Full Cabinet 12 November 2013
PRESENT: Councillor Mrs Redfern in the chair.
Councillors Briggs, Poole, C Sherwood, N Sherwood and Waltham.
Councillors Ali, Bainbridge, Mrs Bromby, Bunyan, Carlile, Collinson, Evison, L Foster, Glover, Marper, Ogg, O’Sullivan, Robinson, Rowson, Wells and Whiteley also attended the meeting.
Simon Driver, Frances Cunning, Denise Hyde, Lisa Kershaw, Lesley Potts, Chris Skinner, Mike Wedgewood, Jason Whaler, Peter Williams and Mel Holmes also attended the meeting.
The meeting was held at the Civic Centre, Scunthorpe.
1061 DECLARATIONS OF DISCLOSABLE PECUNIARY INTERESTS AND PERSONAL OR PERSONAL AND PREJUDICIAL INTERESTS – There were no declarations of interests.
1062 MINUTES – Resolved – That the minutes of the meeting of Cabinet held on 24 September 2013, having been printed and circulated amongst the members, be taken as read and correctly recorded and be signed by the chairman.
1063 (74) OUTSTANDING ACTION FROM PREVIOUS MEETINGS – The Director of Policy and Resources submitted a report which contained a schedule of outstanding issues on which cabinet had requested reports to future meetings.
Resolved – That the report be noted.
1064 (75) WESTCLIFF UPDATE – Further to minute 1057, the Chief Executive submitted a report updating cabinet on progress with the Westcliff Regeneration Programme and seeking approval to the Project Initiation Document. The report also updated cabinet on the development of a Community Investment Partnership to support key outcomes across all localities of North Lincolnshire.
Cabinet had considered a report on this matter at its meeting on 24 September 2013 and had agreed to support the report and its recommendations to develop the Westcliff Regeneration Programme. The Homes and Community Agency (HCA) had also been briefed on the updated position with the scheme and were supportive. It had confirmed that the guidance for the 2015/2018 affordable housing programme would be published by January 2014 in preparation for bids at the end of April 2014. Successful bids would be announced by July 2014.
North Lincolnshire Homes (NLH) had briefed the Westcliff Drop-In as a key partner in their successful delivery of the Community Hub element of the programme and an updated land ownership plan had been prepared as the basis for planning work relating to the property acquisition and highways work.
Key partners had agreed a detailed Project Initiation Document (PID) which included the establishment of the Project Board and Project Steering Group. The PID set out a project vision and objectives that all partners had agreed. A copy of this document was attached as an appendix to the report.
A design for the retail element of the scheme had been drafted and this would enable engagement with retail providers. Finally, the terms of reference had been developed for the Community Investment Partnership and approved by the Leader. A development day would be held in December 2013 to develop an action plan for 2014 including an outcomes framework.
The report contained further information in relation to this matter.
Resolved – (a)That cabinet notes the draft terms of reference for the Community Investment Partnership; (b) that cabinet notes the progress achieved on the development of the Westcliff Precinct Regeneration Programme and (c) that a progress report on this matter be submitted to the next meeting of cabinet.
1065 (76) PUBLIC HEALTH OUTCOMES FUND – The Chief Executive submitted a report seeking approval to allocate a proportion of the Public Health Grant towards improving the health outcomes for the population and seeking support for the process adopted to further embed public health across the council.
Public Health responsibilities were transferred to North Lincolnshire Council in April 2013 with a ring fenced grant from the Department of Health of £8.071m in 2013/2014 rising to £8.464m in 2014/2015. The purpose of the grant is to support the public health statutory functions of the council. The grant is audited on a quarterly basis and each council is required to provide assurance that all spend is on public health related activity.
The report indicated that approximately £1m of this funding was unallocated and there was also an underspend on public health allocated budgets due to various vacant posts. Whilst the public health grant was ring fenced there were some areas where this funding could be used to legitimately replace existing council spend on public health services and help deliver public health outcomes. Such transfers formed part of the council’s 2013/2017 financial plan as approved in February of this year. After these elements, £600,000 was considered to be available to allocate to one-off initiatives in 2013/2014 and again in 2014/2015.
Consideration had therefore been given to how this unallocated spend could be used to benefit the local population through investing in other areas across the council. This would enable services to contribute further to the delivery of public health outcomes as defined by the National Public Outcomes Framework and further embed public health across the council. As a result, all directorates were invited to submit proposals for one off spend which would then be assessed for their public health impact and prioritised for investment. The assessment was carried out by the Director of Public Health and the Director of Policy and Resources. Each proposal had to meet at least one of the following two high level outcome measures from the Department of Health’s Public Health Outcomes Framework for 2013/2016 –
- Increased health life expectancy
- Reduce differences in the life expectancy and healthy life expectancy between communities.
These outcome measures were supported by a number of public health indicators and each application stated how their proposed activity would link into relevant indicators from the Public Health Outcome Framework. The form to be used and completed was attached at appendix 2 to the report. All submissions stated how the activity would contribute towards achievements of indicators from the Public Health Outcomes Framework. Consequently 18 proposals with a total value of £1.2m across the 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 financial years had been assessed as fitting the above mentioned criteria. The report showed the proposals that had been assessed, together with the relevant funding requests for the two financial years. Appendix 1 to the report detailed the proposed initiatives and contained further information.
Resolved – (a) That cabinet notes the process adopted, which supports the embedding of public health outcomes across the council, and (b) that the funding to support the projects detailed in appendix 1 be approved and adopted.
1066 (77) “ONE COUNCIL” COMMISSIONING – A report was submitted by the Director of Policy and Resources seeking approval to develop a co-ordinated “One Council” approach to commissioning.
In October 2012, cabinet received an update on progress with the implementation of our “Statement of Intent: One Council Commissioning”. Cabinet agreed at that time to receive a proposed delivery model to enable one council commissioning within 12 months. The report referred to the background to the Statement of Intent and highlighted the work undertaken over the last few months to shape a proposed delivery model. Its ultimate aim was to help drive a step improvement in commissioning performance council wide in response to the critical issues the council faced.
In order to commission strategically and to secure transformational step improvement in services it was now widely recognised that the council needed to establish a programme based approach to co-ordinating, standardising and joining up the operational processes for commissioning as detailed in paragraph 2.7 of the report. A cross council working group undertook an analysis of options to identify ways in which a co-ordinated “one council” approach to commissioning could be achieved. A range of options were explored and evaluated and as a result of the options appraisal exercise a “programme gateway” model was identified as the preferred option. This essentially comprised a co-ordinated programme based approach to commissioning together with a challenged based “gateway” process that would enable various activities to take place as detailed in paragraph 2.9 of the report. Appendix 1 to the report set out further details of the model together with the proposed governance arrangements.
The report contained further detailed information about the proposed method of dealing with commissioning in this way.
Resolved – That cabinet supports the development of a co-ordinated one council approach to commissioning through the implementation of a programme gateway model as detailed in appendix 1 to the report.
1067 (78) REGULATION OF INVESTIGATORY POWERS ACT 2000 (RIPA) – The Director of Policy and Resources submitted a report informing cabinet of the latest developments relating to RIPA and seeking approval to the RIPA policy.
RIPA created a regulatory framework to govern the way public authorities handle and conduct covert investigation. This included covert surveillance directed at a person(s), the use of Covert Human Intelligence Source (CHIS) which involved the establishing of a relationship for the covert purpose of obtaining information and access to communications data such as telephone subscriber details and itemised phone logs. RIPA also provided for a system of authorisation so as to secure the lawfulness of surveillance activities and ensure they were consistent with obligations under the Human Rights Act 1998.
The statutory Codes of Practice issued pursuant to RIPA provided that the council must set the RIPA policy once a year and that a senior responsible officer is appointed to oversee the integrity of the RIPA process. The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 provided that magistrates had to approve RIPA authorisations before the council could start conducting covert surveillance. The council’s RIPA policy was amended in 2012 to reflect this change. The Director of Policy and resources remained the Senior Responsible Officer for RIPA and this role was detailed in the RIPA policy.
The council’s current RIPA policy was attached as appendix 1 to the report and minor amendments had been made to various pages as set out in paragraph 2.7 of the report. In addition, appendices E and F had been added to the policy in an attempt to make the magistrates court process clearer for officers who used it.
The report also indicated that the council was inspected by the Office of Surveillance Commissioners on its use of covert directed surveillance and its RIPA usage in general. The next inspection was scheduled for 14 January 2014. This inspection would not consider the communications data applications that had been authorised.
Resolved – That the amendments to the RIPA policy be noted and approved.
1068 (79) HEALTH INEQUALITIES IN NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE – RESPONSE TO HEALTH SCRUTINY PANEL RECOMMENDATIONS – The Director of Public Health submitted a report with an attached action plan in response to the recommendations made by the Health Scrutiny Panel in relation to tackling health inequalities in North Lincolnshire.
The report detailed the progress made in relation to this matter and attached as an appendix was the detailed action plan for approval.
Resolved – (a) That cabinet supports and agrees the actions against the progress needed to meet the Health Scrutiny Panel recommendations, and (b) that cabinet approves that the progress of review includes agreement on timescales to be confirmed by the Health and Wellbeing Board.
1069 (80) THE STANDARDISED HOSPITAL MORTALITY INDEX – (SHMI) IN NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE – ACTION PLAN – A report was submitted which contained an attached action plan in relation to the recommendations of the Health Scrutiny Panel in its recent report entitled The Standardised Hospital Mortality Index (SHMI) in North Lincolnshire and Goole.
The report of the Health Scrutiny Panel was considered by cabinet on 24 September 2013 when it was agreed that the North Lincolnshire health community should submit an appropriate action plan.
The action plan was attached as an appendix to the report.
Cabinet discussed the contents of the action plan.
Resolved – That a further more detailed action plan be submitted to Cabinet and the Health Scrutiny Panel in January 2014.
1070 (81) ENSURING EFFECTIVE CONTINENCE CARE – REPORT OF THE HEALTH SCRUTINY PANEL – The Director of Policy and Resources submitted a report together with the attached report of the Health Scrutiny Panel entitled “Ensuring Effective Continence Care”.
Resolved – (a) That the report and recommendations be approved and adopted, and (b) that the Northern Lincolnshire health community prepare an action plan in response to the recommendations of the report for submission to cabinet.