Agenda and minutes

To confirm the Minutes of the Meeting held on 27 June 2017 (to be laid on the table 30 minutes before the meeting).

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 26 June 2017 were confirmed as a correct record and signed.

To receive apologies for absence and note any substitutions.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Sam Prichard, Bob Upton and Simon Thornton. Councillors Patricia Ellis and Nabeel Nasir were in attendance as substitutes.

To receive from Members declarations of interests in relation to any items included on the agenda for this meeting, in accordance with Waverley’s Code of Local Government Conduct.

There were no declarations of interests in connection with items on the agenda.

To receive a presentation from Karen Simmonds, Public Health England (Surrey County Council) and to endorse the scope for scrutiny review on factors affecting life expectancy disparity in the Borough.

Recommendation

That the scope for scrutiny review on factors affecting life expectancy disparity in the Borough be endorsed.

The Committee received a presentation from Karen Simmons, the Surrey County Council public health lead for the Waverley area. The presentation was regarding health inequalities and the Districts role in its contribution to Public Health.

The Committee was reminded that a review to address health inequalities in the Borough had been agreed at its last meeting. The starting point for this review was information from Public Health England for the Waverley District in the Health Profile 2016. It stated that Life expectancy in the Borough was 7.4 years lower for men and 11.8 years lower for women in the most deprived areas compared with the least deprived areas. These statistics were surprising and so the Committee had agreed that they needed to explore the following areas in more detail:

1)         How the wider determents of health such as housing, employment, cost of living, environment, which included social isolation, transport infrastructure & social capital, and career development & opportunity,  contributed and affected the health and mental health of residents and overall life expectancy.

2)         The second area related to how our lifestyles and health behaviours affect life expectancy , such as smoking and drinking

3)         And thirdly looking into how accessible health and mental health care is for our residents.

Since that meeting, Alex Sargeson, the Scrutiny Policy Officer, had produced a scoping report and the following Councillors had agreed to form a working group to take the work forward: Councillors Andy Macleod, Liz Wheatley, Patricia Ellis, Nabeel Nasir, Nick Williams and Sam Pritchard

The Scoping Report detailed the rationale and background to the review, the Terms of Reference and the Key themes to explore as well as a list of people/organisations that they may wish to invite as witnesses.

The Committee thanked Karen for her presentation which Members had found very informative and agreed that they should go forward with the scope as proposed. They also felt that the Presentation would benefit being received by the Executive at a future meeting. 

The report provides an analysis of the Council’s performance in the first quarter of 2017/18 in the service area of Community Services. Annexe 1 to the report details performance against key indicators.

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Community Wellbeing Overview & Scrutiny Committee:

1.      Considers the performance figures for Quarter 1, and agrees any observations or recommendations about the performance and progress towards target it wishes to make to the Executive.

2.      Considers the options for additional performance indicators set out at paragraph 3 and make recommendations on the preferred options to the Executive.

The Committee received the quarterly performance report which provided an analysis of the Council’s performance in the first quarter of 2017/18 in the Service Area of Community Services. Nora Copping, the Council’s Policy and Performance Officer, presented the findings to the Committee and she outlined some possible changes.

The Committee considered the report and agreed that the following additional indicators be included in future reports:

Careline:

1.         the Total number of clients which in the past  couple of years remained at the        steady level of around 1800 clients at any given time

2.         the number of calls per quarter

3.         the Critical faults dealt with within 48 hours, for which a 95% quarterly target

Waverley Training Services:

1.         the overall Apprentice success rate at  80% quarterly target recommended

2.         the Apprentice timely success rate, measuring achievement of qualification in       the expected timescale with the recommended quarterly target of 75%

3.         the Number of apprentices on study programmes, with a yearly target of 30           apprentices, which breaks down to 7.5 apprentices per quarter.

Leisure:

1.         the Numbers attending weight management or other wellbeing classes and           activities

The Committee also agreed that they should have a performance indicator for the number of GP referrals to leisure centres and information regarding usage of health and wellbeing activities provided by the leisure centres. Furthermore, in the next report there would be more information provided about the drop in performance for the number of visits to Farnham Leisure Centre.

This report summarises the Council’s safeguarding responsibilities and proposes the new combined Safeguarding Policy for Children and Adults at Risk.

Recommendation

That the Community Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee recommend adoption of the Safeguarding Policy for Children and Adults at Risk to Council via the Executive.

The Committee received a report summarising the Council’s safeguarding responsibilities and proposed a new combined Safeguarding Policy for Children and Adults at Risk. The Council currently had two Policies which were adopted in late 2014 and merging these would adhere to Surrey County Council’s adopted and recommended format and, therefore, would ensure a consistent safeguarding Policy was adopted by District and Boroughs through the County. Furthermore, the new Policy updated current procedures to reflect best practice, clarified the reporting process and highlighted the differing forms of abuse and indicators as well as summarising other related policies and strategies.

Andrew Smith, the Head of Strategic Housing and Delivery and Lead Safeguarding Officer, provided Members with a presentation on the reasons for the Safeguarding Policy and the governance arrangements. He also outlined the key changes and the procedure to follow if a person had a safeguarding concern. Members noted that there was a Surrey Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) in place and was the single point of contact for reporting concerns. Further details are attached to these minutes in the slides.

The Committee thanked Andrew for the presentation and was in full support of the approach being taken. They found the joined up procedure much easier to follow and it clearly listed what someone should do when concerns were raised. Accordingly, the Committee

RESOLVED that the Safeguarding Policy be endorsed.   

The purpose of this report is to update the Committee on the transfer of the Community Meals Service and progress to date.

Recommendation

That the Committee considers the findings of this report and provides feedback to officers.

The Committee received an update on the transfer of the community Meals Service and progress to date. Members were advised that the new service transferred on 16 January 2017 with the offer of a 5 day a week service which provided a hot freshly cooked meal and optional afternoon tea. The service was provided from the following:

·         Brightwells Gostrey Centre – Farnham Area

·         Haslewey Community Centre – Haslemere Area

·         Rowleys Centre for the Community – Cranleigh Area

·         Waverley Borough Council staff restaurant – Godalming Area

The Committee was informed that officers had worked with the new providers to assist with the development of business plans and cashflow forecasts to determine the levels of grant funding to support the transition of the service. The Council provided start up funding of £4,000 to each organisation for the first 3 months of the financial year and maintained the same level of funding previously for the Royal Voluntary Service (RVS) Meals on Wheels Service for 2017/18 to support the first full financial year of the service. It also provided £40,000 to purchase equipment necessary to deliver the service.

Since the new service had been in place, the following key points were noted:

·         Clients accessing the service 110 – each provider has seen a high turnover of

            clients using the service;

·         10,283 hot meals delivered across the borough – this increased significantly in the second quarter (1 April – 30 June);

·         748 frozen meals delivered; and

·         1,026 teas delivered.

Looking forward, the team was looking at marketing campaigns and leaflet drops to encourage new clients. The feedback they had received was largely positive with clients increasing the amount of days that they receive meals due to them being ‘much nicer’ than previously. Family members of clients had reported that the meals were much healthier and their parent looked healthier and increased energy.

The Committee raised some concern about the need for volunteers to take the meals to the clients, and in some areas this could be some distance. Officers advised that they had placed an article in Your Waverley to encourage volunteers and that the Council ran a volunteering scheme which was well received. Lessons had been learnt too in the first few months about ensuring meals stayed warm and this had been resolved.

The Committee confirmed its support for this service and suggested that officers looked to speak to GPs for referrals where it was felt necessary. They could also attend town/village events to promote the service and leaflets could be placed in Town and Parish Councils and notice boards. Members were pleased that they could continue to run the service and were pleased with the positive feedback that had been received.  

To appoint a Sub-group to meet early October to make comments and observations on the Executive Panel’s Proposals.

The Committee RESOLVED that a Service Level Agreement Group be established to consider the funding for SLAs and the following be Members of this Group: Councillors Mike Hodge, Denis Leigh, Val Henry, Nabeel Nasir and Patricia Ellis.

To receive a verbal update on the Council’s decision to close the public toilets in Farncombe, Godalming and Haslemere following discussions with Godalming and Haslemere Town Councils.

The Committee received an update on the recent closure of the public toilets in Godalming, Farncombe and Haslemere. Members were advised that conversations with Town and Parish Councils continued and it was likely that the lease would be transferred to them. It was noted that this process had been followed in Farnham and Cranleigh successfully and the toilets could remain open.

The Community wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny committee, along with the O&S Co-ordinating Board is responsible for managing the Committee’s work programme.

The work programme includes items agreed at the O&S Coordinating Board and takes account of items identified on the latest Executive Forward Programme as to come forward for decision. Both documents are attached to review.

A Scrutiny tracker has been produced to assist the Committee in monitoring the recommendations that have been agreed at its meetings. The tracker details the latest position on the implementation of these recommendations.

Members are invited to identify any additional topics that the Committee may wish to add to its work programme.

Recommendation

Members are invited to consider their work programme and make any comments and/or amendments they consider necessary, including suggestions for any additional topics that the Committee may wish to add to its work programme. 

The Committee reviewed the Committee work programme. It was felt that they should receive an update on the Ambulance response times. Members noted that there would be a member briefing from the police on Community Engagement arranged and all were welcome to attend.