Winchester City Borough Council The Scrutiny Committee Meeting

Apologies for the meeting were noted as above.

No declarations of interest were made.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the previous meeting held on 13 July 2022 be approved and adopted.

Lin Mellish from Tenants and Council Together (TACT) addressed the committee regarding agenda item 6. She advised that work undertaken by the Housing Team throughout the period of the pandemic had been appreciated and that the report on tonight’s agenda highlighted the full extent of that work.

Mrs Kirkman introduced the report, ref SC075 which set out proposals for the Mental Health Matters Task and Finish Group Feedback, (available here). Mrs Kirkman brought members up to date regarding the recommendation of the Task and Finish group which related to ensuring that all customer-facing staff were given the opportunity of undertaking training to help identify those in our community who may need some extra mental health support. The Executive Leadership Board (ELB) had agreed that this forms part of the corporate training provision and was currently being looked at in terms of how best it could be delivered.

The committee was asked to note the work, notes and recommendations of the task and finish group and proceeded to ask questions and debate the report. In summary, the following matters were raised:

1.      several questions were asked regarding the recently issued staff mental health training package, including the content, the method of delivery and timescales for response

2.      how the councils working arrangements and specifically the council’s policy of hybrid working impacted upon staff’s mental health

3.      whether the council aspired to reduce the % sickness attributed to mental health issues from the current 45% figure

4.      whether there was more the council could do with its grants programme in supporting community Mental Health programmes and the targeting of these grants

5.      that the mental health wellbeing vulnerability index shown in figure 2 indicated potential issues in rural areas of the district

6.      several questions were asked regarding the staff survey, including plans for future surveys, the overall completion rate and engagement with those who did not complete the survey

7.      a question was asked regarding the wider issues of the wellbeing of residents and understanding the involvement of the council in supporting residents returning home following a hospital stay

These points were responded to by Mrs Kirkman, Mrs Taylor, and Mrs Adey accordingly.

RESOLVED:

1.    that the work, notes and recommendations of the task and finish group be noted.

2.    that officers review whether any of the council grant schemes were or could be directed towards mental health support services

3.    that further examination be undertaken of the vulnerability index map shown in figure 2 regarding the rural areas of the district.

4.    that officers respond on the involvement of the council's housing team to residents returning home following a hospital stay.

Councillor Horrill, Chairperson of the Performance Panel introduced the agenda item including report reference SC076 which set out proposals for the Quarter 1 Finance & Monitoring, (available here).

Councillor Horrill advised that the panel had agreed to bring a matter to the attention of the scrutiny committee which was recorded in the minutes of the panel’s meeting as: “panel members discussed the ongoing scrutiny of risk registers to ensure they were taking account of new risks such as inflationary pressures. Councillors Cutler, Brook and Horrill to consider options for this and to raise it at the next scrutiny committee meeting for wider discussion”

Councillor Cutler, Chairperson of the Audit & Governance committee and Councillor Tod, Leader and Cabinet Member for Asset Management contributed to the discussion regarding the review of corporate risks.

RESOLVED:

The committee:

1.         Noted that the performance panel met on 22 August 2022 to scrutinise the report, CAB3361 and its associated appendices.

2.         Noted the draft minutes of the panel and the verbal update provided by the Chairperson.

3.         That Councillors Horrill, Cutler, Brook and appropriate officers would meet to discuss further, the matters raised by the panel concerning the ongoing review of risk registers.

Councillor Brook updated the committee regarding the next meeting of the committee scheduled for the 22 September which was to be a joint meeting with the Local Plan Advisory Group to scrutinise the draft regulation 18 Local Plan.

Members were also updated regarding an additional meeting on the 16 January 2023 to receive a report on Station Approach project. The annual Community Safety agenda item had been moved from March 2023 to February 2023 and it was anticipated that an update regarding Central Winchester Regeneration would be provided in March,  although this was to be confirmed.

Members raised several points regarding the meeting on 22 September, these included;

1.    managing the public and member contributions to the meeting,

2.    the issues of holding a daytime meeting,

3.    the processing of the committee's comments to the cabinet,

4.    understanding the role of the committee within the local plan process,

5.    the availability of printed copies of the draft local plan

RESOLVED:

That the latest version of the work programme be noted.

RESOLVED:

The forward plan of key decisions for September 2022 was noted.