Agenda and minutes

Members are asked to declare any interests in the items under consideration and in doing so state:

(1)   the type of interest concerned; and

(2)   the nature of the interest concerned

If any member requires advice on declarations of interests, they are advised to contact the Head of Democratic Governance in advance of the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest on this occasion.

To agree the minutes of the last meeting held on Thursday 19^th June 2014 as a true and correct record.

The Committee agreed that the minutes of the Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 19^th June 2014 be signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

To consider any applications from members of the public to speak at the meeting.

The Committee noted that there were no applications to speak by members of the public on this occasion.

To consider the Executive and Cabinet Member decisions taken since the last meeting of the Scrutiny Committee.

The Committee considered the decisions taken since the last meeting of the Scrutiny Committee by the Executive and Cabinet Members.

A question was raised in relation to decision number PH/70/2014 ‘Acquisition of 40/46 Tyldesley Road’ and whether further details of the funding for the acquisition could be provided. As the relevant Cabinet Member was not in attendance at the meeting, Mr C Kelly, Senior Democratic Services Adviser, advised that an answer would be sought for Committee Members.

The Committee agreed to note the Executive and Cabinet Member Decisions.

To consider the content of the Council’s Forward Plan, issue number 8/2014.

The Committee considered the items contained within the Forward Plan, issue number 08/2014.

The Committee agreed to note the Forward Plan items.

To consider the Raising Aspirations Theme Report for priorities 1, 2 and 9.

Mrs R. Henshaw, Engagement and Intelligence Officer, presented the Raising Aspirations Theme report, which summarised performance against the following Council priorities:

·        Priority One – Tackle child poverty, raise aspirations and improve educational achievement.

·        Priority Two – Safeguard and protect the most vulnerable

·        Priority Nine – Deliver quality services through a professional, well-rewarded and motivated workforce.

The Committee was advised that performance against each priority would be presented by Council Plan theme throughout 2014/2015.

Mrs D Curtis, Director of Children’s Services, provided the Committee with reports on Priority One. She advised the Committee of the key challenges for 2014/2015, which included keeping children safe in Blackpool, ensuring children were ready for school, ensuring more good and outstanding schools in Blackpool and securing apprenticeships and developing pathways into work. Mrs Curtis informed the Committee of the various ways in which Children’s Services intended to tackle those challenges and explained that the recently secured Better Start funding would be important for use in many of the schemes to tackle the challenges of this priority.

Mrs Curtis also provided the Committee with a summary of the recently published Ofsted report following its inspection of Children’s Services. Members were advised that Ofsted had recognised the progress that had been made since its previous inspection and the report highlighted a number of strengths, such as there being appropriate measures in place to prevent child sexual exploitation and there being a strong commitment from Members and Senior Leadership to drive improvement in services. However, Mrs Curtis explained to Members that the report also highlighted a number of areas that required improvement and she summarised what the next steps would be in order for the Council to make those improvements.

Councillor Ivan Taylor responded to a question from the Committee regarding plans to improve all secondary schools in Blackpool. It was noted that all but one secondary school was now an academy and therefore the local authority no longer had the same level of control in order to drive improvements as it had done in the past. Councillor Taylor explained that, although the issue was particularly challenging, the local authority needed to monitor and challenge all schools’ plans and that Children’s Services worked hard to maintain relationships with all schools and sponsors.

Ms K Smith, Director of Adult Services, provided an update to the Committee on Priority Two. She advised that the key challenges for the priority for 2014/2015 were to:

·   promote independence and person-centred care;

·   instigate service redesign and modernisation in light of the Care Act 2014 and the Better Care Fund;

·   further improve safeguarding;

·  raise quality standards across the service offer in partnership with stakeholders; and

·   maximise the use of resources.

Ms Smith reported the current areas of activity being undertaken to meet those challenges, which included promoting independence and person-centred care, instigating service redesign and modernisation in the light of the Care Act 2014, making further safeguarding improvements and raising quality standards. Ms Smith also responded to questions from the Committee in relation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To consider the Annual Customer Feedback Report covering the period 1st July 2013 to 30th June 2014.

Mrs R Henshaw, Corporate Development Officer, presented the Annual Customer Feedback Report 2013/2014 to the Committee.

The Committee was advised that the report provided an overview of customer feedback recorded by the Council in the period 1^st July 2013 – 31^st March 2014, following a refresh of the Council’s complaints procedure and the introduction of the customer feedback system in July 2013.

Mrs Henshaw noted that the report included a breakdown of the comments, compliments and complaints received during the year and summarised the Council’s performance in dealing with complaints and feedback. In terms of lessons learnt, Mrs Henshaw reported that changes would be made to the customer feedback system to further simplify the system for users, Council services would be encouraged to use the customer feedback system more and a report would be produced investigating the reasons for late responses to complaints.

The Committee agreed to note the report.

Background papers: None

To consider the appointment of one additional Member to the Call-In Sub-Committee.

The Committee considered the appointment of one additional Member to the Call-In Sub Committee.

The Committee agreed to appoint Councillor Mrs Jackson to the Call-In Sub Committee.

Background papers: None.

The Committee to receive the Scrutiny Annual Report for 2013/2014.

The Scrutiny Annual Report 2013/2014 was presented to the Committee.

The Committee approved the Scrutiny Annual Report 2013/2014.

Background papers: None.

To consider progress updates on the appointed Scrutiny Panels including verbal updates from Lead Members.

The Committee considered a progress report on the appointed Scrutiny Panels.

The Committee agreed to note the report.

Background papers: None.

To consider the Scrutiny Workplan, together with any suggestions that Members may wish to make for scrutiny review topics.

The Committee considered its Workplan for the remainder of the Municipal Year.

A proposal for a scrutiny review into the Skip Hire Initiative and a Scrutiny Selection Checklist was circulated amongst Committee Members. The Committee agreed that the request should be considered at a future meeting, at a date when the impact of the initiative could be assessed.

The Committee agreed:

1.         To note the Workplan.

2.         To reconsider establishing a scrutiny review into Skip Hire and Waste Metal Collections at a future meeting of the Committee.

Background papers: None.

To note the date of the next meeting as Thursday 16^th October 2014, at 6.00pm.

The Committee agreed to note the date of the next meeting as Thursday 16th October 2014, at 6.00pm.