Agenda and minutes

To confirm the Minutes of the Meeting held on 11 September 2018 (to be laid on the table 30 minutes before the meeting).

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 11 September 2018 were confirmed as a correct record and signed.

To receive apologies for absence and note any substitutions.

Apologies for absence were received from Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Sam Pritchard and Ross Welland.

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.

The last date for questions to be submitted being Tuesday 20 November 2018.

There were none.

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

The last date for questions to be submitted being Tuesday 20 November 2018.

There were none.

To receive an update on the actions for Waverley contained in the action plan of the Report.

Recommendation

To note progress against the action plan.

The Committee was reminded about the Health Inequalities review which had been undertaken by Members from the Committee and completed in June 2018. The final report, and its recommendations, were endorsed by the Executive on 10 July 2018. As part of the review, an action plan was drawn up to take forward the recommendations. The Committee received a report outlining progress against the action plan.

The Committee noted how successful this unique review had been and that it had got a lot of attention from organisations within Surrey. The report had focused on those actions which were the responsibility for this council but were made aware that there were further actions for others. Members were advised that at the next meeting they possibly would receive a report on the revised NHS and Integrated Care Partnership arrangements and they would receive more information on developments.

The Committee thanked officers for the update on the Action Plan and noted the progress being made.        

The Health Inequalities Scrutiny review highlighted loneliness as a factor affecting people’s health and wellbeing. This item will focus on the issue of Loneliness and how the Council can make best use of the organisations already available to residents and how the Council can support these organisations to recruit volunteers. Issues around loneliness in the borough include recruitment of volunteers, identification of those in need, referral pathways, transport and affordability.

This note summarises some of the discussion from the seminar held on 24 October 2018 ‘Tackling isolation and loneliness in the UK: improving wellbeing and social inclusion at all ages’ by Public Policy Exchange attended by Cllr Wheatley, Vice Chair of this committee, and Yasmine Makin, Policy Officer for Scrutiny.

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Committee notes the information in this document as background to the presentation on loneliness.

The Committee received a report summarising some of the discussion from the seminar held on 24 October 2018 ‘Tackling isolation and loneliness in the UK: Improving wellbeing and social inclusion at all stages’ by Public Policy Exchange attended by Cllr Liz Wheatley and Yasmine Makin, Policy Officer for Scrutiny. The Health Inequalities Scrutiny review highlighted loneliness as a factor affecting people’s health and wellbeing. The report focused on the issue of Loneliness and how the Council could make best use of the organisations already available to residents and how the Council could support these organisations to recruit volunteers. Issues around loneliness in the borough included recruitment of volunteers, identification of those in need, referral pathways, transport and affordability.

The Committee received a presentation which started by highlighting the distinction between loneliness and isolation. Age UK defined ‘isolation’ as separation from social or familial contact, community involvement, or access to services, while ‘loneliness’ could be understood as an individual’s personal, subjective sense of lacking these things. It was, therefore, possible to be isolated without being lonely, and to be lonely without being isolated.

The new resource on reducing social isolation highlighted several groups at increased risk of this issue, including new mothers, children and young people experiencing bullying, people with long-term conditions and disability, unemployed adults, carers and retired people. Members noted that helping to address loneliness through Service Level Agreements were 12 voluntary sector organisations:

Cranleigh Arts Centre – Men in Sheds Project (supporting older men)

Farnham Assist – knit and natter, pie and pint club and Sunday lunches

Hoppa Dial a Ride Service - enabled people to get out and about

Community Meals Service – Freshly cooked meals – Monday to Friday

Farnham Area Timebank - connecting people that give their time and receive support – gardening, taking people to the shops

It was also noted that the Borough Leisure Centres delivered a number of activities such as:

·         Exercise referral from health professional – prescribing physical activity instead of medication – at all leisure centres

·         Forever Active/Senior Sports clubs – multi-sport sessions and swimming for older people with a strong social element – at all leisure centres

·         Fit for Life 60+ classes in the community (Haslemere, Godalming)

·         Walks for Health in all four population centres

·         Otago Falls Prevention classes and Escape Pain sessions in Haslemere and Farnham

·         Cage cricket at Farnham Leisure Centre – indoor fully inclusive

·         Memory Lane café – for people with dementia and their carers at Cranleigh LC

There were also a number of volunteering opportunities to help reduce loneliness and isolation.

Councillor Jenny Else – Portfolio Holder for Health and Wellbeing attended the meeting to listen to the Committee. She raised the importance of not just thinking of loneliness in old people as it could be a situation for anyone. The Council and other organisations were doing a lot all ready within current resources and it would be difficult to do much more.

A question was asked about if there was any issues for Hoppa  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

This report provides an update on the recommendations of the review of the Leisure Centre Contract.

Recommendation

1.     That the progress of the review recommendations be noted; and

2.     The Committee approve the Leisure Centre Policy (Annexe 1) for adoption.

The Committee received a report on an update on the recommendations of the review of the Leisure Centre Contract. It also requested that Members noted and commented on the draft Leisure Centre Policy.

The Committee was reminded that a Sub-Committee was established in November 2016 to review the management of the Council’s Leisure Centre contract with Places for People (PfP), to explore its effectiveness and to identify opportunities for improvement including potential cost savings and lessons which might be applied to other major Council contracts. An Action Plan had been drawn up following the review and Members received an update on progress with the actions.

The Committee was pleased to note that nearly all the actions were now complete. In reviewing the Policy, Members suggested relooking at the policy statement and making it clear that although they were looking for income generation they were also working to improve the health and wellbeing of the Boroughs residents.  

The Corporate Performance Report provides an analysis of the Council’s performance for the second quarter of 2018-19. The report, set out at Annexe 1, 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 Corporate Performance report which provided an analysis of the Council’s performance for the second quarter of 2018-19.This was the second report in the new format and following the previous meeting where comments had been received on the new report, presentational improvements had been made.

The Committee noted that overall the performance in areas under its remit were doing well.  Leisure centre visits remained above target and the greater focus on health & wellbeing activities was welcomed by contractor and client. Careline numbers had remained steady with a good performance from the team. The officers were working on proposing a corporate target for number of clients which would be increasing by 5% per annum until 2020 in order to meet the Council’s corporate objective. They would achieve this with more marketing of the service. Waverley Training Services learners had achieved positive outcomes above contractual targets.

The Committee thanked officers for the report and performance was noted.

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.

It was agreed that the Leisure Centre Investment item be moved from the February meeting because they were still in negotiations. They would speak to the Hoppa service to see whether they could come to the next meeting to talk about the challenges they were facing. The Committee would also like an official visit to the Memorial Hall.