Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 26 September 2007 are correctly recorded and that they be signed by the Chairman.

(1)       On Minute 21, the Chairman informed the Committee that a press release on the changes to domiciliary care charges published following the last meeting of the Committee was withdrawn as it did not reflect the Committee’s deliberations and two further press releases were produced.

(2)       On Minute 20, Mr Fittock expressed concern that the press release relating to the Future of Post Office Network and Services in Kent referred to the word “scrutinise” which he was not sure was the role of Cabinet. 

(3)       Mr Law informed the Committee of the process since the Cabinet were made aware of the proposals in July to the formal announcement of Future of Post Office Network and Services in Kent published on 2 October 2007.

(1)       RESOLVED that the notes of the meetings of the Informal Member Group on Budgetary Issues held on 26 September and 11 October 2007 be noted.

Matters Arising

(2)       Mr Smyth, Vice-Chairman of the Informal Member Group, informed the Committee that the IMG on Budgetary Issues would be keeping a close eye on the issue of Direct Payments and their administrative costs. 

 (3)      Mrs Dean expressed her disappointment that it would be difficult to calculate how the back-office costs relating to Direct Payments compared to those relating to the provision of a traditional care service.  Mrs Dean indicated that it was important in her view that these comparative costs were provided.

(1)       RESOLVED that the notes of the meeting of the Informal Member Group on Kent Highway Services’ Business Plan held on 3 October 2007 be noted.

Matters Arising

(2)       Mr Hart raised concern at the lack of detail in the Business Plan and the correlation with the operation of Kent Highway Services. 

(3)       The Committee asked that the Director of Kent Highway Services be asked to provide information on the new structure and staffing as soon as possible.  This information would be made available to the Informal Member Group and also to all Members of the Cabinet Scrutiny Committee. 

(4)       The Committee acknowledged that for the Business Plan 2008/09 it was important to have the views of the new Managing Director for Environment and Regeneration. 

(5)       Mrs Dean commented that whilst evidence within the Plan suggested performance was improving, anecdotal evidence from Parish Councils in her area was the opposite.  She stressed that information from annual questionnaires sent to Parish Councils needed to be quantitive as well as qualitative.  For example, it would be useful to display in the spreadsheet how many outstanding repairs there were together with an indication of how long it had taken to get those outstanding repairs actually repaired.

(6)       Mr Law referred to the Kent Highway Services Alliance and commented that there was provision to monitor against a wide range of best value performance indicators and to compare complaints against jobs completed.  Mr Bullock added that the list of faults needed to refer to non-parished areas as well as those with Parish Councils.

(7)       In response to a question relating to the relationship between the Joint Transportation Board, the Highways Advisory Board, the Environment and Regeneration Policy Overview Committee, and the Cabinet Scrutiny Committee, the Overview and Scrutiny Manager informed the Committee that he had been asked to look at this as an outstanding issue by the Leader of the Council. 

(8)       Mr Hart asked for confirmation of the first meeting of the newly reconvened Thanet Joint Transportation Board which had not met since April 2007.  

(1)       RESOLVED that the report on the actions taken as a result of the Committee’s decisions at previous meetings, and the updated report on progress with Select Committee Topic Reviews, be noted.

Matter Arising – Select Committee report on Accessing Democracy

(2)       In response to a question on whether the Accessing Democracy Select Committee was to commence in Autumn 2007, the Overview and Scrutiny Manager informed the Committee that the Policy Overview Co-ordinating Committee at its meeting on 5 November 2007 would be asked to reaffirm this topic as its next priority for review.  Resources to support this review had already been identified.

Members are asked to note that Wednesday 23 April 2008 at 10.00 am has been reserved for a possible additional meeting of the Committee should it be needed following the additional Cabinet meeting arranged for 14 April to consider Directorate Business Plans for 2008/09.

Members noted that Wednesday 23 April 2008 at 10.00 am had been reserved for a possible additional meeting of the Committee should it be needed following the additional Cabinet meeting, arranged for 14 April 2008, which had been established to consider Directorate Business Plans for 2008/09.

Mr A J King, Deputy Leader of the Council (in the Leader’s absence), Mr P Gilroy, Chief Executive, and Ms M Peachey, Director of Public Health, Chief Executive’s Directorate, will attend the meeting at 10.05 am to answer Members’ questions on the Cabinet’s decisions on this item.

(Dr M R Eddy indicated that he was no longer a non-executive director of the Strategic Health Authority having given up that appointment some two years previous)

(Mr P W A Lake declared that he was a non-executive director of the Kent and Medway Social Care Partnership Trust)

(1)       Mr A J King, Deputy Leader of the Council, (in the Leader’s absence); Mr G Gibbens, Cabinet Member for Public Health; Ms M Peachey, Director of Public Health, Chief Executive’s Directorate; and Ms L McMullan, County Finance Officer, Chief Executive’s Directorate, were in attendance for this item.

(2)       The Chairman informed the Committee that the urgent report to Cabinet on 15 October had been called before the Committee for scrutiny with a view to:-

(a)       obtaining more details of the likely cost to the County Council of the Cabinet’s decisions and how they are to be funded;

(b)       to examine how the proposed “healthwatch” is intended to work and, in particular, how it will relate to KCC’s NHS Overview and Scrutiny Committee and to the Independent Local Involvement Network for Health and Social Care which the County Council will be required to establish from 1 April 2008 under the proposals contained within the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill.

(3)       The Committee had before them the draft decision of the Cabinet which was as follows:-

“1         AGREED the Leader and Chief Executive be authorised to negotiate with NHS colleagues a package of measures through which the County Council can help provide public reassurance on long-term improvement;

2          APPROVED the setting up as soon as possible of a local “healthwatch” which provides the public an independent route for registering concerns about their local Health services.”        

(4)       To assist the Committee in the scrutiny of this item, the Committee had a background note on NHS Scrutiny Patient and Public Involvement and complaints mechanisms.  Tabled at the meeting was a table setting out the Auditor’s Local Evaluation scores for NHS Trusts in Kent and Medway for 2006/07, together with the Department of Health final outturn figures for 2006/07. 

(5)       The Chairman informed the Committee that the NHS Overview and Scrutiny Committee would be looking at the issue of clostridium difficile outbreaks in Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS Hospitals Trust when they met on 9 November 2007.  The Overview and Scrutiny Manager explained that the meeting of the NHS Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 9 November was not purely about clostridium difficile but was about the whole issue of infection control and how this is tackled by the acute Hospital Trusts across Kent and Medway.

(6)       The Committee noted that the recommendation in the Cabinet report with regard to “healthwatch” was to undertake a feasibility study, whereas the draft minutes of the Cabinet deliberations was approval to the setting up as soon as possible of a local Healthwatch which provides the public with an independent route for registering concerns about their local health services.

Package of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.