Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the first public meeting of the Corporate and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Panel following the local elections.

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Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Assistant Director for Legal and Governance in writing or by email indicating both the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case 19 July 2021).  Enquiries can be made through the telephone number/email address listed below.

Subject to any announcement by Government between publication of this Agenda and the Meeting, places at the meeting may be limited, therefore, all members of the public who wish to attend the meeting should register by e-mail with the officer below. 

Furthermore, attendees may be required to sign that they have either:

• Had Covid-19 in the last 6 months, or

• Received two Covid-19 vaccinations, or

• Had a negative lateral flow test in the 48 Hours prior to the meeting.

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(previously circulated)

The Minutes of the previous Meeting, held on 11 March 2021, were signed by the Chairman after being advised that no comments had been received from Panel Members at the time.  The previous Panel Chairman, Cllr Adam Kent, concurred.

The Panel had requested an update on performance of Stage 2 Children’s Social Care complaints completed inside 65 days and Stage 2 Corporate complaints in 25 days, following the 11 March 2021 Panel meeting.

The Strategic Director of Commercial and Change introduced the report by stating that the County Council took complaints very seriously as it provided a picture of what residents were experiencing.  Regular updates were provided to Senior Leaders, and Directorate Officers across the organisation were involved in the process.  The Director referred to the Agenda, outlining that the requested Action Plan had been developed following the 11 March Panel and that some progress had been made.

The Council acknowledged that the 2020 Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO) letter was disappointing and was expecting progress to have been made when the 2021 letter was received by the end of July.  The Director concluded that although there had been some decrease in the volume of complaints, it was a strange time to be taking feedback from residents. 

The Cabinet Member with Responsibility (CMR) for Corporate Services and Communication added that as the previous Panel Chairman, he remembered the Panel’s discussions and agreed actions.  He referred to the Appendix showing the Action Plan and highlighted that it showed some improvement had been made, although advised caution as it was very easy for figures to be skewed if numbers were low.  The CMR suggested that the Panel may wish to keep the subject under review.

The Panel was asked to note an error in the Agenda.  Paragraph 7 (bullet point 3) should read that there had been “an increase in most of the categories for Statutory Adult Social Care representations (complaints up from 117 to 125)…”

The Chairman invited questions from Panel Members and the following main points were made:

·         In response to a query on progress made in recruiting an additional 12 Investigators/Independent Persons, the Complaints Manager reported that employee references were currently being sought, with training and induction sessions being planned for August.  New Independent Persons would work alongside an experienced Investigator initially, to build up their knowledge.  The Panel was also reminded that for all Children’s Social Care cases, an Independent Person must shadow the Investigator

·         For clarity, the 12 appointees included 3 Independent Persons and 8 Investigators

·         When asked about the progress of Conflict Resolution Meetings, it was reported that a process had been agreed with the People Directorate, however, a trial case had not yet been identified as the process did not suit every case.  In addition, as the process was staff intensive, it was important to choose carefully

·         In response to a question on what the Council could do to reduce the number of complaints overall, it was reported that Worcestershire Children First (WCF) had a higher rate of satisfaction at Stage 1 suggesting that work to resolve issues early was key

·         The Panel was reminded that Adult Social Care representations had a one Stage process.  If the complainant was not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 316.

The Democratic Governance and Scrutiny Manager had been invited to the meeting to provide the Annual Report on the Worcestershire Councillors’ Divisional Fund.

It was reported that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, it had been another successful year with a wide range of applications from across the County.  The application process had been made more digital although Officers continued to check both the information provided and the legality of the application.  It was highly unusual to have such a scheme in Local Government, where each individual Member had full delegation to apply the Fund as they wished, set at £10,000 for each Councillor for the 2020/21 year.

During the ensuing discussion, the following the main points were raised:

·         Members were very supportive of the Scheme and appreciated the opportunity to decide where to allocate funding

·         New Members were already submitting applications and detailed information on the scheme had been provided in their Induction packs.  A Panel Member suggested that it would be useful to have examples of areas to avoid

·         It was noted that the Fund was not a grant scheme, with Members citing examples of receiving repeat applications from previous years with applicants presuming it was a yearly award.  The Panel was advised that Officers were always available to assist them and the application form had been taken off the County Council’s website to help Councillors target the resource

·         The Panel asked for Officers to provide a note for Members to help them ascertain financial viability of the application or applicant

·         The Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Corporate Services and Communication suggested that elements of the Fund process may be able to integrate with the developing Councillor Case Management System

·         A Member asked whether there had been any cases of mismanagement, to be informed that there had not, however, an example was given whereby a Member was a Trustee of a charity applying for funding.  On that occasion advice was given and the funding was allocated to a specific outsourced element of a specific event.  Any deliberate misuse would fall under the Member Code of Conduct

·         Funding would need to be returned to the Council if not used for the purposes outlined in the original application, for example, an event cancellation

·         In response to a query about how well the Fund was used, it was reported that there had been an increase in applications during the last year and slightly less funding had been rolled forward.  Each Member could roll over up to £1,000

·         To avoid an end of financial year rush, Officers would remind Members each December to allocate their funding in good time

·         When asked whether anyone had measured the impact the Fund had on local communities, it was stated that the onus was on each Member to publicise their own success through their local communication channels

·         The Cabinet Member reminded the Panel that Councillors were able to pool their funding to increase the amount available and the Fund was a very powerful tool for community development.  Furthermore,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 317.

Referring to the Agenda Papers, the Chairman invited questions on the Performance information provided.  The following main points were raised:

·         Traffic across social-media channels showed an improving direction of travel, with consistent and regular engagement.  With new leadership in Communications, the Cabinet Member was very pleased with the results and keen to measure its impact, although it was noted that some key messages from Public Health England had to be shared as received, out of line with Council branding

·         Council Communication with hard to reach groups during the COVID-19 response had been helped by the great partnership with District Councils, especially in Redditch and Worcester City

·         The Council’s communication strategy was agreed each year, with Cabinet agreeing up to 6 key messages to be shared with residents across all communication platforms, including social media

·         The Cabinet Member stressed the importance of communication urging Members to not only be local advocates but to also share the Council’s corporate message.  He commended the success of the Here2Help scheme as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular the Assistant Director for Communities for leading on it 

·         When asked if the 2016/17 Balanced Scorecard for Corporate Services on the Council’s website was the current version, the Director reported that discussions were taking place to revise the Corporate Plan, likely to incorporate a Recovery Plan

·         In relation to the deteriorating performance of registrations of deaths within 5 days, the Panel heard that the volume of deaths was not increasing, rather that there were 2 main reasons which were out of the Council’s control, i) a national reporting system had been introduced in April which was problematic and ii) registrations were reliant on a GP signed death certificate and these were often not forthcoming in time.  The Assistant Director hoped that improvements could be reported by Quarter 2, however, Worcestershire performance was not far off the 5 day target.  In addition, the Panel heard that in order to respect individual wishes, all burials had taken place in a timely manner

·      The dramatic increase in library e-issues (electronic books, magazines and audio books) was in part due to relaxed rules during the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the collection had been expanded and widely promoted.  The new Digital Library Hub provided residents the opportunity to join instantly if they were not already a library member.  The Panel requested that all Members be provided with material to promote the Digital Library to their residents

·      Library usage had also increased, with Staff facilitating a number of online groups, appealing to a wider audience with great success.  This creativity was commended, although it was hoped that footfall in libraries across the County would increase again.  The Panel noted that libraries had been open for some time and although access had been limited, residents were grateful for the opportunity to have computer and internet access  

In relation to Budget Monitoring, the Head of Finance reported that the year-end position was very positive, with a 9% underspend in the Commercial and Commissioning  ...  view the full minutes text for item 318.

The Panel was asked to review the Work Programme for 2021/22.

With the addition of Performance Monitoring of Comments, Compliments and Complaints, the Work Programme was agreed.  It would be discussed by OSPB on 21 July 2021 and agreed by Council in due course.