Agenda and minutes

There were no Declarations of Interest to report.

There were no questions from member of the public or the press.

The Chairman advised that the minutes of the meetings of the 12^th and 18^th December, 2014 should be deferred to the next meeting as comments from supporting organisations were still being received.

Resolved:-  That the minutes be deferred to the next meeting.

Consideration was given to a report presented by Caroline Webb, Senior Scrutiny and Member Development Officer, which detailed the draft report and recommendations of the scrutiny review of Rotherham’s plans to address child sexual exploitation following the Board’s agreement  to a more in-depth scrutiny of Rotherham’s plans to tackle child sexual exploitation which took place over two full days on Friday, 12th and Thursday, 18th December, 2014. 

The first day examined the experiences from and implications for the Local Government sector in addressing the challenges of child sexual exploitation; examining current performance and action plans, how agencies in Rotherham worked together to tackle child sexual exploitation; and how criminal justice agencies in Rotherham addressed child sexual exploitation.

The second day focussed on how agencies could provide timely and appropriate support to survivors and their families; and lastly a panel of academic witnesses, commenting on the wider implications of the Jay Report.

As part of the preparation for the scrutiny review, the Board agreed that two planning sessions were organised for Members. External facilitators were used for these sessions to provide independent advice and challenge. These planning sessions were used to identify and agreed objectives and questions for the two-day scrutiny. Anecdotal feedback from Members who participated in this preparation was very positive.

To ensure that priority areas were addressed sufficiently, the Board agreed the process for submission of questions. These were to be submitted in advance and sent to each of the witnesses to ensure that questions could be answered at the relevant session. This included the Member questions devised during the earlier planning sessions.

In addition, all Elected Members were written to with the review schedule and asked if they wished to submit questions to any of the sessions. A dedicated ‘slot’ was allocated at the opening session of each day for these to be asked.

At the end of each day, a summary of key issues was given. These have been incorporated into the draft recommendations as outlined in Section 2 of the report. Members’ comments were sought on these recommendations.

In order to ensure that the recommendations were incorporated in to the improvement activity of the Council, it was proposed that these be fed into the Corporate and Children and Young People’s Improvement Boards as appropriate.

Colleagues in Democratic Services were thanked for their support to the scrutiny process given the considerable task in capturing all the comments and information shared at the sessions.

Councillor Parker referred to the absence of any recommendation about the opportunities for staff, either from the Council, Health or the Police to come forward with information without recrimination as part of the Whistleblowing Policy and was advised that this may be picked up via the Corporate Government Inspection Report once published.  The profile of the Whistleblowing Policy needed to be promoted with a clear steer how staff could report in any concerns.

The Chairman asked the Board to consider whether or not they wished to include a specific recommendation about the Whistleblowing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 86.

Further to Minute C125 of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 14^th January, 2015 consideration was given to the report which detailed the response to the thirteen recommendations of the Scrutiny Review into Supporting the Local Economy.

The Review Group produced thirteen recommendations, covering a range of issues relating to the Rotherham economy and the responses were set out on the attachment to the report.

Officers agreed, in whole or part, with all the recommendations and in a number of cases they have already been implemented.  However, it was noted that Recommendation No. 5 had been targeted at the Planning Board and this was incorrect, Recommendation No. 12 required further consideration as to how this could be set up and Recommendation No. 13 had been deferred as this could be fed into the Work Programme.

The Board noted the Growth Plan had been considered by the Improving Places Select Commission to indicate some of the work had already started.

Resolved:-  (1)  That the report be received and the response from Cabinet to the Scrutiny Review be noted.

(2)  That the first monitoring report of the implementation of the review be presented to the Improving Places Select Commission in six months’ time.

Further to Minute C125 of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 14^th January, 2015 consideration was given to the report which detailed the response following the completion of a scrutiny review of Urinary Incontinence Services in May – June 2014.

This review identified a series of recommendations which cut across the Council’s Directorates, all of which were accepted.

The review conducted was a spotlight review and formulated six recommendations as follows:-

1          RMBC Streetpride and partner agencies such as SYPTE should ensure all public toilets in the borough are clean and well equipped to meet the needs of people who have urinary incontinence, including suitable bins for the disposal of equipment and disposable products.

          Response - SYPTE have confirmed that the toilet facilities provided by SYPTE at its Interchanges meet the requirements recommended in Urinary Incontinence Scrutiny review.  All SYPTEs toilet facilities are appropriately maintained, regularly cleaned and re provisioned with consumable products throughout the day including weekends to ensure a pleasant customer experience.

          Response – RMBC Facilities Management have confirmed that toilet facilities in Rotherham have suitable waste disposal systems are cleaned regularly to meet the needs of people with urinary incontinence.

2          RMBC Sport and Leisure team should establish greater links with the Community Continence Service in order to support people to participate in appropriate sport and physical activity.

          Response – Active Rotherham agree to work more closely with the Community Continence Service and take further guidance on how to improve the pathways to physical activity from the service.  Suggestions include literature for patients and information on suitable exercises for pelvic floor to be added to the new Get Active Rotherham website which is currently under development.

3          RMBC Sport and Leisure team should liaise with other sport and leisure activity providers to consider building more pelvic floor exercises into the Active Always programme and wider leisure classes

          Response – Active Rotherham will include pelvic floor exercises into their existing “active always” provision.  Public Health will also raise the importance of pelvic floor exercises at the next Rotherham Active Partnership meeting and long term conditions subgroup which covers most activity providers across the Borough.  If there are any training requirements identified, these will be considered and delivered to the Rotherham Active Partnership members to ensure the exercises are embedded in all services.

4       There should be greater publicity by partner agencies, coordinated through the Health and Wellbeing Board, to reduce stigma associated with incontinence and to raise public and provider awareness of:

 
a) the importance of maintaining good bladder and bowel health and habits at all life stages (through media such as screens in leisure centres and GP surgeries, further website development, VAR ebulletin and a campaign during World Continence Week from 22-28 June 2015)

          b) healthy lifestyle choices having a positive impact on general health but also helping to prevent incontinence, such as diet, fluid intake and being active

c) the positive benefits of pelvic floor exercises as a preventive measure for urinary incontinence, including  ...  view the full minutes text for item 88.

There were none submitted.

There were none submitted.

Health Select Commission:-

Councillor Watson, Chairman, referred to the two recent meetings which had considered the Scrutiny Review of Access to G.P.’s response, which would come back in June, 2015.

A half yearly update had also been received from the Rotherham Foundation Trust reflecting strong Board Management, their confidence in achieving targets in Quarter 4 and the extra G.P. capacity.

The Rotherham Foundation Trust had also provided an update on their action plan progress, highlighting survey responses, the CAMHS review, Chantry Bridge proposals and the watching brief on the Yorkshire Ambulance.  A meeting was scheduled on the Ambulance Service, but this clashed with the meeting of full Council.

Improving Places Select Commission:-

Councillor Read, Chairman, referred to the previous meeting which considered the Growth Plan, along with recommendations around Enterprise Zones, the Living Wage and ensuring that local people have the correct skills for the jobs which were available.

David Burton had also attended to give an update on Winter Weather issues.

Councillors Atkin, Gosling and Sims were also nominated to conduct a spotlight review on the response to winter weather.

A safety in the town centre report was also to be included on the agenda for the next meeting.

Councillor Parker made reference to the Living Wage and commented on the limited enforcement action that could be taken by large companies who were not even paying the Minimum Wage.

Councillor Read pointed out that the Council had aspirations around the Living Wage, but acknowledged the limits that could be done with the current legislation.

Improving Lives Select Commission:-

Councillor J. Hamilton, Chairman, confirmed that the meeting scheduled for Wednesday, 21^st January, 2015 had been cancelled due to poor weather and the number of apologies received.  The meeting would now take place on Wednesday, 28^th January, 2015 to prevent any impact on the cycle of meetings and consider the Rotherham Safeguarding Children Board Annual Report.

Self Regulation Select Commission:-

Councillor Wyatt, Vice-Chairman, had nothing further to report.

Resolved:-  That the information shared be noted.

There were no call-in requests.

Resolved:-  That the next meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board scheduled for Friday, 27^th February, 2015 at 9.00 a.m. at the Town Hall will be moved.  The date is yet to be confirmed.