Archived decisions

Item2

AT A MEETING of the POLICY AND RESOURCES SCRUTINY AND SELECT COMMITTEE of the COUNTY COUNCIL held at The Castle, Winchester on 4 November, 2004.

PRESENT:

Councillors: S.A. Hayes (Chairman); Mrs P.G. Banks; I.F.E. Beagley; J.V. Bryant;

M.F. Cartwright; P.J. Chegwyn; A.P. Collett; B.D. Dash; A.G. Dowden; R.J. Ellis;

M.J. Kendal; Mrs. C.A. Leversha; A. Ludlow; P.A. Pierce; M.J. Roberts; J.G.L. Wall; J.K. West.

226 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

All Members who believe they have a personal or a personal prejudicial interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting must declare their personal interest and having regard to the circumstances described in paragraphs 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the County Council's Code of Conduct, consider whether to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed. No declarations of interest were made by any Members on this occasion.

227 MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting held on 9 September, 2004 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

228 CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

The Committee stood in silence in memory of the late Councillor Wheeler.

229 MEMBERS' QUESTIONS

There were no Members' questions.

230 DEPUTATIONS

There were no deputations notified on this occasion.

231 COSTS AND BENEFITS OF PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

The Committee considered the report of the Chief Executive (Item 6 in the Minute Book) on an assessment of the costs and benefits which had arisen from the County Council's response to the Comprehensive Performance Assessment and Best Value.

Members felt that monitoring benefits of the investment noted was important and were reminded that the outcomes could be found in the Performance Plan although providing an audit trail of improvements against costs in these areas was notoriously difficult.

Members noted that there were no new Best Value reviews programmed; the two reviews currently in train (Community Engagement - Consultation and Equality and Diversity) would report to the Committee according to the recommendations agreed in this item. The scrutiny process, supported by developing Performance Information processes, would contribute to achieving cost effectiveness and continuous improvement in services. Performance information, in the form of the Corporate Performance report, can be presented to the Committee when called for.

Most Members felt that, despite the bureaucratic and prescriptive structure of the process, Best Value had helped the County Council in a critical and constructive review of its functions and contributed to its attainment of Excellent status.

RESOLVED:

    (i) That the Committee notes the costs and benefits of corporate performance management highlighted in the report and accepts that future updates should be provided to all Policy and Resources Scrutiny and Select Committee Members outside of the committee process as soon as data from the preceding financial year are available.

    (ii) That the Best Value Review process be streamlined so that formal reporting is confined to the outcome report, and that there should be a joint presentation of the findings at the end of the review by Officers and Members engaged in the review.

232 SCRUTINY UPDATE

The Committee considered the report of the Chief Executive (Item 7 in the Minute Book) on the way forward for their scrutiny functions. Their conclusions on the three sections of the report are set out in sequence below.

Inquiry Panels

It was reported that Inquiry Panel 1, dealing with services for children and young people provided by Hampshire County Council, had met for the first time and had agreed a programme of meetings over the next month in order to determine the scope of the inquiry. Councillor Ludlow had been appointed Chairman.

It was noted that Inquiry Panel 2 would get under way once Conservative and Labour participants had been identified.

RESOLVED:

That the Inquiry Panels continue as planned, that progress so far be noted as set out in paragraph 1.2 of the report, and that further progress reports be made to the main Policy and Resources Scrutiny and Select Committee.




Improving Overview and Scrutiny in the main Policy and Resources Scrutiny and Select Committee

Members discussed the proposed topics for a proactive approach to evidence based scrutiny. There was some discussion about the need to ensure that work on Public Health complemented rather than clashed with the work of the Health Scrutiny Committee and it was agreed that the focus should be on reviewing the White Paper which would ensure the focus was on Hampshire's strategic role.

Members were motivated to look at the issues of dealing with consultation papers and information management with a view to keeping Members better informed about issues that affect their localities and upon which they might wish to have impact. It was noted that some Members had received communications from officers already exploring some aspects of this and agreed this should be investigated before further progress was made.

RESOLVED:

    (i) That the Committee be given the opportunity to scrutinise the White Paper on public health as soon as it is published.

    (ii) That approval be given to the following two subjects:

      · Procedure for dealing with consultation papers to which the Cabinet has to respond;

      · Information management regarding local issues for Members.

    As the topics upon which the Policy and Resources Scrutiny and Select Committee will take a proactive approach in seeking evidence-based recommendations over the course of programmed meetings up to April 2005.

    Planning for the Future

    The Committee received a PowerPoint presentation (Item 7(x) in the Minute Book). In response there was a general recognition by Members of the need for a review of democratic and decision-making processes with the aim of achieving greater involvement and ownership by all Members. Aspects highlighted by Members were:

      · What helps and what hinders in the present structure? Accentuate the former and eliminate the latter.

      · If structures and systems impede delivery and achievement, they can and should be changed.

      · There needs to be more opportunity for local Members to challenge executive decisions, even if those decisions are in accord with the relevant Plan.

      · Concentrate the focus on areas where we can achieve added value and improved performance.

      · Willingness by the Cabinet to contemplate some limited delegation of decision making to the remaining Members of the Council, perhaps within their local areas.

      · Look at alternative systems operated by other local authorities.

      · An element of empowerment or ownership for non-Executive Members.

      · An ideal expressed by several Members was the restoration of the Committee system should it ever be legally permissible.

      The Chief Executive's Scrutiny Manager undertook to make arrangements for Members, either individually or in groups, to feed further detailed thoughts or ideas into the process. The Policy and Resources Scrutiny and Select Committee would be kept informed of process and invited to further contribute to the outcomes.

      RESOLVED:

      That arrangements be made for all Members to share ideas on the way forward, with the aim of formulating changes to the democratic and decision-making process which would provide more effective roles for Members to contribute.

233 COMMITTEE TIMETABLE OF FUTURE DECISIONS

The Committee received and noted the report of the Chief Executive (Item 8 in the Minute Book) setting out a list of forthcoming key decisions and items for the Committee's forward programme.

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