Agenda and minutes

1.         This meeting is to be webcast. Members are reminded of the need to activate their microphones before speaking.

2.         The Chairman will read the following announcement:

“This meeting will be webcast live to the Internet and will be archived for later viewing. Copies of recordings may be made available on request.

By entering the chamber’s lower seating area you consenting to becoming part of the webcast.

If you wish to avoid being filmed you should move to the public gallery or speak to the webcasting officer”

The Chairman reminded everyone present that the meeting would be broadcast live to the Internet, and that the Council had adopted a protocol for the webcasting of its meetings.

(Assistant to the Chief Executive). To report the appointment of any substitute members for the meeting.

It was noted that Councillor B Sandler had substituted for Councillor G Mohindra, and that Councillor J Philip had substituted for Councillor M Colling.

Decisions required:

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 28 January 2010.

            RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on 28 January 2010 be agreed.

(Assistant to the Chief Executive). To declare interests in any items on the agenda.

In considering whether to declare a personal or a prejudicial interest under the Code of Conduct, Overview & Scrutiny members are asked pay particular attention to paragraph 11 of the Code in addition to the more familiar requirements.

This requires the declaration of a personal and prejudicial interest in any matter before an OS Committee which relates to a decision of or action by another Committee or Sub Committee of the Council, a Joint Committee or Joint Sub Committee in which the Council is involved and of which the Councillor is also a member.

Paragraph 11 does not refer to Cabinet decisions or attendance at an OS meeting purely for the purpose of answering questions or providing information on such a matter.

There were no declarations of interest made pursuant to the Council’s Code of Member Conduct.

Decision required:

To consider the response to be made to the Consultation document on North East London Health services

1.         To receive a presentation on the Consultation Document on the North East London Health Services (attached). Helen Brown, Programme Director of Health for North East London has been invited to attend.

2.         Kirsty Boettcher, Deputy Director from the West Essex PCT, John Carr from Essex Link, Councillor B Sandler our representative on the NE London consultation process and County Councillor Chris Pond, the County Representative on the London Joint Health Scrutiny Committee have also been invited to attend the meeting and contribute to the discussion.

3.         The Consulation document seeks comments on a number of questions outlined from page 45 of the consulation documents onwards. Members may wish to answer these questions or formulate a response based upon issues raised by members at the meeting. In any event, responses are required to be made by 8 March 2010.

The Chairman welcomed Helen Brown, the Programme Director of Health for North East London. She was there to brief the Committee on the background to the consultation document for the plans for the health services for North East London. The Committee noted that there was to be a whole system transformation needed in North East London. It should be that people need not have to go to hospitals for care that could be provided closer to home. Senior clinicians should be available 24/7 and should be present early at the treatment for a patient much more often, to improve the quality of care. Specialist services are to be provided on fewer sites so that teams can become excellent in their fields by treating sufficient numbers of patients. It was these proposals for change that were being consulted on. They were proposing that:

• All complex vascular surgery to be provided at Royal London and Queens (reasons – clear evidence that better outcomes with higher numbers; improved service especially out of hours).
• All surgery on Children in North East London under two years of age should only be performed at the Royal London. This was so that they would receive treatment from specialist care teams (including surgeons, anaesthetists and nurses) (reason – specialist care need specialist teams; allows for dedicated facilities).
• All urgent surgery and all complex surgery in North East London on children between the ages of two and fifteen should only be performed at The Royal London and Queen’s (reason – too many children are cared for by clinicians who specialise in treating adults).
• Care for children who are likely to stay in hospital more than two days should be concentrated in specialist units at the Royal London Hospital and Queen’s Hospital. King George Hospital would no longer provide inpatient care for children (reason – specialist care needs specialist teams – these are too thinly spread across North East London.
• The Royal London Hospital and Queen’s Hospital should become the two major acute hospitals in North East London (reasons – the Royal London and Queen’s Hospital are already the location of a range of specialist services such as hyper-acute stroke units and, in the case of the Royal London, neurosurgery and major trauma; everyone would be within a reasonable distance of one of these specialist centres).
• Planned surgery in North East London should be separated from emergency surgery (reasons – reduces cancellations; improves quality of care as surgeons can specialise; reduces the risk of catching infections; and reduces time people have to spend in hospital).
• Children should be assessed and treated in separate facilities developed alongside each accident and emergency department. To be opened 24/7 (reasons – provide consistent high quality services for children; children to be cared for by clinicians who specialise in caring for children; better environment for children and their families).
• To reduce the number of hospitals providing full A&E, critical care and doctor led maternity service from six to five centres (reasons – to take  ...  view the full minutes text for item 86.

To receive a presentation on Health Inequalities by Alison Corrie, Director of Public Health, West Essex Primary Care Trust.

A background report will follow.

Alison Cowie, Director of Public Health for West Essex Primary Health Care Trust gave a short presentation to the Committee on health inequalities in the district. A copy of this presentation is attached to the minutes for information. The Committee noted that:

• The District had a population of about 121,000;
• This population was concentrated in the middle and older age groups;
• There was a small proportion from minority ethnic groups in the south of the District;
• There were wide differences in deprivation and access to services;
• There were a higher number of Gypsies and Travellers in this District than in other neighbouring ones;
• The average life expectancy for a man in the District was 78 years, the average life expectancy for a Gypsy or Traveller male was 58 years;
• Life expectancy was a key measurement for health inequalities;
• Gender and ethnic background all had a part to play in health inequalities as does lifestyle (alcohol, smoking and exercise);
• Primary Care Services has a great impact on health;
• There was an affluent population but with pockets of deprivation within the District, but there were also areas of deprivation and that had a high life expectancy;
• A Healthy Communities Theme Group had been set up and had agreed its terms of reference. This brought together representatives of service-providing organisations to identify key problems and work together to develop effective solutions to improve the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of the District;
• This group would look at areas of greatest need;
• This would be a long term exercise and would need some time to make a difference.

Councillor Mrs Haigh said it would be helpful to have the information broken down by ward level. She also wondered if statistics such as teenage pregnancy and obesity could be correlated by local schools. Ms Cowie said that there was a link with certain schools but they looked at the area as opposed to individual schools. To get meaningful statistics they had to look at ward level and not individual schools. Councillor Mrs Haigh noted that a lot of school children tended to travel to different areas to go to school. Ms Cowie agreed that was why Essex wide statistics were important.

Councillor Jacobs noted that there were pockets of urban deprivation, but also that there were pockets of rural deprivation. Do you accept that there are such areas? Rural communities tend to be more independent even if they have problems. Ms Cowie noted that rural deprivation could be very different to urban deprivation, with elements of isolation etc. and they do tend to have high levels of higher life expectancy.

Councillor Jon Whitehouse said that the Healthier Communities Theme Group seemed to rely on sports for health and was not clear about Housing, the Environment or Schools for the health of residents. Mr Macnab agreed that the primary focus was on physical health and sports. As for Housing we hope to report soon that we have achieved 100% on our decent homes standards. The District  ...  view the full minutes text for item 87.

Recommendation:

To discuss the Cabinet priorities for the year ahead and the forward work programme for 2010/11.

The Overview and Scrutiny rules state that this Committee should ..’arrange meetings with the Leader and other Portfolio Holders to discuss their plans for the year ahead and… agree with them on any items for inclusion in the work programme which may be undertaken by the Committee on the Cabinets behalf’.

Accordingly attached is the Executives Key Priority Objectives for 2010/11. This report and appendices went to the Finance and Performance Management Scrutiny Standing Panel on 23 February 2010. Their comments will be verbally reported back to this committee.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Mrs Collins introduced the report on the Cabinet’s key objectives for 2010/11. This had originally gone to the Finance and Performance Management Standing Scrutiny Panel on 23 February 2010. Councillor Mrs Collins thanked the officers for restructuring the original report and Councillors Bassett and Watts for their help.  She noted that this was a working document and was liable to updates throughout the year.

Councillor Jacobs the Chairman of the Finance and Performance Management Standing Scrutiny Panel who had considered the report at their last meeting said he recognised that a large amount of work had gone into the report and that his Panel had considered it a vast improvement on the original document. They had noted that the Audit Commission had seen it and were satisfied with the new version. They were happy that the twelve objectives pulled the five overall aims together and that the LSP would also be consulted and they would feed back in to the document.  They also noted that it would be sensible to refresh the medium term aims each year.

The Deputy Chief Executive, Derek Macnab, added that they had also prioritised the twelve objectives. The District Auditor was now happier with the document and it would be brought forward to be considered at the same time as the budget.  Councillor Mrs Wagland said that the twelve objectives were excellent but she was less comfortable with the five aims. She would rather the twelve objectives receive the same priority as the five aims.

            RESOLVED:

(1)               That the proposed structure and format of the Council’s new Corporate Plan for the period from 2010/11 to 2013/14 be noted; and

(2)               That the Medium Term Corporate Plan Aims for 2010/11 to 2013/14 and the draft key objectives for 2010/11 be noted.

To consider the attached report.

The Committee is asked to consider whether they are happy with the draft report (attached) and to make amendments where necessary. Any comments should be submitted to Democratic Services by Friday, 12 March 2010 for inclusion in the final version. 

The final report will be submitted to the next meeting on 15 April 2010 for endorsement.

The Senior Democratic Officer, Simon Hill, introduced the draft Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report for 2009/10. The Committee noted that the format had been changed this year but still showed the breadth of work carried out by the Scrutiny Committee and Panels throughout the year. Each Committee and Panel had an extended case study especially written to highlight one of their more successful pieces of work. He wanted general comments from the Committee as to the format and the general direction of the report.

Councillor Mrs Wagland noted that the Planning Section was missing a section on Best Value in planning and work on appeals and enforcement

Councillor Jon Whitehouse commented that it would be helpful if it could say if a recommendation had been adopted and what had happened since, such as the call-in on the Waltham Abbey Swimming Pool.

Councillor Philip noted that the first two pages of the report were a bit dry and needed to be ‘spiced up’ to make people read on.

            RESOLVED:

(1)        That the Committee considered and commented on the draft annual Overview and Scrutiny Report for 2009/10; and

(2)        Noted that the final report would be presented at the April meeting of the Committee.

(a)               Updated Schedule

The Committee are asked to note the updated schedule.

(b)               Progress reports – Standing Panels

The Committee recently agreed that Chairman are asked to attend their meetings to give a progress report on their issues. A list of panels and the Chairman to report is set out below.

Standing Panel                                                         Chairman

Finance and Performance Management                    Councillor D Jacobs

Housing                                                                       Councillor S Murray

Constitution& Member Services                                 Councillor Mrs McEwen

Safer Cleaner Greener                                               Councillor G Pritchard

Planning Services                                                       Councillor Mrs Wagland

(c)        Next Year’s Work Programme

The work programme for next year will be considered at the April meeting of this Committee. Members should start thinking of any work they would like the Committee to consider to go into next year’s Work Programme and bring it to the April Meeting. A request form is attached.

(a)        Work Programme

Overview and Scrutiny Committee

The Senior Democratic Officer took the Committee through their current work programme. They noted that:

• Item 3 - Members still wanted London Underground to attend a meeting and update them on the implications for transport for the Olympics to the District and what their plans for the area were. The Committee would not like a presentation (or have any presentation limited to a short time) but would like to discuss what questions they were going to ask beforehand. They would also like to look at weekend services and car parking. To arrange for the LUL to come to the June meeting, with an item on the April meeting to discuss questions to be asked. If LUL are to come to the June meeting then item 7 to be put back to a later date.
• Item 5 - The proposal for a joint scrutiny review with West Essex PCT has now been overtaken by events and the focus of scrutiny for PCTs are now to be done by area forums. This item to be deleted from the work programme.
• Items 10 and 15 - These items are linked as they relate to education and the college. It would be more appropriate to leave this until later on in the year and to defer to next years work programme.

(b)       Standing Panels

Constitution and Member Services Standing Panel

Councillor Stallan noted that the consultation relating to the scope of the Housing Appeals and Review Panel would be going to the Constitution and Member Services Standing Panel from the Housing Standing Panel.

Planning Services Standing Panel

Councillor Mrs Wagland, the Chairman of the Planning Standing Panel reported that at their last meeting the action points gleamed from Development Control’s Chairman and Vice Chairmen meeting was discussed. This included better training for members on iplan, improving the planning report templates, putting clear reasons for refusal before voting and the improving of plans for consideration. They also considered officer delegation powers and that planning applications should only be called-in by a member representing a ward within the Area Plans Sub-committee concerned.

The Best Value Review, the financial monitoring of Enforcement and Planning Appeals and indemnity insurance for the Council in case of adverse costs ordered against the Council were also considered.

Finance and Performance Management Standing Panel

Councillor Jacobs updated the Committee on the Panel recent meeting when they received a presentation on the Equity Framework for Local Government from Stewart Elrick. They also considered reports on Quarterly Financial Monitoring, the key Performance Indicators for quarter 3 and of course the Corporate Plan and Medium Term objectives that was reported on earlier in this meeting.

Sustainable Communities Task and Finish Panel

The Committee noted that this task and Finish Panel were due to have their last meeting on 9 March 2010 when they were due to discuss their final report.

(c)        Next Year’s Work Programme

The Committee noted that any cyclical items would be brought forward and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 90.

RECOMMENDATION:

To consider any items to be raised by the Chairman at the Cabinet meeting on 8 March 2010.

(Assistant to the Chief Executive). Under the Overview and Scrutiny rules the Committee is required to scrutinise proposed decisions of the Executive. The Chairman is also required to report on such discussions to the Cabinet.

The Committee is asked to consider the 8 March 2010 Cabinet agenda (previously circulated) to see whether there are any items that they wished to be raised at the Cabinet meeting.

Councillor Mrs Wagland wanted to raise concerns about the report on the Essex Children’s Trust and how a number of organisations could work together and the need to share best practice and keep control of finances. She indicated that should attend the Cabinet meeting and raise these concerns herself.