Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations made at the meeting.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee held on 12th January and 11th February, 2016, be approved as a true record and signed by the Chair.

The Chair reported that in accordance with Section 100(B)(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972, he was accepting the following item of urgent business in Part 1 which was not included on the Agenda for consideration at the meeting:-

‘SLHD Performance and Delivery Update: 2015/16 Quarter Three’

RESOLVED that in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 5 of the Council’s Constitution, under Section 100 (B)(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972, the Chair accept the report titled ‘SLHD performance and Delivery Update: 2015/16 Quarter 3 for consideration by the Committee at the end of the agenda.

There were no Public Statements made at the meeting.

The Chair welcomed Mayor Ros Jones and Officers to the meeting and invited Officers to address the Committee with regard to any new information, and address any queries in terms of budget and performance.

The report before the Committee provided an update with regard to Finance and Performance Improvement for Quarter 3 of 2015/16, and the report aimed to give a clear overview of the financial position of the Council. The report provided progress made with regard to the Corporate Plan objectives and the Council Budget and informed the Committee that an overspend of £2.0 m was currently projected.  Members noted that the challenge to deliver savings would get continually harder and these needed to be delivered in order to achieve a sustainable budget going forward into 2016/17.

Adults, Health and Well-Being

The Director of Public Health, Dr Rupert Suckling, and the Director of Adults, Health and Wellbeing, Kim Curry, were in attendance at the meeting and provided updates to the Committee with regard to any performance and budget issues.

Members raised a number of queries with regard to obesity and how the changes to this service would impact on young people. It was reported that the service that was being removed focused on young people and was in actual fact ineffective, and the money would be better spent refocusing in different areas. Members noted that work would be done on the Adult Obesity Service, with a view to getting more people through this service successfully, encouraging increased use of leisure centres and sporting facilities, along with further investment in schools to improve the level of physical education currently provided and get children moving more. The Director of Public Health also informed Members that school nurses would be put back into schools in an attempt to focus on health inequalities and problems as they manifested themselves and directly address obesity, giving children a better chance from a young age.

Queries were raised with regard to drug misuse, and an explanation with regard to the percentages quoted was requested. Members were informed that 1500 people in Doncaster were currently being treated for drug misuse, and of these, 9%, left and successfully did not come back. In terms of alcohol, 50% of those seeking help with alcohol problems were successful in not returning for help.

Concerns were voiced regarding NHS Health Checks as this appeared to be underperforming. Members were informed that this was a very difficult area to target, as it was difficult to engage with men of a certain age who were resistant to the programme. However work was being done with local pharmacists in order to address this and encourage engagement.

In terms of Direct Payments, Members queried how this was working. Officers stated that this was undergoing a full end-to-end review, and it was hoped that this would start to be rolled out in September, 2016. It was a very different system that would be in use, but would look to be a lot more flexible in terms  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

The Chief Executive of St Leger Homes of Doncaster, Susan Jordan, was in attendance at the meeting, along with Stephen Thorlby-Coy, Head of Business Excellence in order to update the Committee with regard to any performance issues for Quarter 3.

Members noted that as part of the Management Agreement between SLHD and DMBC, a quarterly performance report is provided to OSMC for monitoring. Members noted that of the ten key performance indicators, four were currently on target, four were within acceptable tolerance levels, and two were below target. The two indicators that were currently below target are detailed below:-

·         Number of Households maintaining or established independent living

It was noted that this had declined from over 40 in October and November, to 34 which was below the contractual level of 40. However, it was stated that SLHD were confident that this would soon be back on track.

·         Void Rent Loss – Percentage of rent loss through vacant dwellings (lettable voids)

Members were informed that there had been a slight improvement seen each quarter, with Officers confident that changes would be made as the figures were moving in the right direction. The Void Pilot Project was being rolled out in quarter 4 and continuing through 2016, which would test different ways of working, and would look to deliver a better quality product for tenants.

Following the consideration of the report, Members were afforded the opportunity to pose any concerns to Officers. It was noted that 6 areas of performance were now green, including several areas that were previously depicted as amber with ‘Right First Time’ and ‘% of Invoices Paid within 30 days’ now moving from amber to green.

Members congratulated Officers on the green areas, and the Committee felt it was clear that SLHD were clearly doing something good with a number of areas performing well.

RESOLVED that the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee note the progress of SLHD performance outcomes and the contribution made to supporting DMBC strategic priorities.