Decision:
RESOLVED: That the updates provided be noted.
Minutes:
3.1 The Chair invited the Select Committee Chairs to give a brief update on the work of their committees.
3.2 The following updates were noted:
Cllr Muldoon (Healthier Communities):
· The Committee had made three recent referrals to Mayor & Cabinet.
- One concerned the reconfiguration of adult social care day services. It was noted that a service users group would be established at the Calabash Day Centre.
- Another concerned adult safeguarding and the need to more widely publicise the methods of getting in touch with the Council in the event of concerns.
- One concerned charging for overseas visitors - the Committee had questioned a senior manager from Lewisham Hospital on how national policy was being implemented, including the scope for local discretion, but wanted further information to be provided.
Cllr Sorba (Children & Young People):
· The Committee was following up on its exclusions review and would have an update at its next meeting on progress in implementing the Committee’s recommendations.
· The Committee was feeding into, and monitoring, the Early Help Review and was keen to ensure that a comprehensive needs analysis would be completed.
· Waiting times for mental health appointments were a key area of concern, although it was noted that there had been substantial reductions in waiting times recently.
· Other key matters being scrutinised by the Committee included the Children’s Social Care Improvement Plan and educational attainment.
· Information on (a) relevant guidelines in relation to waiting times for mental health appointments for children and young people; (b) the key milestones in the improvement plan for Children’s Social Care and the extent to which they are being met; and (c) any specific actions that are being taken to reduce exclusion rates for groups that are disproportionately affected, would be provided.
Cllr Mallory (Public Accounts):
· The Committee had focussed attention on the Children’s Social Care Budget as it was dissatisfied with the way it had been managed and the Adult Social Care Budget which had, to some extent, been cushioned by the Better Care Fund.
· The income generation and commercialisation review being led by the Vice Chair was progressing with recent evidence sessions/visits to Barking and Dagenham and Waltham Forest.
· Members were invited to the Committee’s meeting in February, where the budget would be discussed.
· The Chair had been asked a Council question about the state of the Council’s finances.
Cllr Bernards (Housing):
· The Committee was reviewing the engagement of residents in relation to housing developments and felt that:
- Early engagement was key
- Engagement should start with a blank sheet of paper
- Engagement should be ongoing
- A wide range of people, including the hard to reach, should be included.
· The recommendations would be circulated to Members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee once agreed.
Cllr Rathbone, on behalf of Cllr Campbell (Safer, Stronger Communities):
· The Committee had moved away from performance monitoring to strategy development and did a great deal of pre-decision scrutiny.
· It was particularly focussed on crime & disorder and equality of opportunity (including deprivation).
· The development of a new Comprehensive Equalities Scheme meant that its in-depth review into equalities was timely.
RESOLVED: That the updates provided be noted.