Archived decisions

REPORT OF THE

SELECT COMMITTEES

PART II

This report provides an update on the work of Hampshire County Council's Select Committees in 2007-8.

1. 'Overview and Scrutiny' was introduced as part of the new political arrangements set out in the Local Government Act 2000. The Act required all local authorities to revise their political management function and put in place new arrangements. Hampshire chose a 'Leader and Cabinet' model of decision-making and an independent scrutiny function.

2. Under this model, the Cabinet is responsible for making decisions, and scrutiny holds the Executive to account for these decisions.

3. April 2008 saw the end of the first full year's cycle of work for the new-style Select Committees and much progress has been made in the last twelve months. New arrangements for scrutiny were introduced relatively recently (Autumn 2006) and so, in addition to delivering demanding work programmes, Select Committee Members have been adapting to the challenges of new ways of working.

4. 2007 saw some major changes in policy relating to scrutiny - most significantly the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act - which reinforce and broaden the scope of Select Committees considerably. A key focus for Select Committee Members in 2007 therefore was to prepare themselves for these forthcoming changes in April 2008.

5. A full summary of each Committee's work in the period 2007-8 can be found at /decisions/decisions-docs/080408-parprc-R0402105801 However, key highlights of the Committees' work follow below.

Policy and Resources Select Committee

1. The key focus of the Policy and Resources Select Committee has been to put in place robust arrangements for financial and performance scrutiny and to plan ahead for its expanded role in scrutinising the Council's partners from April 2008. In bringing together consideration of financial and performance information, the Select Committees have been able to focus their scrutiny on the outcomes of financial decisions and monitor these over time. A regular cycle of performance and financial scrutiny has been embedded into the Committees' work programmes and has been noted nationally as good practice.

2. Two in-depth reviews have been undertaken - both of which reported to the Committee in May 2008. The Review of Furniture Procurement and Replacement responds to recent changes in government policy relating to environmentally and socially responsible procurement and to the recent refurbishment of the Council's Ashburton Court building. The Review of Scrutiny Arrangements is a particularly timely piece of work which will put Hampshire ahead of the game in anticipating the challenges that new national legislation - such as the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 - will pose to Select Committees. The Policy and Resources Committee is particularly grateful for the invaluable input from the Leader and Cabinet and departmental directors on this latter piece of work.

Children and Young People Select Committee

1. The Children and Young People Select Committee has undertaken a wide variety of work, ranging from multi-agency workshops to in-depth select committee-style enquiries in order to execute its work programme in 2007.

2. Two major pieces of in-depth scrutiny have been undertaken in the form of the Review of Education Provision for Deaf and Hearing Impaired Children (resulting from a Call-in of an Executive Member decision) for which the Committee's key recommendation to the Executive Lead Member for Children's Services was accepted, and the major review of School Exclusions which reported to the Committee in April 2008. The Committee has agreed a work programme which advises its ongoing scrutiny of topics within quarterly committee meetings and has also completed the first stage of a major piece of work on Short Break services for families of disabled children. The first multi-agency workshop on the Short Breaks item took place on 10 March 2007 and received excellent feedback

Culture and Communities Select Committee

1. Culture and Communities' key focus for the first half of the year was the major review of Library and Information Services. The Committee's recommendations from this piece of work were welcomed by the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage and the scrutiny process itself received high accolades from stakeholders representing national institutions during the review.

2. In-depth work on the management and financing of the County's Outdoor and Field Studies Centres also met with success, with all the Committee's recommendations being accepted by the Executive Member for Policy and Resources on 11 March 2008. Further work with independent charitable outdoor centres is ongoing.

3. In addition to in-depth reviews, the Committee has also been monitoring progress against various plans and strategies relating to the Committee's terms of reference and considering ways in which to engage external organisations impacting on the work of the County Council.

Environment and Transportation Select Committee

1. Two major reviews have been undertaken by the Environment and Transportation Select Committee during 2007 in addition to regular monitoring and review of topics within the Committee's terms of reference and monitoring aspects of Hampshire County Council performance. The Committee recorded a notable achievement at the end of March with most of the recommendations from the Review of traffic congestion and bypass proposals in Lyndhurst being accepted by Cabinet, following a detailed investigation involving a wide range of internal and external stakeholders.

2. The in-depth scrutiny of Transport in the Community has also been ongoing, with the final report having been submitted and responses received from the Executive Member Environment. Beyond this, the Committee has revisited topics scrutinised in the previous year, in order to record progress against the Committee's recommendations.

3. Regular pre-scrutiny of Executive Member decisions and engagement with outside bodies has complemented the Committee's work programme throughout the year. Members have also kept abreast of national policy change impacting on the work of Select Committees.

Safe and Healthy People Select Committee

1. The Safe and Healthy People Select Committee has undertaken a variety of work during the year, including questioning and exploring areas of interest and concern relating to the Committee's terms of reference, pre-scrutinising matters from the Executive decision programme, and monitoring the strategic management of performance in relation to Adult Services. Adoption by members of the committee of the role of Lead Scrutineer has encouraged the identification of topics of interest as well as informing the process of identifying next years scrutiny programme. There have been links with outside bodies such as Community Action Hampshire and the Probation Service.

2. In depth work scrutiny has been carried out on the subject of access to services for people with alcohol problems in Hampshire, involving a variety of organisations and consideration of partnership aspects of service availability as well as prospects for improvement. The outcome of the review was reported to the April committee meeting, followed by communication of the recommendations to Executive Members. In addition, scrutiny monitoring of progress with the implementation of aspects of the Care at the End of Life joint review with the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee has taken place during the year.

MICHAEL F. CARTWRIGHT
Chairman
Policy and Resources Select Committee

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