Agenda and minutes

Members are reminded of their responsibility to declare any pecuniary interest in respect of matters contained in this agenda.

If you have a pecuniary interest you must withdraw from the meeting. Normally you should leave the room before the business starts to be discussed. You do, however, have the same right to speak as a member of the public and may remain in the room to enable you to exercise that right and then leave immediately. In either case you must not seek to improperly influence a decision on the matter.

There were no declarations of interest received on any items list on the agenda.

AGREED – That the minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 6 July 2017 be approved as a correct record for signature by the Chair.

To note the minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Performance Panel held on 21 September 2017 (enclosed).

AGREED - That the minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Performance Panel held on 21 September be noted.

There were no public questions for consideration.

To consider the Executive Cabinet minutes of the meetings held on 5 October (enclosed).

AGREED – That the minutes of the Executive Cabinet meetings held on 3 August and 5 October 2017 be noted.

To view the latest notice of Executive Decisions click here.

Members of the Committee considered the Notice of Executive Decisions for October 2017 which gave notice of key and other major decisions Executive Members were expected to make.  During its consideration the Committee made reference to the proposed forthcoming decision of the Deputy Executive Leader and Executive Member (Resources) the Land: Rear of Atherton Street, Adlington. 

AGREED – That the Committee be provided with further information in regards to the Notice of Executive Member Decision relating to the issue Land: Rear of Atherton Street, Adlington.

Report of the Director of Early Intervention and Support (enclosed).

Members of the Committee received a report by the Director of Early Intervention and Support which provided an update on work undertaken to meet the council’s duties with regard to counter terrorism and the ‘Prevent duty’ since the commencement of the Counter Terrorism Act 2015. 

The report also included information on the audit taken place and recommendations for the future to improve the council’s response along with partners to countering terrorism via Prevent.

Within the Counter Terrorism Act 2015, there was a specific requirement for all local authorities to give due regard to the need for people being radicalised and drawn into terrorism.  The Prevent duty commenced for local authorities on 1 July 2015.  This new area of responsibility for the council, required new ways of working, data sharing, processes and training which had been developed in partnership with other councils and Lancashire Police.

At the end of March 2016, a Prevent check list had been completed which provided the council with an action plan covering the essential elements of the local authority Prevent duty. 

Resulting analysis of the Prevent work undertaken at the end of March 2016 concluded that the council’s future Prevent action plan in Chorley over the next eighteen months would focus on four key areas –

·         Increased partnership and community awareness;

·         Community cohesion and tolerance;

·         Internet security in public buildings;

·         Review of child and adult safeguarding.

3 key members of staff including the Head of Service had been trained to deliver the Prevent Home Office Training and with the Prevent training then delivered to 114 colleagues across the council and partner services.  Other training delivered included a Member Learning Session in which 11 members attended and an online training course which is mandatory for all employees. 

Reference to Prevent was also contained in both the council’s adult and child safeguarding revised policy.

Members of the Committee debated the report.  Matters raised included –

·         council policies that conflict with the Prevent duty (ie the Digital Inclusion Strategy which encourages more open access, had the potentially to create issues in relation to internet security);

·         emergency plans in place between partner organisations, headed up by the emergency services in the case of a terrorist attack (or any other disaster);

·         confirmation that the building design for 3 of the council’s major building projects (Market Walk extension; Primrose Gardens, and the Youth Zone) would incorporate security measures as part of the planning and design and not following their completion.

AGREED – That the report be noted.

Work Plan of Lancashire County Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee (enclosed).

Members of the Committee received a copy of Lancashire County Council’s Health Scrutiny Work Plan for the 2017/18 for information.

If Committee members wanted to raise any questions concerning the plan, they should be forwarded to the Council’s representative on the Health Scrutiny committee via the Democratic and Member Services Officer.

AGREED – That the Health Scrutiny Work Plan be noted.

To receive a presentation on what aspect of communications would form the basis of a scrutiny review.

Members of the Committee had indicated in previous meetings, that they wished to hold a review on the topic of communications.

To aid members in deciding what aspect of communications they wanted to review, the Director of Policy and Governance delivered a presentation which provided information on the role and responsibilities of the Council’s communications and events team and also the role other services have to play in communicating both internally and externally.

The presentation identified four possible areas for scrutiny –

1.    evaluation of identified area of the Communications Team such as external communications on delivery of events;

2.    external communications and protocols and procedures;

3.    a broader review of how members are kept informed about key areas of work being delivered by officers;

4.    role communications have to play in managing the council’s reputation.

During debate, members of the Committee raised a number of concerns in relation to poor communications which included –

·         members being unaware of initiatives undertaken by the council, that had taken place (or was in the process of taking place), within their ward and being told of those initiatives by a third party;

·         members being unaware of internal staff structure changes (eg Neighbourhood Officers);

·         having to use the Contact Centre to report ward work rather than being able to go directly to the officer responsible; 

·         ‘My Chorley’ not providing the ward overview promised to members;

·         ward work being ‘closed’ off the system, only having  it to be re-opened as the member was aware that the request had not been completed;

·         not being kept informed on the progress of projects.

Members of the Committee also put forward suggestions in how communications could be improved.

In response to comments received, the Chair proposed that a report be prepared which would consider option 3 ‘a broader review of how members are kept informed about key areas of work being delivered by officers’ to be presented at the next Committee on 25 January 2018.

AGREED – That a report to be presented at the next Committee meeting on 25 January 2018 which considered option 3 - a broader review of how members are kept informed about key areas of work being delivered by officers.

To consider the response to the Executive Cabinet to the recommendations of the Overview and Scrutiny Task Group of the Child Sexual Exploitation review (enclosed).

At its meeting on the 3 August, the Executive Cabinet agreed the recommendations of the report which was written in response to the 10 recommendations put forward by the Overview and Scrutiny Task Group in to Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE).

The 10 recommendations had been broken down into 5 key areas –

·         Training and awareness raising for elected members and officers

·         Taxi trade and licensing community training

·         Work with partners in producing appropriate materials/delivering events to raise CSE awareness amongst parents and guardians, improve links and maintain links with secondary and primary school

·         Elected members personal safety guidance

·         The council to continue to raise awareness within the community

The key areas and the actions required have formed the CSE Action Plan for 2017/18.  The plan, which is appended to the report, also included the lead officer for each action, deadlines and completion notification. 

Members of the Committee discussed various aspects of the report and actions taken place to date.  In response to questions raised, the Head of Early Intervention and Support advised that the majority of the taxi trade had been trained in CSE.  A further session would be arranged for those drivers who had yet to be trained. Once all taxi drivers (licensed through Chorley Council) had been trained, it was intended that the training would be rolled out to other licensing trades.

The Head of Early Intervention and Support also informed the Committee that the council would be getting involved in a Lancashire Wide campaign in November to promote CSE awareness.

AGREED – That the report be noted.

Leisure Contract Task and Finish Group

To receive a verbal update on the inquiry from the Chair, Councillor Alistair Morwood.

Overview and Scrutiny Task Group – Council’s Leisure Contract

Councillor Morwood, Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Task Group – Council’s Leisure Contract provided members of the Committee with a verbal update on the progress of the review.

In total four meetings had taken place since it was formed in June 2017.

At the first meeting, the Task Group scoped the review and identified the objectives and the desired outcome.

The second meeting focused on the delivery of the current management arrangements of the council’s leisure facilities by Active Nation.  A joint presentation by the Head of Early Intervention and Support and the Health and Wellbeing Manger provided the task group with information on the council’s leisure contract which included –

·         staffing and financial arrangements;

·         the timeline for the contract;

·         current performance;

·         challenges and options;

·         leisure management options available.

Members of the Task Group were also information that a consultant was to be appointed to provide different options that the council may wish to consider when the current contract expires.

At the third meeting, representatives from Action Nation delivered a presentation which focused on the work the charity had done in Chorley and national initiatives they wanted to introduce to the borough. The presentation also considered -

·         costs, reports and structures

·         measuring and reporting performance

·         challenges (staffing and retention)

·         national trends

·         a future vision of a leisure service which encompassed a health and wellbeing package that went beyond improving fitness.

At this meeting, the Task Group also welcomed the Philip Gooden, Service Manager from Lancashire Care Foundation Trust who was invited to discuss his vision as to the type of services that could be offered at the council’s leisure facilities. There was an agreement that there was a national trend to deliver some health services/groups outside of the formal setting of doctors’ surgeries and hospitals.  It was considered that holding informal surgeries/classes/drop-in sessions in the local community would encourage those people in hard to reach groups to take an active responsibility in their health and wellbeing. 

The types of sessions that could be offered did not need to be limited to those relating to exercise.  It was reported that sessions related to mental health would be particularly beneficial in an informal environment, particularly drop-in sessions. 

The Task Group welcomed officers from the council’s human resources and legal section who produced a report which provided theoretical information and implications for 5 possible options of the future leisure service model.

The 5 leisure model options discussed were –

·         Invite other leisure providers to tender for the contract under the current operating provision and objectives;

·         Bring the provision back in-house and deliver under the current operating provision and objectives ;

·         Invite other providers to tender for the contract under a new operating provision with objectives in-line with early intervention principles and outcome based performance;

·         Bring the provision back in-house and design a model which targets the health needs of the residents of Chorley and was linked to the council’s ambition for future operating  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.OS.42

To consider the Scrutiny Work Programme for 2017/18 (enclosed).

Members of the Committee considered the work programme for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Performance Panel and task group topic areas for 2017/18.

It was agreed that a broad review of how members are kept informed about key areas of work being delivered be added to the work programme and that a report be presented at the next meeting of the Committee in the January 2018.

Councillor Fitzsimmons asked that a review be considered on the topic of social related housing in Chorley, and in particular the quality of housing provided by social landlords.  After a short discussion, the Chair proposed that this topic would be the focus of the next Task Group review and that Councillor Fitzsimmons be nominated as Chair.

AGREED – That the following topics be included on the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme for 2017/18

·         a report on a broad review of internal and external communications in regards to keeping elected members informed be presented at the next meeting of the Committee in January 2018;

·         the topic of the next Task Group, which would commence in January, to be on social related housing in Chorley: quality of housing provided by social landlords of which Councillor Fitzsimmons was confirmed as Chair.