Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 27 November 2014 and to authorise the Chairman to sign them.

The minutes of the meeting held on 27 November 2014 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman with the following amendments:

Councillor Barbara Matthews to be shown in attendance instead of Councillor Barry Mugglestone.

Amendment to minute 5

Officers advised that if yearly agreed targets were not met then additional funding could be lost in future years.

The Chairman advised that following the matter raised at the last meeting relating to the safeguarding of children, this item was now being dealt with by the Children’s Overview and Scrutiny Sub-Committee in conjunction with the Police.

Members noted that a topic group was being established to look at the Council’s debt recovery programmes.

The topic group would looking at debt recovery over the four following strands

Council Tax

NNDR

Housing

Social Services.

Questions to be answered included the total amount to be collected, total amount collected in-year, collections for 5 following years 2010/11, 2011/12, 2012/13, 2013/14 and  2014/15, balances outstanding at the end of these periods, what was the write-off policy and whether the write off policy was on block or related to specific payees. Subsequent questions would be drafted and passed to the Committee Clerk for forwarding to the relevant officers.

The Chairman of the Towns and Communities OSSC advised that Committee members were currently involved with two topic groups.

The first was looking at the feasibility of Havering introducing a Landlord Accreditation Scheme, Members were advised that meetings with officers were on-going and it was hoped to have a report for Cabinet in the next few months.

The second topic group was working in conjunction with the Licensing Sub-Committee to draw up a new Statement of Licensing Policy. It was explained that the topic group would present its findings in April 2015 before the draft policy was presented to interested parties in June 2015 for consultation.

The Chairman of the Children and Learning OSSC advised that members were in the process of setting up an Educational Attainment sub-group and that the scoping process would begin shortly.

The Chairman of the Health OSSC advised that a topic group was being set up to look at appointment cancellation. Members were currently looking through data that had been supplied by BHRT.

Members were advised that another joint Health/Children’s and Learning OSC meeting was due to take place to look at what services were commissioned by the CCG, Public Health and NELFT.

The Chairman of the Individuals OSSC advised that members were currently involved with two topic groups.

The first topic group was in the process of scrutinising the support available for children with learning disabilities and their families. The group had looked at the Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP) and the transition from statement to an EHCP. The group would also, in the future, look at the pathway from school to college and then onto employment.

The second topic group was scrutinising early intervention with Dementia patients and had met healthcare representatives to discuss the current provisions for patients in Havering.

The report before Members detailed the current Policies, Strategies and Plans for 2014/15

Members were advised that the Board would scrutinise draft Performance Indicators and targets within service plans for 2015/16 at its March meeting, Members had previously expressed a wish to play a fuller role in the development of indicators and targets for the forthcoming year.

The service planning timetable had been designed to require Heads of Service to produce drafts ready for the March meeting, and then allow them time after the 4 March meeting to make any adjustments needed to their plans before final sign off, in light of the comments of the Board.

During the debate Members questioned the benefit of looking at the Policies, Strategies and Plans and suggested that how the Council performed was of more importance to residents.

Officers advised that the aim of consulting with Heads of Service was to possibly reduce the number of policies and strategies to enable a more robust challenge of performance data.

Members noted the report and agreed that it would be beneficial for the Board to have an input on possible policy and strategy changes.

During a general debate members asked whether investigations could be carried out to determine what the Council’s enforcement powers were in relation to untidy properties and gardens.

Members also mentioned about the increase of shopping trolleys that had been abandoned throughout the borough.

It was agreed that the Chairman of the Environment OSSC look into the Council’s enforcement arrangements and report back to the Board in the future.

The Chairman of the Health OSSC gave an update on Accident & Emergency waiting times.

Members were advised that the figures for December 2014 should be disregarded as they had dropped in line with a national trend and would revert back to a more stable level in February 2015.

Members agreed that more effective triage services would free up consultants practicing in A&E departments.

Members noted that problems with alcohol abuse, particularly at weekends, were affecting A&E waiting times; this was something that could be considered when reviewing the Licensing Statement Policy.

Members were advised that the Health and Wellbeing Board were looking at ways of promoting the 111 service which had been introduced to assist in reducing the numbers of patients visiting A&E. GPs were also now expected to offer patients appointments within three days rather than two weeks.

The Chairman gave a brief update on the forthcoming Budget Proposal meetings.