Meeting of the North West Scrutiny Support Officers’ Network

Friday, 17th October 2008

Salford Suite, Civic Centre, Chorley Road, Swinton, Salford M27 5DA

Present

AGMA - David Fletcher, Democratic Services Manager
Blackburn with Darwen - Diane Hill,  Principal Scrutiny Officer
Blackpool - Steve Sienkiewicz, Scrutiny Team Leader
Bolton - John Addison, Scrutiny Services Manager
Burnley - Eric Dickinson, Democracy Officer
GM Police Authority - Marie Richardson, Scrutiny Officer
Lancashire - Mel Ormesher, Principal Officer (Overview & Scrutiny)
Lancaster - Stephen Metcalfe, Principal Democratic Support Officer
Preston - Steven Dugdale, Scrutiny Support Manager
Rochdale - Gary Finch, Principal Research & Policy Officer
St Helens - Catherine Fogarty, Assistant Treasurer (Audit & IT)
St Helens - Stephanie Donaldson, Interim Scrutiny Manager
Salford - Karen Dainty, Principal Scrutiny Support Officer
Salford - Carole Chapman, Scrutiny Support Officer
Salford - Karen Lucas, Senior Scrutiny Support Officer
Sefton - Janet Borgerson, Overview & Scrutiny Officer
South Ribble - Joanne Heron
Stockport - Steve Callender, Head of Scrutiny
Tameside - Howard Boots, Head of Scrutiny
Tameside - Gaynor Alexander, Principal Scrutiny Support & Co-ordination Officer
Tameside - Muna Clough, Principal Scrutiny Support & Co-ordination Officer
Tameside - Alison Davies, Principal Scrutiny Support & Co-ordination Officer
Trafford - Samuel Martin, Principal Scrutiny & Improvement Officer
Warrington - Julia Sykes, Principal Overview & Scrutiny Officer

Apologies:

Allerdale - Jane Murray, Scrutiny Co-ordinator
Blackburn with Darwen - Paul Conlon, Principal Scrutiny Officer
Blackpool - Georgina Atkinson
Cheshire - Robin Roberts, Scrutiny Policy Manager
Cumbria - Alan Gunston, Senior Scrutiny Manager
Cumbria - Douglas Scott, Health Scrutiny Manager
Cumbria - Katherine Wise, Scrutiny Officer
Cumbria - Patricia Howe, Senior Administrative Assistant
Cumbria - Tracey Ingham Scrutiny Officer
Cumbria - Vic Milbourne, Scrutiny Officer
Eden - Gillian Kartach, Scrutiny Officer
Ellesmere Port & Neston - Patrick Sebastian, Scrutiny Support Officer
Flyde - Annie Womack, Senior Overview and Scrutiny Officer
GM Police Authority - Samantha Frenz, Head of Scrutiny and Engagement
Halton - Alex Villiers, Chief Scrutiny Advisor
Halton - Martin Loughna, Service Development Officer (Health)
Knowsley - Hannah Easby
Knowsley - David Moran, Overview and Scrutiny Officer
Lancaster - Liz Bateson
Liverpool - Joan Leonard, Scrutiny Manager
Manchester - Courtney Brightwell, Team Leader (Scrutiny Support)
Oldham - Rob Haddrell, Head of Overview and Scrutiny
Oldham - Matthew Drogan
Pendle - Kath Haydock, Scrutiny Manager
Trafford - Danielle Lowy
Warrington - Helen Stanley, Overview and Scrutiny Officer
West Lancashire - Cathryn Jackson, Senior Member Services Officer
West Lancashire - Jacky Denning, Scrutiny Officer
Wigan - Diane Taylor
Wirral - Andrea Grant, Democratic Services Manager
Wyre - Roy Saunders

It was agreed that Howard Boots would Chair this meeting of the network.

1. Notes of the Last Meeting

The notes of the last meeting of the network held on 14th July 2008, having been circulated were taken as read and approved as a correct record.

2. Scrutiny in Salford

Karen Dainty, Principal Overview and Scrutiny Officer, Salford City Council, gave an overview of Scrutiny in Salford and reported that Salford had six overview and scrutiny committees that met monthly and were aligned to the Council’s Directorates and in one case scrutinized the budget. These were supported by scrutiny commissions that undertook in depth reviews. The trend was to move away from agendas with a multiplicity of reports with a greater concentration on in depth policy reviews that were found to add greater value and help improve services for local people.

A Chairs’ Group that now included an Opposition Member met monthly and considered the direction of the scrutiny function and monitored call ins and the attendance at scrutiny meetings.

Karen outlined some of the innovative work that under pinned scrutiny in Salford. They had worked well with the local healthy living partnership board and local scrutiny had been piloted in two areas undertaken through neighbourhood committees. These dealt with street scene issues that were a local concern for local people and linked to the work of the scrutiny committees. Further funding had been made available to community committees for improved services and it had been agreed that consideration should be given to the services that should be undertaken.

Salford was not concerned about the requirements of recent legislation to work with LAA Partners as they had already established good working relationships. Work had however, been carried out with elected members to engage them in the LSP and the LAAs. The relationship between scrutiny and the LAA was being considered by the Scrutiny Chairs’ Group.

Consideration had been given to the current structure for scrutiny and whether to align it with the LAA, but it had been decided to remain with the current structure although this might be the subject of review. It had also been felt that working with the LSP might provide a pool of people who could be co-opted onto scrutiny. A working group had been considering neighbourhood governance and empowerment and a policy and improvement team had been looking at performance management arrangements.

Carol Chapman and Karen Lucas, Scrutiny Support Officers from Salford City Council gave details of recent scrutiny work that they had been involved with namely the street scene and allotments in the city. The street scene had centred on Booths Town and Irlam and Caddishead and working with local neighbourhood managers, had involved looking at local neighbourhood issues and the local customer centre. Recommendations had related to the clarification of the use of devolved budgets, the definition of the roles of neighbourhood managers and environmental services. Most of the recommendations had been actioned and fed into the Environmental Services Committee. The recommendations would be monitored and work would continue with partners.

During a local question time session it had been agreed that the subject of allotments in the city would be considered – this being of great interest to allotment holders. As a result of the review an allotment strategy was being developed.

Karen outlined the scrutiny work around children’s services and they were reviewing what had been successful and what required to be improved. Particular good practice had been identified with a drama group from special schools who had performed in front of elected members. A review was also to be undertaken on obesity.

Karen confirmed that in general terms they were still engaging elected members although there had been some executive disinterest, especially in allotments. Consultation with members had resulted in positive feed back. She also outlined some of the strategies that had been employed to overcome tensions between the executive and a chair such as initiating meetings between scrutiny chairs and the executive which enabled issues to be flagged up with scrutiny and a greater understanding of their respective roles.

Work had been undertaken to build good relationships with partners and they had been invited to an event to help formulate the annual work programme. This had been informal by nature with a chair on each table and co-opted members also in attendance. The discussions had been informal and the matrix developed by Oxfordshire County Council used to grade certain suggested items for further consultation. The three main issues that had been identified had been – meeting the needs of an aging population, accessibility of transport and perceptions of crime. Each scrutiny committee would still be able to consider items for its individual work programme.

3. North West Employers Organisation - Support for Officer Training

Howard Boots reported that following suggestions from members of this network and others, North West Employers’ Organisation (NWEO) had suggested that training events and seminars organised by, for example the Centre for Public Scrutiny or the LGIU, etc, could be sponsored by NWSSO, and brought up to the North West. The idea being that by not having to travel to London or Birmingham, there would be a significant saving in transport costs which could almost be as high as the cost of the training event.

Details were given of the kind of training events that might be applicable, all of which were very familiar in their nature to scrutiny support officers and elected members and related, for example, to “community empowerment and scrutiny, LINks, consensus building and health scrutiny, scrutinising partnerships, etc.

The proposal was welcomed in principal and it was agreed that further clarification would be sought around the number of attendees required to make events viable, whether the suggestion was North West of England or the north in general and potential venues. Written comments had been received from Jane Murray, Allerdale Borough Council and Alex Villiers, Halton Borough Council. Jane was concerned about accessibility from Cumbrian Authorities where travelling was very time consuming and it would only be really feasible if the suggested events were held in a more northerly centre such as Preston or Lancaster. Alex also welcomed the proposal and suggested that attendance levels should be monitored to see whether they actually increased.

It was agreed that Howard would discuss these matters with NWEO and report further.

4. Health Accountability Forum

Howard Boots reported that the Centre for Public Scrutiny was intending to establish a Health Accountability Forum to look at how health, social care and well being scrutiny could contribute to the Strong and Prosperous Communities White Paper agenda.

The Centre had requested that regional networks nominate an elected member and an officer.

It was agreed that John Addison (Bolton MBC) would be nominated to attend the forum from this network with Robin Roberts (Cheshire County Council) appointed as reserve.

5. Quality Benchmarking and Financial Benchmarking

Those authorities in the network that had not yet participated in the Quality Bench Marking exercise were urged to take part and send their results to Rob Haddrell at Oldham.

Howard Boots indicated that it had been suggested that scrutiny units with similar establishments could undertake financial bench marking to see whether there was any good practice that could be shared. It was felt, however, that the delivery of scrutiny in different authorities was so diverse that this would not yet be effective.

6. Pay and Grading Review

Howard Boots referred to the Equal Pay Grading Reviews that were being undertaken nationally and in particular those in the North West that had recently been completed, most notably at Bury, Bolton and Preston.

John Addison recounted the situation in Bolton where some staff had lost 20% of their salaries and some planning posts had been reduced by up to 30%. A similar situation existed at Preston with some staff losing 20% of salary. John did state, however that the situation was under review and that there was an extensive period of protection.

Eric Dickinson (Burnley MBC) reminded the meeting of his early experiences at Burnley and the need to appeal and pressurise to have the grades revisited.

It was noted, however, that the reviews were not affecting all local authorities the same. For example Steve Callender (Stockport MBC) reported that scrutiny support staff in that authority had been classified as managers and their posts had been previously the subject of a separate, earlier review. They were therefore on substantive grades and not the subject of the current JNC review. Mel Ormesher (Lancashire County Council) confirmed that a similar situation appertained to Lancashire.

Howard stated that he would shortly be attending a CfPS Networks meeting and it would be suggested that networks monitor the situation and it’s affect on scrutiny.

7. Break Out Groups

The meeting went into break out sessions to discuss Councillor Call for Action and Monitoring Local Area Agreements.

8. Arrangements for the Next Meeting

Stephen Metcalf (Lancaster City Council) offered to host the next meeting (subject to availability of rooms) at Lancaster on 20th February 2009.