Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Kirsty Hunt  01344 353108

Media

Items
Note No. Item

None

16.

Minutes of previous meeting pdf icon PDF 99 KB

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Commission held on 7 July 2022.

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Commission held on 7 July 2022 be approved as a correct record, and signed by the Chairman.

 

Responses to all of the queries and requests for information raised in the meeting had been received or formed part of the agenda.

None

17.

Declarations of Interest and Party Whip

Members are asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary or affected interests and the nature of that interest, including the existence and nature of the party whip, in respect of any matter to be considered at this meeting.

 

Any Member with a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in a matter should withdraw from the meeting when the matter is under consideration and should notify the Democratic Services Officer in attendance that they are withdrawing as they have such an interest. If the Disclosable Pecuniary Interest is not entered on the register of Members interests the Monitoring Officer must be notified of the interest within 28 days.

 

Any Member with an Affected Interest in a matter must disclose the interest to the meeting.  There is no requirement to withdraw from the meeting when the interest is only an affected interest, but the Monitoring Officer should be notified of the interest, if not previously notified of it, within 28 days of the meeting.

Minutes:

There were no indications that members would be participating while under the party whip.

None

18.

Urgent Items of Business

Any other items which, pursuant to Section 100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972, the Chairman decides are urgent.

Minutes:

There were no items of urgent business.

19.

Public Participation

To receive submissions from members of the public which have been submitted in advance in accordance with the Council’s Public Participation Scheme for Overview and Scrutiny.

Minutes:

No submissions had been made by members of the public under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme for Overview and Scrutiny.

20.

Public Health Update pdf icon PDF 5 MB

To consider the Public Health update report detailing what has been achieved over the past three years and future priorities.

Minutes:

The Commission considered the report from the Public Health Team which highlighted past progress and future priorities.

 

It was highlighted the team had been working for 18 months in their current format across East Berkshire in a hub and spoke model, a shared team across East Berkshire, managed by Bracknell Forest Council and included a commissioning lead role. Members of the Panel were informed the Public Health carried out roles and services which were not mandated, as well as those that were mandated by Government.

 

Arising from the discussion the following points were made:

  • School nurses drop in visits had increased as a survey showed this was what users and schools wanted. The service was planned to be re-tendered next year, possibly across East Berkshire.
  • The Public Health Team gave advice and support in terms of health emergency planning but were not involved in access issues, such as attendance at Brants Bridge Urgent Care Centre. It was agreed Heema Shukla, Deputy Director Public Health would ask NHS colleagues how access to Brants Bridge was being publicised and circulate the response following the meeting.
  • Child measurement programmes carried out in Reception and year 6 served two purposes. Firstly, it provided surveillance on obesity and height which would be accrued at a national level. Secondly, parents/carers locally received letter about their child’s measurements. The letter included advice about where to receive support, if necessary, or they may be offered a meeting with the school nurse. This included support to parents/carers of underweight children.
  • Children’s oral health was checked by Health Visitors at pre-school level and parents/ carers received advice on weaning and healthy diets. However, it was noted there used to be a national survey on dental care of children, but this was not always the case now as it was not a mandated requirement for Public Health nationally. Last year Bracknell Forest Public Health Team worked to support parents/carers in areas where oral health was poorer but this year’s priorities included a whole school approach to look at every aspect of health rather than fragmented interventions.
  • The revised Bracknell Forest Health and Wellbeing Strategy had been published and two of the priorities were being discussed at the Health and Wellbeing Board on 7 September. The priorities included setting up a more robust governance for 0-5 year old children’s services.
  • The capacity of adult weight programmes to tackle obesity had been increased due to 600 people being on the waiting list. Bracknell Forest Public Health Team had recently commissioned Southampton University to look at a whole system wide approach to tackling obesity and the first meeting of a group convened to look at this had taken place, which included businesses and the voluntary sector. A briefing about this project had been delivered to Councillors recently.
  • Winter planning included a vaccination programme as well as warm homes and food security. The team were working to ensure health was considered in all policies/procurement in the future and grants had been given to the welfare  ...  view the full minutes text for item 20.

21.

Council Plan Overview Report pdf icon PDF 8 MB

Council Plan Overview Report (CPOR) covering the first quarter of 2022/23 is attached.

 

Members of the Commission are asked to submit technical or detailed questions in advance of the meeting.

Minutes:

The Deputy Chief Executive at Bracknell Forest Council, Stuart McKellar, introduced the Council Plan Overview Report (CPOR) covering the first quarter of 2022/23 and highlighted that:

  • This quarter marked the beginning of Ukranian families arriving in the UK. There were 82 guests who arrived in quarter 1 with another 72 expected. All those families had now arrived but members of the Commission were informed Ukranian families were likely to continue arriving in the UK for some time.
  • An Inspection of Children’s Local Authority Services (Ilacs) took place during Quarter 1 and the authority received an Outstanding grade for their services to children in the borough.
  • The Council had received an award for Council of the Year at the Energy Efficiency Awards for supporting over 700 households become more fuel efficient. Councillors wished to pass on their thanks to Hazel Hill, Energy Efficiency Officer, for her hard work in this area.
  • The Council had moved away from ‘forward’ acronym to three new values: ‘Inclusive, Ambitious, Always Learning’.
  • Following a Joint Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Inspection the Council was required to publish a Written Statement of Action (WSOA) to address issues which were identified during the inspection. The WSOA was approved without amendments.

 

The Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Commission thanked officers for bringing the quarterly Corporate Performance Overview Report in a timely manner.

 

Arising from discussion the following points were made:

22.

Environment and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Panel Report: Integrated Enforcement pdf icon PDF 106 KB

To consider the draft Integrated Enforcement review report prepared by the Environment and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Panel for submission to the Executive on 20 September 2022.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair of the Environment and Communities Panel introduced the Integrated Enforcement review report and the following points were made:

·        Members of the Commission welcomed the idea of a lead officer in the Council for enforcement.

·        A discussion took place about the difficulties for officers being given powers to fine people if they were not Police Officers. However, it was acknowledged there would be training in place to ensure officers undertaking enforcement roles remained safe, i.e. to challenge in two’s, and provision of a uniform, so this recommendation was accepted.

·        The review found Thames Valley Police were often not able to participate in CSAS training and members of the Commission agreed a recommendation intended to ensure someone from Thames Valley Police was available was important to ensure training was of good quality.

·        Councillors thanked Joey Gurney, Governance and Scrutiny Officer for his hard work supporting Councillors during this review.

 

The Commission endorsed the recommendations in the Integrated Enforcement review report for submission to the Executive on 22 September 2022.

None

23.

Work Programme Update pdf icon PDF 91 KB

Overview and Scrutiny Panel Chairs to provide verbal updates on the work programme and highlight any proposed changes such as scope, scheduling or duration.

 

The Commission to consider the scope for the Child Criminal Exploitation review from the Education, Skills and Growth Overview and Scrutiny Panel.

 

Minutes:

Each Panel Chair in attendance provided a verbal update on work programme progress.

 

Education, Skills and Growth Overview and Scrutiny Panel

 

The SEND review report had been finalised and would be presented to the Overview and Scrutiny Commission on 6 October.

The Chair requested Overview and Scrutiny Commission members approve the Child Criminal Exploitation review scope which had been circulated with the agenda. The Panel had originally intended to review County Lines but, due to Covid and issues affecting people travelling across county lines, the scope had been revised. The scope was approved.

The Chair of the Education, Skills and Growth Panel invited Councillors to a meeting of the panel on 28th September to discuss the progress made to date and future review ideas.

 

The Commission agreed the Child Criminal Exploitation review scope.

 

Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Panel

 

The Health and Care Panel would meet on 10 October, 6.30pm, to discuss the impact of the review on blue badges and how the recommendations had been carried out. The meeting would also discuss the next project for the Panel to review. It was planned to bring the scope to the next Overview and Scrutiny Commission meeting for consideration.

 

Environment and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Panel

 

It was noted the Environment and Communities Panel had their next review scope agreed at the previous meeting in July and would begin work on this review on 6 October.

 

The work ethic in all the panels was commended by the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Commission.

 

Contact Information

Democratic services

Email: committee@bracknell-forest.gov.uk