Archived decisions

12. 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 the 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 following Members declared personal interests:

Councillors:

Keith Mans - Item 9 - Chairman/Trustee of Charitable Trusts

Anna McNair Scott - Item - 9 Trustee of Charitable Trusts

Chris Thomas - Item 9 - Trustee of Charitable Trusts

Stephen Reid - Item 11 - Works for IDS

13. MINUTES

The Minutes of the Committee held on 23 July 2009 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Arising thereon:

a. Minute No. 4b - Sustainable Communities Act 2007

The Chief Executive reported that Parliament was currently assessing the bids and the position with Hampshire's bid was not yet known.

b. Minute No. 5 - IT Developments and Performance

The Chairman reported that he had had a useful meeting with the Head of IT. The question of the use of Blackberries was raised and the Committee was advised that there were problems with security on these and similar devices and investigations were in hand to see if this could be overcome.

c. Minute No. 7 - Review of Scrutiny

The Chief Executive reported that the Media Protocol was in the process of being completed and would be circulated to Members as soon as possible.

d. Minute No. 8 - Hampshire Scrutiny Conference

The Chief Executive reported that arrangements were in hand for a meeting with District Scrutiny Chairmen to take place in early December 2009. Members would be advised as soon as a date had been confirmed.

e. Minute No. 9 - Councillor Call for Action

The Chief Executive reported that the Councillor Call for Action Protocol was currently being considered by the Cabinet.

14. CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

a. Budget Briefing

The Chairman reported that arrangements had been made for the Committee's Budget Briefing to take place on 2 December 2009.

b. Flooding Review

The Chairman reported that the Environment and Transportation Select Committee light touch scrutiny on flooding would take place on 2 November 2009.

c. Joint Member Network Meeting

The Chairman reported that arrangements were in hand for a Joint Member Network meeting involving all of the Districts to take place in early December 2009.

d. IT Scrutiny Lead

The Chairman requested a Member to volunteer to take the lead on IT issues for the Committee. Councillors Keith Chapman, Keith Evans, Stephen Reid and Bruce Tennent all volunteered. It was agreed that, as Councillor Keith Evans had been appointed the County Council's IT Champion it would be appropriate for him to take on the IT scrutiny lead for the Committee.

15. SUPPORT PROVIDED TO DEAFBLIND CHILDREN AND ADULTS - MOTION REFERRED FROM COUNTY COUNCIL

The Chief Executive presented a report outlining the contextual information following a motion to County Council regarding the Department of Health guidance on support to deafblind children and adults being referred to the Committee for consideration (Item 4 in the Minute book). The Directors of Adult and Children's Services gave details of what happened in each department to provide the necessary support. Members agreed that the provision of services for deafblind people should be considered corporately and highlighted the importance of training standards, user involvement and the need to encourage planning authorities/housing associations and all County Council Departments to be aware of the issues and needs.

RESOLVED:

That the County Council be advised that the services currently in place within Adult and Children's Services for deafblind people already met with the Department of Health Guidance and that the services should be considered corporately taking account of training, standards, user involvement, and encouraging planning authorities/housing associations and all County Council Departments to be aware of the issues and needs of deafblind people.

16. HANTSDIRECT - UPDATE

The Chief Executive presented a report explaining Hantsdirect and gave an update on the progress being made (Item 5 in the Minute Book). The customer vision was to significantly improve the customer experience when contacting the County Council and to reduce, over time, the cost per customer transaction. The key components, benefits and performance levels of the Contact Centre were outlined. The next steps were to develop information/feedback from customers, consider new areas suitable for the contact centre model, use hantsdirect to drive further efficiencies and further development of integrated access strategy. Members were encouraged to visit the Contact Centre if they had not already done so.

It was agreed that the Committee should receive a further update on Hantsdirect in a years time.

RESOLVED:

That the report be received and a further update on progress with hantsdirect be presented to the Committee in a years time.

17. HAMPSHIRE LOCAL AREA AGREEMENT

The Chief Executive presented a report on the background and the progress with the development of the Hampshire Local Area Agreement (Item 6 in the Minute Book). Details were given of each of the themes and the priorities within each. The themes were:

· Children and Young People

· Employment Skills and Business Support

· Accessibility and Transport

· Housing and Accommodation

· Safer Communities

· Health and Wellbeing

· Environment

· Strong Communities

Members commented on the difficulties of understanding the targets underpinning the themes and priorities included in the Local Area Agreement and thought it appropriate that each Select Committee should review a summary of those themes that fell within its remit and consider if any of the workstreams should be included in the committees work programmes.

RESOLVED:

That:

a. the report be received and noted.

b. each Select Committee receives a summary of the Hampshire Local Area Agreement themes within its remit and considers if any of the workstreams should be included in the committees work programmes.

18. CORPORATE BIODIVERSITY ACTION PLAN MONITORING

The Director of Environment presented a report giving an update on the Corporate Biodiversity Action Plan (Item 7 in the Minute Book). The Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 introduced a new duty for all public bodies to have regard to the conservation of biodiversity. Local government was considered to have particularly wide responsibility under this duty and the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs had published guidance to help local authorities implement the duty. The County Council's Corporate Biodiversity Action Plan provided the framework for maintaining and developing services in line with the biodiversity duty.

He outlined the progress and achievements and said that all strategic actions had been successfully achieved and significant developments in service provision secured.

Members raised concerns about possible water pollution and were advised that the Environment Agency had a remit to deal with this

RESOLVED:

That:

a. the report be received and the progress made on the Corporate Biodiversity Action Plan be welcomed.

b. The appropriate Select Committee considers water pollution as an issue for further investigation.

19 . RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION

The Chief Executive presented the report of the Recruitment and Retention Review Panel (Item 8 in the Minute Book). The findings of the review were detailed in the appendix to the Chief Executive's report. The themes considered were:

· workforce issues, the panel learned that the County Council was working to build a workforce suited to new ways of delivering services such as Children's Centres and the Contact Centre. Members expressed interest in opportunities for staff to contribute to the development of the authority's plans with regard to workforce issues.

· skills development, the committee was informed that the County Council has signed the national `skills pledge', indicating its commitment to developing employees' basic skills.

· Recruitment and retention, the County Council was experiencing recruitment difficulties in the Nursing, Residential and Day Care sector, and for Quantity Surveyors. Options for tackling this were explored, including pay and benefits issues such as use of market supplements and rewards for relevant qualifications. It was also noted that the County Council, in conjunction with the Hampshire District/Borough Authorities had had success with the joint online recruitment portal, which helped to promote local government careers. The workshop also touched on the opportunities available for work experience and apprenticeships at the County Council.

· turnover, the panel learned that the turnover rate in Hampshire was higher than the national average, with rates particularly high in Environment, Property, Business and Regulatory Services and Chief Executive's. It was noted that in some areas high turnover was to be expected due to roles being low paid, and tending to be filled by young people who want to move on to progress their careers. The workshop also covered sickness absence, and it was indicated that in some cases there is a relationship between absence, vacancy rate, and turnover.

· Leadership Development, the panel heard about the Hampshire Own Grown programme, which provided development for staff identified as having potential. Members understood that this was a year long programme, and that there was some concern from past delegates regarding how staff are to remain engaged once the programme finishes. It was also mentioned at the workshop that leadership development was now being led corporately through the Leadership and Management Development Strategy.

RESOLVED:

That:

a. The recommendations of the Scrutiny Panel be agreed and presented to the Executive Member for consideration.

b. The monitoring of outcomes of the review, following consideration by the Executive Member, be included in the Committee's work programme.

20. POLICY AND RESOURCES GRANTS TO VOLUNTARY AND COMMUNITY ORGANISATIONS

The Chief Executive presented a report on the work being progressed on the County Council's relations with the voluntary and community sector (Item 9 in the Minute Book). The County Council recognised the value of working with voluntary and community organisations and the contribution they made to help the County Council deliver its aims and objectives. The role of the County Council in supporting and helping to build capacity in the sector was essential in providing an environment for a thriving third sector which was one of the targets set within the Local Area Agreement. The Committee endorsed the need for voluntary services to enable the County Council's programmes to be delivered.

RESOLVED:

That the report be welcomed and an update be presented to the Committee at the appropriate time.

21. FINANCIAL SCRUTINY - BUDGET MONITORING

2009/10

The County Treasurer presented a report giving the County Council's ongoing financial position for the current year (Item 10 in the Minute Book). He outlined the initial budget monitoring reports for 2009/10 which had been submitted to Executive Members. These dealt with progress in achieving budget savings and accommodation of budget pressures and reviewed the first quarter's monitoring of high risk/demand led budgets, overall employee budgets, savings plans and financial health indicators to provide an overall corporate context to budget monitoring. Members requested a simple spreadsheet with totals to be provided with future reports.

RESOLVED:

That the report be received and future reports include a simple spreadsheet with totals

22. IT DISASTER RECOVERY

The Head of IT presented a report about the IT disaster recovery capability and the extent to which departments were aware of the need to reflect limits of IT disaster recovery in their own service continuity plans in the event of a major disruption to IT provision (Item 11 in the Minute Book). Having clear and effective IT disaster recovery policies, procedures and facilities was only part of business continuity planning in a modern organisation. Whilst IT disaster recovery was important, many other factors are important such as: property, availability of scarce skills, communications, etc. Service managers across the County Council had been tasked with ensuring effective business continuity plans for their service exist, considering the level of insurance provided through IT disaster recovery facilities. These business continuity arrangements were reviewed by the Corporate Risk Board, and across departmental Risk Steering Groups. Members were keen to understand the business continuity plans of each department and requested that the County Emergency Planning Officer presents a report to a future meeting of the Committee to give details about this.

RESOLVED:

That the County Emergency Planning Officer presents a report to a future meeting of the Committee to give details about departments business continuity plans.

23. WORK PROGRAMME

The Chief Executive presented the Committee's work programme (Item 12 in the Minute Book).

RESOLVED:

That the Committee's Work Programme be approved

subject to the issues raised at this meeting and the following amendments:

· Corporate risk management be removed

· IT update be made annually from now on with the next report being scheduled for July 2010

· An update on Economic Development be presented to the Committee, including work being done in relation to the economic assessment of Hampshire

· The Committee be advised about the way in which consultants are used within departments

· Efficiency of the new Queen Elizabeth II Court north, east and west buildings be deferred until use of the new facilities had time to bed in.

The Media protocol be sent to members as soon as available

The Scrutiny Officer advises members of the arrangements for the meeting with District Scrutiny Chairmen.

The recommendations of the Committee be reported back to Council.

Scrutiny Officer to update work programme.

Each Select Committee receives a summary of the Hampshire Local Area Agreement themes within its remit and considers if any of the workstreams should be included in the committees work

The appropriate Select Committee considers water pollution as an issue for further investigation.

The recommendations of the Scrutiny Panel be presented to the Executive Member for consideration.

The monitoring of outcomes of the review, following consideration by the Executive Member, be included in the Committee's work programme.

Scrutiny Officer to update the work programme.

The County Emergency Planning Officer presents a report to a future meeting of the Committee to give details about departments business continuity plans.

The work programme be updated.