Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on 8^th July 2014.

2 Minutes.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on 8th July 2014 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman. 

The Chairman welcomed Councillor M Francis to his first meeting of the Panel and introduced the newly appointed Senior Managers who were present.

To receive from Members declarations as to disclosable pecuniary and other interests in relation to any Agenda item.

2 Minutes.

Councillors Mrs P A Jordan and Mrs D C Reynolds declared non-disclosable pecuniary interests in respect of Minute No. 33 by virtue of their employment with the NHS. 

A copy of the current Notice of Key Executive Decisions, which was published on 7th August 2014, is attached. Members are invited to note the decisions and to comment as appropriate on any items contained therein.

5 Minutes.

The Panel received and noted the current Notice of Key Executive Decisions (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) which had been prepared by the Executive Leader for the period 1st September 2014 to 31st January 2015.

To receive a report from the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) on the performance of the CCG including an overview of the year to date.

Mr R Murphy, Interim Local Chief Officer (Huntingdonshire System) will be in attendance for this item.

30 Minutes.

The Chairman welcomed Mr I Weller and Mr K Poyntz from the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group to the meeting to assist the Panel in its consideration of this item.

With the assistance of the 2014/2015 Integrated Delivery Report produced by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) the Panel received a presentation from Mr I Weller and Mr K Poyntz and proceeded to discuss the contents and ask questions thereon.

As background and in general terms, the Panel was advised that the Primary Care Trust had been replaced by the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).  Local Commissioning Groups (LCG) comprised general practices which had come together to commission or buy services for local residents. There were two LCGs in Huntingdonshire: Hunts Care Partners and Hunts Health.

Mr Weller described the older people’s programme, one of the priorities identified by the CCG.  He added that the CCG had launched a procurement process to attract bidders to deliver an integrated older peoples’ and adult community services contract for those aged over 65 and that the three short-listed submissions received would be evaluated.  A decision on the preferred bidder would be announced by the end of September with the view to a start date for the contract of 1st April 2015.  Coronary Heart Disease and End of Life Care were the other priorities of the CCG.

In response to questions regarding the timescale between the appointment of the preferred bidder and the start of the contract, Mr Weller explained that the start date for the contract had been delayed until April 2015 to give the appointed bidder additional time to mobilise their services and to retain the current process in place during a critical time of year for the elderly.  He also confirmed that useful information had been received during the bidding process, which could be used to inform the design of services for all patients and not just the elderly. 

Mr Weller took the opportunity to draw attention to the “Health Economy”, the shortfall in funding for Cambridgeshire and key work being undertaken to examine options around clinical and design initiatives to seek to reduce expenditure and establish a sustainable way forward in the future.  Updates on progress of this work would be reported to the Panel.  Following questions, Mr Weller concluded by stating that whilst there was no obvious solution to achieving savings, the quality of care and patient services would not be compromised.

Mr Poyntz guided the Panel through the Integrated Delivery Report, which identified those areas of concern that the CCG would want LCGs to discuss.

National standards were reflected in contracts held with all key providers and the delivery reports identified areas in which the provider appeared to be under-performing.  As an example, Mr Poyntz drew attention to the number of individuals arriving at CUHFT (Addenbrookes) and the challenge that the turnaround time of four hours was presenting to that hospital.  Hinchingbrooke Hospital had experienced  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.

To receive a report from the Healthy Communities Manager reviewing the progress of ‘Shape Your Place’ after its second year of operation.

20 Minutes.

By reference to a report by the Head of Community (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book), the Panel considered the performance of the Shape Your Place website in Huntingdonshire over the period 1st July 2012 to 30th June 2013. Contrary to the report, the Head of Community clarified that the District Council made no payment to Cambridgeshire County Council, as administrators, for use of the Shape Your Place system.  There was, therefore, no opportunity to make savings by amalgamating the West Huntingdonshire and Sawtry sites.  Notwithstanding, the Panel noted the performance data for the reporting period and formed the view that the six Shape Your Place sites should be retained.  Whilst acknowledging the level of use was disappointing in some areas, the Panel considered that more could be done to promote the system with Town and Parish Councils and by its inclusion on the home page of the District Council’s website.

Members had mixed experience of the receipt of automated notifications when issues relating to their wards were posted.  The Head of Community undertook to investigate the reasons for the apparent discrepancies in practise.  It also was established that whilst visits to the site had increased they could technically all be associated with the same person.  The Head of Community accepted that it would be useful to measure, by the use of a simple “tick box” survey, why users were visiting the site on a particular day.

After discussion, it was agreed that, in future, the report on the performance of the Shape Your Place system should be circulated to Members on an annual basis but only submitted to the Panel should any issues arise with the system that required to be addressed.

To receive a report from the Corporate Office containing details of the Council’s performance against its priority objectives.

20 Minutes.

(Councillor J D Ablewhite, Executive Leader of the Council, was in attendance for this item)

With the assistance of a report by the Policy and Performance Manager (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book), the Executive Leader, Councillor J D Ablewhite, presented, for the first time, the performance framework which would be used to measure progress made against key activities and performance targets identified in the Council’s Corporate Plan.

It was explained that the Overview and Scrutiny Panels would receive quarterly performance reports ordered by strategic themes and that it was the intention that Executive Councillors would attend Panel meetings in future to respond to questions that might arise on services within their respective portfolios.

Whilst commending the format of the report, the Panel was of the opinion that the District Council should continue to measure the Home Improvement Agency service and monitor how the partnership with Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire District Councils was operating.  It also was the expectation that a measure relating to waste minimisation and street cleansing should be included given the importance and profile of both services to the public.  In response, the Head of Operations explained that the previous standard for street cleansing had been measured at significant cost but he would consider the use of a targeted indicator directed towards key hotspots for instance.  In terms of waste minimisation, it was explained that RECAP undertook performance monitoring on behalf of the District Council and compiled comparison data from other authorities and reported on an annual basis.

In conclusion, the Panel noted that quarter two performance reports would be submitted in November, that the process would be reviewed after one year’s operation and that all performance reports would be made available on the Council’s website.

To receive an update from Councillor R C Carter on the outcome of recent meetings of the Cambridgeshire Health Committee.

An update on the Older People’s Programme also is attached.

5 Minutes.

The Panel received and noted the Minutes of the meeting of the Cambridgeshire Health Community held on 10th July 2014 (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book). 

Councillor Carter, the Panel’s appointed representative, drew particular attention to the items in connection with smoke cessation services and the support of the Committee for the introduction of regulations for standardised packages of tobacco products.

In referring Item No 35 to the Panel relating to the older people’s health care and adult community services consultation, Councillor Carter reassured Members that the contract would be evaluated on the basis of the quality of service and interview and not just cost.

To consider a report by the Scrutiny and Review Manager on the work programmes of the Economic and Environmental Well-Being Overview and Scrutiny Panels.

10 Minutes.

The Panel received and noted a report by the Scrutiny and Review Manager (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) which contained details of studies being undertaken by the Overview and Scrutiny Panels for Economic Well-Being and Environmental Well-Being.

To consider a report by the Scrutiny and Review Manager on the Panel’s programme of studies.

15 Minutes.

Arising from discussion on a current case in the media, the Head of Community undertook to report to the Panel on the implications of the forthcoming Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.

Councillor R Fuller reported on the progress made thus far by the Working Group pursuing a study on affordable housing and was confident that the Group could make an impact on future ways of working.  The study had the support the relevant Executive Councillor.

In relation to children and young persons and problems experienced around youth locality teams and young people presenting for assessment, the Panel undertook to pass any examples of unsatisfactory services to Councillor S M van de Kerkhove to raise at Cambridgeshire County Council.  The Member would report on progress to the next meeting.

To scrutinise decisions as set out in the Decision Digest and to raise any other matters for scrutiny that fall within the remit of the Panel.

5 Minutes.

The 147th edition of the Digest of Decisions was received and noted.