Agenda and minutes

To note any changes in membership of the Panel made in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 4.3.

The Committee noted the apologies of Mr Wharton, Mrs Topp and Councillor Vinson.  The Committee also noted that following receipt of the temporary resignation of Councillor Hannides from the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee, the Head of Legal and Democratic Services, acting under delegated powers, had appointed Councillor Norris to replace him for the purposes of this meeting.

To approve and sign as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on
13^th March 2014 and to deal with any matters arising, attached.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Committee Meeting on 13^th March 2014 be approved and signed as a correct record.

Report of the Cabinet Member for Education and Change, providing an update on the progress made in relation to the Council’s transformation programme during the 4^th quarter of 2013/14, attached.

The Committee considered the report of the Assistant Chief Executive providing an update on the progress made in relation to the Council’s transformation programme during the 4^th quarter of 2013/14.

RESOLVED:

(i)  that for the next quarterly Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee discussion, the Transformation Strategy and high level business cases for the 11 priority projects be circulated to the Committee;

(ii)  that the list of ‘transformation’ projects not included in the 11 priority projects be circulated to the Committee;

(iii)  that the governance structure for the Transformation Programme be circulated to the Committee, highlighting political representation;

(iv)  that the latest PID for each of the major projects be circulated to the Committee;

(v)  that the Executive’s latest thinking with regards to shared services, including services within the Place Directorate, be circulated to the Committee;  and

(vi)  that the Cabinet Member for Education and Change updated the Committee on progress with regards to the Energy Pipeline proposal from the Marchwood Incinerator.

Report of the Assistant Chief Executive detailing items requested for discussion from the current Forward Plan, attached.

The Committee considered the report of the Assistant Chief Executive, detailing items requested for discussion from the current Forward Plan.

RESOLVED

(i)  on consideration of the briefing paper relating to “Admission Arrangements for Community and Voluntary Controlled Schools for the 2015/16 Academic Year”, the Committee recommended that:-

a)  the Cabinet Member for Education and Change provided the Committee with information on what schools in the city did not have, within their admission criteria, a priority for children subject to a child protection plan, the reason given for this, and if we had been informed of their intention to include this for 2015/16 or 2016/17;

b)  subject to the above recommendation, the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee wrote to the Chair of Governors for each school that did not have, or did not intend to have “Children who were subject to a child protection plan” criteria in their admission arrangements, seeking clarification as to why this was;

c)  the Cabinet Member for Education and Change updated the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee in due course, on progress relating to discussions about a common admissions statement; 

d)  information on the methodology for forecasting school admission numbers be circulated to the Committee, including whether the process took into consideration planned developments that might result in a significant rise in families coming into or out of the city;  and

e)  children on a child protection plan should be a priority in all school admission pollicies.

(ii)  on consideration of the briefing paper relating to “Award of Contract for an Adult Carer Service and a Young Carer Service” the Committee recommended that:-

a)  to enable scrutiny to engage in the process of informing service specifications, information be circulated to the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee and the Health Overview and Scrutiny Panel on services being commissioned by the Integrated Commissioning Unit (ICU) over the next 12-18 months;  and

b)  following the discussion at the Health Overview and Scrutiny Panel on market development within the ICU, a briefing paper be circulated to the Committee for information.

NOTE:  During the course of debate of item 57 (ii)  the Chair proposed that the meeting moved into confidential session and excluded the press and public from the meeting in accordance with Category 7A of paragraph 10.4 of the Council’s Access to Information Procedure Rules.

Report of the Assistant Chief Executive, detailing the actions of the Executive and monitoring recommendations of the Committee, attached.

The Committee received and noted the report of the Assistant Chief Executive, detailing the actions of the Executive and monitoring progress of the recommendations of the Committee.

It was noted that under Communities “Families Matter” Item 1, that further detail and clarity on numbers be circulated to Health Overview and Scrutiny Panel members.