Meeting: Communities Scrutiny Sub-Committee (County Hall, Durham - Committee Room 2 - 05/06/2007 10:00:00 AM)
Item: A1 Minutes
At a Meeting of the Scrutiny Sub-Committee to Promote Strong, Healthy and Safe Communities held at the County Hall, Durham on Tuesday 5 June 2007 at 10.00 a.m.
COUNCILLOR J DAVIES in the Chair Members of the Sub Committee: Councillors Barker, Bowman, Douthwaite, E Foster, Marshall, O’Donnell, Priestley, Robinson, Shuttleworth, and Wade.
Other Members: Councillors Chapman, Hodgson, Iveson, Meir, Myers, and Williams.
Co-opted Members: Mr M Iveson
Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Armstrong, Ebbatson, and Mrs M English, Mr F Jassat, and Mr P Thompson.
A1 Minutes The Minutes of the meeting held on 5 March 2007 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.
Mr Bolton advised that in relation to Minute A6, letters had been sent to Mr P Brookes and Mr J Thornberry.
A2 Declarations of Interest There were no declarations of interest.
A3 Any Items from Co-opted Members or Interested Parties There were no items from Co-opted Members or Interested Parties.
A4 Future Priorities and Key Issues within the Sub-Committee’s remit The Sub-Committee received a presentation from Rachael Shimmin, Corporate Director, Adult and Community Services (for copy of presentation see file of Minutes).
The presentation focussed on the key outcomes, adult care, social inclusion, planning and performance, commissioning, finance, libraries, learning and culture, key strategic forums, key achievements in 2006/07, and plans for 2007/08.
She advised that she is Chair of the Safeguarding Adults Executive Board. The Board has had its first meeting and has a plan of action for the year ahead.
A Domestic Abuse Executive Board has been created to look at domestic abuse in the county. Its membership is at a senior level across inter-agencies which links into the officer group and is adding value to the work that is ongoing.
She Chairs the DAAT Partnership Board. The group has met, has appointed a new manager, and has re-structured the way it works. A separate alcohol group has been created which reports to the Board.
In response to questions about aids and adaptations, it was explained that performance with this service had generally improved, those in the Sedgefield area have improved however the Easington area was still behind the other districts.
Councillor Barker suggested that there should be member representation and participation in these groups, and that there is no efficient communication strategy. He hoped that information would be fed to members through the Member Area Panels. He suggested that members need to be involved in the local agenda setting and particularly have an input in the LAA Themed Blocks. Rachael Shimmin advised that some of these groups were inter-agency groups and they would have to consider how members could get involved.
The Head of Corporate Policy advised that there is some statistical information that is to be circulated to members on the funding streams for each district area.
In response to comments from Councillor Iveson about the funding for drug and alcohol abuse Rachael Shimmin confirmed that the main funding for DAAT is for dealing with drug abuse and this funding is ring-fenced by the Government. She commented that there is some funding for alcohol use. She went on to say that the scrutiny report on alcohol relating to young people would be helpful and there would be more discussion with the inter-agencies on where they would find the money for dealing with alcohol abuse.
Councillor Robinson advised that there is heavy criticism of the Durham DAAT and it seems that the one in Darlington is being run more successfully. He suggested they have a scrutiny report on DAAT.
Councillor Priestley suggested that following the scrutiny project on young people’s alcohol abuse they could have a similar project that related to adults.
The Sub-Committee noted the suggestions of Rachael Shimmin for scrutiny projects and Tom Bolton advised that all of the suggestions would be considered at the Co-ordinating Panel.
A5 Report of Domestic Violence Scrutiny Group Resolved:-
The Sub-Committee noted the report of the Domestic Violence Scrutiny Working Group.
A6 Year End Performance 2006/07 The Sub-Committee considered a report of the Head of Corporate Policy which provided an update of the 2006/07 year end performance for the authority’s corporate priorities, Best Value Performance Indicators and Public Library Service Standards relevant to the Corporate Aim of Promoting Strong, Healthy and Safe Communities (for copy see file of Minutes).
The Head of Corporate Policy explained that since the report had been written they have received statistics on the adult smoking rate and reported that the target for the four week quitters using NHS service had been met although there were less quitters in 2006/07 than in 2005/06.
She reported that in relation to BVPI 162 Review of Child Protection Cases, the prediction of cases was 100% however it was 97.8% and therefore it was likely that the authority would be in the bottom quartile for this.
Resolved:-
That the report be noted, and that subsequent quarterly performance progress reports be received.
Attachments
minutes 050307.pdf