Agenda item

Purpose: To receive new items and agree and prioritise the work programme of the Commission for the remainder of 2015/16.

(Councillor Richard Somner declared a personal and prejudicial interest by virtue of the fact that he was an employee of The Royal Berkshire Hospital (RBH). As his interest was personal and prejudicial he advised that he would leave the meeting and not take part in the debate if the topic specifically included points regarding RBH).

The Commission considered its work programme 2015/16.

Councillor Alan Macro asked whether a task group had been established to agree the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for 2015/16. David Lowe advised that the group usually met in April to review targets for the forthcoming year. However, the measures had not been finalised yet and as a result the task group meeting had been postponed. Members were requested to inform David Lowe if they would like to take part in the KPI review task group.

Newer Members of the Commission requested an overview of OSMC 15/163 (Hildens Drive) as it was notably the first Councillor Call for Action presented to the Commission for a considerable time. Councillor Emma Webster stated that Hildens Drive was an area which attracted anti-social behaviour and was susceptible to fly tipping. Members heard that the area was neglected and subsequently it attracted a significant amount of time and resources from agencies to address ongoing issues. Councillor Webster had presented the Councillor Call for Action at the last meeting to request a review of the options available to the Council in order to eradicate the longstanding problems.

Councillor Webster informed Members that the layout of the work programme had been amended to include a 6 monthly review of previously concluded topics. It was suggested that a regular progress review could help ensure that the recommendations presented by the Commission were followed through by service areas to a satisfactory level and within reasonable timescales.

Members considered the suggested topic for scrutiny: Delayed Transfers of Care. The topic had been accepted during previous meetings however, it was agreed that the scope would be reconsidered before the item was progressed. Councillor James Fredrickson asked why Officers were not confident that the statistics surrounding the reasons for DTOC reflected the reality – as had been suggested on page 23 of the agenda. Rachael Wardell advised that the statistics produced by the Hospital, in terms of who a case of DTOC had been attributed to, differed to those produced by the Local Authority.

Rachael Wardell advised that West Berkshire had been listed in the bottom ten performing Local Authorities in a report submitted in 2011/12. However, this was in part due to the government’s decision to focus on a measure of delays which was outside the Adult Social Care Outcome Framework and therefore not a measure that we had been monitoring closely. Subsequent to this the Council had been subjected to a significant amount of pressure from the Government to improve the Social Care response to delayed transfers of care. It was noted that West Berkshire Council was last reported in the 2^nd quartile of Local Authorities nationally. Rachael Wardell advised that the local statistics were available for 2014/15 and these could be shared with the Commission for its consideration of current performance levels. The Commission heard that the validated national statistics would not be available until later in the year.

Members were encouraged to hear that the situation had improved significantly since the 2011/12 report but they acknowledged that any case of DTOC could have a detrimental impact on an individual’s health. Rachael Wardell suggested that the Commission could consider the reasons for delays and explore the options available to improve the situation. It was agreed that the focal point had been to review the rationale behind each case of DTOC and to consider who they had been attributed to. Rachael Wardell advised that there had previously been tensions between the Council and acute trusts regarding the reasons for delays.

Members considered that, whilst there was room for further improvement, the situation appeared to be no longer dire. It was agreed that the Commission should review the 2014/15 statistics in order to fully understand the current situation. It was also considered that a comparison could be made between the 2011/12 and 2014/15 report – including a review of the lessons learnt and the processes implemented to support improvements.

The Commission concluded that before a review would took place that the Head of Adult Social Services would be invited to present a report at the next meeting.

The Commission considered the second suggested topic for scrutiny: Newbury Town Centre Parking. Councillor Mike Johnston advised that it was evident, through the course of the Election campaign, that local parking matters were an area of interest to residents. He acknowledged that some degree of work had been undertaken to review Newbury parking but he considered that the information could be scrutinised as part of a holistic review.

Mark Cole introduced a background report to the Commission and advised that an independent review had taken place to consider the availability of parking in Newbury and that the situation would continue to be monitored. In addition, the service planned to conduct further reviews to oversee the current parking needs of local residents. Councillor James Fredrickson stated that he was surprised to read that some areas of Newbury parking were underutilised. He suspected that there could be ‘pinch points’ within certain areas of parking.

Councillor Webster stated that various groups had been established to review parking in various forums and asked the Commission whether they would be minded to consider a review which incorporated the entire District.

Members concluded that it would be beneficial to review the longer term availability of parking across West Berkshire with consideration given to findings of those reviews already underway/ planned.

Resolved that:

·         Members would inform David Lowe if they wished to take part in the KPI review task group.

·         The Head of Adult Social Services would be invited to present a report regarding DTOC.

·         The Commission would schedule a review of long term parking provisions across the district.