Agenda and minutes

To remind Members of the need to record the existence and nature of any Personal, Disclosable Pecuniary or other interests in items on the agenda, in accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct.

Councillor Richard Somner (Vice-Chairman) in the Chair.

Councillor Richard Somner declared an interest in Agenda Items 6 and 11, but reported that, as his interest was personal and not an other registrable or a disclosable pecuniary interest, he determined to remain to take part in the debate and vote on the matter.

To introduce to the Commission the background to the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West NHS Sustainability and Transformation Plan in order that scrutiny can be carried out.

(Councillor Richard Somner declared a personal interest in Agenda item 11 by virtue of the fact that he was employed by Royal Berkshire Hospital. As his interest was personal and not a disclosable pecuniary interest or other registrable interest he was permitted to take part in the debate and vote on the matter).

The Commission considered a report (Agenda Item 11) concerning The Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West (BOB) NHS Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP).

Cathy Winfield gave a presentation to the Commission to outline the requirement for, purpose of and intended outcomes of the STP.

In December 2015, the NHS Planning Guidance required that health and social care systems in England would be required to work on larger footprints based on meaningful communities and patient flows. It was also intended that STPs would be used to develop a programme of financial sustainability, to address a funding gap of £22bn nationally as costs increased at a higher rate than funding.

Initial assumptions had been that the West of Berkshire Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) would form an STP together, however NHS England wanted larger footprints. There were 44 nationally prescribed footprints and the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West footprint was imposed as the 44^th. This meant there was a complex system to work from, in comparison to Gloucester which had one CCG, one Local Authority and one hospital.

The STP would address three gaps as identified in Simon Stevens’ NHS Five Year Forward View:

·         Health and well being gap – to improve health and reduce health inequality.

·         Care and quality gap – to improve treatment of cancer and other diseases where the UK is performing behind Europe.

·         Sustainability/financial gap – to address the financial gap.

Providing more detail about the STP finances, Cathy Winfield advised that the BOB CCGs combined allocation for 2016/17 was £2.55bn and would be £2.87bn by 2020/21 however demand, service developments and cost was likely to exceed this by £479m. The current draft plan provided efficiency solutions of £384m and there was further work to do.

Regarding the ‘BOB’ footprint, Cathy Winfield explained that it had a 1.8m population. Of the stakeholders, there were 7 CCGs, 6 NHS Trusts, 14 local authorities and several other arms length bodies which would maintain their statutory autonomy. There were also three distinct Local Health Economies and while there was some patient flow to the Oxford University Hospitals this was mainly for specialist services.

David Lowe enquired how the population and budget was distributed over the BOB geography. Cathy Winfield responded that the Berkshire West CCGs budgets totalled £650m and would provide a detailed breakdown. David Lowe further asked whether the Berkshire element might be considered a junior partner in the STP. Cathy Winfield advised that the STP included equal partners and in fact many of the project leads were Directors in the Berkshire West CCGs due to the good reputation attained from the Berkshire West 10 work.

Councillor Keith Chopping asked what the Commission was required to do  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the Commission held on 7 June 2016.

Councillor Emma Webster (Chairman) in the Chair.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 7 June 2016 were approved as a true and correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive an update on actions following the previous Commission meeting.

There were three actions followed up from previous Commission meetings:

2.1       Volunteers were required to participate in the Annual Target Setting Task Group.

2.2       This action had been completed.

2.3       David Lowe suggested that key worker housing be a topic for a task group following consideration of Delayed Transfers of Care. Councillor Webster asked that advice be sought as she would not want to delay consideration and find a worsened picture.

To advise the Commission of items to be considered by West Berkshire Council from 20 December 2016 to 31 March 2017 and decide whether to review any of the proposed items prior to the meeting indicated in the Plan.

The Commission considered the West Berkshire Forward Plan (Agenda Item 5) for the period covering 20 December 2016 to 31 March 2017.

Resolved that the Forward Plan be noted.

To agree and prioritise the work programme of the Commission and Select Committees for the remainder of 2016/2017.

The Commission considered its work programme and that of its Select Committees.

Councillor Emma Webster noted that a Task Group would be established to consider Delayed Transfers of Care, it would include three Conservative and one Liberal Democrat member.

Councillor Lee Dillon noted that the minutes from the previous meeting made reference to a report on affordable housing to return to the December 2016 meeting but that it was not on the agenda. He enquired how this topic would fit with the work programme. David Lowe suggested that the topic could be added to the Communities Select Committee agenda for its next scheduled meeting.

Councillor Dillon requested that ‘School Effectiveness Visits’ be made a standing item on the Communities Select Committee agenda so that the actions and themes arising from these visits could be monitored. David Lowe advised that the Select Committee met twice per year so a standing item might be unwieldy. Councillor Webster determined that the item would be considered at their next meeting and if it was not appropriate to continue to receive updates an alternative route could be found.

Resolved that the changes to the work programme be noted.

To consider any items which an Urgent Decision is required to be taken by the Executive, in exception to the requirements of the Local Authorities( Executive arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012.

There were no urgent items to consider.

To consider any items proposed for a Councillor Call for Action.

There were no Councillor Calls for Action.

Councillor Mike Johnston asked for an update regarding a previous Councillor Call for Action on the car park in Hilden’s Drive, Tilehurst. Councillor Emma Webster responded that the three Ward Members had met with the Chief Executive, Head of Highways and Transport and the Traffic Services Manager. Some improvements to part of the site had been completed and discussions were ongoing with one of the landowners.

To consider any petitions requiring an Officer response.