Agenda and minutes

At this point in the meeting, Members will be invited to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may have in the business on the agenda.

Members were invited to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they might have in the business on the agenda.  The following interests were declared:

• Councillor Simpson-Laing declared a personal interest in agenda item 4 (Report from Chair of Learning and Culture Overview & Scrutiny Committee) as Treasurer of the Friends of Back Park.

• Councillor Taylor declared a personal interest in agenda item 5 (Edible York Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee) as a member of the Friends of St Nicholas Fields.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting of the Scrutiny Management Committee held on 28 February 2011 and the minutes of the Edible York Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 22 March 2011, as the Ad Hoc Committee has now held its final meeting.

RESOLVED:That the minutes of the SMC meeting held on 28 February 2011 and the minutes of the Edible York Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 22 March 2011 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

At this point in the meeting members of the public who have registered their wish to speak regarding an item on the agenda or an issue within the Committee’s remit can do so. The deadline for registering is 5:00 pm on Friday 1 April 2011.

It was reported that there were no registrations to speak under the council’s Public Participation Scheme.

Councillor Fraser – Chair of Community Safety Overview & Scrutiny Committee, Councillor Boyce – Chair of Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee and Councillor Looker – Chair of Learning and Culture Overview & Scrutiny Committee will be in attendance to provide an overview of their committee’s work and to highlight the key achievements in 2010/11.

In accordance with the council’s Constitution, Chairs of the Scrutiny Committees were required to report to SMC on a bi-annual basis.  The Chairs of the following scrutiny committees were in attendance to provide an overview of their committee’s work and to highlight the key achievements in 2010/11.

(i)         Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee

Councillor Boyce informed Members that the Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee had been extremely active.  As well as holding eight full committee meetings, there had been numerous task group meetings.  Members of the community often participated at meetings under the council’s Participation Scheme, and health professionals and representatives from the voluntary sector were regular attendees.  The committee worked closely with key partners including the hospital, PCT, the Ambulance Service and York LINks.

Details were given of some of the issues that had been considered by the committee including the Department of Health “Transforming Community Services” programme. The Executive, via SMC, had referred an item on the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment to the committee and a presentation had been received on this issue.   The committee gave regular consideration to monitoring and performance reports, including reports from partner organisations.

The committee had carried out the following reviews:

·        Childhood Obesity – the recommendations of which had been generally supported by the Executive.

·        Carers – this report was due to be considered by the Executive later in the month.

Consideration had also been given to carrying out a review on issues surrounding maternity services to new mothers.  After having received a presentation on this issue, the committee had been satisfied with the responses put forward and had decided not to proceed with a review.

The committee was represented on a regional joint health committee that had been established to look at issues in respect of the national review of children’s cardiac surgery services. 

The Executive Member for Health and Adult Social Services and the Chair of SMC had attended meetings of the committee.

(ii)            Learning and Culture Overview & Scrutiny Committee

Councillor Looker explained how the remit of the Learning and Culture Overview & Scrutiny Committee had been extended from that of the former Education Scrutiny Committee and now included issues in respect of leisure and heritage. 

Details were given of the scrutiny review that the committee had carried out on casual play opportunities and the ways in which the committee had been involved in pre-decision/early scrutiny.   It had been particularly useful for the committee to have been able to contribute to the drawing-up of the council’s new play policy and play provision. 

The committee had also proposed to carry out a review on youth service provision but, in view of the current financial situation, it had been decided that it would be more appropriate for the committee to receive regular updates from senior officers and to work with them as the remodelling of youth service provision continued. 

As part of their monitoring role, the committee had given particular attention to the budget for Looked After Children, as expenditure on this provision was often difficult  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.

This report presents Members with the final report arising from the Edible York Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee.  Councillor D’Agorne, the Chair of the Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee, will be in attendance to present the report.

Members received a report that presented the final report arising from the Edible York Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee.  Councillor D’Agorne, the Chair of the Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee, went through the key issues and recommendations.  He paid tribute to the work that had been carried out by the scrutiny officer to support the committee during the review.

Members expressed their support of the recommendations arising from the review and suggested that a proportion of the fifty thousand trees within the York New City Beautiful project should be fruit and nut trees.

RESOLVED:(i)         That the final report, including the recommendations

detailed at paragraphs 62 to 68, be approved and forwarded to the Executive for consideration with the inclusion of a statement that a proportion of the fifty thousand trees within the York New City Beautiful project should be fruit and nut trees.

(ii)That thanks be recorded to the Edible York Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee for their work in carrying out the review.

REASON:      To complete the scrutiny review.

As a result of the recent consultation on the current overview and scrutiny function in York, this report proposes some minor changes to the Overview & Scrutiny structure.  Members are asked to consider amalgamating the terms of reference for the Effective Organisation Overview & Scrutiny Committee with those of this Committee, in order to create a more purposeful Scrutiny Management Committee dealing with corporate and management issues.