide members with an update on the Health and Wellbeing strategy and changes to Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs).

Health and Wellbeing Strategy

The Health and Wellbeing Manager began by advising members of the factors which influence health. Historically, the emphasis had been put on NHS treatment to improve health; however there had since been a shift of focus to lifestyle issues and living environments. Creating more jobs and utilizing the Council’s controls on housing and planning were seen as key drivers behind making improvements to public health in targeted areas.

The Health and Wellbeing Manager explained the 7 domains of deprivation which make up the indices of multiple deprivation. Chesterfield’s position amongst the English local authority districts included in the indices of multiple deprivation had worsened since 2010. The deprivation figures were divided into 32,844 Lower Layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs) and more of Chesterfields LSOA’s fell within the top 10% of most deprived areas in England than in 2010. From these figures, the Health and Wellbeing Manager summarised that the inequality gap in Chesterfield was widening.

The Health and Wellbeing Manager provided a summary of the health profile of Chesterfield borough residents. Key areas of concern included the number of children living in low income families and the number of children in Year 6 that were classified as obese. There were increasing gaps in life expectancy in the most deprived areas compared to the least deprived areas. In addition, a number of other health issues were significantly worse than the England average.

The Council was looking at various ways to drive improvements in health and wellbeing, these included providing fit and proper housing, maintaining good partnerships with other local authorities and outside bodies, and focussing on improving general activity. The development of the strategy must fit within existing health and wellbeing policies and align with the Council plan priorities. To support the development of the strategy, a Chesterfield Health and Wellbeing Partnership was set up 18 months ago which aligns its priorities with the Derbyshire Health and Wellbeing Board and other local partners.

The Health and Wellbeing Manager highlighted the key areas where improvements were being driven. These included obesity in children, inactivity, prevention of falls to reduce hip fractures and reductions in alcohol intake.

Members had concerns that under 25s caught drinking in an alcohol free zone were no longer taken to the GP for help. The Health and Wellbeing Manager advised that in some PSPO areas, the police had trialled offering a course on alcohol instead of a conviction. In addition, it could be possible to enforce a reduction in licensed hours under an Early Morning Restriction Order (EMRO). Members felt that this would not address the problems with people pre-loading with alcohol before going out. The Health and Wellbeing Manager replied that there would be opportunities to work with the licensed trade to prevent the sale of alcohol to intoxicated people.

Members felt  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41.

-      Evaluation of Concessions on Fees and Charges Scrutiny Project Group (Report to follow)

6:20pm

The Committee and Scrutiny Co-ordinator, Martin Elliott, provided a report which reviewed and evaluated the Scrutiny Project Group on Concessions on Fees and Charges.

The project group’s report was considered by Cabinet on 12 January, 2016 and all the recommendations had been approved. In accordance with the recommendation, an officer and member working group was established in May 2016 to devise a corporate concessions policy. The corporate concessions policy was approved by Cabinet in November, 2016 and all of the project group’s recommendations had been implemented.

The Committee and Scrutiny Co-ordinator advised that in order to complete the review in a timely manner, the following key factors were instrumental in the project group’s approach:

·        Linking the project with the council’s priorities and vision;

·        Being results focussed;

·        Referring back to the project scope throughout the review;

·        Ensuring that all of the objectives set out in the initial project scope are “SMART”;

·        Distributing the research activity workload evenly between all members of the project group;

·        Holding regular project group meetings;

·        Focussing project group meetings on achieving objectives;

·        Involving the relevant Cabinet Members from the outset;

·        Using effective organisational and time management skills;

·        Having good communication between the group members, the project group lead and officers throughout the project, and between the project group lead, the Committee and Scrutiny Co-Ordinator and the Policy and Scrutiny Officer during the report writing and decision making process;

·        Maintaining the availability of dedicated officer support to the project group throughout the entire process.

Members felt that the report provided an accurate evaluation of the project and emphasized that each project needed to have a clear focus. Members thanked the Committee and Scrutiny Co-ordinator for attending and providing the report.

RESOLVED –

1.   That the review and evaluation of the Scrutiny Project Group on Concessions on Fees and Charges be noted for future Scrutiny Project Group work.

2.   That the review into Concessions on Fees and Charges be agreed as complete and removed from the Monitoring Schedule.

-      Concessions on Fees and Charges

-      Review into External Communications

-      ICT Developments under Great Place, Great Service

6:30pm

The Scrutiny Monitoring Schedule was considered by the Forum.

RESOLVED –

1.   That the Monitoring Schedule be approved.

2.   That the following items be removed from the Monitoring Schedule:

·        OP4 Review into External Communications

·        OP5 ICT Developments (under Great Place, Great Service)

·        OP6 Services Fees and Charges Concessions

6:35pm

RESOLVED –

That the Forward Plan be noted.

6:40pm

The Policy and Scrutiny Officer advised that the first scrutiny work programme action planning day would be on 1 February, 2017 which would give all members the opportunity to raise items for consideration. Members were asked to encourage all members to attend the work programming days.

RESOLVED –

That the work programme be approved.

6:45pm

The Policy and Scrutiny Officer advised Members that there had been no meetings of the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Panel due to changes taking place in the partnership working arrangements with North East Derbyshire District Council and Bolsover District Council. The Joint Board currently oversee two partnership arrangements, Internal Audit and Building Control, however Building Control had been undergoing a transformation project to become a unified Derbyshire-wide service operated as a limited company. In response to a member’s question, the Policy and Scrutiny Officer was not aware that the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Panel had looked into the matter of air pollution.

RESOLVED –

That the update be noted.

6:50pm

The Policy and Scrutiny Officer advised Members that the Members Development Working Group had supported the proposals of offering training on procurement and questioning skills. The procurement training would take place on 19 January, 2017 and be delivered in house, all members had been invited to attend the training. The arrangements for the questioning skills training were still being developed.

RESOLVED –

That the update be noted.

To receive the Minutes of the meetings held on 8 November and 22 November, 2016.

6:55pm

RESOLVED –

That the Minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.