Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Brodie-Browne.  

Members are requested to give notice of any disclosable pecuniary or personal interest

An advice note on declaration of interests is attached

No declarations of disclosable pecuniary or personal interests were received.

Minutes of the meeting held on 12 June 2018

RESOLVED:

That the Minutes of the meeting held on 12 June 2018 be confirmed as a correct record.

Presentation from the Head of Corporate Resources

Mr. Stephan Van Arendsen advised that the agile working arrangements in Magdalen House and the Southport Hub were both nearing completion; and that once works were completed then an evaluation of the new working arrangements could be undertaken. This would make the presentation to Members much more meaningful. Accordingly, it was recommended that the presentation be submitted to the next meeting of the Committee to be held on 30 October 2018.

RESOLVED:

That the presentation on the Asset Management and the Accommodation Strategy be submitted to the next meeting of the Committee to be held on 30 October 2018.

Report of the Head of Corporate Resources

The Committee considered the report of the Head of Corporate Resources that provided information on:-

The report advised that In March 2017, the Council approved a three-year budget plan to March 2020. The final two years of this plan were revised in March 2018 as part of the process of setting the 2018/19 budget. As the Council was nearly half way through the second year of this budget plan it remained confident that its continued strategic approach to budget planning, alongside good financial management and extensive community engagement, meant that the plan continued to develop on solid foundations, remained flexible and would secure the future sustainability to 2020 and beyond. However, in-year demand for social care services was currently resulting in the costs for these services exceeding the budget. Corrective action would be required to bring the overall budget into balance.

The recommendations in the report started to provide the basis on which the budget plan would be balanced for the financial year 2019/20 and would ensure that the Council’s statutory obligations were met; and ensured that the Committee was informed of the forecast outturn position for the 2018/19 revenue and capital budgets as at the end of July 2018 and to provide an updated forecast of the outturn position with regard to the collection of Council Tax and Business Rates.

Members of the Committee asked questions/commented on the following issues:-

·         The management of risk within the budget and the rigorous monitoring of the 2018/19 budget

·         Vacancy management issues across the Council and the use of agency staff

·         The risk management structure approved by the Audit and Governance Committee and the adoption by each service area of their own risk register and the Corporate Risk Register

·         The net overspend of £6 million contained within the budget and the remedial measures required to bridge the gap

·         The potential scenario whereby the Council could not balance its budget

·         The Fair Funding Review currently being undertaken by the Government to determine the means of allocating funding across local authorities  

RESOLVED: That

Report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance

The Committee considered the report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance that presented formally the final report of the Digital Inclusion Working Group.

Councillor McKinley, Lead Member of the Working Group introduced the report and commended the recommendations contained within it to Cabinet.

Report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance

The Committee considered the report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance on the impact of the reductions in legal aid on access to justice with a focus on its affect within family justice.

The report indicated that the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) revoked its predecessor, the Access to Justice Act 1999, and introduced unprecedented cuts in legal aid; that up until the passing of LASPO, legal aid was available for almost all areas of law, subject to specified exceptions; that as a result of LASPO legal aid was cut across both criminal and civil law matters and Legal aid ceased to be available in the following areas of law:-

·         Clinical negligence cases (except certain cases involving neurological injury to infants)

·         Employment cases (except those under the Equality Act 2010 or in relation to victims of human trafficking)

·         Private family law cases, such as divorce and child contact (except cases involving domestic violence, child abuse or abduction)

·         Housing disputes (except where there is serious disrepair, homelessness or anti-social behaviour)

·         Debt (except where there is a risk of homelessness)

·         Immigration (except cases involving detention and refugee claims)

·         Education (except special needs cases)

·         Welfare benefits claims (except appeals to the Upper Tribunal or higher courts)

The report focussed primarily on the impact that LAPSO had had in respect of private family law cases and indicated that in relation to all private (not public, i.e. Sefton Children’s Services case matters) family law matters legal aid had been removed in its entirety, save for those individuals who had specific, recent, evidence of domestic violence or child abuse and that without the necessary evidence proving that an individual was a victim of domestic abuse any application for legal aid would not be considered; and detailed the effect that the cuts have had on the legal system, which included an increased number of Litigants in Person, particularly in the family and civil courts, which placed unprecedented pressures on courts and voluntary services. Nearly 90% of respondents who worked with family courts reported an increase in self-representation; and this resulted in cases not being properly presented, which could lead to extra delays, pressures and costs on the court system, as well as litigants not making points or speaking up when they should, so damaging their case.

The report concluded that a report published by The Commons Justice Committee on the 4th March 2015 commented:-

·         “while it had made significant savings in the cost of the [legal aid] scheme, the Ministry had harmed access to justice for some litigants and had not achieved the other three out of four of its stated objectives for the reforms.” and

·         “It was clear to us that the urgency attached by the Government to the programme of savings militated against having a research-based and well-structured programme of change to the provision of civil legal aid.”

and that the Ministry of Justice was in the process of undertaking a Post-Implementation Review of Part 2 of LASPO and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

Report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance

Further to Minute No. 56 of 6 March 2018 the Committee considered the report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance that set out progress made in respect of the recommendations formulated by the Area Committees Working Group and approved by Cabinet.

The report indicated that the main recommendation of the Working Group was that the current Area Committee system in Sefton cease and be replaced by Constituency Forums; that the first round of Forum meetings were held in June/July 2018; and Paragraph 3 of the report detailed the number of visitors to the Forum and the partner agencies and Council Departments that attended together with feedback obtained by the Head of Communities from elected Members, residents and partners.

The report also indicated that the views of all Members of the Council on the first round of Constituency Forum meetings were sought and that in total, 26 responses were received, 6 from Bootle, 8 from Sefton Central and 12 from Southport. The table attached to the report set out Members’ verbatim comments and these have been shared with the Head of Communities as the officer responsible for servicing Constituency Forum meetings.

In general. it appeared that Members supported the operation of the new arrangements more in Bootle and Sefton Central than in Southport; that it would be desirable if more Members of the public attended the Fora; and that to achieve this aim enhanced advertisement and marketing of the Fora should be undertaken.

RESOLVED: That:-

Report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance

The Committee considered the report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance that advised of the Government’s response to the Communities and Local Government Select Committee report titled “Effectiveness of Local Authority Overview and Scrutiny Committees”

The report indicated that the Communities and Local Government (CLG) Select Committee, on 24 January, 2017 launched an inquiry into overview and scrutiny in local government; as the CLG Committee wanted to consider whether overview and scrutiny arrangements in England were working effectively and whether local communities were able to contribute to and monitor the work of their councils; that the report of the Select Committee, titled “Effectiveness of Local Authority Overview and Scrutiny Committees” was published by the House of Commons on 15 December 2017; and a copy of the published report was attached to the report as Appendix 1; and that the Government’s response to the CLG report was published on 12 March 2018; and the 8 CLG recommendations and accompanying Government responses were set out in paragraphs 3.2 to 3.9. A full copy of the Government response was attached to the report as Appendix 2.

The report concluded that It had been established from a recent County/Unitary Scrutiny Network meeting that the Centre for Public Scrutiny (CfPS) were hoping to be commissioned to help the Government produce the updated statutory Scrutiny Guidance which was promised in the response to the CLG Select Committee’s report on the Effectiveness of Local Authority Scrutiny.  If so, CfPS would seek to obtain the views of a wide range of interested parties during the drafting stage and there may be the possibility for the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Management Board and Committees to contribute as part of the consultation phase.

RESOLVED: That

Report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance

The Committee considered the report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance that updated Committee on the Work Programme for 2018/19, topics for scrutiny reviews to be undertaken by a Working Group(s) appointed by the Committee and the identification of items for pre-scrutiny by the Committee from the Key Decision Forward Plan.

RESOLVED: That

Report of the Head of Regulation and Compliance

The Committee considered the report of the Chief Legal and Democratic Officer that included the most recent report from the Cabinet Member – Regulatory, Compliance and Corporate Services.  

Councillor Lappin, Cabinet Member – Regulatory, Compliance and Corporate Services was in attendance to answer any questions regarding her report.

Members of the Committee asked questions/commented on the following issues:-

·         The performance and business intelligence function and how residents can engage with the Council

·         The customer complaints process

RESOLVED:  That