Present at the meeting:
- Councillor J Moodie (Chairman)
- Councillor N D Ash
- Councillor G W Fairhurst
- Councillor Ms P L Holland
- Councillor J Miller
- Councillor J D O’Brien
- Councillor Mrs J Prescott
- Councillor C Rigby
- Councillor P Thompson
- Councillor P A Tushingham
- Councillor Mrs M J Whiteside
- Councillor R Winkworth
- Councillor G Wilkes
Co-opted Members
Officers in attendance
- S Johnson – Deputy Chief Executive
- K P Lawson – Service Director – Borough Solicitor
- P McKevitt – Service Director – Corporate Services
- N P Lamper – Democratic Services Manager
- G Finch – Principal Officer – Scrutiny
- A Hughes – Head of Organisational Development
- M Kenyon – Head of Risk Management
- M Williamson – Committee Services Officer
1 Welcome to new Members: On behalf of the Committee, the Chairman extended a warm welcome to Councillors N D Ash, J D O’Brien, Mrs J Prescott and R Winkworth as new Members of the Committee.
2 Apologies for absence: Councillors J Miller, G Wilkes and N R Whittingham (Vice Chairman).
3 Minutes: The minutes of the meeting of this Committee held on 22 April 2009 were approved as a correct record
4 Whipping declarations: The Service Director – Borough Solicitor, Mr K P Lawson reminded the Committee that government guidance expected Members of Overview and Scrutiny Co-ordinating Committee not to act in accordance with party whipping and that, if they did, they were to declare it.
There were no declarations made.
5 Questions (if any) on the business of the Cabinet: There were none.
6 Forward Plan for June to September 2009: The Deputy Chief Executive, S Johnson reported that, under the provisions of the Local Government Act 2000, the Executive Leader was required to publish a forward plan of key decisions that the Council expected to make in the following four months. Each plan would be submitted to this Committee for comment at least fourteen days before its publication. The Committee considered the plan that was to be published in June 2009.
Resolved: The Committee notes the report .
7 Care Closer to Home – Select Committee final report: The Chairman of the former Health Select Committee, Councillor G M Bretherton presented the findings of the final report on the Select Committee’s review on Care Closer to Home. The report set out the key aims of the review, methodology, successes with appropriate case studies, areas for improvement and recommendations.
Members asked a number of questions, which included the following salient points:-
- Could the sustained growth in Direct Payments be maintained?
- What was the reason for a short fall in Occupational Therapists?
- What safeguards were being put in place to prevent patients being released from care too early?
- What monitoring was there of readmissions?
- Who should be involved in determining the home care package for patients?
Councillor Bretherton advised that he would provide a response to all Members of the Committee in respect of the sustained growth of Direct Payments and any issues relating to the recruitment and retention of Occupational Therapists following the meeting. He went on to advise that patients who required only nurse led care would be discharged from Hospital once a suitable home care package had been put in place prior to the patient being discharged.
Councillor Bretherton also advised the Committee that discharge planning should not be a medically led process and that it was important to involve all relevant members of the multi disciplinary team, particularly when determining whether a patient was safe to transfer from an acute ward.
Resolved: The Committee:-
- accepts the report now submitted;
- endorses the recommendations set out within the report and the need to respond adequately to them;
- requests a report on the progress against the recommendations in six months time;
- refers the final report to the Cabinet for detailed consideration; and
- thanks the Chairman, Members of the Select Committee, Diane Taylor, Policy Officer, and Alison Cain, Policy Support Officer for their hard work in relation to this review.
8 Annual report of Wigan Council’s former Health Select Committee 2008/09: The Chairman of the former Health Select Committee, Councillor G M Bretherton presented a report, which informed Members of the key areas of activity of the Health Select Committee from June 2008 to March 2009.
Members were advised that the main areas which had been covered were:-
- overall performance of NHS Trusts;
- local developments such as Ashton, Leigh and Wigan Primary Care Trust’s Community Health Care;
- regional and national issues such as responding to the Standards for Better Health – Declaration; and
- formal consultation such as the consultation in respect of the closure of Whelley Hospital.
Resolved: The Committee
- accepts the report now submitted; and
- notes that future Annual reports prepared by the Adult, Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee will be submitted to the Overview and Scrutiny Co-ordinating Committee.
9 Introduction to the Organisational Development Strategy: The Head of Organisation Development, A Hughes presented the Council’s Organisational Development Strategy. The strategy had been developed to assist the Council in its organisational change management programme.
Members commented on the conclusions of the strategy and whether they reflected the views of all members of staff. Concern was expressed as to how some of the desired outcomes listed in the Strategy could be measured. It was suggested that Officers took account of the findings from a recent Scrutiny Select Committee Review on Reputation Management in order to assist in achieving the desired outcomes of the strategy.
The Committee supported the strategy overall, but felt it would be important to maintain a review of how the Council was progressing in achieving the desired outcomes. In view of this, the Committee requested that an update on the progress of the strategy be submitted for consideration in six months time.
Resolved: The Committee:-
- supports the implementation of the Organisational Development Strategy;
- requests the Head of Organisational Development takes into account the findings of the Select Committee Review on Reputation Management to assist in achieving the desired outcomes of the Strategy; and
- requests the Head of Organisational Development tosubmit a report in six months time on the progress with the implementation of the Strategy.
10 Annual Governance Statement and supporting documents: The Head of Risk Management, Martyn Kenyon, presented a draft of the Councils Annual Governance Statement for review and comments by the Committee. The Statement was a statutory document to accompany the Statement of Accounts and provide an assurance that the Council’s governance arrangements were sufficiently robust to ensure the most effective use of the public monies that it managed.
The Statement was supported by two separate reports: The Annual Internal Audit Report provided a report on a review of the systems of Internal Audit as required by the Accounts and Audit Regulations.
Members were provided with details of Internal Audit work and reviews performed in 2008/09, which included information on the coverage, performance, assurance opinions and effectiveness of the Internal Audit Service and the Council’s internal control environment.
The Annual Governance Statement was also supported by a report, which evaluated the adequacy of application of the Council’s Local Code of Corporate Governance which was set up in line with best practice guidance from the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) and the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE).
Members were advised that there were strong levels of compliance with the Code and there were considerable ongoing efforts to maintain and improve on existing governance arrangements.
Members were advised that the Annual Governance Statement was still in a draft format and any comments if appropriate, would be included in the final version. The report would also be considered by the Audit, Governance and Improvement Review Committee and the Cabinet at the meetings to be held on Thursday 11 June and Thursday 18 June 2009 respectively.
Members asked a number of questions which included the following salient points:-
- Why was there a problem in recruiting to the two vacant posts within the Internal Audit Department?
- What was the Council’s policy on handling and retaining electronic data on portable storage devices?
- Why did deprivation affect value for money in relation to Use of Resources?
The Head of Risk Management and the Service Director – Borough Solicitor provided responses to these questions.
Members also asked:-
- How many members from each political group had undertaken a Councillor Development Review?
The Head of Risk Management agreed to provide responses to this point for all members of the Committee.
Resolved: The Committee:-
- notes the report; and
- requests the head of Risk Management to incorporate the comments made by the Members of the Committee before the final report is produced.
11 Future role of the Overview and Scrutiny Co-ordinating Committee: The Principal Officer – Scrutiny, G Finch, presented a report which clarified a number of issues in respect of the role and responsibilities of the Overview and Scrutiny Co-ordinating Committee.
The report proposed that the number of scheduled meetings of the Committee during the Municipal year 2009/10 potentially be reduced from 13 to 8. The rationale of this proposal was to draw the Committee in line with the anticipated workload of the Committee and echo the frequency of the other four Scrutiny Committees. Members were further advised that the five dates that were to be removed would be held in abeyance to cover issues that may surface at short notice or for future training/awareness raising. The meetings would therefore not be cancelled at this time
The report also suggested that the Committee considered whether it was still necessary or appropriate for the statutory Co-opted Members to be appointed to the Co-ordinating Committee as well as to the Children, Young People and Families Scrutiny Committee.
The report also advised Members of proposed training sessions in June 2009, for Overview and Scrutiny members which would help develop their scrutiny skills. The training sessions would be facilitated by a representative from North West Employers’ Organisation. In addition to the training sessions, a work programme planning workshop would be held on 23 June 2009 to give Members the opportunity to influence the work plans of all of the Scrutiny Committees.
The Committee supported the suggestion to reduce the proposed number of meetings.
In relation to the co-option of Members to the Co-ordinating Committee, Members requested that a report be presented at the next meeting setting out the options available.
The Committee also considered the role of this Committee and the other scrutiny committees in relation to Call-ins. It was suggested that those Members who supported a Call-in should be able to attend the relevant Scrutiny Committee dealing with the Call-in and take part in the discussions and questions, but that they would not be able to vote on the issue. The Officers were also requested to consider any necessary amendments to the Call-in Protocol.
Resolved: The Committee:-
- agrees to reduce the potential number of meetings for the Municipal Year 2009/10 from 13 to 8 as set out in the report
- requests that a report be submitted to the next meeting of the Committee setting out the options available to the Committee in relation to co-option; and
- notes the arrangements for the training sessions on 16 and 30 June 2009.
- notes the arrangements for the work programme planning workshop on 23 June 2009.
- recommends to the other Scrutiny Committees the arrangements for attendance at Committees dealing with Call-ins as approved.
The meeting concluded at 8:25pm.
