Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillors Adrian Collett, Keith Evans and Kirsty North. Councillor Andrew Gibson attended the meeting as the Conservative substitute member.

All Members who believe they have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting must declare that interest and, having regard to Part 3 Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members’ Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter is discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code. Furthermore all Members with a Personal Interest in a matter being considered at the meeting should consider, having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 4 of the Code, whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 5 of the Code, consider whether it is appropriate to leave the meeting while the matter is discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter considered at the meeting they must declare that interest at the time of the relevant debate and, having regard to the circumstances described in Part 3, Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members' Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code. Furthermore Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Non-Pecuniary interest in a matter being considered at the meeting they considered whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 2 of the Code, considered whether it was appropriate to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

Councillors Fran Carpenter and Roger Huxstep declared an interest in Item 10 on the agenda as they are members of the proposed Orchard Close Respite Unit, Hayling Island Task and Finish Group.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting held on 7 March 2019.

The minutes of the meeting held on 7 March 2019 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any deputations notified under Standing Order 12.

There were no deputations on this occasion.

The Chairman welcomed both Councillors Kirsty North and Fran Carpenter onto the Committee and advised Members that regrettably Councillor North was unable to attend her first meeting due to a prior commitment.

To receive an update from the Director of Economy, Transport and Environment on the next steps regarding the Hampshire 2050 Commission.

The Committee received and noted a verbal update from the Director of Economy, Transport and Environment on the latest position and next steps for the Hampshire 2050 Commission. A short video of the Commission’s work was also shown to Members, which particularly focussed on Hampshire’s environment and quality of place.

The Director went on to outline the timetable for the Commission’s work which would culminate in an All Member Briefing with the Hampshire 2050 Commissioners taking place on Monday 23 September 2019. This session would be followed by an Extraordinary County Council meeting.

At the invitation of the Chairman, the Leader of the Council reported that this Committee had an important role to play in how the County Council responds to the Commission’s findings.

For the Select Committee to consider a report providing a summary of the 2018/19 final accounts, prior to consideration by the Cabinet on 17 June 2019.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Corporate Resources – Corporate Services providing a summary of the 2018/19 Final Accounts (Item 7 in the Minute Book).

Members were taken through the presentation slides showing the End of Year Final Accounts including an additional slide on High Needs Block funding. The key points were highlighted and Members asked questions for clarification and discussed the financial position.

Following the debate, it was:

RESOLVED:

That the Policy and Resources Select Committee supports the recommendations to Cabinet set out in the 2018/19 End of Year Financial Report.

For the Select Committee to consider a report providing oversight of the County Council’s performance during 2018/19 against the Serving Hampshire Strategic Plan for 2017 -2021.

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Executive and Head of Law and Governance giving details of the County Council’s performance against the Serving Hampshire Strategic Plan for 2017-2021 (Item 8 in the Minute Book).

The Chief Executive highlighted the main points of the report including the Emergency Hospital Admissions for intentional self harm and the mitigations, which include:

·         Review of self-harm pathways to improve assessment and identification of people “at risk”

·         Pilot to develop effective model of support and care

Members attention was also drawn to the Equality update which showed that the County Council had participated in the “Inclusive Employers Inclusion Standard” and was awarded Bronze and that existing Employees networks had been strengthened. The Chief Executive now chaired the Strategic Inclusion and Diversity Steering Group.

The ‘outstanding in all areas’ Ofsted inspection outcome in Children’s Services was also referenced.

The findings of the 2018/19 Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman report were drawn to the attention of Committee, who noted that the vast majority of complaints were not investigated further and that Hampshire typically received fewer complaints than comparator Councils.

During consideration of this item, a query was raised about the possible inclusion of statistics relating to Apprenticeships into future performance reports. The Chief Executive agreed that these could be included going forward.

RESOLVED:

That the Policy and Resources Select Committee notes:

      i.        the County Council’s performance for 2018/19;

    ii.        the feedback from the employee survey on health and wellbeing, and next steps;

   iii.        the progress to advance inclusion and diversity; and

   iv.        the findings of the 2018/19 Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman report.

To consider a report of the Director of Transformation and Governance – Corporate Services on the activity across the scrutiny function for the period April 2018 to March 2019, for submission to Full Council.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Transformation and Governance – Corporate Services seeking approval of the Annual Scrutiny Report setting out the work of each of the Select Committees over the last year (Item 9 in the Minute Book).

It was noted that the Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee provides a separate annual report to County Council.

RESOLVED:

That the Policy and Resources Select Committee approves the summaries of each of the Select Committee’s work over the past year, for submission to County Council as the Annual Scrutiny Report.

To consider a report of the Director of Transformation and Governance – Corporate Services regarding the setting up of a Task and Finish Group.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Transformation and Governance seeking approval to setting up a Task and Finish Group from the Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee regarding Orchard Close Respite Unit in Hayling Island (Item 10 in the Minute Book).

RESOLVED:

1.    That the Policy and Resources Select Committee supports the proposed Task and Finish Group being undertaken by the Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee to feed in to the consideration of options relating to the future of the Orchard Close respite unit on Hayling Island.

2.    That the Select Committee notes that under paragraph 3 of the Terms of Reference, should the HASC wish to scrutinise issues relating to Trust, it can do so, and would need to make recommendations on these aspects to the Executive Member for Policy and Resources.

To consider a report of the Director of Transformation and Governance – Corporate Services on the Committee’s forthcoming Work Programme.

The Chairman presented the proposed work programme for the Select Committee, as updated since the last meeting (Item 11 in the Minute Book).

RESOLVED:

That the Work Programme for the coming year be agreed.