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Agenda item

Annual Reports

For Members to receive the following annual reports for 2018 – 2019:

 

a.    Scrutiny and Overview Committee;

b.    Corporate Parenting Panel;

c.    General Purposes and Audit Committee; and

d.    Health and Wellbeing Board.

Minutes:

Scrutiny and Overview Committee

 

The Mayor invited the Chairs of each of those bodies presenting Annual Reports to introduce these to Council initially asking Councillor Fitzsimons in his capacity as Chair of the Scrutiny and Overview Committee and Health and Social Care Scrutiny Sub-Committee to speak. Councillor Fitzsimons highlighted key achievements were that scrutiny was being conducted on a cross party basis, there was adherence to the principles of good scrutiny to hold the executive and senior officers to account. In total, 24 meetings had been held with all Cabinet Members being subject to a dedicated question time and the Leader being subject to two question times. There had been one call-in during the year on the subject of the purchase of the freehold of Croydon Park Hotel. Scrutiny had been used effectively to undertake pre-decision scrutiny of the policy on the night time economy and violence reduction. Overall, scrutiny had generated 118 recommendations all of which had been accepted. Twenty six residents had actively participated in the scrutiny process. Croydon was actively participating in the Joint Health Committees and had taken an active and detailed involvement following the Children’s Services Ofsted inspection. Councillor Fitzsimons described how new national scrutiny guidance had finally been released in May 2019 which was well timed with Croydon’s own Governance Review.  The Councillor went on to anticipate a focus for scrutiny on timely access to information, undertaking more pre-decision scrutiny and developing a more transparent decision-making structure. He was pleased to commend the report.

 

Councillor Ward was invited to speak by the Mayor in his capacity as Chair of the Children and Young People Sub-Committee. It was described how the preceding year had been busy, with a new team delivering a major change programme resulting in additional meetings and visits to different settings including schools and Pupil Referral Units. It was described how users had attended Sub-Committee meetings with a positive impact. It was highlighted that scrutiny of Children’s Services had been a priority and as such was covered in detail in the Annual Report. A task and finish group was undertaking in-depth scrutiny on children coming off the school roll. Thanks was given to the scrutiny team in addition to those Councillors and officers who had appeared before the Sub-Committee with specific mention being given to Councillor Fitzsimons for his support. Councillor Ward closed by appealing to more Councillors to come to meetings and to participate in visits.

 

Councillor Ben-Hassel was invited by the Mayor to speak in her capacity as the Chair of the Streets, Environment and Homes Sub-Committee. The Councillor stressed that she was new in the role, having been elected shortly before the start of the municipal year. She expressed her commitment to bring as many members of the public into the scrutiny process as possible and that she had already found it enlightening when residents had the opportunity to talk to rail operators. It was planned to build on the work of Councillor Fitzsimons and to continue the work of scrutiny on a cross departmental basis to look at policy across Cabinet portfolios and to work collaboratively.

 

There were no Councillor questions on the Scrutiny Annual Report.

 

Corporate Parenting Panel

 

Councillor Alisa Flemming was invited to speak by the Mayor in her capacity as the Chair of the Corporate Parenting Panel. The Councillor highlighted her pleasure in presenting the Panel’s first Annual Report to Council and noted how this brought together lots of information about looked after children and young people in Croydon. It was noted that the Panel had been formed in 2007 and subject to changes with the number of meetings having increased to six a year. Councillor Flemming described how the Panel comprised a combination of Members on a cross party basis in addition to co-opted members, such a foster carers, and young people themselves. It was described how the Panel had been focused on the Staying Put policy and encouraging young people to stay with foster carers for longer. It was stressed that the Panel was directly influenced by the voice of young people who attended the Panel and who spoke eloquently on the reasons why they needed more support. It was noted that the Panel was also focused on missing incidents with Councillor Gatland acknowledged as a strong voice on supporting young people and the reduction of missing episodes. It was also described how it was the intention for the Panel to focus on the Youth Offending Service and the over-represention of black young people in care which the Panel aimed to reduce.

 

There were no Councillor questions on the Corporate Parenting Panel Annual Report.

 

General Purposes and Audit Committee

 

Councillor Jewitt was invited to speak by the Mayor in her capacity as Chair of the General Purposes and Audit Committee. The Councillor noted that the Annual Report covered the period from 2018 to 2019 and that she had just re-joined the Committee following the conclusion of this period. However, Councillor Jewitt noted the report covered a successful year under Councillor Mann as Chair and that she had quickly got up to speed on the audit process to ensure it was achieved appropriately. The audit process was due to be presented again to the Committee following the Council meeting. Councillor Jewitt noted that  social care and Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children were some of the areas putting increased stress on the Council’s budget. It was noted that the Committee worked well across the political divide to address and look at these issues. It was also highlighted that a second co-opted member had joined the Committee during the past year, expanding the expertise available with the Councillor giving her thanks to both. The Anti-Fraud Team was specifically mentioned; it was described as continuing to excel with a focus on fraud prevention and Croydon being a founding member of the counter-fraud hub. Councillor Jewitt thanked the Members of the Committee, Councillor Mann, the vice chair and officers for the past year and the year to come.

 

There were no Councillor questions on the General Purposes and Audit Committee Annual Report.

 

Health and Wellbeing Board

 

Councillor Woodley was invited to speak by the Mayor in her capacity as the Chair of the Health and Well Board. It was highlighted that the Annual Report summarised the work done during the 2018 – 2019 municipal year with the main focus on the development of the health and wellbeing strategy, inequalities, prevention and youth inequalities. The report was described as capturing the considerable work that was being undertaken and the truly joined-up approach to the delivery of health services in Croydon. Councillor Woodley described how pupils of the Tudor Academy had participated in the development of the strategy through an engagement event.  Pupils from three local schools had also participated in a mental health workshop resulting in areas for improvement being outlined. £4.3m of funding had been allocated for school based mental health services. However, Councillor Woodley noted that the aim was for all core mental health services to be adequately funded. 

 

The Mayor invited Councillor Hopley to put her question to Councillor Woodley. Councillor Hopley expressed her full support for the Health and Wellbeing Board, its strategy and welcomed the funding being made available by Central Government to support its work. However, she also expressed her concern regarding the cancellation of meetings of the Board especially where this meant as a consequence key organisations, such as Croydon University Hospitals, then not being available to attend the reorganised meeting.

 

Councillor Woodley responded by stressing that whilst meetings had been moved, all the required meetings had been held during the last municipal year. It was also highlighted that meetings had been moved for legitimate reasons which were beyond the control of the Chair such as a meeting clashing with a Public Health England conference and the sad passing of Councillor Mansell. It was also noted that meetings had been added to the cycle such as the workshop held in December 2018.

 

In her supplementary question, Councillor Hopley stated that health partners were finding it difficult to sustain their engagement with the Board without there being a clear plan for the year. Encouragement was given to get dates in the diary for the year which would then be sustained. Councillor Hopley asked if Councillor Woodley would welcome Dr Agnelo Fernandes, the current Vice-Chair and a representative of the NHS Croydon Clinical Commissioning Group, taking over the role of Chair of the Board.

 

Councillor Woodley responded that she and the Vice-Chair were working well together and that it was misleading to say meetings had been cancelled when these had, for a variety of circumstances, had been reorganised with none missed.

 

Councillor Pelling asked Councillor Woodley about working with the Clinical Commissioning Group when the Government was intent on its destruction. Councillor Pelling also asked Councillor Woodley about the importance of keeping structures in place for the benefit of residents’ health.

 

Councillor Woodley described how Croydon was a role model for partnership approaches to health provision and that the borough’s successes were a testament to joint working.

 

 

 

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