Agenda and minutes

To confirm the Minutes of the Meeting held on 26 June 2018 (to be laid on the table 30 minutes before the meeting).

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

To receive apologies for absence and note any substitutions.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Mike Hodge. Councillor Patricia Ellis was in attendance as a substitute.

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.

The Chairman to respond to any written questions received from members of the public in accordance with Procedure Rule 10.

Questions should be submitted by 4 September 2018.

There were no questions.

The Chairman to respond to any questions received from Members in accordance with Procedure Rule 11.

Questions should be submitted by 4 September 2018.

There were no questions.

A function of the Community Overview and Scrutiny (O & S) Committee is to scrutinise the work of the Safer Waverley Partnership (SWP).  The purpose of this report is for the Committee to note the key priorities and actions arising from the Safer Waverley Partnership Plan and associated Action Plan and have the opportunity to ask the SWP representatives any questions relating to this or the accompanying presentation.

Recommendation

That the Community O&S Committee provides any comments and observations on the SWP Partnership Plan and progress against to feedback to the SWP Executive at its meeting on 14th September 2018.

The Committee received a presentation from Superintendent Graham Barnett on the Safer Waverley Partnership (SWP). The presentation is attached to these minutes.

Supt. Barnett provided the background to the SWP and advised of the statutory partners which were members of it. The structure of the SWP was quite complex with a number of other sub-groups dealing with different matters. The priorities for the SWP from 2018-2021 are noted below:

·         Focus on threat, harm, risk and vulnerability -

-        Domestic Abuse

-        Child Exploitation

-        Serious Organised Crime

-        Prevention of terrorism

-        Supporting Vulnerable Victims

·         Identifying and tackling crime and ASB hotspots and perpetrators; and

·         Improving engagement with out public to help make our communities stronger.

The Committee noted the challenges facing the police, particularly with diminishing funding reserves. They had to deal with an increasing number of domestic homicide reviews, of which, were costing the force a lot both in time and resources. All partners had been required to put in more funding for these and they were looking at other funding streams to help.

The Chairman raised the current issue of cash machines being stolen from shops and if this was the result of closures of police stations and under resourcing. Supt. Barnett recognised this as a concern as there had been a few instances in the Borough recently. However, even in the rural areas, such as the recent incident in Cranleigh, there were a number of police cars present to try and catch the perpetrators, not specifically on the scene, but around the neighbouring roads to try and locate them within 2minutes of it being reported at 3am. And, although there were not specific police stations, they had co-located with others, such as at the fire station in Farnham. They did need to do more to reassure members of the public that there was police presence across the whole borough.   

To receive an update on WTS following the Ofsted inspection (to follow).

The Committee received a presentation from Adele O’Sullivan on the positive steps being taken by Waverley Training Services since its last inspection. She explained that the WTS business had grown over the last few years, particularly as it now operated as a lead provider with the ESFA for sub-contractor services in the area. In light of the apprenticeship levy, there was also a good opportunity to develop the direct apprenticeship programme.

The Committee congratulated the service on its recent good assessment but asked about the management and governance arrangements. It was noted that this was an area to improve upon and a new governance structure had been put in place.

Councillor Patricia Ellis advised that she had attended an awards event at Waverley Training Services and had spoken to a number of young people. It was heartening to see them achieve qualifications that, if they had not had the opportunity with Waverley Training Services possibly wouldn’t have done in mainstream education. Kelvin Mills advised that there were now performance targets for the Service, and something Ofsted did not recognise was that they took more vulnerable young people from other providers that wouldn’t normally take.

The Committee was advised that the Service would be moving to the Memorial Hall in the next month and that part of the business plan was to look into ways to further promote the service using means such as social media to increase the number of learners.

The Annual Scrutiny Report reflects on the progress of the new overview and scrutiny arrangements during the first full year of the committee cycle, April 2017 – March 2018. It includes a summary of the work undertaken by the committees, an analysis of the O&S survey and reflections by Members and officers taking part in the overview and scrutiny work.

Recommendation

It is recommended the Overview and Scrutiny Committees endorse the Annual Scrutiny Report and agree any observations or recommendations they wish to make to the Executive.

The Committee received a report reflecting on the progress of the new overview and scrutiny arrangements during the first full year of the Committee cycle. It included a summary of the work undertaken by the Committees, an analysis of the O&S Survey and reflections by Members and officers taking part in the O&S work. The annual scrutiny report was an opportunity for all those involved in the new committees to reflect on the first year, to consider what had worked well, where there were lessons to be drawn and where further improvements could be made.  

The Committee noted the main pieces of work it had undertaken over the course of the year. This included, the major indepth review of the factors affecting heath inequalities in Waverley which resulted in a number of actions both for the Council and health organisations.

The Committee welcomed the report and noted that officers would be looking at ways to increase public involvement and interest in scrutiny. It was felt that meetings should continue in Committee Room 1 which worked better than the formality of the Chamber. Members felt more satisfied with the new arrangements for overview and scrutiny.

The aim of the Corporate Performance Report is to report a quarterly analysis of the council’s performance. The Performance Report, providing performance analysis for the first quarter of 2018-19, is set out at Annexe 1. The report is being presented to each of the Overview and Scrutiny Committees for comment and any recommendations they may wish to make to the Executive.

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Overview & Scrutiny Committee considers the performance of the service areas under the remit of the committee as set out in Annexe 1 to this report and makes any recommendations to senior management or the Executive as appropriate.

The Committee received the quarterly corporate performance report which had been updated since the previous meeting. The new report included a broader range of performance measures and provided a more comprehensive picture of the Council’s overall performance.

The new format presented quarterly performance updates for each service area on the following:

·         Key performance indicators

·         Progress of service plan actions

·         Progress of Internal Audit recommendations

·         Complaints

·         Workforce data

·         Finance

It was intended that future reports would also include the status of corporate projects. This would take account of the recent O&S recommendations on project management, which were being incorporated into a new suite of consistent project documentation.

The Committee noted the report and commented that there appeared to be an error on the complaints statistics which officers would amend. Members asked if trend data could be included but it was noted that this data did not always tell the full story and for some indicators was not particularly useful. They would be reported on an exception basis.

The Community Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee, is responsible for managing its work programme.

The work programme includes items agreed at previous meetings and takes account of items identified on the latest Executive Forward Programme (Annexe 2) as due to come forward for decision.

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 and is attached as Part C of the work programme.

The Committee received and noted the forward programme. The Leisure and loneliness reports would move to November from September. Councillor Liz Wheatley mentioned whether or not they could have a report on the Community Meals service. This crossed two committees but they could have a report back at a future meeting.