Agenda and draft minutes

There were no Declarations of Interest made at the meeting.

The Chairman referred to a number of events that required attendance.  These included:-

·                Rotherham’s first conference on Diabetes - Saturday, 16^th November, 2013 – Carlton Park Hotel – Cabinet Member to attend.

·                Rotherham Town Hall – 22^nd November, 2013 - Seminar on Radioactive Contaminants in the Metal Trade – Councillor Buckley to attend.

·                111 Centre, Manvers – Yorkshire Ambulance Service – Date to be confirmed – Cabinet Member and Councillor Hoddinott, plus three other Members to attend meeting.

·                House of Commons – Wednesday, 11^th December, 2013 – Local Government Declaration on Tobacco Control – In the absence of a Member an Officer should be given the opportunity to attend.

Resolved:-  That the attendances identified above be approved.

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting held on 14th October, 2013.

With regards to Minute No. K34(3) (Conferences/Meetings) it was requested that Councillor Tweed provide some feedback or attend the next meeting of the Rotherham Heart Town Steering Group as they were particular interested in Atrial Fibrillation.

Resolved:-  That the minutes of the meeting held on 14th October, 2013, be approved as a correct record.

-       Minutes of meeting held on 16^th October, 2013

The minutes of the meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Board held on 16^th October, 2013, were noted.

In accordance with Minute No. 36 Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care meeting held on 21^st October, 2013, consideration was given to a report on the 2008 Mental Health Act Code of Practice, requiring local Social Services authorities, defined in Section 145(1) of the Mental Health Act 1983, the National Health Service and the Local Police Authority, to establish a clear policy for the use of the power to convey a person to hospital under Section 6(1) of the Mental Health Act.

The draft Policy and procedures outlined the roles and responsibilities of the Approved Mental Health professionals, the Ambulance Service, medical and/or other healthcare practitioners and Police who may be called upon to facilitate the conveyance of an individual to hospital, or in the case of Guardianship, an appropriate placement.  The Policy was to support good joint working and minimise the distress that Service users, their family and friends could experience when admission was necessary.

The overall aim was to ensure that the person detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 was conveyed to hospital or alternative placement in an appropriate vehicle and in the most human way possible following an assessment of their mental health needs by 2 doctors and an Approved Mental Health professional (AMHP).

The Code of Practice also specified that the Policy should clearly identify what arrangements had been agreed with the Police should they be asked to provide assistance to the AMHPs and the Doctors and how that assistance would apply to minimise the risk of the patient causing harm to themselves and maximise the safety of everyone involved in the assessment.

Discussion ensued on the age range which the Policy covered and whether or not an adolescent could be detained under Section 6.

Resolved:-   (1)  That the contents of the Policy be noted.

(2)  That clarification be sought on the details under Section 6.

-        Minutes of meeting held on 14^th October, 2013

The minutes of the Environment and Climate Change Group held on 14^th October, 2013, along with the report that Rotherham was the first Council in South Yorkshire who had signed up to the LGA Scheme Climate Local, be noted.

Simon Bradley, Corporate Procurement Team, to report

Simon Bradley, Corporate Procurement Team, gave a verbal update on the implementation of the Yortender software, which was part of the Government’s initiative to implement e-procurement, which allowed contractors to register free to an electronic system which would allow them to tender for public sector contracts of more than £50,000.

Emma Fairclough, Customer Excellence Manager, gave a short presentation, drawing specific attention to:-

·                YORtender – what it was.

·                Software Procontract – used widely across the U.K.

·                Procurement as part of the Yorkshire and Humber Region involving 22 Local Authorities.

·                Rotherham’s involvement in the development of the software through a regional sub-group.

·                Financial compliance.

·                Rotherham’s host of the training for the 22 Local Authorities – attended by 180 officers.

·                Procurement Services had also training more than 100 officers internally.

·                Benefits of using YORtender.

·                The increased opportunities to collaborate with other Local Authorities.

·                Display – what the system looked like and the simplified and structured approach.

·                Future planned workshops.

Discussion ensued on the operating manual for the system and the need for a piece of work to separate out areas, such as financial regulations and user instructions, which was to commence shortly. 

It was also noted that procurement would continue to offer some efficiency savings and the performance monitoring would continue.

Resolved:-  That the presentation and supporting information be noted.

Richard Copley, Corporate ICT Manager, to report

Richard Copley, Corporate I.C.T. Manager, gave a verbal update on:-

·                The current staffing levels, which were 25% less than they had been previously with savings over £1 million per annum.

·                New ICT initiatives and several emerging challenges such as sourcing a new data network and achieving Public Service Network Accreditation (certifying that the Council’s ICT security is of the requisite standard). ICT and Procurement are also reviewing the use of BlackBerrys and Mobile phones throughout the Council with a view to saving significant sums.

·                The ICT Strategy 2011-2015 was also discussed with the priority projects being:-

Ø   Customer Access and Self Service.

Ø   Mobile Working.

Ø   Cloud Computing.

Discussion ensued on the benefits of Cloud computing, the location and status of the data centre in Bailey House and the work taking place around the resilience of the corporate network.

Resolved:-  That the information be noted.

Resolved:-  That the next meeting of the Cabinet Member take place on Monday, 9^th December, 2013 at 11.30 a.m. at the Town Hall and not 9.30 a.m. as noted on the agenda.