Agenda and minutes

Councillor Peter Raynes - Finance Portfolio Holder

Councillor Rachel Bailey - Children and Family Services and Rural Affairs Portfolio Holder

Councillor David Topping - Environment Portfolio Holder

Councillor Barry Moran - Performance Portfolio Holder

Peter Bates – Chief Operating Officer

Brenda Smith - Director, Adult Social Care & Independent Living

Judith Tench - Head of Corporate Resources and Stewardship

Kevin Melling - Head of Highways and Transport

Sandra Murphy - Adults Safeguarding Manager

Mark Nedderman – Senior Scrutiny Officer

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 11 March 2014.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 11 March 2014 be confirmed as  a correct record.

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any disclosable pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests in any item on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of the existence of a party whip.

There were no members of the public present who wished to speak.

To consider a report of the Head of Integrated Safeguarding.

The Committee considered a report of the Head of Integrated Safeguarding relating to the quarter 2 quarter performance report which covered key areas of adult safeguarding in Cheshire East and the measures and performance for effective recognition and intervention and eventual outcomes for the Borough’s population at risk of abuse or neglect. In addition the committee received a presentation on the nature and level of financial abuse within Cheshire East.

The report indicated that there had been fewer safeguarding referrals into the SMART teams in the first two quarters of this year compared to the same period last year.

In response to questions about whether information on referrals was gathered in such a way to enable for instance, particular spikes to be identified in specific geographical areas, Sandra Murphy explained that  the way that data was currently held enabled the Council to distil the referrals into geographical areas.

The committee noted that the statistics on performance related to the quarter 2 reporting period and that currently the  quarter 3 reporting cycle had already ended and questioned whether this would have an impact on the Red, Amber, Green(RAG) ratings in the report.

The committee was informed that the quarter 3 position was indicating that many of the matters had moved on and that the quarter 3 report would be update to reflect the latest RAG position and would subsequently reported to the committee.

Sandra Murphy then referred to the matter of financial abuse. She explained that last year there were 159 recoded incidents of financial abuse in Cheshire East but that only 7 were substantiated.

RESOLVED

(a)          That the report and presentation be noted;

(b)          That the quarter 3 report on Adult Safeguarding be submitted to the committee as soon as possible to reflect the latest RAG position;

(c)          That an item be included in the work programme to examine issues surrounding the cessation of the ‘Empower’ card;

(d)          That Sandra Murphy be requested to report back to a future meeting to provide more detailed information of the cases of financial abuse referred to in the presentation;

(e)          That Brenda Smith be requested to report back to the Committee at a future date to provide additional data on the number of adult safeguarding referrals made in Cheshire East.

To consider a report of the Chief Operating Officer.

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Operating Officer concerning draft proposals for the Council’s arrangements to formally scrutinise the operation of the new Alternative Service Delivery Vehicles (ASDVs), two of which, Orbitas and ANSA were due to start operating on 1 April 2014.

The Council’s overriding principle for the governance, stewardship and control arrangements for its ASDVs was to be resident and business led and to ensure accountability to residents, service users, businesses and local councillors. The report covered proposals for the scrutiny arrangements as they related to a group of companies that the Council had or was expected to set up with the exception of the commencement of  ESAR and CoSocious on 1 May.

The draft structure had been produced in anticipation of a review of the Council’s non executive functions being undertaken by two academics from De Montfort University, but it was anticipated that there would be a number of ‘Commissions’ created to review the performance and to make policy recommendations in respect of the ASDVs.

The Committee sought assurances that the new arrangements had a firm legal standing with formal powers to undertake scrutiny work, but they considered the naming of the new bodies as ‘Commissions’ to be confusing. Judith Tench also reported that there had been minor changes to the structure chart which clarified relationships within the proposed structure

RESOLVED

(a)  That the report be received and the draft structure noted including the corrections reported in respect of the structure chart;

(b)  That Council be recommended to consider using a different name rather than ‘Commissions’ to describe the proposed new bodies;

(c)  That Council be requested to ensure that the proposed new bodies are given formal scrutiny powers;

(d)  That Council be requested to ensure that the relationship between the new bodies and the existing scrutiny structure is clear and transparent.

To receive an oral update on the green waste collection service.

Councillor David Topping attended the meeting to explain the circumstances surrounding the withdrawal and subsequent reinstatement of the green waste collection service in the Autumn of 2013.

The decision taken last year to suspend the collection service between 11 November 2013 and 14 March 2014 had resulted in approximately 3000 comments being received by the Council from members of the public. He explained that data was now being collated to assess the impact of the decision and that it was hoped to be able to submit a detailed report to the Committee in June.

Proposals were being considered at the moment to undertake a consultation exercise on a proposal to suspend the service from December 2014 prior to any decision being taken.

RESOLVED – That the report be received and an item be added to the work programme for June 2014 to review the data collected in relation to the suspension of the green waste collection.

To consider a report of the Head of Governance and Democratic Services.

The Committee reviewed the work programme.

RESOLVED – That subject to an item being added in June 2014 to review the data collected in relation to the suspension of the green waste collection, the report be received and noted.