EXECUTIVE MEMBER RESPONSE TO IPP SCRUTINY
NAME OF TOPIC GROUP: IPP SCRUTINY
CHAIRMAN: ALAN SEARING
SCRUTINY OFFICER: TOM HAWKYARD
DATE OF SCRUTINY: 6TH February 2013
Recommendations:
e.g. To undertake a customer survey in the Autumn of 2012 / Outcomes/further action:
e.g. To carry out the survey in September 2012
Education and Early Intervention
1. That the County Council seeks to formalise the relationship with Academies and Free Schools to ensure a protocol is in place in the event that the latter experiences performance issues or financial difficulties. / The Standards & Schools Effectiveness service is in the process of agreeing protocols with academies in relation to poor performance issues or financial difficulties. Similar protocols will be agreed with Free Schools in the near future.
Environment
2. That communications between the County Council and Ringway, regarding services provided by Ringway, be improved in order to ensure a consistent message is provided to Members and the public. / Programmes of training, involving the Executive member have commenced to ensure Ringway staff understand how to communicate effectively with members and the public
3. That Members and other interested parties be advised of the outcomes of the localism network meetings and the names of localism champions. / The Executive Member for Localism and Libraries will include the list of current localism champions in the next County Council report in March. The outcome of each Localism Champions meeting will subsequently be shared with members via the Executive Member report to Council. Other interested parties should contact the Executive Member for more information.
4. That the review of the street lighting policy being undertaken includes a full consultation with the public, stakeholders and County Councillors and an examination of the cost effectiveness of technology based solutions. / A full review of the implementation of the Part Night Lighting conversion has always been planned for summer 2013. This will check to see that it has achieved its objectives of reduced energy consumption and reduced carbon emissions without compromising road safety or impacting negatively on crime statistics. Alternative technologies were considered as part of the original business case but did not represent value for money. Whilst feedback received from the Public and from stakeholders will be taken into account, a full public consultation is not envisaged.
5. That concessionary travel, particularly for young job seekers (16-25) be explored. / The scope for extending concessionary travel arrangements to post-16 job seekers, and the potential costs involved, is being taken forward by officers with a view to presenting options to the Executive Member early in the new council.
6.That, as part of the Winter Service Review, the Council look into additional ways communities and schools can help themselves in periods of inclement weather and how this information is communicated. / This will be included in the usual annual review of the winter service which starts following the end of the current winter season and will report to the Highways & Transport Cabinet Panel in the autumn.
Health and Community Services
7. That the County Council moves to a more holistic and systematic approach for patients entering hospital to take account underlying issues patients may face. / Health and Community Services will conduct a fundamental review of all hospital social work teams and integrated discharge arrangements in its main hospital sites to ensure people leave acute hospital care as soon as it is safe to do so with the appropriate level of support and care for themselves and their family carers. We are committed to playing a pro-active role in assisting the acute trust in reviewing hospital arrangements to get best value from our staff.
8. That the County Council ensures that GP’s are aware of alternatives to residential care and the range of services that the County Council offers. / Health and Community Services is currently conducting a piece of research with GPs into older people’s views on advice they receive from their GP and social care professionals. HCS are committed to undertaken learning and development with the wider GP group, in conjunction with new CCGs, to raise awareness and improve referrals into social care from general practice.
9. That written communication to clients regarding charges for services be simplified. / HCS’ Income and Payments Team have already started a programme of training for all staff and managers into written communications about complex financial issues. The Customer Service Team will commission training and development for managers answering representations and any complaints from service users and their families to improve this.
10. That the use of Credit Unions be promoted to Hertfordshire residents. / The new Welfare Assistance Scheme to be operated by HCS will encourage people to use Credit Unions as a sustainable way of borrowing, whilst providing budgeting and benefits advice to prevent loans being required in the future. The new Hertshelp Scheme and the county's Money Advice Unit also promote use of credit unions for those on low incomes.
11.  That a review be undertaken as to the future scope and role of libraries in providing new services, and that any future role be as broad as possible. / A full review of the Library Service is planned for 2013/2014. This will consider the future role and operating model of the service.
Resources and Performance
12.  That the Council explores:-
- The purchase land banks as long term investments and the issuing of banks; and
- the sale of County Council assets as leaseholds rather than freeholds. / The Treasury Management strategy is primarily concerned with maintaining security of investments and ensuring cash flow to meet commitments (yield).
Traditionally land and property has been held for the delivery of services and not investment. By default these assets can turn into investments when they become surplus to requirement. We do not purchase these assets for investment as they tend to be very difficult to dispose of when you most need the return.
Where we wish to protect an asset for the future we do dispose via leasehold interests, but where we wish to maximise the capital receipt (which is usually the case) we will look to dispose of a freehold.
13. That officers establish the sources of funding available to schools to enable them to ‘invest to save’ on energy expenditure. / The main funding source remains the Dedicated Schools Grant. The DSG is devolved direct to community secondary schools and they determine what capital projects they take forward. Primary schools funds are pooled and schools needs are assessed prior to projects being agreed and sourced. Over 100 projects are currently underway, a large majority of which have an energy related benefit and are typically roof renewals, boiler replacements and window wall replacement. The Schools Forum also funded two energy advisors to investigate other offers/schemes and together with finance colleagues have determined which fall within the Schools Finance Guidelines. This provision is ending with effect from 1st April 2013 since new restrictions on DSG expenditure come into effect. Legacy guidance and advice for schools will remain on the GRID and schools will be encouraged to do all they can to reduce their energy usage.
SALIX funding is also available to schools that wish to fund energy saving projects. SALIX is a government fund that lends money for energy saving projects that are repaid by the borrower from the savings generated. SALIX is only available for a specified number and type of projects.
14. That, as part of the new Council’s Member Induction Programme, Members of the Council, including co-opted Members, be provided with training on:
- Technology;
- Social media, specifically how to use it and the protocols for doing so; and
- Member Locality Budgets, specifically Highways Locality Budgets. / New and re-elected Members will be provided with training on technology as part of the roll out of the new IT kit, including training on processing expenses through MSS
Social Media workshops will be offered as part of the Working with the Community element of the Induction Programme and will include practical assistance with setting up accounts
Locality budgets and specifically Highways will be covered on the initial Orientation Days, immediately following the election.
15.That a review of the County Council’s website be undertaken to ensure that it is easy to access by all
and contains the most up to date and straight forward information. / Officers are taking this recommendation forward positively in the following ways:
·  There has been a review of the "top tasks" that members of the public access, to ensure they are explained in plain English and can easily be found through navigation, searching and our A to Z lists.
·  Service areas are reviewing their web pages to ensure content is relevant, current and uses plain English - this is ongoing.
·  Infrequently accessed web pages are reviewed to identify content which is not required or used, enabling the deletion of unnecessary pages to produce a more streamlined website - this is ongoing.
·  Website visitor feedback and usage statistics are reviewed, and the information they provide used to inform the improvement and development of online services and information.
·  The web editing model for the website is being reviewed so that fewer editors have a broader remit for managing web content, providing a more consistent tone to content and a standardised approach to style and layout, etc.
·  The Web Board's programme for 2013 / 2014 will include additional work to make the website more user friendly for members of the public.
Do you have any other comments on the report or scrutiny?