Minutes:
Key points raised during the discussion:
Adults & Health
1. Cabinet Member for Adults and Public Health to meet with the Chairman and Vice-Chairmen monthly to share information. Jeff Harris is to stand down as Chairman. Have felt that the handover has left some gaps particularly on the health side. Agreed that a comprehensive induction to the health service was required.
2. Let the single item at last meeting go for as long as required. This meant it took two hours to conclude. Length of this item meant some Members did not stay for the afternoon session – need to make sure people are available for the whole of the allotted time for the meeting i.e. 10:00 to 15:00. Should de-brief sessions be added to the agenda to make Members aware of the commitment too?
3. The use of indicative timings on briefings was helpful for Chairmen but perhaps not for the other Committee Members. Consensus was that witnesses, particularly Cabinet Members, needed to devote their time to the meeting accordingly but that Cabinet Member attendance was generally good.
4. The group thought that there may be a gap in oversight around child social care cases transitioning to adult social care. A question was asked on how does the Council provide an understanding to CCGs on social care services.
5. The Vice-Chairman raised the extension of the sexual health services contract as an issue, Members did not receive any briefing. The Chairman of this group advised he would raise with the Chief Executive.
6. Members were reminded that the previous had a standing item covering the schedule of expiring contracts over £500K which could be reinstated.
Actions:
1. Chairman of Group to raise issue of extending sexual health services contract without mention to relevant Select Committee with the Chief Executive. (Owner: Chris Botten)
2. Investigate whether scrutiny of social care transitions should be prioritised (Owner: Nick Darby, Bernie Muir)
3. Consider how to brief Members on the health system
Children, Families, Lifelong Learning & Culture
1. Recent meeting brought together various witnesses for a good discussion on CAMHS performance and its transformation. Ran efficiently however, all three current co-optees were unable to attend which was a rare occurrence but unfortunate. The Chairman wrote to two Members who did not provide apologies to outline expectations and the impact on the committees of not attending or sending a substitute.
2. During induction there was agreement on Members staying until 15:00 if required. They discussed pre-meetings but these will not be with whole committee but did consider designating lead questioners. The Chairman and Vice-Chairman will sign off on suggested questions for Members and will expect Members to read papers so questions should not be asked solely for information purposes.
3. The Committee did agree to de-briefing sessions following each meeting.
Resources & Performance:
1. This Committee has not met yet. There will be a fairly light formal agenda covering Cabinet Member priorities and the Q4 performance report. The Chairman advised that he will flag any areas of under-performance to other Select Committees as appropriate. Following this will be a planning and induction in the afternoon. The Chairman will remind the committee they will be working into the afternoon given other’s experiences.
Communities, Environment and Highways
1. They had a Member led induction and made some good progress on their forward plan. They have agreed to test out a full committee pre-meeting for September which may include digital/remote participation.
2. There was a reasonable formal agenda in the afternoon, in particular Dr Povey’s Waste Task Group update, and the Rethinking Transport item was a good discussion. The general conclusion on the latter was that committee will get involved over the process in the next 2 years around policy. Third item was the SFRS interim report and the Committee will agree the recommendations in September a few days before Cabinet meet.
3. A question was asked about task groups such as Dr. Povey’s and their bearing on the work done by Select Committees. The Committee Business Manager advised that these were set up under the auspices of the executive so were separate to overview & scrutiny. It was agreed that where scrutiny topics affected more than one Select Committee joint task groups should be set up. As a result the rule of two per committee could be understood as eight for the whole function at any one time.