REPORT OF THE

SELECT COMMITTEES

PART II

SCRUTINY PROGRAMME

1. This report sets out for the County Council the key areas of work undertaken by the Select Committees in the last year, including responses to recommendations where these are known and identifies work in hand as well as the indicative work programme for each Committee for the coming year.

2. The following issues have been considered by the Select Committees, via member led cross party working groups as appropriate, since November 2006:

Children and Young People:

Scrutiny of Schools Admissions Code completed November 2006 recommendations made by the Committee accepted and acted on by the Admissions Forum

Environment and Transportation

Review of mechanism on which to base agreement on which bus services

are subsidised - completed January 2007 and recommendations

communicated to the Executive Member, who has decided not to take this

piece of work forward any further.

Review of Motorway Diversion proposals - completed January 2007 and

recommendations communicated to the Executive Member. Work on the

proposals is still ongoing and the scrutiny review comments will be taken

into account.

Review of aspects of Street Lighting Private Finance Initiative work -

completed March 2007 and recommendations forwarded to the Executive

Member who has reported progress by the Environment Department in

responding to the recommendations.

Policy and Resources

Review of IT Services - completed July 2007. Recommendations accepted by the Director of IT Services, including consideration of the merger of central and Education IT help desks.

County Council finance and budgets - recommendations on finance for outdoor centres made by the Committee in February 2007 were accepted by the Executive Member, with further in-depth scrutiny work to be undertaken in 2007-8 by the Culture and Communities Select Committee.

3. The Select Committees have set up a number of member led, cross party sub-groups that are in the process of scrutinising, or planning to scrutinise, a range of topics as follows:

Children and Young People:

Corporate Parenting - initial recommendations reporting back to the Committee in October 2007

Deaf/Hearing Impaired Children - reporting back to Committee in October 2007

Exclusions - reporting back to Committee in January 2008

Respite for families of children with severe disabilities - reporting back to Committee on a date yet to be determined

Culture and Communities:

Outdoor/Field Studies - reporting back to Committee in October 2007

Library/Information - reporting back to Committee in October 2007

Vehicles in the Countryside (jointly with Environment and Transport) - reporting back to Committee on a date yet to be determined

Environment and Transportation:

Lyndhurst-by-Pass - reporting back to Committee in January 2008

Transport in the Community - reporting back to Committee in April 2008

Vehicles in the Countryside (jointly with Culture and Communities) reporting back to Committee on a date yet to be determined

The state of Hampshire roads reporting back to Committee on a date yet to be determined

Policy and Resources:

Furniture Procurement and Replacement Policies - reporting back to Committee in January 2008

Review of Scrutiny Arrangements - reporting back to Committee in January 2008.

Review of the use and cost of consultants - reporting back to the Committee in January 2008.

Budget Scrutiny - reporting back to Committee on a regular basis within an annual cycle

Safe and Healthy People:

Alcohol - reporting back to Committee in April 2008

Third Sector (Voluntary, Community and Faith) - reporting back to Committee on a date yet to be determined

4. In addition to carrying out scrutiny reviews the Select Committees have received reports on various issues and continue to keep a watching brief on these:

Children and Young People

Proposals for providing residential care

Non-County Placements and Independent Fostering Providers

Development of Children's Centres

School Leadership

Therapy Services for very young children

Culture and Communities

Basingstoke Canal - Section from Greywell to Basingstoke

Cultural Strategy and Tourism Strategy

Review of Annual Revenue Funding to Community Associations

Support for Independent Arts Organisations

Tackling Areas of Deprivation and Decline

Management of Consultations at Hampshire County Council including Community Engagement

Finance and Performance - Innovation Approaches to Sustainable Arts Funding

Consultation on Hampshire County Council's Strategic Priorities for the Visitor Economy

Monitoring Customer Feedback

Environment and Transportation

Establishment of a Transport Delivery Agency for South Hampshire

State of the Environment in Hampshire

Best Value Performance Indicators

National consultations

Hampshire Minerals and Waste Development Framework

Speed and traffic management

Climate change

Policy and Resources

Local Strategic Partnerships and the Local Area Agreement

Risk Management

Refurbishment of Ashburton Court

Human Resources: progress with implementation of action plan

Safe and Healthy People

Health and Wellbeing

Adult Services Performance

Financial Assessment of Adult Services Direct Payment Clients

Adult Services Performance against National Ratings

Offender Management Bill

Better Housing Solutions and Re-Provision of Residential Services

Block Contracts and Spot Purchasing

Mental Capacity Act

Care at the End of Life

5. A more detailed report of the work of the Select Committees will be compiled at the close of the financial year.

Michael Cartwright

Chairman,

Policy and Resources Select Committee

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