Present at the meeting:
- Councillor P R C Smith (Executive Leader) (In the Chair)
- Councillor D T Molyneux (Cabinet Champion for Environment and Regeneration)
- Councillor K Anderson (Cabinet Champion for Neighbourhood)
- Councillor J B Baldwin (Cabinet Champion for Cultural)
- Councillor G M Bretherton (Cabinet Champion for Equality and Young People)
- Councillor Mrs S Loudon (Cabinet Champion for Children)
- Councillor P Prescott (Cabinet Champion for Lifestyle)
- Councillor C Ready (Cabinet Champion for Improvement)
- Councillor F B Walker (Cabinet Champion for Efficiency)
Officers in attendance
- Christine Charnock- Jones - Principal Committee Services Officer
- Ashley Crumbley – Chief Executive of Wigan and Leigh Housing
- Kay Cullen – Trainee Committee Clerk
- Neil Fearnley – Service Director Neighbourhoods
- Rodney F Hill – Chief Executive of Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust
- Nick Hudson – Executive Director of Children and Young People’s Services
- Sue Johnson – Deputy Chief Executive
- David Mather - Principal Public Relations Advisor
- John Mitchell – Head of Legal Services
- Joyce Redfearn – Chief Executive
- David Smith – Executive Director of Business Support Services
- Louise Sutton – Service Director, Personalisation and Community Services
Please note that where a resolution is in bold, then this determines that the report involved a key decision.
7 Announcements by the Executive – (a) Award of Commander of the British Empire (CBE) to Joyce Redfearn, Chief Executive: The Executive Leader, on behalf of the Cabinet, congratulated the Chief Executive, Joyce Redfearn, on being awarded the CBE in the Queen’s birthday honours list for her services to local government.
(b) Royal Visit on 21 May 2009: The Executive Leader congratulated Dr David Smith for the excellent way in which he had arranged the Royal Visit to Leigh Sports Village on 21 May 2009. The Executive Leader read out a letter from the Lieutenancy Office expressing appreciation on behalf of the Queen for the visit. He also referred to a telephone call from the Secretary of State in which Mr Denham had stated that he was looking forward to working with Wigan Council in the future.
Resolved: The Cabinet agrees that at the suggestion of Councillor F B Walker, the letter from the Lieutenancy Office be forwarded to all Members of the Council for information.
8 Apologies for absence: Councillor K Cunliffe (Cabinet Champion for Healthier Communities and Older People)
9 Minutes: The minutes of the meeting of the Cabinet held on 20 May 2009 were approved as a correct record.
10 References from Other Committees: Children and Young People and Families Scrutiny Committee – 28 May 2009: The following item had been referred back to Cabinet:-
5 Call in – Proposed closure of Montrose School: At the meeting of the Children and Young People and Families Scrutiny Committee (Minute 5 refers), the following decision had been made, with two recommendations being made to Cabinet:-
Resolved: The Committee supports the decision with the following recommendations to be referred to Cabinet:-
(1) that full support be given to parents in their individual choices of alternative schools; and
(2) that full consideration be given to the full outcome of the consultation.
The Executive Director of Children and Young People’s Services, Nick Hudson explained that the comments from the Children and Young People and Families Scrutiny Committee were well respected and that parents would still be given the choice of either mainstream or special needs education. All the current pupils would move at 14 because that was when the school closed. They would then be transferred to Hope or Oakfield Schools, however it was important that those schools must be able to cater for the required need in each case.
The Executive Director confirmed that Montrose School was now out of special measures and that this was to be applauded.
Councillor Mrs S Loudon confirmed that she fully supported the recommendations of the Scrutiny Committee.
Members asked a number of further questions and made comments which included the following salient points:-
- With Montrose School being in special measures, would this affect the intake at the acedamic year?
- The problems associated with Mere Oaks were still raw and would the special school review eradicate these problems for future years?
- What are the other choices available to parents based on special need?
- What percentage of the children affected are looked after by the Council?
The Executive Director stated that the school being in special measures was a factor which affected the applications for Montrose School, however because applications were from special needs referral rather than preference, then only one child was referred from January 2008, therefore the numbers would not be greatly affected.
With regard to the second question, the Executive Director explained that SEN provision would be considered further as part of Building Schools for the Future (BSF).
In relation to choices available, the Executive Director reported that the children could be accommodated at Oakfield or the new Greenhall School.
The Chief Executive, Joyce Redfearn, reported that a request had been received from five Councillors for a special meeting of the Council to consider Montrose School.
The Head of Legal Services, John Mitchell, explained the provisions for the calling of extraordinary meetings of the Council as set out in Rule of Procedure 3 of the Constitution which were as follows:-
3.1 Calling extraordinary meetings.
Those listed below may request the Head of Paid Service to call Council meetings in addition to ordinary meetings:
- the Council by resolution;
- the Mayor;
- the Monitoring Officer; and
- any five members of the Council if they have signed a requisition presented to the Mayor and he/she has refused to call a meeting or has failed to call a meeting within seven days of the presentation of the requisition.
Resolved: The Cabinet:-
- Re affirms its previous decision taken (minute 301 – 2009 refers) and accepts the two recommendations from the Children and Young People and Families Scrutiny Committee.
- Requests the Executive Director of Children and Young People’s Services to forward the figures for the children affected who are looked after by the Council to Councillor F B Walker for his information.
- Notes the request for a special Council meeting and awaits the decision of the Mayor.
(Councllor P Prescott declared a prejudicial interest in this item because his wife is a governor at Montrose School and left the meeting during consideration of this item).
11 Anti Social Behaviour Policy and Procedure (Minute 267 – 2009 refers): The Cabinet considered a report which was presented by the Service Director Neighbourhoods, Neil Fearnley, together with the relevant minute of the Building Stronger Communities Scrutiny Committee (minute 3 refers), which sought Cabinet approval for the adoption of the Council’s Anti Social Behaviour Policy and which informed Members of the procedure in place to deliver the policy. The report set out the key aims of the policy, notably, transparency and simplicity wherever possible. The overall aim of the Neighbourhood Teams, in this regard, was to stop the anti social behaviour by working with a range of partners who together made up the Building Stronger Communities Partnership.
Members noted that the report had been well received by the Scrutiny Committee, but were of the opinion that a review of the policy in six months time would be too soon.
The report set out details of the alternative options to be considered. The reason for selecting the one recommended was to provide a framework and to focus on dealing with the problem of anti social behaviour.
Resolved: The Cabinet:
- notes the views of the Building Stronger Communities Scrutiny Committee; and
- approves the policy as detailed in appendix A and the procedure as detailed in appendix B to the report.
12 Care Closer to Home – Select Committee final report: The Cabinet considered a report which was presented by Councillor G M Bretherton (Chairman of the Select Committee), together with the relevant minute of the Overview and Scrutiny Co-ordinating Committee (minute 7 refers), which set out 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.
Apologies were submitted on behalf of Diane Taylor, who had supported the Select Committee.
The Service Director, Personalisation and Community Services, Louise Sutton, gave some responses in connection with the performance indicators referred to in the report as follows:-
- the target for carers' assessments would be exceeded by the end of the year;
- timeliness of social care assessments would be the subject of a Fundamental Review led by the Chief Executive's Department, which will have a particular focus on occupational therapists assessments for aids and adaptations;
- since the report was written there had been an appointment of a Head of Service level post funded by the Department of Adult Services, the Acute Trust and the Provider Arm of the Primary Care Trust (PCT). The postholder will be responsible for implementing a number of the actions highlighted in the report. The establishment of the Single Commissioning Agency will lead to a whole-system approach to commissioning services to support hospital discharge and care at home; and
- in relation to concerns around capacity to deal with increasing numbers of Direct Payments, members were reassured that the programme to modernise Social Care services would address this.
Members welcomed the report, in particular the avoidance of unplanned hospital discharges.
There were no alternative options available for consideration.
Resolved: The Cabinet:
- welcomes the report now submitted and congratulates the Select Committee on such a comprehensive report;
- endorses the recommendations set out within the report and the need to respond adequately to them; and
- requests the Service Director, Personalisation and Community Services to provide written responses to the Health Select Committee report for Members of the Cabinet.
13 Annual Governance Statement and Supporting Documents: The Executive Director of Business Support Services, David Smith presented a draft of the Council’s 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 had also be considered by the Audit, Governance and Improvement Review, Overview and Scrutiny Co-ordinating and Standards Committees at those meetings (minutes 7, 10 and 11 respectively refer).
Resolved: The Cabinet approves the Council’s Annual Governance Statement for 2008/09.:-
(Councillor J B Baldwin declared a personal and non-prejudicial interest in this item as he is a Board Member of Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust. Councillor J B Baldwin declared a personal and non-prejudicial interest in this item as he is a Director of Wigan Metropolitan Development Company Limited)).
14 Review of Standing List of Contractors (Bridge Works, Highway Maintenance Works and Building, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering works etc)(Minute 277 refers): The Cabinet considered a joint report which was presented by the Service Director Neighbourhoods, which sought approval of the select list of contractors as shown in the appendices to the report for bridge works, highway maintenance works and building mechanical and electrical engineering works etc.
The report set out details of the alternative options to be considered. The reason for selecting the one recommended was to avoid onerous, time consuming financial and competency checks every time tenders were invited.
Resolved: The Cabinet approves the proposed select list of contractors for categories 1, 2 and 3 as detailed in the report, to be effective from 1 July 2009 and that the list be maintained and reviewed in line with Council policy.
15 Brighter Borough guidelines: The Cabinet considered a report which was presented by the Service Director Neighbourhoods, which provided revised guidance to Members and Officers on the appropriate use of Brighter Borough funds as follows:-
- to make the purposes of the Brighter Borough initiative clearer for all involved;
- to clarify the arrangements for allocation of funding;
- to emphasise under ‘Funding allocation’ members responsibility when there is a personal interest or a personal and prejudicial interest in a project;
- to include additional clauses of Suitable projects to cover additional circumstances i.e. charitable causes and individual benefit;
- to include under Restrictions the issue of funding for maintenance of projects and to further emphasise the need for approval to be obtained for any project before any expenditure is incurred; and
- the introduction of an additional section regarding Publicity and Scheme acknowledgement. Whilst grants approved under the Brighter Borough initiative have included a requirement to give the Council appropriate credit for the funding, this has never been made clear in the guidelines. This omission has now been rectified. A suggested form of words for acknowledging grant aid is also included.
Members asked a number of questions and made comments which included the following salient points:-
- Clarification of who signs off the forms once agreement has been given to the use of Brighter Borough monies for certain inititative?
- The importance of not inventing impractical rules;
- The possibility of accentuating the positives of Brighter Borough in the press, highlighting good schemes that have been provided since the inception of Brighter Borough in 1997;
- Members welcomed Brighter Borough;
- The possibility of making the forms easier to fill in; and
- The possibility of asking one of the Overview and Scrutiny Select Committees to consider as its topic area, the re design of the Brighter Borough application forms to ensure that they are fit and proper for use.
The Service Director Neighbourhoods confirmed that the Executive Director would sign off the agreements.
The report set out details of the alternative options to be considered. The reason for selecting the one recommended was to clarify and improve advice given to Members and Officers.
Resolved: The Cabinet:-
- approves the revised guidelines contained in appendix A to the report.
- requests the Service Director Neighbourhoods to revise the applications forms for Brighter Borough; and
- requests the Overview and Scrutiny Co-ordinating Committee to consider the review of the application forms as a possible topic for one of the Select Committees.
16 Adult Safeguarding: The Service Director, Personalisation and Community Services, Louise Sutton, presented a report, together with the relevant minute of the Adult, Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee (minute 9), which provided Members with a summary of the developments and activity in Adult Safeguarding over the last 12 months.
The Service Director, Personalisation and Community Services referred to a growing recognition that this was an area that needed particular emphasis in the context of the personalisation agenda. She also referred to the significant improvement in multi agency commitment and that the same conventions for multi-agency funding of safeguarding are being considered across both adults and children's safeguarding where appropriate. At the Cabinet ‘Away Day,’ a question had been asked on the numbers attending adult safeguarding training. The Service Director was able to confirm that from a total of 950 attendances at training courses, 140 had attended from independent sector providers in the domiciliary sector and 247 from the residential sector for 2008/09. This training was mandatory.
There were no alternative options available for consideration.
Members noted that the report had been well received at the Adult Health and Well Being Scrutiny Committee and there was a need to ensure that press coverage positively raised awareness of any potential issues. Also, the Service Director confirmed that monitoring arrangements were in place to ensure that decision-making on how cases proceeded was consistent.
The Executive Director of Children and Young People’s Services explained that the amount received for supporting the Children’s safeguarding board per head of population was £1.77 compared with much higher figures in other Local Authorities.
Resolved: The Cabinet:-
- notes the comments of the Adult, Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee;
- welcomes the report;
- requests a report back on the action plan scheduled to be available by August 2009.
17 Feedback from Scrutiny Committees (if any): It was reported that the first round of Scrutiny Committees had been successful. Members made reference to the importance of receiving notification of Scrutiny Committee agendas as early as possible to enable them to attend if required to do so.
Resolved: The Cabinet:
- notes the success of the first round of meetings;
- request that Members of Cabinet are send the agendas of the Scrutiny Committees as soon as they are available.
