Archived decisions

p R.J. Baulk

a K.G. Chapman

p A.P. Collett

p Dr R.J. Ellis

p B.T. Gurden

p P.R.C. Hutcheson

p Jo Kelly

p Mrs. C.A. Leversha

p A.R. Ludlow

p R.C. McIntosh

p A. Weeks

Action

39

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence were reported on behalf of Councillor Chapman.

40

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members were mindful that, where they believed they had a personal or personal prejudicial interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting, they should, normally at the time of debate, declare their 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 such interests were declared on this occasion.

41

MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting of the former Policy and Resources Policy Review Committee held on 3 April 2007 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Arising thereon:

Minute 32, Hants Direct Contact Centre

The Chairman reported that arrangements would be made for Members to visit the Contact Centre in the early Autumn. Some members felt that they would have welcomed the opportunity to scrutinise the Contact Centre proposal in detail, but most were satisfied that the business case was robust.

Chief Exec

(Emma Gordon/

Michelle Smith)

Minute 34, Furniture Replacement

It was reported that dates had been set for the Panel to meet: 30 July, 26 September and 30 October.

Minute 37 - Work Plan

Members requested that the HC3S deficit should be included in the work programme. (All other items being worked on)

In general terms relating to the action column, Members asked for Officers responsible to be named in full rather than by initials.

Chief Exec

(Emma Gordon)

Chief Exec (Emma Gordon)

Chief Exec

(Colin Hinxman)

42

CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

The Chairman reported that as part of the comprehensive performance assessment the Audit Commission assessors had looked at the County Council's arrangements for scrutiny and appeared to be content with the progress being made. He went on to report that recent Home Office advice on crime and disorder reinforced the conclusion that at present it would be premature to carry out work on the proposed Community Call for Action.

43

FINAL ACCOUNTS 2006/07

The Committee considered the report of the County Treasurer (Item 5 in the Minute Book) on the County Council's final accounts, which had been approved by Cabinet on 25 June. Members welcomed the level of efficiency savings achieved, particularly by Adult Services as a means of reducing their deficit as part of their recovery plan. Members generally felt that the County Council's culture should encompass a constant search for efficiency savings and cost reductions which would help to protect services.

RESOLVED:

1. That the Final Accounts 2006/07, as set out in item 3, be noted.

2. That a report be prepared for the October meeting of the Committee on the level of efficiency savings and cost reductions achieved and on future options for further improved efficiency, to cover in particular

· Cost reductions - what's being done to make tangible reductions?


· Stopping reduction in services as an "efficiency"


· Options for addressing improved efficiency


and that this be included in the Committee's forward work plan.

County Treasurer (Bevis Ingram) and

Chief Exec

(Emma Gordon)

44

CORPORATE PERFORMANCE MONITORING AND CORPORATE BUSINESS PLAN

The Committee considered the report and presentation of the Chief Executive (Item 6 in the Minute Book). Gary Smith from the Chief Executive's Department gave a detailed explanation of the logic behind the Corporate Business Plan, which stemmed from the County Council's three corporate priorities. He underlined the importance of partnership, transparency, clear accountability and the constant quest for improved performance and higher levels of achievement. In addition the Business Plan should help to identify the priorities behind which resources should be fielded. With regard to performance indicators and targets, Members agreed that they needed to be challenging, but at the same time realistic and achievable. They requested that the Corporate Business Plan should be updated, for example, to reflect recent changes in Cabinet responsibilities.

Chief Executive

(Gary Smith)

Chief Executive

(Gary Smith)

45

FUTURE BUDGET AND PERFORMANCE SCRUTINY FOR 2007/08

The Committee considered the report of the Chief Executive (Item 7 in the Minute Book) and endorsed the approach to financial scrutiny advocated.

RESOLVED:

1. That it be a RECOMMENDATION to the Governance Committee and the County Council

That, if necessary, changes be made to Part 1, Chapter 6 of the Constitution and to the Select Committee's terms of reference to allow all Select Committees to scrutinise individual departmental budgets.

2. That scrutiny of the annual budget setting process should relate to the departmental budgets closest to the relevant Select Committee's overall terms of reference (eg Culture and Communities Select Committee scrutinises Recreation and Heritage budget).

3. That the proposals set out in the report for the annual cycle of budget scrutiny be endorsed, subject to any feedback from the Corporate Management Team and Cabinet.

Chief Executive (Emma Gordon and David Hinxman)

46

USE OF CONSULTANTS - REVIEW OF A SAMPLE OF TRANSACTIONS

The Committee considered the report of the County Treasurer (Item 8 in the Minute Book). Members considered that there might need to be a more rigorous process to control the costs of consultancy, to establish whether consultancy was cost effective and to set some form of guideline as to the circumstances in which consultancy was the appropriate option. They therefore

RESOLVED:

County Treasurer

(Bevis Ingram) to send note on Laing Rail Consultancy Chineham Station costs and risks to YYPRSC

That a report be prepared for a future meeting to establish what benefit there would be in having a corporate policy setting guidelines for the appointment of consultants, such report to include the need for cost/benefit analysis, risk assessment, and a checklist of questions which could be used to inform decisions as to whether consultancy was the correct way forward; and that a suitable item be placed in the forward work plan.

County Treasurer

(Bevis Ingram) and Chief Executive (Emma Gordon)

47

ICT SCRUTINY UPDATE

The Committee considered the report of the Head of IT Services (Item 9 in the Minute Book) setting out actions and outcomes for the various issues identified by the Committee in January. Members expressed their appreciation for the contributions made by the e-champion, the Head of IT and his staff to the effective scrutiny study undertaken.

Discussion centred around the costs and benefits of having separate departmental IT Teams (about 100 staff in total) as well as Central IT Services (about 300 staff); they felt that there should be a robust business case for having both. Members also felt that they would like to look more closely at the role of ICT within partnership working.

RESOLVED:

1. That Councillor Baulk, as e-champion, be requested to carry out initial investigation into departmental IT groups to evaluate whether each group has a sound business case, with the aim of a report back to the Committee in January 2008.

2. That the Head of IT be requested to make regular six monthly briefings to the Committee, the next in January 2008, to focus on ICT issues within partnership working, with particular focus on joint working between health and social care.

3. That the necessary additions be made to the forward work plan.

Councillor Baulk

Head of IT Services

(Jos Creese)

Chief Executive (Emma Gordon)

48

RISK MANAGEMENT

The Committee considered a presentation by Peter Andrews of the Chief Executive's Department on the areas of risk management which they had previously identified. A copy of the presentation appears at Item 10 in the Minute Book. A risk management strategy was due to be presented to the Cabinet in July.

Peter Andrews in his presentation drew particular attention to:

· The fact that Hampshire County Council scores highly on policy/process but not so highly on how staff deal with identified risks. The Comprehensive Area Assessment 2009 would have a new focus on risk - the `Annual Risk Judgment' which would accompany `Direction of Travel', `Use of Resources' and inspection judgments.

· The relationship between risk management and the pace of change

· A shared approach to risk management is vital in partnership working

· Risk management should make a difference to service delivery

· A mature, measured and proportionate response to risk needs to be part of the County Council's corporate culture

The Committee received the presentation with interest and asked for an update in July 2008 with a suitable entry to be made in the forward work plan.

Chief Executive

(Peter Andrews and Emma Gordon)

Chief Executive

(Peter Andrews and Emma Gordon)

49

EXTERNAL FUNDING ANNUAL REPORT

The Committee considered the report of the Head of Economic Development (Item 11 in the Minute Book) on outcomes of external funding bids. John Rees-Evans and Jennie Pell gave a detailed explanation of external funding totalling £12,414,240 in 2006/07. They drew attention to:

· The scope for partnerships as a catalyst for generation of external income, for example Business Improvement Districts

· The fact that securing external funding was now very competitive

Members welcomed the income generated, but considered they would like to see evidence of the trend over time. They also considered it vital to ensure that the relevant staff in all departments were systematic in entering income gained on the external funding database.

RESOLVED:

Econ Devt

(John Rees-Evans) to send note on trends to YYPRSC

1. That the intention of the Head of Economic Development to carry out a training and refresher session for staff involved in updating the external funding database be endorsed.

2. That a mechanism be developed to capture information on bids for external funding where the County Council is a significant partner, but not the main applicant.

3. That Executive Members be asked to pursue with their respective Chief Officers the importance of ensuring that their staff record and communicate successful bids for external funding.

4. That County Council departments be requested to identify consistent lead officer(s) to coordinate external funding in their departments, and to ensure that the corporate external funding database is populated in a timely manner.

5. That a report on progress and trends be submitted to the Committee in July 2008.

Economic Development (John Rees-Evans/Jennie Pell)

Chief Executive

(Emma Gordon)

50

LOCAL STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS AND HAMPSHIRE STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

The Committee considered a presentation by the Chief Executive on multi-tier and partnership working, in response to the Committee's request for information on outcomes and accountability. Chris Lawrence-Pietroni, Head of Policy, reported in detail and a copy of his presentation and the related correspondence is set out at Item 12 in the Minute Book. Key points were:

· The proposed Hampshire "Senate" and the structures radiating from it

· The need to secure universal agreement by all partners to the proposed methods for two-tier working involving County Council, District Councils, Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, Hampshire Police and the Primary Care Trusts

· The primary role of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Local Government Association (HIOWLA) in driving forward the necessary changes

· The need to come up with an effective Hampshire solution which commanded general support, to avoid a "one size fits all" solution being imposed by the Government

· The need to be able to demonstrate that enhanced and more efficient two-tier working could deliver efficiency savings in the same way as a unitary authority would have done

· The new structures would subsume the existing Hampshire Strategic Partnership and would be instrumental in the renewal of the Local Area Agreement

· The Policy and Resources Select Committee would have a primary role in scrutinising the work of the proposed "Senate".

Members generally felt they would want to be convinced that the new arrangements would reduce duplication and bureaucracy and would lead to a more streamlined, efficient structure. Several felt that the proposed new structure was still unduly complex and would lead to the public becoming increasingly confused and disengaged from the work of Local Government. They recognised that securing agreement from all the interests concerned would be a major challenge within a very tight timescale. They accordingly asked the Head of Policy to report back to them regularly on progress and agreed that a suitable entry should be made in the forward work plan.

Chief Executive (Chris Lawrence-Pietroni and Emma Gordon)

Chief Executive (Chris Lawrence-Pietroni)

51

SCRUTINY AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH THE POLICE FRAMEWORK, CONSTITUTION AND PROTOCOLS

The Committee considered the report of the Chief Executive (Item 13 in the Minute Book) on a proposed review of current scrutiny operating protocols. Members accepted the need for a targeted review and suggested that they should focus on those key areas where there was known to be scope for improvement, for example call-in and the relationship with Executive Members. They accordingly agreed to extend their 16 October meeting to encompass a full review session in the afternoon. All Members would be advised accordingly.

Chief Executive (Emma Gordon and Colin Hinxman)

52

FORWARD LOOKING WORK PLAN

The Committee received and noted the report of the Chief Executive (Item 14 in the Minute Book) on the programme of future issues that might require scrutiny by the Committee. The necessary additions recorded elsewhere in these Minutes would be made.

Chief Executive

(Emma Gordon)