Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Stafford (substitute Cllr Woodley), Councillor Habermel (substitute Cllr Folkard), Councillor Wexham (substitute Cllr Mulroney) and J Jenkins (Youth Council observer).

The following interests were declared at the meeting:-

(a) Councillors Salter, Courtenay and Flewitt - interest in the referred item / called in items; attended pursuant to the dispensation agreed at Council on 19th July 2012, under S.33 of the Localism Act 2011;

(b) Councillor Salter – agenda item relating to Scrutiny update – non-pecuniary interest – husband is Consultant Surgeon at Southend Hospital and holds senior posts at the Hospital; son-in-law is GP; daughter is a doctor at Broomfield Hospital;

(c) Councillor Nevin - agenda item relating to - Scrutiny update - non-pecuniary – 2 children work at MEHT; sister works at Basildon Hospital; NHS employee outside area; previous employee at Southend and MEHT Hospitals;

(d) Councillor Boyd - agenda item relating to School Progress report – non-pecuniary – Governor at Westcliff High School for Girls and South East Essex Academy Trust, south east Essex Teaching School Alliance;

(e) Councillor Arscott - agenda item relating to Schools Progress report – non pecuniary – Governor at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School;

(f) Councillor Borton – agenda items relating to – MPR; Mental Health Strategy - non-pecuniary – daughter mental health nurse at Rochford Hospital;

(g) Councillor Assenheim – agenda item relating to Sheltered Housing review – non-pecuniary - sister lives in sheltered housing;

(h) Councillor Jones – agenda item relating to – Mental Health Strategy – non-pecuniary – involved in parenting programme, mentioned;

(i) Councillor Jones – agenda item relating to Schools Progress report – non-pecuniary – parent of child attending St Bernard’s;

(j) Councillor Walker – agenda item relating to Schools Progress report – non-pecuniary – wife teaches at West Leigh primary school;

(k) Councillor Flewitt – agenda item relating to Sheltered Housing Review – non-pecuniary – parent lives in retirement home;

(l) E Lusty- agenda item relating to – Schools Progress report – non-pecuniary – teacher at SHSB; children attend West Leigh primary school; son attends SHSB;

(m) E Lusty – agenda item relating to Scrutiny update – non-pecuniary – husband is orthopaedic Consultant Surgeon at Southend Hospital / Wellesley Hospital.

Councillor Courtenay, the Executive Councillor for Children & Learning responded to a written question from Mr Webb and Councillor Salter, the Executive Councillor for Health and Adult Social Care responded to a written question from Mr Webb.

Resolved:-

That the Minutes of the Meeting held on Tuesday, 11^th October, 2016 be confirmed as a correct record and signed.

Members are reminded to bring with them the most recent MPR for period ending September 2016 which was circulated recently.

Comments / questions should be made at the appropriate Scrutiny Committee relevant to the subject matter.

The Committee considered Minute 439 of Cabinet held on 8^th November 2016 together with the Monthly Performance Report (MPR) covering the period to end September 2016, which had been circulated recently.

Resolved:-

That the report be noted.

Note:- This is an Executive Function.

Executive Councillor:- As appropriate to the item.

Minute 449 (Cabinet Book 1 –Agenda Item 15 refers)

Called in by Councillors Borton and Jones

The Committee considered Minute 449 of Cabinet held on 8^th November, 2016, which had been called in to scrutiny, together with a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (People) which presented a draft of the Success for All Children Group’s Annual Report April 2015 – March 2016.

In response to questions, the Executive Councillor said that he would look into how best to raise the profile and celebrate successes from use of the Pupil premium funding; and also how best to flag pressures and challenges in the next Annual Report.

Resolved:-

That the following decision of Cabinet be noted:-

“That the submitted report be noted.”

Note:-This is an Executive Function

Executive Councillor:- Courtenay

Minute 448 (Cabinet Book 2 –Agenda Item 16 refers)

Called in by Councillors Willis, Nevin, Woodley and Assenheim

The Committee considered Minute 450 of Cabinet held on 8^th November, 2016, which had been called in to scrutiny, together with a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (People) which presented the draft Local Account of Adult Social Care services in 2015-16, including priorities and plans for 2016-17.

In response to questions, the Executive Councillor and Director of Adult Social Care & Housing agreed to:-

·         Requests for support (page 11) – clarify figures and also include figures on where services were provided / not provided;

·         Pre and post diagnostic dementia support (page 15) – circulate list of activities and groups on offer;

·         PREVENT (page 30) – circulate information on criteria on vulnerable young people, vulnerable adults and progression.

Resolved:-

That the following decision of Cabinet be noted:-

“That the draft Local Account be noted as the Council’s self-assessment for these services”.

Note:-This is an Executive Function

Executive Councillor:- Salter

This item had previously been the subject of Pre-Cabinet scrutiny.

Minute 451 (Cabinet Book 2 –Agenda Item 17 refers)

Called in by Councillors Norman, Jones, Woodley and Assenheim

This item also called into Policy & Resources Scrutiny Committee

The Committee considered Minute 451 of Cabinet held on 8^th November, 2016, which had been called in to the People and Policy & Resources Scrutiny Committees, together with a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (People) on the outcome of the review of housing need of older people in the Borough which had been undertaken by Peter Fletcher Associates (PFA).

In response to questions, the Executive Councillor agreed to:-

·         With regard to sheltered housing supply (refer to pages 21, 23, 25, 46 /47 of PFA report) – will re look at figures, as it is essential that all sheltered housing in the Borough is identified, and the report is a starting point for discussions at the proposed workshops;

·         Provide definition of ‘sheltered housing’ for Councillors.

Resolved:-

That the following decisions of Cabinet be noted:-

“1. That the contents of the submitted report and the accompanying PFA Report, be noted.

2. That a series of workshops and working groups be convened for the purpose of exploring in detail the main themes of the report, namely:

- Physical structure of the schemes – including accessibility within Schemes and the size of individual accommodation units.

- Community & Locality – location of Schemes in relation to local facilities (i.e. accessibility to local amenities and transport links) and encouraging community access to Scheme facilities as part of a wider Locality approach to services.

- Meeting Housing, Care and Support needs of older people – how Schemes enable tenants to stay in their homes as they become frailer, developing a criteria for sheltered housing based on need, and developing use of Telecare, Telehealth, and assistive technology options.

3. That the workshops and working groups be convened and facilitated by officers from the strategic housing service, South Essex Homes, and adult social care services, and be supported and attended by elected Members as key stakeholders and decision makers.

4. That the outcome of these workshops and working groups be presented as a follow up Cabinet report in the spring of 2017 with recommended options for developing a model of sheltered housing provision in order to meet the housing need of older people in Southend”.

Note:-This is an Executive Function

Executive Councillor:- Flewitt and Salter

(This is a pre-Cabinet scrutiny item).

The Committee considered a report by the Deputy Chief Executive (People) by way of pre-Cabinet scrutiny. This presented the draft Southend, Essex and Thurrock multi partner strategy for mental health and wellbeing for comment prior to it being considered at the Southend Health & Wellbeing Board on 7^th December 2016 and Cabinet in January 2017. The Strategy outlines the strategic direction of travel for the mental health system over the next 5 years. The Southend Implementation Plan is now being worked on.

Committee members made the following observations on the Strategy:-

·         Need voluntary sector to be involved in the implementation plan work;

·         Seems to be an overreliance on public health grant (page 10 Figure 1);

·         Comments by clinicians (‘lack of resourcing’) (page 18) – what measures being put in place to address;

·         With regard to early identification of mental health issues, it was suggested that the train the trainer model would be a good one to use and should utilise educators and youth leaders;

·         The Youth Council representative mentioned that the Youth Council is undertaking some work around mental health ;

·         Reference was made to the Essex CC HOSC Task & Finish group looking into mental health and young people;

·         Offenders with complex and additional needs service (page 63) – useful to have further details on this work shared;

·         Workforce issues in the medical profession.

The Committee discussed the report in detail and there was general consensus and support for this draft strategy and about the content of the report.

Resolved:-

That the draft report be noted and endorsed for submission to Cabinet for consideration at its meeting in January 2017 with the inclusion of the following:

·         Mental health matters (page 4 first paragraph, final sentence) – need to separate out the 2 distinct points being made;

·         Focussing on recovery (page 51) – change use of word ‘someone’ to ‘patient’ as is more recovery focussed.

Note:- This is an Executive Function.

Executive Councillor:- Salter

Report of Deputy Chief Executive (People)

Further to Minute 438 of Cabinet held on 8^th November 2016 the Committee considered a report by the Deputy Chief Executive (People). This updated Members on Southend’s response to the National Transfer Scheme for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC).

Resolved:

That the updated report be noted.

Note:-This is an Executive Function

Executive Councillor :- Courtenay

Report of Chief Executive

The Committee received a report of the Corporate Director for Corporate Services which updated members on a number of health scrutiny matters, Joint Committee work, Success Regime and the in depth scrutiny project.

Resolved:-

1.         That the report and actions taken be noted.

2.         To noted that a special meeting of the Committee has been arranged for Tuesday 20^th December at 6 pm.

Noted: This is a Scrutiny Function.

Resolved:-

That, under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the items of business set out below, on the grounds that they would involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Report of Deputy Chief Executive (People)

The Committee considered a report by the Corporate Director for People which informed Members of the current position with regard to schools causing concern, including Academy developments.

Resolved:-

That the report be noted.

Note:- This is an Executive Function.

Executive Councillor:- Courtenay