PERFORMANCE AND OVERVIEW COMMITTEE
COMMUNITY
RECORD OF MEETING HELD ON 10TH JANUARY
2007
Present:
Councillor G Griffiths; Chair
Councillors D H D Charlesworth, S Conquest, J
Lewis, M A Martin, J I Stockton and
M J Weatherill
In Attendance:
Avril
Allman
Housing Strategy and Liaison Officer
Betty
Wright
Representing Older Persons Group on LSP
Mr
Gallimore
Representing Older Persons Group on LSP
Carol
Steins
Wulvern Housing
Graham
Christopher
Cheshire County Council - Supporting People Team
48 DECLARATIONS
OF INTEREST
No Member made any declaration of
interest in any item of business on the agenda.
49 RECORD OF
MEETING
AGREED: That the Record of the
Meeting held on 29th November 2006 be approved as
correct.
50 WHIPPING
DECLARATIONS
In accordance with Paragraph 18 of the
Performance and Overview Procedure Rules, Members were invited to
declare in respect of items where the whip had been applied.
No such declarations were made.
51 WORK PROGRAMME
– 2007/2008
Members of the Committee discussed briefly the
role of scrutiny and its effectiveness. There was a general
consensus that the process had become moribund over the last year
with the Committee confining itself to receiving presentations on
various topics. Whilst raising Members’ awareness of specific
services, this type of review could not be regarded as genuine
scrutiny. The Committee was reminded that one of the
principles of the scrutiny process was that it should be
Member-led.
During discussion of the format of the
meetings, Members reiterated comments made on previous occasions in
respect of presentations; there should be no more than one
Powerpoint presentation at each meeting.
It was reported that arrangements were being
made for an early meeting of the P & O Co-ordinating Group to
discuss scrutiny arrangements as a whole and to review the
frequency of Committee meetings as scheduled in the draft Timetable
of Public Meetings 2007/2008.
Members then considered an A-Z list of
portfolios and responsibilities which fell within the remit of the
Committee and discussed the following as potential areas for
review.
Ø Impact
of Increased Social Care Changes
(suggested by Councillor Conquest)
Ø CCTV
(suggested by Councillor Griffiths)
Reference was made to the need for completion
of a scrutiny form by each Member who suggested a review.
Following completion of a scrutiny form, the Committee would
consider whether or not it wished to include the review in its work
programme.
Police Services
The Committee considered Councillor
Bebbington’s report outlining reasons for a review of the Police
Service from the perspective of the way in which it operated in
Crewe and Nantwich. The reasons for the review, in summary,
were –
Ø
Concern that telephone calls were re-routed to a call centre and
operators displayed little local knowledge of the area
Ø
The automated telephone service was considered unsuitable for an
emergency service
Ø
There were occasions when “triple 9” calls were unanswered for
relatively long periods of time
Ø
There were delays between the reporting of incidents to the police
and responses to the complainant/victim
AGREED: (a) That Councillor
Bebbington’s report be accepted in lieu of a scrutiny
form;
(b) That the Committee undertake a
review of the Police Service in Crewe and Nantwich at the earliest
opportunity;
(c) That a scrutiny form be issued to
Councillors Conquest and Griffiths for completion; and
(d) That the completed scrutiny forms
in respect of Social Care and CCTV be submitted to the next meeting
of the Committee for consideration.
52 LOCAL AREA
AGREEMENT
The Cheshire Local Area Agreement had been
developed between April and December 2006, with the final version
being submitted to Government Office North West on 20th
December 2006. The Committee now received a summary of the
Local Area Agreement prepared by the Local Strategic Partnership
Manager who was in attendance and summarised the key issues for
Members.
53 BOARD
BUSINESS
53.1
Board Meeting – 11th January 2007
Members were invited to comment on the
following reports to be considered by the Board at its meeting to
be held on 11th January 2007 –
Item
9 Older Persons Housing
Strategy
The Head of Housing and the County Head of the
Supporting People Team each made a presentation to the Committee,
following which Members were able to ask questions.
The proportion of older people in the
population was increasing and Crewe and Nantwich had a higher
proportion of a population aged 60+ years than the England average
and there was a requirement to address the needs of older people in
the longer term.
The Strategy had been commissioned on a joint
basis with other Cheshire local authorities. In addition to a
county-wide strategy each district was preparing its own strategy.
The Strategy, which Board would be recommended to approve for
consultation purposes, would fulfil a requirement identified in the
Comprehensive Performance Assessment which expected local
authorities to provide a “comprehensive range of services for older
people to support independence”.
Mrs Wright and Mr Gallimore, representing the
Local Strategic Partnership’s Older Persons Group also contributed
to the discussion.
Copies of the slides used in the presentation
were made available to each Committee Member.
Ø
No comments to Board.
Item
6
Youth Nuisance Policy and Procedures
There were no specific comments to Board, but
an observation was made that the title and content of the report
was misleading. It purported to be a policy designed to
address “youth nuisance” in general, but appeared to be a policy in
respect of youths who had already been identified as engaging in
anti-social behaviour.
Item 7
“Get
Involved!” – Cheshire Children and Young People’s
Active Involvement Strategy
Ø
No comments to Board.
Item
8
Sport and Physical Activity Strategy
Ø
No comments to Board.
Item
10
Integrated Youth Support Service for
Cheshire
Comment to Board:
The Committee supported the recommendation.
Item
15
Timetable of Public Meetings 2007/2008
Ø
No comments to Board.
Item
17
Appointment to Outside Organisation – County Health
Scrutiny Select Committee
It was noted that Councillors J A Beech and M
Grant were the two nominations for consideration by the
Board. Comment was made that representation on this Committee
should be drawn from the P & O Community’s membership.
Comment to Board: Health
issues in general, fell within the remit of the Community
Performance and Overview Committee and the Board was requested to
consider, in the longer-term, the appointment of a Member of this
Committee on the County Health Scrutiny Select Committee.
53.2 Provisional
Items (Board’s Forward Plan)
The Committee received the Board’s Forward
Plan for February and April 2007.
53.3
Referrals/Responses from the Board and Council
It was noted that at its meeting held on
29th November 2006, the Committee did not submit
comments to the Board on any item of business, for its meeting to
be held on 30th November. Consequently, there were
no responses from the Board on this occasion.
There were no referrals from the Council
meeting held on 13th December 2006.
54. DATE OF NEXT
MEETING
7th February 2007
……….……………….………….
Chair