Minutes of the North West Scrutiny Support Officers’ Network

Friday, 10th July 2009

Bolton MBC Town Hall (Lancaster Suite)

Present:

Blackburn with Darwen - John Addison
Blackpool Council - Steve Sienkiewicz
Bolton MBC - John Addison, Sabeena Wootton, Karry-Anne Bennette
Burnley BC - Eric Dickinson
Bury MBC - Julie Edwards, Leigh Webb
CfPS - Avril Davies
Cheshire East Council - Katie Smith, Mark Nedderman, Sarah Baxter
Chorley Council - Ruth Rimmington
Halton BC - Alex Villiers
Hyndburn BC - Paul Preston
Manchester City Council - Carolyn Whewell, Courtney Brightwell
Preston City Council - Steven Dugdale
Salford MBC - Linda Sharples
Stockport MBC - Gaynor Alexander
Tameside MBC - Howard Boots (Chair), Gina Murphy, Muna Clough, Alison Davies, Nicola Hine
Warrington BC - Julia Sykes
Wigan MBC - Gary Finch

Apologies:

AGMA - David Fletcher
Allerdale BC - Sarah Beattie, Claire Tyson
Cheshire East Council - Denise French
GM Police Authority - Marie Richardson
Halton BC - Emma Bragger
High Peak BC - Helen Gale
Lancashire County Council - Wendy Broadley
Lancaster City Council - Stephen Metcalfe, Elizabeth Bateson
Liverpool City Council - Joan Leonard
Oldham MBC - Rob Haddrell
Rossendale BC - Patricia Couch
St Helens Council - Rachel Bridge, Joanne Heron
Stockport MBC - Steve Callender, David Tomlinson, Nicola Ward
Trafford MBC - Samuel Martin
West Lancashire BC - Jacky Denning, Cathryn Jackson
Wirral MBC - Alan Veitch
Wyre BC - Peter Foulsham

1. Notes of the Last Meeting

The notes of the previous meeting of the network, held on 27th February 2009 were agreed as true and accurate record.

2. Health Scrutiny

Avril Davies from the CfPS attended the meeting and informed the Network of the arrangements for the Expert Advisory Team providing free support to regional and sub-regional health projects.

10 free support days were available to each strategic health authority region to support Overview and Scrutiny Committees that wish to work together around common issues - for example High Quality Care for All, Commissioning or Health Inequalities.

Suggested projects from the Network included:

• Commissioning being done through the PCTs, eg. cervical screening.
• Costs of mental health care
• Services provided outside the hospital

Discussion took place on the different reviews that Authorities had undertaken and whether these could be expanded to regional / sub-regional reviews.

It was felt that members of the Network needed to agree on common issues that they would like the expert advisory support and contact Avril Davies via the CfPS.

It was suggested that contact be made with Network members who had health interests outside of the meeting to see if there were any issues that could be covered.

Howard Boots agreed to chase this up if no contact is made with Avril.

Avril also informed the meeting of promotional events for Health Scrutiny that were taking place later in the year. The nearest event was being held in Manchester (Midland Hotel) on 21st October. The programme would cover the latest hot items and news, including topics like safeguarding, commissioning, Foundation Trusts and dignity in care.

The fee structure is £75 for individual delegates or £50 per person if 4 places are booked, which hopefully will encourage officers to bring elected members to the event.

3. Reflections On The CfPS Annual Conference

The CfPS Annual Conference took place in July with a theme of ‘A critical friend for critical times’. Topics covered at the conference included:

• The role of non-executive members with cabinet members
• Health scrutiny
• Scrutiny of place
• Sub-regional scrutiny – AGMA

A quick poll of the meeting showed that not many of the officers present had attended the CfPS annual conference in July. Reasons for the non-attendance included:

• Time and money / Limits as to which paid conferences could be attended
• Agenda content / Subject matter not really hitting the target
• Clarity of purpose
• Location of the event
• High level speakers not relevant to Overview and Scrutiny from a Local Government point of view

It was agreed that this was is a very unsettled time and out of 27 county councils, only 7 attended. The priority that scrutiny is being given has changed and budgets are being cut.

Avril Davies from the CfPS agreed to look at moving things forward to better accommodate the needs of scrutiny at the Annual Conferences.

4. Importance of Scrutiny Support in a time of Financial Restraint

The meeting discussed the implications of budget cuts and re-organisation of the Overview and Scrutiny function in this time of financial uncertainty.

One authority is currently working with KPMG.

Some authorities have merged the overview and scrutiny function with other services, ie democratic services or the chief executive support. This has led to the dedicated Scrutiny Support Officer time being taken away from the research/consultation aspect of the job and focusing more on the admin side, ie producing minutes and agendas. Some officers felt that they have to constantly juggle their priorities or their time is spent ‘fire fighting’.

Other authorities felt that the situation had improved for them following the merging of departments. Previously they had not had dedicated support for the scrutiny function so the merger had proved positive.

Some authorities have been affected by job vacancies not being filled or the prospect of accommodating re-deployment. This was not ideal and produced shortfalls in the service.

The current situation is tempered by the political environment in which we work. There is no conclusion as to which way scrutiny will go. It is clear though, that all authorities are undergoing a time of change and that financial pressures are affecting resources.

5. Pay and Grading Review Update

Tameside has had an unsatisfactory outcome from the pay and grading review which had serious implications for staff salaries. Cheshire East is going through the process now. Salford and Wigan have remained the same following their reviews, and felt this was quite positive in light of other authority outcomes.

6. Secretariat For NWSSON

It was agreed at the meeting that Gina Murphy would formally be appointed to the role of Secretary to the Network.

7. NWSSON Website

There was no real support for the establishment of a dedicated website for the Network.

8. Any Other Business

There are plans to create an Association of Democratic Services Officers (ADSO). The meeting discussed whether they felt it would be worthwhile for Scrutiny to create something similar to that or join in with the ADSO.

It was generally felt that ADSO would appeal more to those officers who combined roles of scrutiny support and democratic services. It was recognised, however, that there were clearly very different skills required to properly fulfil both roles.

9. Arrangements for the Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Network, which will be held in October/November 2009, will be held at Blackburn with Darwen.