Agenda and minutes

When the continuous alarm sounds you must evacuate the building by the nearest available fire exit. Members and visitors should proceed to the visitors’ car park at the front of the building and await further instructions (during office hours staff should proceed to their usual assembly point; outside of office hours proceed to the visitors’ car park). Please do not re-enter the building unless instructed to do so.

In the event of a fire any person with a disability should be assisted in leaving the building.

66.1           The evacuation procedure, as noted on the Agenda, was advised to those present.

67.1           Apologies for absence were received from Councillor T A Spencer. 

68.1           The Committee’s attention was drawn to the Tewkesbury Borough Council Code of Conduct which was adopted by the Council on 26 June 2012 and took effect from 1 July 2012.

68.2           The following declarations were made:

68.3           There were no further declarations made on this occasion.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 9 January 2018.

69.1           The Minutes of the meeting held on 9 January 2018, copies of which had been circulated, were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair. 

To determine whether there are any questions for the relevant Lead Members and what support the Overview and Scrutiny Committee can give to work contained within the Plan.

70.1           Attention was drawn to the Executive Committee Forward Plan, circulated at Pages No. 12-14.  Members were asked to determine whether there were any questions for the relevant Lead Members and what support the Overview and Scrutiny Committee could give to the work contained within the plan.

70.2           A Member indicated that he had been experiencing difficulty with deleting emails, which he believed to be because he did not use a Windows-based device, and this was a problem in terms of complying with the General Data Protection Regulations.  He noted that the ICT Strategy was due to be considered by the Executive Committee at its meeting on 25 April 2018 and questioned whether this was something that would be addressed as part of that.  Another Member expressed the view that mobile telephones needed to be more compatible with the ICT used by the Council.  The Head of Corporate Services confirmed that mobile telephones would be included within the ICT Strategy but he urged Members to speak to the IT team if they were experiencing any particular problems in this regard.  He undertook to speak to both Members outside of the meeting to help resolve their issues. 

70.3           It was

RESOLVED          That the Executive Committee Forward Plan be NOTED.

To consider the forthcoming work of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

71.1           Attention was drawn to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme 2017/18, circulated at Pages No. 15-18, which Members were asked to consider.

71.2           It was

RESOLVED          That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme 2017/18 be NOTED.

To receive an update from the Council’s representative on matters considered at the last meeting.

72.1           Members received an update from Councillor Janet Day, the Council’s representative on the Gloucestershire Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee, on matters discussed at its last meeting held on 9 January 2018.

72.2           Councillor Day advised that the Gloucestershire Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee was a statutory consultee on any substantial development of the health service in Gloucestershire.  The consultation on Health and Wellbeing for the Future: Community Hospital Services in the Forest of Dean had been launched at the meeting on 12 September 2017 and the outcome report had been presented to the meeting on 9 January 2018.  The preferred option consulted upon was to invest in a new community hospital in the Forest of Dean which would replace the Dilke Memorial Hospital and Lydney and District Hospital.  The Committee’s role in the development of the proposal was to confirm whether it was satisfied that the consultation process had been undertaken in line with statutory requirements, and was appropriate and proportionate, and to feedback on key issues it wished to see fully considered by the Gloucestershire Care Services NHS Trust and the Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group within their decision-making process.  The Committee had received a detailed presentation on the consultation process - including engagement activity - and the main findings.  The concerns raised by the Committee during the debate reflected those identified in the consultation outcome report: number of beds; transport issues; housing developments – including the impact of the removal of tolls on the Severn Bridge by the end of 2020; insufficient detail overall; and a lack of clarity as to why the shared investment suggestion was unviable.  Whilst the Committee was satisfied that the consultation process had been appropriate and proportionate, Members expected the Gloucestershire Care Services NHS Trust and the Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group to give serious consideration to their wider concerns during the decision-making process.  The Committee had asked to be kept informed of progress.

 72.3          The Committee had also received a performance report from the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust.  An update was provided on the Ambulance Response Programme, in particular the new ambulance response standards.  Members were informed that the Trust had been part of the initial pilot and there had been improvements in productivity and efficiency since that time with less vehicles being sent to each incident, freeing up resources to attend more patients.  The Committee had also received a report from the Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group and had questioned whether the Winter Plan was working.  Members were informed that it had been challenging - particularly between Christmas and New Year - but it had been the most robust winter so far in Gloucestershire.  The Gloucestershire NHS Foundation Trust was the last in the region to escalate to level 4 but had been back to level 2 with two days, and the four hour accident and emergency standard had been achieved in both November and December 2017.  It was noted that NHS England had issued a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 72.

To approve the proposed Terms of Reference for the Scrutiny Review of Water Supply Outage. 

73.1           Attention was drawn to the report of the Head of Community Services, circulated at Pages No. 19-23, which set out proposed Terms of Reference for a scrutiny review of the water supply outage.  Members were asked to approve the Terms of Reference attached at Appendix 1 to the report.

73.2           The Chair explained that, at the last Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Members had discussed the water supply outage that had affected a significant number of households within Tewkesbury Borough on the weekend of Friday 15 December through to Sunday 17 December.  It had been agreed that Terms of Reference for a scrutiny review of the water supply outage be brought back to the next meeting and that the Committee meet as a Working Group prior to that meeting.  In accordance with that resolution, the Committee had met as a Working Group immediately prior to the current meeting and had discussed the proposed Terms of Reference, as set out at Appendix 1 to the report.  The Working Group had agreed a number of changes as follows:

·      that the purpose of the review be amended to make reference to the two previous water outages in Tewkesbury and Churchdown;

·      that Town and Parish Councils be added to the method of review section and that it be reworded to increase the number of meetings from “up to three” to “up to four” to accommodate a meeting with external partners if needed; and

·      that the sixth bullet point within the scope of the review be amended to make reference to the community as follows: “To understand the impact on the community and local businesses, including agriculture, during one of the busiest weekends of the trading year” and moved to the top of the list to reflect its importance.

73.3           It was subsequently,

RESOLVED          That the Terms of Reference be APPROVED, subject to the following:

·                  that the purpose of the review be amended to make reference to the two previous water outages in Tewkesbury and Churchdown;

·                  that Town and Parish Councils be added to the method of review section and that it be reworded to increase the number of meetings from “up to three” to “up to four” to accommodate a meeting with external partners if needed; and

·                  that the sixth bullet point within the scope of the review be amended to make reference to the community as follows: “To understand the impact on the community and local businesses, including agriculture, during one of the busiest weekends of the trading year” and moved to the top of the list to reflect its importance.

To receive an update on the Community Safety Partnership.

74.1           The report of the Head of Community Services, circulated at Page No. 24-35, provided an update on community safety in Gloucestershire and the proposed local arrangements.  Members were asked to consider the update.

74.2           Members were reminded that local Community Safety Partnerships, made up of representatives from responsible authorities, i.e. local authorities, police, fire, probation and health, had been suspended pending the outcome of a countywide review.  The review had concluded that, whilst the responsibility for dealing with community safety sat with second tier authorities, it would be beneficial to have a countywide view of the work being undertaken.  Safer Gloucestershire had been developed to provide co-ordination and focus on community safety issues at a county level and would sit aside the six district Community Safety Partnerships that retained responsibility for community safety at a district level.  Its development had been supported by Leadership Gloucestershire and the Police and Crime Commissioner and its Terms of Reference were attached at Appendix 1 to the report.  The Deputy Chief Executive and Head of Community Services had been involved with drawing up the framework along with representatives from the other local authorities in Gloucestershire.  The Head of Community Services indicated that it had been a very good piece of work which had also presented an opportunity to look at how Domestic Homicide Reviews were carried out in the borough.  Domestic Homicide Reviews were statutory and must be independently chaired; as a number of meetings tended to be held to investigate the incident, they could be very resource intensive.  As such, the general conclusion was that a countywide approach would be more efficient and a better way to share learning.  The final piece of work, which had not been referenced in the report, related to better information sharing to tackle crime and disorder - this could be done more quickly within Safer Gloucestershire. 

74.3           The Head of Community Services advised that, locally, the Community Safety Partnership remained suspended which meant that arrangements for managing community safety were being done on an ad-hoc basis; this was not sustainable and he had been tasked with rectifying the situation.  As such, a steering group had been established comprising the Lead Member for Community and other key community safety partners and Terms of Reference had been drafted for the new arrangements, aligned with those for Safer Gloucestershire.  He stressed that this work was still in its very early stages and he intended to take a report to the Executive Committee within the next few months to set out how the Council and its partners would manage community safety ‘on the ground’.  It was hoped that the countywide priorities would feed into the local community safety strategy, which would also have its own local priorities.

74.4           Whilst he accepted that it had not been working effectively, a Member expressed the view that the local Community Safety Partnership in Tewkesbury Borough had been useful in terms of finding out what partners such as the Police and Fire Service were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 74.

To conduct the annual review of the effectiveness of the Council’s involvement in the Gloucestershire Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee in order to authorise payment of the Council’s contribution to the running costs for the forthcoming year. 

75.1           The report of the Head of Corporate Services, circulated at Pages No. 36-39, asked Members to consider the effectiveness of the Council’s continued involvement in the Gloucestershire Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee and, subject to the Committee being satisfied that value for money was being achieved, Officers be authorised to make the payment of £2,500 from the Council’s base budget as its 2018/19 contribution to the Gloucestershire Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

75.2           The Council’s reserve representative on the Gloucestershire Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee felt it was very important that Tewkesbury Borough Council continued to be represented on the Committee.  NHS decisions inevitably affected the borough and its residents and this gave the Council an opportunity to intervene – he made particular reference to its influence over the decision to reduce the closure of a number of hospital beds from 200 to 43 as an example of the Committee’s real power which could be used to the advantage of residents.  The Council’s representative on the Committee echoed these sentiments and indicated that there was currently representation from all of the Gloucestershire district authorities.

75.3           In response to a query about the contribution, clarification was provided that the amount was the same as the previous year.  It was subsequently

RESOLVED          That Officers be authorised to make the payment of £2,500 from the Council’s base budget as its 2018/19 contribution to the Gloucestershire Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee.