Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Mrs P M Bryant.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Health and Public Protection Scrutiny Panel held on 13 November 2018.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Health and Public Protection Scrutiny Panel held on 13 November 2018 be signed and confirmed as a correct record.

There were no Chairman’s announcements made at this meeting.

To receive any declarations of interest from members in accordance with Standing Orders and the Council’s Code of Conduct and disclosures of advice or directions received from Group Leaders or Political Groups, in accordance with the Council’s Constitution.

The Chairman declared a personal, non-pecuniary interest in respect of item 6(4) Air Quality – Final Plan submission, as he is an employee of the First Bus company. He remained in the room and took part in the discussion.

To receive any deputations of which notice has been lodged.

There were no deputations made at this meeting.

To consider any items of business dealt with by the Executive since the last meeting of the Panel, that falls under the remit of the Health and Public Protection Portfolio.  This will include any decisions taken by individual Members during the same time period.

The Panel considered and raised questions for clarification on the following items of business discharged by the Executive since the last meeting of the Panel.

Councillor Davies arrived at the meeting during this item.

At the invitation of the Chairman, Councillor T M Cartwright, MBE, the Executive Member for Health and Public Protection addressed the Panel on this item.

The Director of Planning and Regulation provided an update on this item and advised Members that at its meeting held on 04 March 2019, the Executive had considered a report by the Head of Streetscene which outlined the results of the consultation and as a result had resolved that the Public Spaces Protection Order (Dog Control) 2019 be made.  

Members were advised that following the debate that took place at the meeting of the Executive, the Health and Public Protection Scrutiny Panel would be invited to consider whether there are any other areas across the Borough that would benefit from the dog control PSPO and whether the Panel would recommend that proposals for any additional areas, notably sports pitches, to be consulted on with a view to the possible future amendment of the order.

There were no points for clarification raised by Members in respect of this item.

There were no points for clarification raised by Members in respect of this item.

The Chairman declared a personal, non-pecuniary interest in respect of this item as he is an employee of the First Bus company. He remained in the room and took part in the discussion of this item.

Members raised questions and sought clarification regarding the bids for funding that have been submitted to implement the Plan, the use of older diesel vehicles for School bus services, plans to introduce charging points for electricity powered vehicles, the use of smart phone technology to track bus services and the likely reduction in exceedances that traffic modelling predictions suggest will be brought about as a result of the general public updating to newer cars.

To receive a verbal update from the Executive Member on matters relating to the Health and Public Protection portfolio, e.g. the Police and Crime Panel and Local Strategic Health Issues.

The Panel received a verbal update from Councillor T M Cartwright, MBE, the Executive Member for Health and Public Protection on Local Health Strategic issues and the Police & Crime Panel.

Local Health Strategic Issues

Councillor Cartwright reported that he attended a recent meeting with the Chief Officer of QA Hospital. Generally, things are running well apart from the Accident and Emergency Service which is again experiencing the high increase in demand that this time of year tends to bring.  This problem is unlikely to be resolved until the planned new provision is in place in 2 years’ time.  QA is not anticipating that Brexit will have an impact on staffing levels in the hospital as a high proportion of staffing comes from outside of the EU and are not expected to leave. 

Fareham Community Hospital continues to be significantly under-utilised and is currently only working at around 30% of capacity. QA is preparing a business case to consider the viability of providing kidney dialysis services at the hospital.

The Trust Boards of QA Hospital and Southampton Hospital have both indicated that they will be making a claim for funding towards the provision of healthcare services at Welborne.   The Director of Planning & Regulation advised Members that representations have been received from both Hospital Trusts in respect of the Welborne Planning Application and that officers will need to articulate these requests and give a view to the Planning Committee as to whether there is a need to factor them into any Section 106 contribution, when that application is reported for determination.

Councillor Cartwright reported that he attended his first meeting of the Fareham & Gosport CCG community engagement committee recently. The meeting covered an update on the Big Health Conversation which is a series of engagement programmes with local people about the changes they would like to see from the NHS.  It also covered the changes that are taking place in respect of GPs taking on more responsibility for delivering Phlebotomy Services.  An update on the NHS Long Term Plan was also provided.

Police and Crime Plan

Councillor Cartwright advised Members that he attended the recent meeting of the Police and Crime Panel which discussed the £24 per annum increase in the Police and Crime Commissioner’s precept. The Police and Crime Panel unanimously supported the increase in the precept on the understanding that the money must be used for the recruitment of new police officers.

Councillor Cartwright also reported that Partnership Action Groups are continuing to take place and are going very well. The meetings involve several agencies working together to prevent and reduce crime. The Group will be focussing on raising the profile of Fareham Street Aid which is a web-based platform that was launched to enable agencies to work together to help vulnerable people off the street.

To provide Members with an opportunity to prepare a scoping report to enable Officers to extend an invitation to the Police and Crime Commissioner to attend a future meeting of the Panel.

At the invitation of the Chairman, Councillor T M Cartwright, MBE, the Executive Member for Health and Public Protection addressed the Panel on this item.

Members considered a draft scoping report which outlined the Panel’s objectives in inviting the Police and Crime Commissioner to attend a future meeting of the Panel.

RESOLVED that:

(a)  the Health and Public Protection Scrutiny Panel approves the scoping report; and

(b)   that the scoping report be sent to the Police and Crime Commissioner to supplement the outstanding  invitation to him to attend a future meeting of the Panel (whether scheduled or an additional meeting)

To consider a report by the Community Safety Manager which presents Members with the opportunity to scrutinise the revised draft Safeguarding Policy which has been updated to include additional areas of Local Authority responsibility.

At the invitation of the Chairman, Councillor T M Cartwright, MBE, the Executive Member for Health and Public Protection addressed the Panel on this item.

The Panel considered a report by the Director of Planning and Regulation which updates Members on draft changes to the Safeguarding Policy.

RESOLVED that having considered the draft Safeguarding policy, attached as Appendix A to the report, the Health and Public Protection Scrutiny Panel recommends to the Executive that the policy be recommended for adoption by the Council.

To provide an opportunity for Members to consider the scrutiny priorities for the Health and Public Protection Panel.

At the invitation of the Chairman, Councillor T M Cartwright, MBE, the Executive Member for Health and Public Protection, addressed the Panel on this item.

The Chairman invited Members to consider the Scrutiny priorities for the Panel. 

Members requested that a presentation be brought forward to provide the Panel with an understanding of mental health issues.

RESOLVED that;

(a)  the Fareham and Gosport Clinical Commissioning Group be invited to attend a future meeting of the panel;

(b)  the scoping report to be included in the invitation to the Fareham and Gosport Clinical Commissioning Group be drafted for consideration at the next meeting; and

(c)  the scoping report include a request that the Clinical Commissioning group provide an overview on Mental Health issues.