Archived decisions

p K.G. Chapman

a A.P. Collett

p Mrs. P.M. Devereux

p B.T. Gurden

P.A. Heath

a P.R.C. Hutcheson

a Jo Kelly

p Mrs. C.A. Leversha

p A.R. Ludlow

p Mrs A. McNair-Scott

p A. Weeks

Action

108

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence were reported on behalf of Councillors Collett, Hutcheson and Kelly.

109

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 save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with paragraph 12 of the Code. The declaration to be made at the time of the relevant debate. No such interests were declared on this occasion.

110

MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 15 July 2008 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

111

CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

It was reported that the Culture and Communities Select Committee had decided not to proceed with a separate budget briefing this year, and intended to deal with budget scrutiny as part of their January meeting. Members representing other Select Committees felt that the separate briefing was valuable and they would wish to proceed with the arrangements being made in November and December.

The Chairman then went on to report on partnership scrutiny, where positive responses had been received from several District Councils and meetings to consider approaches to scrutiny would be arranged.

Scrutiny Team

Chief Executive (Emma Gordon)

Scrutiny Team

112

CORPORATE MANSLAUGHTER AND CORPORATE HOMICIDE ACT 2007

The Committee considered a presentation by the Chief Executive (Item 5(a) in the Minute Book) together with the report on the subject previously adopted by Cabinet (Item 5(b) in the Minute Book). In the case of Property, Business and Regulatory Department, the risks were felt to be relatively low and the main areas to consider were organisation of events, construction and the work of Community Safety Officers, all of which required a measured and proportionate approach to the management of risk. There was, in any event, a robust health and safety culture in place within the Department, together with appropriate training.

In response to questions, it was explained that decisions on policy or resource allocation would not normally be expected to lead to legal action under the Act in the event of fatalities occurring, so long as the decisions had been reasonably taken in the knowledge of all the relevant facts. Corporate manslaughter could apply if decision makers had been fully aware of a problem or risk, but repeatedly and knowingly did nothing to counter it - the test was that there must be a gross breach of the relevant duty of care. There was, as yet, no case law on the subject.

The Committee thanked the officers concerned for their presentation. It was noted that the subject of corporate manslaughter would be the subject of a Members' briefing in an attempt to ensure that the implications were widely understood across the County Council.

113

INSURANCE AND SELF INSURANCE

The Committee considered a presentation by the Peter Andrews, Corporate Risk Manager, Chief Executive's Department (Item 6 in the Minute Book). Among the salient points highlighted by Members were:

· Evidence that the safer schools partnership and the Fire and Rescue Service's counter-arson programme were having results in containing the rise in arson attacks and their costs, through a programme of behavioural change, preventive actions and other features, such as improved lighting, fencing and CCTV.

· With regard to property insurance, it might be worth looking at the possibility of taking out flood cover in view of the potential effects of global warming, rising sea levels and more extreme weather conditions.

· Endorsement of the policy that, like most other comparable authorities, the County Council should self insure most risks up to £5 million. In general terms the Committee were pleased to note that in Hampshire numbers of claims were well below the average for comparable authorities, and asked for an annual update on trends in insurance, self insurance and their respective costs.

Chief Executive (Peter Andrews)

(Emma Gordon) to add to work programme

114

HUMAN RESOURCES ACTION PLAN UPDATE

The Committee received a presentation by the Director of Human Resources (Item 7 in the Minute Book). The main issues highlighted by the Committee were:

· Hampshire County Council is below the national average for short-term sickness, but above the national average for long term sickness.

· Adult social care as a department had particular problems with the impact of sickness levels.

· Endorsement for the practical and strategic approach being taken to help managers deal with and reduce levels of sickness absence, with resultant cost benefits to the County Council.

· The importance of succession planning, bringing forward talent and management development as means of ensuring that the County Council could grow its own workforce.

· Question about employing staff retired on sickness grounds; the Committee recommended that more be done to check references/background to ensure that this does not happen.

· Endorsement of the vision in the Human Resources Department.

The Committee thanked the Director of Human Resources for his presentation and asked for a report back on progress in a year's time.

Human Resources (Gavin Wright)

Chief Executive

(Emma Gordon to update the work programme)

115

COMPLAINTS MANAGEMENT

The Committee considered the report of the Chief Executive (Item 8 in the Minute Book)on complaints and compliments and how they were handled by the County Council. Particular features were: .

· Only 12 complaints had escalated to be dealt with by the corporate complaints unit in the Chief Executive's Department, all the rest being resolved locally within departments.

· The Local Government Ombudsman's letter provided evidence of a reduced volume of complaints, improved performance in dealing with them and no findings of maladministration against the County Council.

· Links were being developed with HantsDirect in order to make further improvements to the way in which the County Council responded to customers, in order to avoid giving rise to situations which caused complaints in the first place.

· The need to react positively to complaints as a source of feedback on the County Council and its services.

The Committee welcomed the report and evidence of improved progress on complaints handling over the past year.

116

HANTSDIRECT PHASE III

The Committee considered a short presentation by the Chief Executive (Item 9 in the Minute Book) on progress with implementation of Phase III of the Contact Centre. The Committee noted that there was currently evidence of improvement following a temporary dip in performance during the August/September period. Those problems had been overcome and a pattern of effective recruitment, promotion and management development was in place. Members drew attention to the need for clear communications as to which numbers the public should use, particularly with regard to Adult Services area offices, during the course of rolling out Phase III. It was important that people were not passed around from one number to another in an attempt to resolve their queries. The Committee asked for a further update on progress in a year's time.

Chief Executive (Michelle Smith)

(Emma Gordon) to update the work programme

117

HANTSFILE

The Committee considered a briefing paper by the County Treasurer (Item 10 in the Minute Book) on the storage, retrieval and management of the County Council's data systems. Key features were the effective use of new software, integration of information systems and compliance with Freedom of Information and Data Protection legislation. There would be great benefits to be derived from having single electronic social care records, so long as these could be reconciled with other systems such as SAP. The ultimate aim was greater efficiency through having a single source of documents and records, rather than multiple versions.

County Treasurer (Bevis Ingram)

118

LARGE OUTSTANDING DEBTS

The Committee considered a briefing note by the County Treasurer (Item 11 in the Minute Book) on the basis requested at their last meeting. They had no questions on the information provided and thanked the County Treasurer for the report.

119

CABINET RESPONSE TO THE RECOMMENDATIONS ON REVIEW OF SCRUTINY ARRANGEMENTS

The Committee considered the report of the Chief Executive (Item 12 in the Minute Book) giving details of the Cabinet response to the review of scrutiny arrangements. Members welcomed the responses, outcomes and actions suggested, and drew attention to the need for dependable administrative and project support to be made available to reinforce the scrutiny process. The Chief Executive reported that it was now proposed to publish the report with the recommendations and actions proposed.

RESOLVED:

That approval be given to the proposed responses and actions following the review of scrutiny arrangements, as contained within Annex A of the report.

Chief Executive (Emma Gordon)

120

CRITERIA FOR PRIORITISING IN-DEPTH REVIEWS

The Committee considered the report of the Chief Executive (Item 13 in the Minute Book) pursuant to recommendation M of the scrutiny review (see Minute 119 above).

RESOLVED:

1 That the draft criteria set out within the report be circulated for comment and feedback as follows:

· Policy and Resources Select Committee Members


· Cabinet and other County Councillors


· Chief Executive and Corporate Management Team


· Hampshire Link

2 That the criteria be reviewed in 12 months time to take account of any feedback received from districts or other partner organisations.

Chief Executive (Emma Gordon)

Scrutiny Team

121

RESPONSE TO THE RECOMMENDATIONS ON THE REVIEW OF FURNITURE PROCUREMENT AND REPLACEMENT

The Committee considered the response to the furniture scrutiny from the Executive Member for Policy and Resources (copy of letter at item 14 in the Minute Book). The issue of coding expenditure highlighted in recommendation 2 was being dealt with by the County Treasurer through the various departmental finance heads of profession and the aim was to rationalise these to just two codes for the financial year 2009/10 onwards. This will enable the costs of furniture to be highlighted. The Committee welcomed the practical response from the Executive Member for Policy and Resources to the issues raised in the course of the furniture scrutiny.

County Treasurer

(Bevis Ingram)

122

REVIEWS PROPOSED BY OTHER COMMITTEES\

The Committee considered a proposal by the environment and Transportation Committee to proceed with a review on the needs, development costs, phasing and procurement of road infrastructure required to support housing growth in Hampshire up to 2026 (Item 15 in the Minute Book).

RESOLVED:

That approval be given to the proposed scrutiny of road infrastructure to be undertaken by the Environment and Transportation Committee, on the basis set out in item 15.

123

FORWARD LOOKING WORK PROGRAMME

The Committee received details of proposals for their future work programme (Item 16 in the Minute Book). The programme was endorsed, subject to the addition of the various subjects identified at the meeting and referred to in these Minutes.