Agenda and minutes

Venue: Town Hall, Moorgate Street, Rotherham.

Contact: James McLaughlin, Head of Democratic Services  The webcast can be viewed at http://www.rotherham.public-i.tv

Items
No. Item

9.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest by Members or officers.

10.

Questions from Members of the Public and the Press

Minutes:

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

11.

To consider whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of any part of the agenda.

Minutes:

The Chair confirmed that there were no items on the agenda which would require the exclusion of the press or public from the meeting.

12.

Budget Setting Process 2019/20 and Medium Term Financial Challenge pdf icon PDF 92 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a briefing paper which the Board had requested to inform its approach to scrutinising emerging budget proposals for the 2019-20 financial year. The paper outlined the Council’s budget setting process for 2019/20 and the anticipated scale of the financial challenge in the medium term.

 

It was reported that the outline timetable for the budget setting process for 2019/20 required identified budget options to meet the estimated budget gaps for 2019/20 and 2020/21 by September 2018 in order to agree options for public consultation, supported by narrative on budget principles and approach by late September/early October. Within the timeline, consultation with Overview and Scrutiny Management Board on budget options was planned to commence on 3 October 2018, which would be followed by a detailed process of review of those budget options by Overview and Scrutiny Management Board and Cabinet Budget Working Group throughout October and November 2018.

 

Members noted that the finalisation of the budget proposals for 2019/20 was planned for the end of December 2018, following receipt of the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement for 2019/20, which was expected to be issued by the Government in early December. The Budget and Council Tax 2019/20 report, incorporating the Medium Term Financial Strategy was proposed to be reported to Overview and Scrutiny Management Board on 13 February 2019, the Cabinet on 18 February 2019 and the Budget Council meeting on 27 February 2019.

 

It was further reported that the Cabinet had established the following Service Design Criteria, which were guiding the development of budget options:-

 

·         Enable more people to help themselves and each other, through customer insight, early help, early intervention, prevention and a strengths based approach to delivery.

·         Rationalise the Council’s estate, reducing the number of face to face delivery locations and ensuring that any delivery sites are co-located alongside other public services.

·         Share/integrate Council services with other public services where it makes sense to do so.

·         Move more transactions with residents online, with face-to-face delivery the exception rather than the rule.

·         Seek income generation opportunities that leverage the Council’s assets and resources and consider commercial opportunities.

·         Define, but continuously review, the Council’s core offer and stop delivering non-core services and/or seek income from residents/ businesses to fund non-core services. Consider around statutory and non-statutory service provision.

·         Consider withdrawal from the delivery or provision of services where there is a functioning local market and facilitate market growth aiming to keep value local.

·         Use incentives and sanctions in more creative ways to influence the behaviour of residents that better helps themselves and reduces cost to the Council.

·         Create the conditions for economic growth, employment and inward investment.

·         Test the 6 by 6 model for tiers of management/spans of control and benchmark against standard approaches.

·         Invest in the Council’s enabling functions, to drive efficiency, productivity and performance of council services, benchmarking with others.

·         Consider where there are invest to save opportunities to speed up service change.

·         Consider the needs of Neighbourhoods to inform service redesign.

 

Members reflected on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

13.

Council Plan Quarter 4 Performance Monitoring Report pdf icon PDF 152 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the report which confirmed how the Council Plan represented the core document that underpinned the Council’s overall vision, setting out headline priorities, indicators and measures that would demonstrate its delivery. Alongside it sat the Council’s Performance Management Framework which explained to all Council staff how robust performance monitoring and management arrangements were required to ensure effective implementation.

 

To ensure that the delivery of actions and their impact was assessed, formal quarterly performance reports were required to be submitted to the public Cabinet and Commissioners’ Decision-Making meeting, with an opportunity for pre-decision scrutiny consideration in line with new governance arrangements. This report was the fourth and final report in the 2017/18 reporting cycle covering quarter 4 (1st January 2018 to 31st March 2018).

 

The Performance Report and Performance Dashboard/Scorecard (Appendices A and B) provided an analysis of the Council’s current performance against 14 key delivery outcomes and 72 measures. This report was based on the current position of available data, along with an overview of progress on key projects and activities which also contributed towards the delivery of the Council Plan.

 

At the end of the fourth and final quarter (January to March 2018) 25 measures had either met or had exceeded the target set in the Council Plan. This represented 43.9% of the total number of indicators where data was available or where targets have been set. The direction of travel was positive for 32 (49.2%) of the indicators measured in this quarter. The Priority area with the highest proportion of targets met was Priority 4 (Extending Opportunity and Prosperity).

 

Members expressed disappointment at the failure to hit targets against priority measures relating to Children and Young People’s Services and sought assurances that a ‘Plan B’ existed to improve performance. In response, the Cabinet Member took an alternative view on the data supplied and considered that social workers were better supporting children and young people and outcomes were improving as a result. Reference was also made to the need for smarter working to help reduce costs and refine processes to work with families to keep children at home rather than entering care. Assurances were provided by officers in respect of the tests applied before children entered the care system.

 

Reference was made to the challenging target in respect of smoking reduction in Public Health and Members asked for information on the approaches being used to tackle the issue. In response, it was advised that it was an aspirational target that had proved challenging to meet. The new ‘Get Healthy Rotherham’ service had been launched in April 2018 and was expected to help make inroads to improve performance. Members reiterated the need to focus on preventing children and young people from smoking, which would further assist in improving health and meet the target in the longer term.

 

Clarification was sought of performance levels for information, advice and guidance in adult social care. In response, Members were reminded that it was a challenging year for the service which  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

14.

Equality and Diversity Peer Review Findings and Progress Update pdf icon PDF 125 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to a report detailing the outcomes of the a peer review of the Equality and Diversity function undertaken by Barnsley and Doncaster councils in October 2017 and the progress made in implementing actions arising from the review’s recommendations.

 

The purpose of the peer review was to offer an external assessment of the Council’s self-evaluation against the Equality Framework for Local Government (EFLG). The EFLG comprises five performance areas:

 

·         knowing your communities;

·         leadership, partnership and organisational commitment;

·         involving your communities;

·         responsive services and customer care;

·         and a skilled and committed workforce.

 

It was reported that the peer review focussed predominately on the first two performance areas – ‘knowing your communities’ and ‘leadership, partnership and organisational commitment.’ However, relevant observations around the other performance areas were also noted by the peer review team.

 

The Peer Review Team agreed with the Council’s self-assessment that it was performing at the ‘developing’ level, which meant that the Council currently ‘understands the importance of equality.’ A number of strengths were also identified by the Peer Review Team, including examples where the Council was working above the ‘developing level’. The Peer Review team found that:

 

·         The Equality for All Strategy was forming a strong foundation in building robust Equality and Diversity infrastructure.

·         There were examples of excellent practice amongst frontline staff (such as the Neighbourhoods Teams).

·         Core pieces of data were in place (such as JSNA, borough/ward profiles etc.)

·         Data sharing systems were in place, including through the Rotherham Together Partnership.

·         There were examples of services using data to develop more responsive services (for example, Sight and Sound, Safer Neighbourhoods).

·         Some services were using engagement activity to inform service planning and decision-making (for example, Different but Equal, Views from Rotherham, Early Help).

·         There was evidence of strong political and executive leadership and commitment to the Equalities agenda at a senior level.

 

From the review’s recommendations, the Council identified five key areas to focus on:-

 

·         The Council needs to embed standards around equalities and diversity across the organisation, by determining what information Directorates should collect, how they should do this and how this information will inform decisions about services. This should include embedding equalities within Service Plans as well as influencing the design and commissioning of services.

·         There also needs to be a more comprehensive and consistent approach to Equality Impact Assessments.

·         A comprehensive evaluation of the current policy and action plan should take place, with the completion of an annual report with more outward facing objectives. This will ensure that the Council can be more responsive and proactive in identifying emerging equalities and diversity priorities.

·         A Community Engagement Strategy and Toolkit should be developed so that the Council has a clear, consistent and joined up approach to community engagement, which gives appropriate consideration to equality and diversity.

·         Officers and members should be supported to build the knowledge and expertise to embed equalities protocols and practice, and representation from all protected groups in the workforce should be increased.

 

Members raised concerns in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

15.

Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report 2017-18 pdf icon PDF 98 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the final draft of the Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report for 2017-18, which was submitted for recommendation to the Council meeting on 25 July 2018.

 

It was reported that the Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report provided a retrospective summary of the work undertaken by the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board (OSMB) and the three Select Commissions during the last year. The report also offered a look ahead for 2018-19 in terms of future priorities through a headline work programme. Members noted that the scrutiny work programme, as outlined in the annual report, helped to achieve corporate priorities by addressing key policy and performance agendas and the outcomes would focus on adding value to the work of the Council.

 

It was reported that pre-decision scrutiny had added another dimension to the scrutiny function with over 90% of recommendations made by Scrutiny accepted by Cabinet and Commissioners on a range of policy decisions during 2017-18. In addition to pre-decision scrutiny, the report set out all aspects of Scrutiny work including holding to account, performance management, raising concerns and policy development.

 

Resolved:-

 

1.    That the Annual Report 2017-18 be recommended for approval to Council on 25 July 2018, subject to any changes agreed at the meeting.

 

2.    That any committee membership details for 2018-19 that change following the Council meeting on 25 July 2017 be reflected in the final published version of the report.

16.

Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules pdf icon PDF 72 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the recently revised Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules, which were adopted by the Council at its meeting on 23 May 2018, following a review by the Association of Democratic Services Officers (ADSO).

 

The key change made to the procedure rules were to remove reference to Commissioners in the context of the return of the majority of powers to local democratic control and to ensure consistency with the amendments made to the Executive Procedure Rules and Access to Information Procedure Rules.

 

Resolved:-

 

That the new Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules be noted.

 

 

17.

Forward Plan of Key Decisions - June to August 2018 pdf icon PDF 142 KB

Minutes:

Consideration was given to the Forward Plan of Key Decisions for the period from 1 June to 31 August 2018, which was submitted to enable Members to identify future Cabinet reports for pre-decision scrutiny activity during that period.

 

Resolved:-

 

1.    That the Forward Plan of Key Decisions be noted.

 

2.    That Members notify the Chair of any reports to be considered for pre-decision scrutiny in July and August 2018.

18.

Youth Cabinet/Young People's Issues

Minutes:

The Chair reported that Janet Spurling was due to meet with the Youth Cabinet to refine the report and recommendations arising from the Children’s Commissioner Takeover Challenge meeting held on 25 April 2018. From there, it was intended that the report of the Youth Cabinet would be presented to the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board on 18 July 2018.

 

Resolved:-

 

That the update be noted.

19.

Work in Progress

Minutes:

The Chairs of the Select Commissions provided the following updates on work undertaken and planned activities:-

 

Health Select Commission

 

Councillor Evans reported that the Commission had met in the previous week and had received the annual report of the Director of Public Health and learned more about the ‘Make Every Contact Count’ initiative. The Commission had also received the evaluation report on the Health Village roll out. He further reported that the Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee had met and it was noted that proposed changes to hyper acute stroke services had been deferred pending a judicial review in respect of the proposals.

 

Improving Lives Select Commission

 

Councillor Cusworth reported on the most recent meeting of the Improving Lives Select Commission which had taken place on 5 June 2018. At that meeting updates had been provided on the Barnardo’s Reach Out Service, CSE Post Abuse Services and Edge of Care Provision.

 

It was reported that the Commission had established a sub-group to monitor performance issues in Children and Young People’s Services. Furthermore a performance dashboard for Members detailing various data had been established to better reflect performance.

 

It was further reported that the July meeting of the Commission would receive reports on Domestic Abuse, the Performance Outturn for 2017/18 and an update on the Early Help consultation.  

 

Improving Places Select Commission

 

Councillor Mallinder reported on a meeting where the Commission had considered the issue of Young Tenants Involvement and it had been interesting to receive three young tenants who had set out what was working and what was not working from their perspective. A sub-group of Members had been established to work with Housing and RotherFed to examine how furniture can be provided to those in need.

 

It was further reported that the Commission would meet with the Chief Executive of Gullivers to hear more about the ambition for the site next to Rother Valley Country Park. It was also reported that the next meeting would involve representatives of Dignity to discuss bereavement services.

 

Resolved:-

 

That the update be noted.

20.

Call-in Issues - to consider any issues referred for call-in

Minutes:

The Chair reported that there had been no Cabinet decisions had been called in for review by Overview and Scrutiny Management Board.

21.

To determine any item which the Chairman is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency.

Minutes:

The Chair reported that there were no items of business requiring urgent consideration by the Board.

22.

Date and time of next meeting

 

The next meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board will take place on Wednesday 4 July 2018 at 11.00 a.m. in Rotherham Town Hall.

Minutes:

Resolved:-

 

That the next meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board be held on Wednesday 4 July 2018, commencing at 11.00 a.m. in Rotherham Town Hall.