Contact: Malcolm Cole, ext 7385, e-mail: malcolm [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1.The Cabinet has considered proposals for establishing an Area Committee structure at previous meetings. This report re-examines the broad principles considered, some of the conclusions reached initially and how these relate to the present agenda. This current agenda has an increasing emphasis on clear links into the community and strategies which seek to meet community aspirations, in many cases with a significant degree of prescription from Central Government..

2. Background

2.1. Although the Cabinet has developed some preliminary views, based largely on concerns to do with the emerging Regional agenda, it is more critical to the eventual solution preferred to ensure that the rationale for establishing Area arrangements is clearly established around `planning strategically and delivering high quality services locally' recognised in the CPA award of excellent status. To this must be added developments in the community planning agenda which have emerged since the Local Government Act 2000, which established the principle of Local Strategic Partnerships. These issues have brought into clear focus the need for the Cabinet to consider the County Council's role at a local level extremely seriously. It is a fact that most of the County Council's services are delivered locally, but what is lacking at the moment is any democratic or other mechanism linking into local service delivery and also involving the community and/or the Local Strategic Partnership. The current exception to this is the Highway and Transport Advisory Panels, which are District based, and which will have up to three representatives each from the District Local Strategic Partnerships. This was agreed by Council on 27 November 2003.

3. The Key Principle

3.1. The Government's national agenda covers a very wide spectrum. It places huge importance on public authorities relating closely to their communities and delivering the aspirations of those communities. This requires capacity at a strategic level and at a local level with the flexibility to adapt local services to local needs without losing sight of the requirement for overall consistency across the County Council where appropriate. e.g. the capacity to deliver high standards of education across the county and local flexibility to deal with educational issues in deprived areas.

3.2. In planning for the future, one of the fundamental principles is coterminosity with District Council boundaries. Setting up arrangements that do not relate to existing boundaries could lose local identity and fragment service delivery and relationships e.g. with health. Arrangements established on District boundary areas will enable the local agendas of all key parties (County, District, Parish, LSP etc) to be reconciled and also linked into existing patterns of expenditure, for example, the fact that 80% of total local authority expenditure within the county boundary is committed by the County Council. This makes it even more important to ensure that local partners are effectively engaged and enabled to input to key decision making which will inevitably impact on their own responsibilities and vice versa.

4. Local Area Representation

4.1. The scale of expenditure and the range of services provided by the County Council is almost certainly not as widely understood by members of the public as it might be. Taken alongside the Council's desire to improve its engagement with the Community (a Best Value review of this topic is planned for 2004) and the desire of all members to improve communication and dialogue with, and receive information from, representatives and groups within the local community, and to influence priorities and pump-prime local initiatives, the time may be right to examine the setting up of some Area Committees across Hampshire. Such an initiative would also develop the Council's position as Community Leaders and Community Champions.

4.2. Many County Councils have examples of local Area Committees. In general terms these tend to be of a consultative nature although in one or two cases eg Surrey, some limited funds are made available for individual members (£17,850 each) for local projects and there is a limited managerial role for local highway arrangements and a local highways budget (£2.75m per area). In Surrey the key functions of the 11 area committees are:

_ to manage highway arrangements

_ to undertake work relating to the LSP for that area

_ to act as an advocate for that area to the Executive

_ to monitor service performance in that area.

4.3. Surrey's Committees are co-terminus with District Boundaries, comprise the County Councillors who serve the particular area with an equal number of (non-voting) District Councillors. Each Area Committee is supported by a `dedicated' Area Director.

4.4. Setting up such a structure in Hampshire could potentially, ie with the right terms of reference and profile, have a significant effect on placing the County Council and its Councillors at the centres of their communities. Coupled with the increasing access to county services via IT and websites, and an enhanced use of existing County Council service delivery points (Information Centres/Libraries/Discovery Centres etc), Area Committees have the potential to be a clear focus for Hampshire County Council in the communities it serves. They would also provide a clear additional role for non-executive members in local community leadership and in reflecting the views of their local communities.

5. An Area PRC Committee proposal for Hampshire

5.1. Assuming that Cabinet wish to move in this direction, this part of the report sets out draft principles and proposals for the setting up of an Area Committee structure which would seek to place County Councillors at the centre of their local communities. The suggestion is that the Committees should be focused both on the local effectiveness of County Council services and activity and on local community leadership ie representing the views and needs of the community as a whole.

In outline, each Committee would:

_ be an advisory committee of the Cabinet, with the Chairmen appointed annually by the Leader from among the County Councillors elected for the Area concerned

_ have as its voting members, those County Councillors representing electoral divisions within the designated areas

_ have the ability to invite to Committee meetings representatives (non-voting) of authorities, organisations etc and individuals from the Area Community

_ undertake the following specific functions, on behalf of the County Council:-

· local scrutiny of all County Council services acting as a PRC eg

analysis of key local issues eg Youth
analysis of the impact of Social Care/education policies

(NB when undertaking a formal `scrutiny' role Executive Members would need to excuse themselves from any debate and decision).

This activity could become a key function for an Area Committee. While, as indicated above, no counties have so far delegated pure scrutiny to local Area Committees, some local performance review has been undertaken. An opportunity exists here for the Area Committees to undertake real scrutiny of locally focused issues/services and to act as the local reference point for centrally based scrutiny arrangements. The central arrangements would continue to undertake strategic and cross cutting issues while having the facility to commission `locally' based review. Such an arrangement would provide a real opportunity for local examination of County activity to be done, and be seen to be done by the local community. A suggested way forward would involve the establishment of one centrally based PRC or select Committee which would:

_ act as the single focus for the scrutiny of all County Council activities at the strategic or cross-cutting level; and

_ co-ordinate the scrutiny activities of the area based PRC Committees

This would have the effect of superseding the existing 5 programme area based PRCs .


· undertake local consultation/response on strategic issues referred by Cabinet or individual Executive Members

· Contribute to effective liaison with the district based LSPs and CSPs

· provide at the invitation of the appropriate Executive Member, a local view on issues under consideration by Building Panels in respect of:-

Education projects
Social Services Projects
Landfill proposals

· undertake appropriate local liaison with District and Parish Councils

· receive, as appropriate, delegations from the local community


_ meet, in public, at least four times a year at various locations within the designated Area including (and preferably) at non-County or District Council venues, accessible to the local community

_ have officer support for overall co-ordination, agenda planning and meeting arrangements, administration and press and public relations

5.2. The above arrangements could be seen as a first step with the role of the Committees evolving over time. In the longer term additional powers/functions could be added.

6. Area Committee boundaries

6.1. If Cabinet are broadly happy with the operational arrangements for Area Committees as set out in section 5 above, consideration needs to be given to the most appropriate boundaries for them.

6.2. While a range of options could be considered, the arguments set out in section 3 (The Key Principle) are crucial in any decision. It is vital that the County Council positions itself for the major structural and service delivery issues which are already being developed by Government. While issues such as

_ the likely acceptance of areas in terms of identity by the citizens of the "areas" selected

_ local perceptions of community identity eg surveys have tended to indicate that local people have more affinity with their district areas

_ how the Area Committees will relate to existing partnerships, particularly the LSPs

_ how the influence of the Area Committees will be managed within the existing structural arrangements of the County Council ie at Executive and operational levels (including existing area management arrangements).

_ the scale of support resources needed.

also need to be taken in account, it is clear that the Government's agenda will be aimed at balancing strategic planning with local service delivery and community input.

6.3. This approach is underlined by some key current considerations, namely:

a) the architecture being developed for the next `full round' of CPA is focusing heavily on a "Corporate Assessment in which `Achievement' is based around the Local Community Plan" assessing both


· the appropriateness/fitness.... of the plan as a good test of leadership

· the delivery of the plan as a good test of partnership working through the LSP"


against a main 2005 CPA objective of measuring "the influence and impact of a Council in its locality - fulfilling its community leadership role with the LSP" (Source : Audit Commission presentation)


b) the infrastructure for Community Planning agreed within HIOWLA which sets a framework based upon 11 District LSPs/Strategies with an over-arching county strategy. This is mirrored in the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership arrangements.

6.4. These key issues require careful consideration. The County Council must be careful to avoid setting in place arrangements which might confuse an existing operational landscape or which might put it at a disadvantage in terms of the 2005 CPA. The arguments outlined in paragraph 3.2 are of crucial importance.

6.5. All the above evidence leads to a proposition of 11 Area Committees, with scrutiny powers, based upon District Council areas.

7. Constitutional and resources issues

7.1. If the Cabinet agree to operational and geographical arrangements, consideration will need to be given in more detail to the resources to support the initiative, as there is no current budget provision and to consequential constitutional changes. Costs will include:

_ dedicated support costs

_ meeting venue costs

_ local consultation costs

7.2. Constitutional issues will need to be carefully considered including:

_ an associated review of centrally based scrutiny arrangements

_ the precise definition and extent of scrutiny devolved to area committees

_ `call-in' arrangements

_ formal terms of reference for area committees.

7.3. It is suggested that a further report on these issues be prepared once the Cabinet have made clear their preferred way forward and that an analysis is also undertaken into the possibility of redeploying resources for `slimmed down' meetings requirements at the corporate centre.

8. Timescale

8.1. Cabinet need to consider the timing of the implementation of these arrangements. They might also consider whether to implement the arrangements countywide or whether to undertake `pilot' arrangements in one or two areas.

Recommendations

1. That Cabinet endorse the proposed arrangements for Area PRC Committees in the county and changes to the centrally based PRC arrangements as set out in paragraph 5 of the report and indicate a date for their implementation - either in full or by way of a `pilot' scheme.

2. That the boundaries for such Area Committees reflect local communities and existing patterns of service delivery.

3. That a further report be prepared setting out the constitutional and resources issues associated with implementation of the decisions taken under (1) and (2) above for the February meeting of the cabinet.

Section 100D - Local Government Act 1972 - Background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB: the list excludes:

1. Published works

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

None.