East Midlands Scrutiny network meeting 29 September 2017 Attendees Bassetlaw District Council Joanne Wilson Bassetlaw District Council Cllr John Shephard Bassetlaw District Council Cllr Madelaine Richardson Blaby District Council Linda McBean Bolsover District Council Lynne Cheong Charnwood Borough Council Michael Hopkins Chesterfield Borough Council Rachel Appleyard Chesterfield Borough Council Cllr Peter Innes Chesterfield Borough Council Cllr Kate Sarvent Chesterfield Borough Council Charlotte Kearsey East Midlands Councils Kirsty Lowe Erewash Borough Council Lynne Ghent Erewash Borough Council Angela Taylor Erewash Borough Council Angelika Kaufhold Erewash Borough Council Cllr Richard Harris Gedling Borough Council Helen Lee Gedling Borough Council Cllr Meredith Lawrence Gedling Borough Council Cllr Marje Paling Kettering Borough Council Cllr Mick Scrimshaw Leicester City Council Kalvaran Sandhu Leicester City Council Cllr Elly Cutkelvin Lincolnshire County Council Nigel West Apologies Blaby District Council Cllr Louise Richardson Blaby District Council Cllr LEs Philimore Rutland County Council Natasha Brown Charnwood Borough Council Karen Widdison Welcome and introductions Cllr Meredith Lawrence welcomed network members to Long Eaton and thanked Erewash Borough Council for hosting the network meeting. He informed the network that this is his first meeting as chair of the East Midlands Scrutiny Network. A round of introductions followed. Minutes from the last The minutes of the last meeting were agreed. NHS England’s proposals for congenital heart disease services - Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland’s Scrutiny Committees approach Cllr Elly Cutkelvin, Leicester City Council provided an introduction to the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland’s Scrutiny review of the Glenfield Heart Centre. Cllr Cutkelvin informed the network that she is the chair of the Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland Joint Health Scrutiny Committee. 1 Cllr Cutkelvin provided context to the review, including the need to work with outside agencies and the additional powers of Health Scrutiny Commission to refer to Secretary of State. She informed the network that it has been an issue since 2013, and that they were coming to end of the formal consultation of the unit, with a lot of interest from the press, patients’ groups, MPs, Councillors and Unions. She informed the network that the purpose of the meeting was to listen to patients and their experience. At the end of the process letters were written to the Secretary of State and a formal submission to the consultation was made. Kalvaran Sandhu from Leicester City Council provided a detailed presentation on the joint scrutiny approach of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland councillors. The presentation covered; Review of all 11-12 children’s heart units across the country, ongoing for 4-5 years Safe and sustainable review, referral to secretary of state, by Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland and Lincolnshire. Independent reconfiguration panel to look into the decision, to go back and look into the plans. Larger consultation period, joint meeting Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland The aim was to have a balanced view that would hear from other stakeholders Met in March 2017 and invited NHS England to come back Tried to hear as many views as possible and invited NHS England to be part so that they could hear from stakeholders too. Issues identified as part of the review With the closure of the Leicester Glenfield Heart Centre, patients would be referred to Birmingham or Leeds, which would mean that Lincolnshire is particularly affected Lack of transparency to decision making process Inequality of treatment for Leicestershire compared to other units Didn’t meet the recommendations from reconfiguration panel Performance of Units, greater weight given to surgery standards, Leicester isn’t the only service not current achieving this standard Personal conflicts of interest in the review Particular gap - decommissioning of services in Leicester would mean that the East Midlands would be the only regional not to have this service within their region Current position At present the final decision will be announced on 30 November The Hospital trust can refer for Judicial Review if decision to close Cllr Lawrence thanked Cllr Cutklevin and Kalvaran for the informative presentation, he invited questions from the network. A discussion followed on the requirement to form a joint committee of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. Colleagues from Bassetlaw District Council provided details of their recent cross boarder issues with STP plans. Nigel West, Lincolnshire County Council informed the network that Lincolnshire did submit a response to the formal consultation. He sighted the geographical gap, lack of consultation, and the impact of the General Election had an impact on the time frame to respond. The network reflected on the importance of scrutiny and the effort that is put into the important reviews such as this. Cllr Lawrence reflected on the fact that Gedling Borough Council has never done any cross boundary reviews, but that it could be an opportunity to enhance scrutiny. 2 Promoting Scrutiny internally and externally Rachel Appleyard from Chesterfield Borough Council and Vice Chair of the East Midlands Scrutiny Network provided a presentation on promoting scrutiny and a recent project undertaken by Chesterfield Borough Council. Rachel provided context to the project undertaken at Chesterfield that involved presentations to all service managers, following changes in scrutiny and within the corporate management team. She informed the network that it was seen as an opportunity to explain scrutiny. The presentation covered; What is scrutiny, the legislative background Some of the managers had not experienced scrutiny before Focus on scrutiny as internal consultancy - Chesterfield BC tend to do pre-decision scrutiny Tried to create a friendly face of scrutiny, building on the idea of working together Cllr Peter Innes from Chesterfield BC provided details of how scrutiny is done at Chesterfield, including details of committees and the scrutiny processes. He provided details of the Scrutiny Project Groups, where anyone can be a member of these groups, Councillors and Officers. This group is currently looking at HS2 and the impact on Chesterfield. The presentation covered; Setting work programme - two working days, to engage cabinet, backbenchers and invited Heard from portfolio holders as to what they have coming up in their work programmes Development of a long list Consult on the work programme Promote working together and increasing engagement Varied work programme Role of Members Marketed that it is something that everyone can get involved with, opportunity to raise ward issues - Cabinet, Scrutiny and other elected members Role of officers and managers - need for evidence based and cooperation Unique selling point of scrutiny - internal consultancy Success stories, to be aware of what they had done - Fees and Charges Review was a success story that was explained to managers. Looked into the variety of approaches, engagement with the public. Corporate concessions policy - now a consistent approach and has increased income HS2, Town Centre and Development of the old QPSC A discussion followed on the Scrutiny project groups and how do they work constitutionally. Rachel informed the network that it is allowed in the constitution to have cabinet members on the Scrutiny Project groups. Rachel invited the network to break into small groups to discuss examples of work done to promote scrutiny, challenges faced and what has worked well; Experience of managers coming to meetings Challenges faced - political challenges, keeping it a-political Support for scrutiny, dedicated scrutiny officers Scrutiny commissioners and their role Talked further on Chesterfield approach 3 Promote scrutiny - large changes in councillors and officers, this was seen as an opportunity to promote scrutiny Discussions followed that covered; Challenge in changes in resources Being inventive in terms of reoccurring topics, ensure remain effective - use of criteria in selecting topics Discussed trying to get more interest in scrutiny Advance questions to cabinet More involvement from elected members Committees looking at HS2 across the region Preparing questions in advance Select committee members - planning in advance in terms of the approach Need to acknowledge that scrutiny is hard work. Scrutiny update from around the region Leicester City Council Health and STP - will be looking at it jointly Ofsted in Children Services with Leicester End of Life Care - Adult Social care Bus services act Political changes with Cllr Rory Palmer, who is leaving to become an MEP Bassetlaw District Council Management and Licensing HMOs Delivery of affordable housing Private rented sector - how can work Worked with CCG, extending access to closer general practice Work on health, STP. Challenges to do it because of being a lower tier authority Lincolnshire County Council Review of scrutiny last year, restructured Scrutiny panels set up - street lighting scrutiny Use of it to enhance work of front line Health - STPs - looking at EMAS and rural officers nature of Lincolnshire and need to improve response times Bolsover District Council Personnel changes within Scrutiny Income generation - fees and charges 3 scrutiny committees - dog fouling, litter - Transformation programme look at