Issue - meetings

Mark Grimshaw presented a report that asked Members to consider the proposed terms of reference of the Committee, to note the Membership and to give consideration to meeting times/dates.

In noting the Membership of the Committee it was queried why there were only 11 Members and not 12 as in other Scrutiny Committees. It was confirmed that this place would be filled following the result of the by election held on 16 June 2011.

In discussing the proposed terms of reference, a number of suggestions were made:

·         That the Committee regularly review the Adult Social Care budget in order to fully appreciate the challenges of the Directorate.

·         That the Committee reviews performance in addition to reviewing the performance management arrangements of the Directorate.

·         That all the terms of reference give consideration to an ‘overview’ or ‘scrutiny’ element.

·         That the Committee continue to liaise with appropriate regional and national bodies.

In response to the points raised by the Committee, Phil Lloyd explained that the Directorate had added a number of suggested amendments to those presented in Appendix B of the report which largely reflected the aforementioned suggestions of the Committee.

With this in mind, the Chairman suggested a new draft terms of reference be produced incorporating the suggestions of the Committee and the Directorate. It was also put forward that this would then be distributed to Members for final approval before being sent to the Constitution Committee.

With regards to the future meeting times and dates, the Chairman suggested that 10.30am be kept as the preferable start time. It was also agreed that Westfields would be the preferred venue. In terms of the frequency of meetings, it was agreed that the Committee meet formally on a bi-monthly basis with possible interim meetings for briefings and updates. It was also agreed that this arrangement would be reviewed in six months in order to analyse how effective it had been.

RESOLVED -

a)    That the Membership of the Committee be noted

b)    That the new draft terms of reference incorporating the following comments of the Committee be distributed to Members for final approval before being sent to the Constitution Committee.

·         That the Committee regularly review the Adult Social Care budget in order to fully appreciate the challenges of the directorate.

·         That the Committee reviews performance in addition to reviewing the performance management arrangements of the directorate.

·         That all the terms of reference give consideration to an ‘overview’ or ‘scrutiny’ element.

·         That the Committee continue to liaise with appropriate regional and national bodies.

c)    That future Committee meetings be held at 10.30am, at Westfields on a formal bi-monthly basis with possible informal interim meetings in between.

d)    That the Committee meetings arrangement be reviewed in six months.