Agenda and minutes

1.         This meeting is to be webcast. Members are reminded of the need to activate their microphones before speaking.

2.         The Chairman will read the following announcement:

“This meeting will be webcast live to the Internet and will be archived for later viewing. Copies of recordings may be made available on request.

By entering the chamber’s lower seating area you consenting to becoming part of the webcast.

If you wish to avoid being filmed you should move to the public gallery or speak to the webcasting officer”

The Chairman reminded everyone present that the meeting would be broadcast live to the Internet, and that the Council had adopted a protocol for the webcasting of its meetings.

(Director of Governance). To report the appointment of any substitute members for the meeting.

It was noted that Councillor A Patel was substituting for Councillor T Church; Councillor L Hughes was substituting for Councillor N Avey; and Councillor Janet Whitehouse was substituting for Councillor B Surtees.

Decisions required:

To confirm the minutes of the meetings of the Committee held on 27 April 2015.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the Committee meeting held on 27 April 2015 be signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

(Director of Governance). To declare interests in any items on the agenda.

In considering whether to declare a personal or a prejudicial interest under the Code of Conduct, Overview & Scrutiny members are asked pay particular attention to paragraph 11 of the Code in addition to the more familiar requirements.

This requires the declaration of a personal and prejudicial interest in any matter before an OS Committee which relates to a decision of or action by another Committee or Sub Committee of the Council, a Joint Committee or Joint Sub Committee in which the Council is involved and of which the Councillor is also a member.

Paragraph 11 does not refer to Cabinet decisions or attendance at an OS meeting purely for the purpose of answering questions or providing information on such a matter.

There were no declarations of interest made pursuant to the Member’s Code of Conduct.

Whipps Cross University Hospital provides a range of general inpatient, outpatient and other medical and emergency services to a significant part of the population of the Epping Forest District. The Committee has been extremely worried to read the recent report of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on its ‘inadequate’ judgement of the quality of care at Whipps Cross Hospital, particularly in terms of the implications of the findings of the Commission for the healthcare requirements of the Council’s residents. A copy of the report of the CQC is attached as an appendix to this report.

Lyn Hill-Tout, the Interim Managing Director of Whipps Cross and Dr. Mike Roberts, the interim Medical Director at the hospital, will be attending the meeting to report to members in connection with Barts Health NHS Trust’s detailed plans for improvement in the areas of concern identified by the CQC. Jo Carter, the Trust’s Stakeholder Relations Manager, will also be in attendance.

Essex County Council has delegated its health scrutiny powers in the south of the county to the Outer North East London Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC). The County Council nominates one member to this body (Councillor Chris Pond) and this Council is able to also nominate one member representative to the HOSC, although this position hasn’t been appointed to in recent years. At the request of the Committee at its last meeting, a new member appointment was considered at the recent annual Council meeting.

Barts Health NHS Trust has indicated that it will provide its key local authority partners (including this Council and Waltham Forest and Redbridge London Borough Councils) with a regular report on the progress of its improvement plan for Whipps Cross Hospital. This will be published in the Council Bulletin.

The Committee welcomed Lyn Hill-Tout, the interim Managing Director of Whipps Cross University Hospital. She was there to report to members on Barts Health NHS Trust’s detailed plans for improvement in the areas of concern identified by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The Committee noted that Ms Hill-Tout had only been in post for 8 weeks, although she has had 42 years in the NHS and was last at the Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust; she had retired two years ago but was very experienced in working with hospitals with damming CQC reports.

It was noted that:

·         the CQC inspection of Whipps Cross took place in November 2014 by a team of about 20 inspectors with different expertise;

·         five domains were used to rate the quality of services: safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led;

·         the overall CQC rating of Whipps Cross was ‘inadequate’;

·         4 warning notices were issued by the CQC plus specific compliance actions;

·         Key concerns arising from the inspections: insufficient staff levels; a persisting culture of bullying and harassment; bed occupancy that is too high; and a failure to meet national waiting times targets; part of these concerns related to the high levels of agency staff and low staff moral;

·         the four warning notices related to the following regulations: staffing; incidents and learning (staff did not feel that anything was being done); flow, escalation, end of life care; and complaints and PALS;

·         the four compliance actions related to safeguarding; consent; records; and equipment;

·         there were however areas of outstanding practice, one was the effective management of pain relief for children and adults; and their ‘Great Expectations’  maternity programme;

·         four major hospital services at Whipps Cross (surgery, critical care, maternity and gynaecology, and services for children and young people) were rated as good for delivering caring treatment;

·         other hospitals in the Barts Health (The Royal London and Newham) are also to be inspected and these report would form an overall Barts Health provider report;

·         the NHS Trust Development Authority (TDA) has now placed Barts Health in special measures;

·         these were designed to deliver service improvements at pace by providing support where it was most needed. Part of this support includes the appointment of an Improvement Director and the opportunity to partner with a high-performing trust;

·         staff were very relieved when that this report was produced as it highlighted their concerns;

·         staff were confused about who to go to with their concerns and this had resulted in the strengthening of site leadership;

·         they had now strengthened the site leadership team and Site Management Board at Whipps Cross and had put in site based leads for each of their Clinical Academic Groups;

·         there were similar models in place for The Royal London and Newham;

·         there would be staff events and open sessions to find out what needed to be improved;

·         improvement programmes would be developed in partnership with staff, staff representatives, patients and partner organisations;

·         Whipps Cross was still needed and has a future in providing acute healthcare to its local population,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

RECOMMENDATION:

To agree the last minutes of the last five Scrutiny Panel meetings.

As the five Scrutiny Panels have now been disbanded and replaced by  four Select Committees, the notes of their last  meetings are in need of being agreed.

To this end the last minutes of the Housing Scrutiny Panel (24 March 2015); the Constitution and Member Services Scrutiny Panel (3 March and 17 March 2015 (reconvened meeting)); the Finance and Performance Management Scrutiny Panel (10 March 2015); the Safer Cleaner Greener Scrutiny Panel (28 April 2015); and the Planning Services Scrutiny Panel (14 April 2015) are attached to this agenda for agreement by their parent Committee.

RESOLVED:

That the Committee agreed the minutes of the last five Scrutiny Panel meetings now that they have been disbanded and replaced by four Select Committees.

The following Panel meetings minutes were agreed:

·         Housing Scrutiny Panel minutes for 24 March 2015;

·         Constitution and Member Services Scrutiny Panel minutes for 3 March and 17 March 2015 (reconvened meeting);

·         Finance and Performance Management Scrutiny Panel minutes for 10 March 2015;

·         Safer Cleaner Greener Scrutiny Panel meeting for 28 April 2015; and

·         Planning Services Scrutiny Panel meeting for 14 April 2015.

(Leader) To review the Cabinet’s Key Objectives and Forward Plan for the coming year.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Chris Whitbread introduced the Cabinet’s forward plan for the coming year.

Councillor Mohindra noted that some of the target dates had already passed, being April or May. Councillor Whitbread replied that the Local Plan report would be going to the next meeting of the Cabinet and the other reports would be going forward shortly.

Councillor Whitehouse asked how far the objective on ensuring that the Council understood the effects on an aging population and to work with other agencies to respond to these effects. The Director of Neighbourhoods replied that a number of pieces of work will be undertaken by a graduate trainee on this. A scope for a review had not been formalised as yet, but he would ensure that members have an opportunity comment on this process.

Councillor Wagland noted that there were two things missing from the plan and they were the Waste Contract and health inequality reports that said they we were higher than the national average for hip fractures and car accidents. Councillor Whitbread responded that it was a ‘live’ document and could be adapted over time.

RESOLVED:

That the Cabinet’s forward plan for the coming year be noted.

(Director of Governance) To consider the attached report.

The Committee  reviewed the report setting out the final outturn and progress made of the Council’s Key Objectives for 2014/15.

They noted that:

(a)  65% of the individual deliverables or actions supporting the key objectives had been achieved; and

(b)  35% of the deliverables or actions were not completed by year-end.

Councillor Mohindra noted that on page 254 of the agenda, item 5 (a) (i), the percentages appear to be wrong for either the second or third quarter. Mr Hill said he would find out which was right.

RESOLVED:

The Committee noted the end of year position of the Council’s Key Objectives for 2014/15.

Decision Required:

(1)        To appoint members to the following Select Committees in accordance with pro-rata in the proportions shown below (full name list to follow):

(2)        To consider requests for appointments to Select Committees by non affiliated members; and

(3)        To appoint a Chairman and a Vice Chairman to the following Select Committees:

1.         (Director of Governance). The Council has agreed that pro rata apply to Overview and Scrutiny Select Committees only. The Overview and Scrutiny rules provide that the memberships must reflect pro rata requirements and the lowest number of members required to achieve cross-party representation whilst allowing the inclusion of members who are not members of a political group or are not members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. This year it has been agreed by  Group Leaders that the Select Committees should have 11 members.

2.         The Committee are asked to make appointments to Select Committees in accordance with the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure rules.

3.            Nominations to Chairman and Vice Chairman of these Select Committees are excluded from the calculation required under the Council's protocol regarding allocation of Chairman and Vice-Chairman positions between the political groups.

4.         Nominations to the Select Committees, which may be submitted up until the day of the meeting, were sought through officer liaison with the Group Leaders and via the Appointments Panel. A list of any further nominations will be tabled at the meeting.

The Committee were asked to make appointments to Select Committees in accordance with the Overview and Scrutiny rules. The Committee were reminded that the Council had agreed pro rata applied to Select Committees and that membership should be kept to a minimum to allow each Group to have representation. It was noted that on this basis it had been agreed by group leaders that Panels would consist of 11 Members, including any independent member that wished to be a member of a Panel.

It was reported that nominations to Chairman and Vice Chairman to Select Committees were excluded from the pro rata calculation rules required for such positions contained in the Council’s constitution.

RESOLVED:

That the appointments to Select Committees annexed to these minutes be adopted.

Recommendation:

(1)          To appoint members to the two existing Task and Finish Panels; and

(2)          To agree the Terms of Reference for the Youth Engagement Review Task and Finish Panel

1.            (Director of Governance) Last year this Committee set up two Task and Finish Panels, the Grant Aid Review Task and Finish Panel and the Youth Engagement Review Task and Finish Panel.

2.            The Terms of Reference  for the Youth Engagement Review Task and Finish Panel is attached and will need to be agreed by the Committee.

3.         This Committee had also requested that the membership of these Panels be kept into the new year.

Last Years Grant Aid Review Task and Finish Panels consisted of:

Caroline Pond (Chairman) (LRA);

J Knapman (Vice Chairman) (Con);

T Boyce (Con);

A Mitchell (Con);

S Murray (Ind);

G Shiell (Con); and

B Surtees (LibDem)

The Youth Engagement Review Task and Finish Panel consisted of:

S Murray (Chairman) (Ind);

G Mohindra (Vice-Chairman) (Con);

R Butler (UKIP);

C Roberts (LRA);

B Surtees (Lib Dem); and

Plus 1

K Adams - was not re-elected in May and therefore a vacancy has now arisen on this Panel.

4.         The Overview and Scrutiny Rules state that 'Task and Finish' Scrutiny Panels shall be flexible as to the number of Councillors appointed to membership.  There is no restriction on the numbers appointed.

5.         Any Councillor may be a member of a 'Task and Finish' Scrutiny Panel, save that a member of the Cabinet may not be a member of any Panel which bears directly on his or her portfolio. Additionally no 'Task and Finish' Scrutiny Panel can be comprised of members of a single political group only.

6.         It is a requirement of the procedure rules that a Chairman and Vice - Chairman should be appointed to each Panel.

The Committee considered the membership for the continuance of the Grant Aid Review Task and Finish Panel and the Youth Engagement Review Task and Finish Panel. They agreed that it should mirror, as far as possible, the make up of the previous Task and Finish Panels in terms of membership.

RESOLVED:

(1) That the membership of the Grant Aid Review Task and Finish Panel be:

Cllr C P Pond (Chairman)

Cllr J Knapman (Vice Chairman)

Cllr T Boyce

Cllr A Mitchell

Cllr S Murray

Cllr G Shiell

Cllr B Surtees

(2) That the membership of the Youth Engagement Review Task and Finish Panel be:

Cllr S Murray (Chairman)

Cllr G Mohindra (Vice-Chairman)

Cllr S Neville

Cllr A Patel

Cllr C Roberts

Cllr B Surtees

(3) That the Terms of Reference for the Youth Engagement Review Task and Finish Panel be agreed.

(Director of Governance) to consider the attached report.

The Committee received the amended annual Overview and Scrutiny Report for 2014/15 incorporating comments made at their meeting of 27 April 2015.

Councillor Murray thought it was a very good report and wanted to give his thanks to the Scrutiny Housing Panel members and officers, and his special thanks to his vice-Chairman. He thought that the case study was a particularly good example of scrutiny work carried out by the Housing Scrutiny Panel.

Councillor Janet Whitehouse commented that she would like the report to be produced as a stand alone document like the Country Care report. Councillor Murray added that it was an important report and a good read and should be a separate document.  Councillor Philip, as the Portfolio Holder responsible said that he would look into this. Councillor Angold-Stephen added that he was in favour of raising the profile of the report and wondered if it could have a glossy front cover to make it eye-catching for public consumption.

The meeting noted that it would also depend on the cost of producing such a stand alone document and how many. Officers would come back with approximate costs for doing this. This was agreed by the Committee.

RESOLVED:

(1)  That the Annual Overview and Scrutiny Report for 2014/15 be agreed and submitted to the Full Council at its meeting on 28 July 2015; and

(2)  That approximate costs for a stand alone annual O&S report be submitted to the Committee in due course.

(a)          To consider the updated work programme

The current Overview and Scrutiny work programme is attached for information.

(b)          Essex County Fire and Rescue Service

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service (ECFRS) has recently attended the Council’s Leadership Team in connection with a review of service provision across the county. ECFRS will be developing its proposals over the coming months, with a view to undertaking a public consultation exercise from November 2015 to January 2016, and has expressed a wish to make a presentation to the committee as part of this exercise.

The only meeting of the Committee during the period of the public consultation is on 5 January 2016. As the Epping Forest Youth Council is also due to attend this meeting, the Committee is requested to consider how it wishes to approach these respective presentations.

(c)          Reserve Programme

A reserve list of scrutiny topics is required to ensure that the work flow of OSC is continuous.

OSC will ‘pull out’ items from the list and allocate them accordingly once space becomes available in the work programme following the completion of existing reviews.

Members can put forward any further suggestions for inclusion in the reserve list either during the meeting or at a later date.

Existing review items will be dealt with first, then time will be allocated to the items contained in the reserve work plan.

A blank PICK form is attached for members use.

(a)          Overview and Scrutiny Committee

The Committee noted their preliminary work programme for the year ahead. They noted that the Essex County Fire and Rescue Service wished to address the Committee in January 2016 in connection with their review of service provision and the connected public consultation exercise.

The Youth Council was also due to attend the January meeting to give their annual update of the work they had undertaken over the past year.

The Committee agreed that the Fire and Rescue Service should attend their January 2016 meeting but would also like the Youth Council to attend this meeting and give their presentation.

AGREED: that the Essex County Fire and Rescue Service attend the Committee’s January 2016 meeting as well as the Youth Council at that same meeting.

(b)          Reserve Programme

(1)          Councillor Murray said that he would like an update on the 6^th Form consortium at the end of the year. Councillor Angold-Stephens said he would do a pick form for this.

(2)          Councillor Girling said he would like the Essex Highways Authority to attend a meeting of the Committee.

(3)          Councillor Breare-Hall the Portfolio Holder for the Environment suggested that Overview and Scrutiny have a look at waste collection and especially at the start of the four day collection period and the problems around it. He took the opportunity to offer his sincere apologise to all the residents that were affected by the recent collection problems. He noted that he was very angry about this and had recently met with the senior managers of Biffa. He would also like to thank all the officers who had worked long hours to help us through this period, especially Mr Durrani.

Councillor Murray echoed his thanks for the staff, who worked over and above their normal duty. He also thanked the Portfolio Holder for all the work and hours he had put in on this issue.

Councillor Wagland expressed her concern that there had been a full Council and an Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting in the meantime and this had not been discussed at either. It was noted by Councillor Morgan that this would be discussed at the next Cabinet meeting.

The Chairman asked that a PICK Form be completed and brought back to the next meeting of the Committee.