Agenda item

The Committee considered and discussed their work plan. It was questioned whether there had been any communication about the financial position of Combined Healthcare, which there had not been. This would be chased up the next working day by the Chair and Scrutiny Officer.

There was a request that the parking problems being experienced at UHNS be added to the work programme. Members felt that parking was becoming a big issue and that people were parking in the town ward due to the parking problems. The Committee would like to know what was being done to address the problem. The Interim Chief Executive for UHNS would be invited to the next meeting of the Committee in April. Members did feel that it would be beneficial to invite UHNS officers with specific knowledge of the areas the Committee were concerned with.  

There was discussion of the Mid-Stafford Report and the thirty pages concerned with the activities of the Borough and Staffordshire County Council Overview and Scrutiny Committees. The County Council had made significant improvements with such things as the accountability sessions, but had come out badly in the report as not providing officer support and that health knowledge and officer time were not provided. Members felt that this section of the report should be studied and thought given as to whether Newcastle Borough Council would have been in the same position as the County Council. It was agreed that a review of the report would be included in the work plan, with the Committee then providing a report for consideration to Cabinet, EMT and the Co-ordinating Committee. The Committee felt that they should work out where Newcastle would have been deficient if the situation had happened here. Councillor Loades would take this away as part of his LINk work and bring back what objectives other people were looking at to the next meeting.

With regard to the accountability sessions, the Committee noted that they needed to give thought to the questions asked at these sessions to ensure the right questions were asked and to ensure they spoke to each other well in advance of the sessions to discuss what they wanted to ask. Members concurred that they needed to be more prepared and demanding and if a sufficient answer was not provided they would not let it lie. Members questioned whether there was a pre-meeting for the accountability session. The Portfolio Holder for Stronger and Active Neighbourhoods advised that difficulty may arise from the fact that the Committee was a sub-committee of the county Health Scrutiny Committee. It might be necessary to negotiate with the County Council to attend, but that as Newcastle Borough was on the doorstep of UHNS, the Borough Council would be well placed to attend. It was noted that the Council did not have a solely dedicated resource for the issue, although there were a number of officers in public health roles. It was also noted that the County Council had reduced officer support, and so were pushing work out.

RESOLVED:              (a) That UHNS officers be invited to the next Committee meeting in April to discuss the parking problems at UHNS.

(b) The consideration of the Mid-Stafford report be added to the work plan.