Agenda and minutes

No declarations of interest were received.

No apologies for absence were received.

To move “That under Regulation 21(1)(b) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2000, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.”

RESOLVED –

That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

5:05pm

The Housing Manager and the Careline and Support Service Manager attended to provide a progress report on the implementation of recommendations from the Careline and Support Services Review.

The Careline and Support Service Manager noted that on 9 February, 2016 Cabinet had approved the restructure of the Careline & Support Service in order to mitigate the effects of reductions in Derbyshire County Council (DCC) funding, and to help the service to move towards being financially self-sustaining.

Due to severe budget cuts to Derbyshire County Council’s funding, it had decided, after a consultation process with stakeholders, to withdraw the funding for support for residents in sheltered accommodation from April 2016. This change had consequently resulted in a significant loss of income for Chesterfield Borough Council as a provider of sheltered accommodation and created a situation where continued support offered to residents in sheltered schemes would need to be provided using  funding the council received for its floating support services.

The Careline and Support Service Manager advised that a number of measures had been put into place in order to manage and mitigate the effect of the cut to funding received by the council. The role of Sheltered Scheme Managers had been deleted and the tasks they currently undertook were now being provided either in a different way, or by other means.  A new post of Social Inclusion Officer had also been created, to organise, facilitate and coordinate activities across the schemes, as well as in the outlying community rooms managed by the Housing Service. The Careline and Support Service Manager also provided details of how the cleaning of communal areas and general building checks were being carried out in the absence of a scheme manager.

The Careline and Support Service Manager also provided an update on the new Careline operator roles and their recruitment, the new charges for the Careline service and how the council had taken the opportunity of offering a Careline provision and monitoring service to residents living in the Derbyshire Dales district, following a decision made by Dales Housing to stop providing this service.

Members asked whether all the new Careline Operator roles were permanent jobs and whether agency staff were still being used. The Careline and Support Service Manager advised that all posts with the exception of the fixed term role of Publicity Officer were permanent jobs and that agency staff were only being used as a short term measure until all the new permanent staff had taken up their positions.

Members noted with appreciation the hard work of officers which had resulted in a positive outcome for the Careline and support service evolving and expanding from an initially very difficult situation of budget cuts. The Careline and Support Service Manager noted that the service should be totally self-financing within five years and further steps would be taken to develop the service so that it would become financially sustainable and be able to continue to provide a high level of service to its users.

Members thanked the Housing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

To move that after the conclusion of items containing exempt information that the public be readmitted to the meeting.

RESOLVED –

That the public be readmitted to the meeting.

5:25pm

The Housing Manager attended to provide a progress report on the results of the Survey of Tenants and Residents (STAR) carried out in autumn 2015. The STAR survey was a voluntary undertaking which replaced the Standardised Tenants Satisfaction Survey (STATUS) that had, until 2010, been a mandatory requirement. The STAR survey had been reintroduced onto the committee’s work programme to examine if the survey could be used to measure if improvements to the council’s housing stock, under the governments decent homes standard, had led to improvements to the health and wellbeing of tenants.

The Housing Manager noted that the survey in its current form did not include a form of questioning that would directly relate to links between Housing and Health. The survey questions were standardised to be the same as those asked by other local authorities to enable comparison. It was also noted that adding extra questions to the survey would incur extra costs, for example with regard to printing as the survey document would be larger.

The Housing Manager advised that measuring the link between improvements to the councils housing stock and improvements in the health and wellbeing of tenants would also be difficult as no data had been collected prior to all homes meeting the decent homes standard so the baseline data for measuring any subsequent improvements was not available.

Members noted that  the links between good housing and health were clearly understood and recognised, but as all the councils stock was in good condition and not hazardous to health, that any improvements to the health and wellbeing of tenants as a result of improvements would be small and difficult to measure in a quantifiable way.

Members asked several questions regarding the methodology of the survey, but agreed that it would be very difficult to use to quantifiably measure improvements to health and wellbeing.

Members thanked the Housing Manager for attending and for providing the report.

RESOLVED –

1.   That the information be noted.

2.   That the committee’s interest in how improvements in housing impact on improvements in the health and wellbeing of tenants, be referred to the council’s Health and Wellbeing Partnership for their consideration.

3.   That Councillor Perkins as the Scrutiny representative on the Housing Revenue Account Business Plan working group, feedback any developments to the committee regarding the STAR and the measuring of the impact of housing improvements on the health and wellbeing of tenants.

5:40pm

The Forward Plan was considered.

RESOLVED –

That the Forward Plan be noted.

5:45pm

The Committee considered its Work Programme.

Councillor Derbyshire provided a progress report on the establishment of the Scrutiny Project Group to look at the development of the councils Play Strategy which was included in the committee’s work programme for 2016/17. Councillor Derbyshire advised that she and other members had attended a member and officer meeting regarding the development of the proposed strategy, however a project plan for the development plan, while asked for, had not yet been supplied to members.

RESOLVED –

1.   That the work programme be approved.

2.   That the project plan for the Play Strategy be provided to members.

3.   That the feedback and ideas from members received at the Play Strategy member briefing be provided  to members.

4.   That when established, the Scrutiny Project Group on the councils Play Strategy has a strategic focus which looks at the strategy in relation to how its objectives meet the objectives set out in the Council Plan.

5.   That when established, the Scrutiny Project Group on the councils Play Strategy looks to ensure the way the strategy meets council priorities does not disincentive communities from helping themselves.

6.   That Councillors P Gilby and Derbyshire speak to other members regarding joining the group.  

5:55pm

The Committee considered an update on the implementation of approved Scrutiny recommendations.

Councillor Gilby provided a progress report on the recommendations made by the Leisure, Sport and Cultural Activities (including sub-groups), and advised that the majority of the group’s recommendations had been achieved or implemented, but that the one outstanding issue for the group was on-going financial monitoring of the new leisure facilities project. Councillor Gilby advised that the members of the project group had met with officers in April, and could advise that the finances with regard to the new leisure facilities were on budget and under control. Councillor Gilby also noted that when a report on the financial aspects of the new leisure facilities, including an analysis of whether the new leisure facilities provided value for money, was available it would be brought to the committee for consideration. 

RESOLVED –

1.   That the monitoring report be approved.

2.   That the consideration of item EW5/CCO2 be deferred until the next meeting of the committee.   

6:05pm

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 2 February, 2016  were presented.

RESOLVED –

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