Report of the Leader of the Council, attached.
Minutes:
The report of the Leader of the Council was submitted, setting out the details of the business undertaken by the Executive (copy of the report circulated with agenda and appended to signed minutes).
The Leader and the Cabinet made statements and responded to Questions.
The following questions were then submitted in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11.1:-
1. Ofsted Inspection
Question from Councillor Lewzey to Councillor Bogle
What caused the disappointing April Ofsted report of the Inspection of Safeguarding Services?
Answer
It is a huge credit to the leadership and management of our Children’s Services managers that the outcome was not more disappointing. Staff at all levels were under substantial pressure not only due to rising referrals but also morale had been adversely affected by the previous Administration's decision to cut pay.
At a time of rising and increasingly complex demands on the service, the high levels of staff turnover and resulting reliance on either inexperienced or agency staff were a critical factor in the less satisfactory judgments by Ofsted.
2. Quality Improvement Plan
Question from Councillor Lewzey to Councillor Bogle
Following the disappointing Ofsted report what is the current impact of the Quality Improvement Plan?
Answer
I am pleased to report that there is now a single Quality Improvement Plan between ourselves, the NHS and LSCB. There has been good progress on the implementation of the highest priority actions – for example, 16 newly qualified and permanent social workers have recently been recruited following a successful recruitment fayre. Two new Principal Officers are in post. Important progress has also been made with our colleagues in Housing in order to prevent the use of bed and breakfast accommodation for children or young people in our care, and our NHS partners are doing all they can to ensure weekend access to specialist forensic assessment for children who may have been abused sexually. We have a full training programmed for social workers in place and we are vigorously auditing supervision and practice.
However, there are significant challenges remaining due to continuing high levels of demand for safeguarding services and the need for experienced social workers, and a number of avenues are being explored to rectify this.
3. Working Relationships
Question from Councillor Dr Paffey to Councillor Bogle
What steps are being taken to improve working relationships with staff within Children's Safeguarding services?
Answer
The strains in the relationships between the Council and its workforce over terms and conditions were not restricted to the Children’s Safeguarding service. The key issue that exacerbated the relationship with the Children’s safeguarding workforce was their ability to secure better paid work locally as a result of high demand for their expertise nationally and regionally. I have attended a number of meetings with Safeguarding managers and staff, a positive dialogue is in place which has allowed me to hear directly from staff and I am taking personal steps to ensure frontline staff in particular are as supported as much as possible in their protection of our most vulnerable children, young people and families. I believe staff have been heartened by the progress in relation to terms and conditions and that this is seen as clear evidence of a significant commitment of the Council to staff and the critically important work they are doing. This is an ongoing relationship between the Cabinet Member and staff that will be progressed at Staff Conferences (next one is 26.9.12).
4. Staff Involvement
Question from Councillor Dr Paffey to Councillor Bogle
How are staff being involved to resolve the problems identified by Ofsted in the April inspection?
Answer
The Safeguarding Management team continue to ensure robust oversight of cases - there is particular attention paid to Legal case Management and Care Planning. Managers at all levels are involved in Supervision. The management team have produced Supervision Standards and the quantity and quality of supervision is regularly audited.
There is a robust Workforce development strategy in place with additional training around key areas.
More business support is available to assist around Core Groups.
Joint work continues with our colleagues in housing. We now do not have any children looked after in bed and breakfast. Performance of individuals and indicators is rigorously pursued. New Senior Managers will be approaching performance with new eyes. Significant performance will not improve until we have an experienced and stable Social Workforce.
There has been extensive discussion and engagement of staff in the OFSTED outcomes and how to address them, for example at the staff conferences and other meetings of the team.
5. New Staff
Question from Councillor Lloyd to Councillor Bogle
How are newly recruited staff being supported?
Answer
Newly recruited staff across all of Children’s Services are covered by a workforce development strategy and a common induction programme. Given required Children and Young People's Trust arrangements, the Workforce Strategy extends positively beyond the Council to all professionals in the City working with children, young people and families. Newly recruited staff also have the opportunity to meet and access training with professionals from other services. There are also a range of specialist induction arrangements in place for Children’s Social Workers and I am pleased that this workforce development aspect of our work has been highlighted as a relative strength in Ofsted reports.
6. Safeguarding Services
Question from Councillor Lloyd to Councillor Bogle
What action is being taken to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Children's safeguarding services and what success is being achieved?
Answer
This service is subject to a redesign which fundamentally changes the way in which we intervene in the lives of vulnerable children and their families. The key principle is to shift resources to focus more on early intervention (as recommended by Munro and Allen, and successfully piloted in a number of local authorities). We are learning from other local authorities and will apply this to the "Southampton" Model. It will take 18 months to two years to begin to make an impact and will require many changes to process, culture and organisation; it should fit well with the new ‘Families Matter’ policy approach.
7. Children in Care
Question from Councillor Lewzey to Councillor Bogle
How are the Personal Education Plans for children in care being improved?
Answer
The quality of Personal Education Plans (PEPs) was highlighted in the Ofsted inspection report. This was already improving at the time of the Inspection as a result of improved arrangements for co-ordinating and monitoring the education of Children Looked After. This has resulted in the development of Personal Education Plans that are now tailored to the educational stage of the child they relate to. Arrangements for the timely and robust review of the completed Personal Education Plans is overseen by a senior Leadership Group for Children Looked After which is Chaired by the Senior Manager for Safeguarding and which reports to the Corporate Parenting Committee. PEP's - performance always fall at this time of year as the Schools are on holiday in July and August. The newly Looked After Children during this time have PEP's from September to October. Our performance will rise during the Autumn term.
8. Oaklands Swimming Pool
Question from Councillor Hannides to Councillor Payne
In light of the confusion surrounding the closure of Oaklands Pool, please explain how and when you were informed of the decision to remove funding?
Answer
To dispel any confusion, the learner pool closed several months ago, followed by the whole venue in early May because it was unfit to open to the public due to inadequate maintenance. The Labour administration took office on May 16 and because the pool was already shut, it was addressed collectively by the cabinet during mini-budget discussions on June 19. The result was that a recommendation was then made to consult on subsidy withdrawal, given the pool’s condition and finances, which was approved by Full Council on July 11.
9. Sponsorship Revenue
Question from Councillor Furnell to Councillor Thorpe
Can the Cabinet Member tell us what plans he has to increase sponsorship revenue?
Answer
On behalf of the Leader who has communications within his Portfolio, I have met with the Director of Environment and Economy, relevant senior managers and communications officers to explore how we can maximise the revenue we get from sponsorships and what the barriers may be to achieving this objective. They have been requested to draft a comprehensive plan for increasing sponsorship revenue by the middle of October and to reflect good practice from other councils in their recommendations. In the meanwhile, there is a focus on delivering advertising income targets and building on the sponsorship success we have recently gained for specific events e.g. IKEA support for fostering recruitment. We aim to do more of this and also and do it more consistently.
10. City Deals
Question from Councillor Vinson to Councillor Dr R Williams
What if any contact has there been between the City Council and / or the Partnership for Urban South Hampshire and Government regarding City Deals?
Answer
Southampton City Council officers have been in discussion with Solent Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and the Partnership for Urban South Hampshire (PUSH) regarding the opportunities and potential for City Deal status and funding should this initiative be rolled out in the Autumn. Council officers also attended a meeting with the Treasury and Solent LEP.
11. Fountain's Cafe
Question from Councillor Vinson to Councillor Payne
What plans does the Cabinet Member have for the former Fountain's cafe?
Answer
Given the availability of food and beverages in SeaCity Museum and the significant financial challenges the Council faces, we are exploring using the space occupied by the former Fountain's Café for Council office accommodation. This would contribute to the reduction in office space and costs we currently incur as a council.
12. Fixed Penalty Notices
Question from Councillor Vinson to Councillor Thorpe
How many fixed penalty notices have been issued for littering, graffiti and dog fouling respectively in the last year?
Answer
|
August 2011 – August 2012 |
Litter |
30 |
Graffiti |
0 |
Dog Fouling |
4 |
13. Looked After Children
Question from Councillor Turner to Councillor Bogle
In view of the huge gap in GCSE attainment between the majority of young people in the City and those who are 'looked after children', should more be done to scrutinise individual attainment records of our 'looked after children’, and what action is being taken to improve their exam success and life chances?
Answer
A comprehensive report on the outcomes for the City’s Children Looked After prepared earlier this Summer was reported to the Corporate Parenting Committee. Whilst this does highlight the significant gap in outcomes, it also highlights that we are getting better at helping our children in care to achieve well. Whilst much more attention needs to be paid to this, the fact is that right now a greater percentage of Southampton's children in care achieve 5 GCSEs at A*-C than is the case nationally or for near neighbours such as Hampshire. Our strategy for improving this further is the continued strengthening of personal education planning, building on the increasingly effective ownership by schools of this issue and ensuring that children looked after have access to good and outstanding schools wherever possible; indeed, it is noteworthy that Ofsted commented positively on the relatively high percentage of the City's children looked after who were beingeducated in schools judged to be 'good' or better.
14.School Data
Question from Councillor Turner to Councillor Bogle
Could the Cabinet Member comment on recent research which finds that nationally, school data including information on children's addresses, routes to school, whether they are known to Social Services, and other sensitive information, are not being guarded vigilantly enough, and could she inform us about the position in Southampton schools?
Answer
The Council works in close support with schools over the safe and appropriate management of personal data. I have no reason to believe arrangements across schools in Southampton for the storage and transmission of personal data do not meet legal standards. Whilst schools are fundamentally their own data controllers, I can confirm that where the Council becomes aware of any data breaches that this is brought swiftly to the attention of the school's governing body. There is also advice available for schools in improving the robustness of their data security, and the Council has worked closely with them to make secure data transfer accessible for them through a range of means.
15. Strategic Planning
Question from Councillor Turner to Councillor Thorpe
Has any thought been given in the City's strategic planning to the area around the new Gateway tower at the approach to the City along A35 Swaythling High Road?
Answer
The planning application for the Gateway Tower considered the impact on the area and that the site was a key site for the entrance to the City. The proposal was expected to meet high design standards as a result and this was in addition to the usual requirements expected of any planning application. Beyond that, the strategic planning for the area is as set out in the Core Strategy and existing local plan policies but there is no specific action plan for the area itself. To do a proper strategic plan would require an Area Action Plan, which would require considerable time and finance and this is not considered to be necessary as the existing policies are sufficient. Area Action Plans are more suited to areas of on-going and wider change, such as the City Centre Action Plan.
16. Rent Payment
Question from Councillor Baillie to Councillor Payne
What is, in your view, an acceptable proportion of one's income used to pay one's rent?
Answer
It would depend on each individual family and whether you class housing benefit as 'income'. For example, in the case of our council housing tenants, around 60 per cent of them have their rent covered or partially covered by housing benefit. These families could certainly be squeezed by the Coalition Government's proposed benefit changes but the city council has an excellent record of working with tenants to minimise evictions and maximise rental income, which we would seek to maintain.
17. Homes Sold at Auction
Question from Councillor Baillie to Councillor Payne
What is the value of HRA homes sold at auction for June / July / August 2012?
Answer
The value of HRA properties sold in June, July and August 2012 (seven in total) was £680,000.
18. Fines and Penalties
Question from Councillor Vinson to Councillor Thorpe
How many fines or penalties have been imposed in Southampton in the past year for
(a) cycling on pavements and (b) parking on double yellow lines?
Answer
· 5695 Penalty Charge Notices were issued to vehicles parked on double yellow lines in the last year by SCC.
19. Hedge in Redbridge Hill
Question from Councillor Moulton to Councillor Thorpe
Can the Cabinet Member confirm when the hedge in Redbridge Hill will be cut back to improve visibility and safety?
Answer
The work is programmed to be undertaken from Thursday 13th September and is scheduled to be completed within 2 weeks of the start date subject to suitable weather conditions.
20. Police Commissioner Election
Question from Councillor Daunt to Councillor Rayment
Given that 2 months have passed since the last Full Council meeting, has the Cabinet Member now taken the time to decide whether, if elected as Police Commissioner on 15th of November, you will resign as a councillor and if so when will you resign?
Answer
At this time no decision has been made.
21.1A Bus Service
Question from Councillor Smith to Councillor Thorpe
What progress has been made on reinstating the 1A bus service?
Answer
The Council has been in negotiation with First bus company. From the Autumn this year an hourly bus service will serve Jurds Lake Way.
22. Waste Review
Question from Councillor Smith to Councillor Thorpe
What progress has been made on the waste review?
Answer
A review of current practice has been undertaken and a range of options to achieve greater recycling rates and achieve financial savings have been developed.
A bid has been submitted to the DCLG’s Weekly Collection Support Scheme (WCSS) for £8.28m, which would enable the city to:
· Retain weekly collections
· Introduce a kerb side glass collection
· Provide an enhanced subsidised home composting and food digester scheme
These options would enable the city to increase its recycling rate by nearly 7% and achieve financial savings.
We would expect to hear mid October if we are successful with this bid.
Further options have been developed should we not be successful with the WCSS bid which will also increase our recycling rate and achieve savings.
23. Town Depot Site
Question from Councillor Smith to Councillor Dr R. Williams
What plans does the Executive have for the former Town Depot site?
Answer
With the demise in developer interest for a Sports Village which focussed on an indoor ski slope, consideration is being given to making use of this important waterfront site for the Marine Sector in partnership with the University of Southampton. This is at a very early stage with regard to feasibility.
As before, existing water sports uses will be retained.
In accordance with Council Procedural Rule 12.9, Questions 24-31 were unable to be submitted due to the timeframe allotted for this item, but are included within the minutes as written answers had been supplied.
24. Redeployment Model
Question from Councillor Smith to Councillor Letts
In what way does the new Executive planned redeployment model differ from the Sunderland model?
Answer
The Council has recently initiated a project to review and implement enhanced redeployment and recruitment policies and processes. The project is being managed through the Southampton Transition Employment Project (STEP) and is very much still work in progress. No formal decisions have been made yet on what it specifically includes and therefore the differences between the two schemes are yet to be clarified.
The purpose of the review is to implement improved measures for staff who are displaced in the organisation by ensuring that they are given priority when vacancies arise and by providing an enhanced level of training, assistance and other options.
The project is structured as a 2 stage review. The short term stage between October and March 2013 will review current policies and processes, the findings and recommendations from this stage will then be presented to Council and then implemented as a long term strategy.
Sunderland City Council has had success with its ‘Switch’ programme in redeploying people into other Sunderland Council jobs. Southampton has drawn on their experiences, looked at the Sunderland policies and processes and is continuing to learn from their experience. However, every Authority has issues peculiar to it and therefore as part of the short term review we will be looking at what solutions will work well for us. Some of these may replicate the Sunderland model whilst others will be designed specifically to fit our local circumstances.
The review is looking at 4 main areas in terms of supporting staff through the redeployment process:-
· Increasing the time staff spend on the redeployment register
· Improving training options for redeployees and supporting them better through the process
· Improving the way individual’s skills are assessed
· Matching skills to a wider range of full time and temporary jobs and reskilling staff so they can be retained in the organisation where possible
A report will be presented Cabinet on 18th September which will outline the strategy, with a further report being presented to Council at the conclusion of the review, which will detail the proposed changes.
25. Efficiencies
Question from Councillor Claisse to Councillor Noon
Could the Cabinet Member update us on the progress that he is making in identifying and implementing efficiencies across the Council? Could he also explain why Councillor Rayment will be Chairing the meetings of the Efficiency Board rather than himself?
Answer
The Efficiency and Transformation Board was set up in September 2010 and replaced with governance arrangements for the Change Programme.
The Change Programme is wider than the “business as usual” efficiency programme and will help us take a strategic, planned and coordinated approach to reduce costs significantly and become a fit for purpose organisation by focusing on key work strands, comprising a number of programmes and projects. Councillor Rayment is very experienced in change management as she has been the Hampshire Police Authority lead for this. I therefore requested Councillor Rayment to be the chair. We work closely on this programme as we are both members of the Change Programme Steering Group.
26. HMO Licensing
Question from Councillor L. Harris to Councillor Payne
Can the Cabinet Member inform us as to what progress has been made in your plan to licence all HMO’s and the estimated number that there are in existence?
Answer
The Cabinet approved a proposal for a Southampton Licensing Scheme for all Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO’s) on 21 August 2012.
The scheme is subject to a twelve week public consultation running from 3 September 2012 to 26 November 2012.
The Cabinet will consider the outcome of the consultation at its meeting on 29 January 2013 and, if appropriate, designate the entire City as being subject to additional licensing to come into effect from 1 April 2013 and be phased in over five years.
The City has a large number of HMO’s, estimated at 7,000 properties.
27. HMO Register
Question from Councillor L. Harris to Councillor Payne
Can the Cabinet Member inform us as to when we might have available an up to date register of HMO’s which should already be licensed (5 or more occupants and three or more storeys) and when we will have one for all the other HMO's?
Answer
The Housing Act 2004 requires that a public register of licensed HMO’s is kept.
This is available on request from the Environmental Health Housing team. A paper copy can be viewed by appointment at One Guildhall Square or a copy of the register can be sent as an email attachment.
Under the additional licensing scheme, assuming this is approved by Cabinet to come into effect in April 2013, as soon as an HMO is licensed it will be added to the public register. It will take 5 years for all HMO’s in the city to be added to the register.
28.Parking Policy
Question from Councillor Fitzhenry to Councillor Thorpe
Please can the Cabinet Member update us on the parking policy review he has initiated?
Answer
We are currently undertaking a parking policy review and will be asking the public and stakeholders for their views on a number of parking issues within the city before making any changes. Key areas we will be consulting on include:
1. Initiatives being worked up in support of the parking charges element of the review including:
· Changes to overall parking charges
· Shared use of on-street parking for residents
· Workplace Parking Levy
· Income from proposed car park as part of the Station Quarter improvements
2. The policy will also review whether the use of dynamic charging for parking as a control measure for traffic flow levels is still appropriate during these times of financial instability.
3. We will be consulting on a number of proposals that do not require a formal change in policy. These will be targeted towards supporting local areas and businesses and will involve tactical changes to charging regimes designed to support local retailers and businesses who may be impacted on as a result of the recession.
29. Roads Budget
Question from Councillor Fitzhenry to Councillor Thorpe
Can the Cabinet Member confirm the amount you will be increasing the roads budget by?
Answer
No decision has yet been made. This will form part of the budget proposals which will be brought forward to Cabinet and Council in due course.
30. Public Transport
Question from Councillor Fitzhenry to Councillor Thorpe
Can the Cabinet Member please outline his priorities for supporting public transport?
Answer
The priorities for public transport are to deliver the improvements for which we have recently successfully bid via the Better Bus Fund and the Local Sustainable Transport Fund. Over the next three years we are expecting to deliver the following:
1. We have funding to deliver a public transport smart card over the whole LEP area which will make ticketing simpler, speed up boarding time, make buses more reliable, allow interoperability between all bus operators, ferry operators and eventually we hope to include rail
2. We will be smartening up all our bus shelters and ensure that all shelter offer improved timetable information and to a consistent brand
3. We will be developing even stronger partnerships with the operator to deliver more and better services, a recent example of the fruits of this good partnership are evidenced by the launch of the post 16 travel discount scheme for our city’s students
4. We will be delivering a new and refreshed system of Real Time Bus information that can be operated at less cost than the existing system and be expanded to all operators not just First Buses
With bus operators we will be fitting out the whole bus fleet with free WiFi and next bus stop announcements. We are also fitting out the buses with new lighting systems that are significantly more energy efficient. This will reduce CO2 emissions from buses and help the operators keep their costs down which we expect to be reflected in ticket prices for customers.
31Residents in Private Care
Question from Councillor Daunt to Councillor Stevens
Earlier this year, Wessex Regional Care made a payment to Southampton for support not given to Southampton residents in their care. In the light of this, the Council’s decision to continue using this provider and other high profile cases such as Southern Cross and Care UK, can the Cabinet Member advise what steps he will take to ensure that residents in private care will receive the very best possible care and that any failings are both identified early and dealt with properly?
Answer
We have adopted a new approach to quality assurance, which has been backed with new resources, including more staff to monitor services.
We have developed a new quality assurance programme for all residential care settings. These standards focus on evidence and the verification of practice across management and care staff. Services are visited and residents/users interviewed (including family members, where necessary). All residential homes are being reviewed, and are prioritised according to potential risks, with follow-up reviews to assess the sustainability of improvements required. We have commenced discussions with homes on changing our current Terms of Inclusion to better reflect quality requirements in the future.
Our new domiciliary care contracts will include clearer requirements and stronger contractual terms. The contracts are due to be tendered shortly.
We are developing a programme for front-line staff who are the micro-commissioners – those who on a daily basis find the community services to meet the needs of users, using the contracted agencies. These staff visit users to review care plans, and we have a process for them to identify and feedback issues and potential risks within services to the quality assurance and contract team for contract management and quality assurance visits.
Our market intelligence programme works with partners (e.g. health), neighbouring authorities, South East authorities and on a national basis with ADASS (Association of Directors of Adult Social Services) to identify the broader risks to care provision – for example, this network helped us to manage the Southern Cross issues locally.
Supporting documents: