Agenda, decisions and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Azizur Rahman, Ashraf, Cooper, Sharps and Sturges-Alex. Apologies were also received from the Executive Director People Services.

Members are asked to declare any interest and the nature of that interest which they may have in any of the items under consideration at this meeting.

There were none.

To receive notification of requests from members of the public to address the meeting on an item on the public part of the agenda.

There were none.

To confirm the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 21 November 2022.

RESOLVED: that the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee agreed the minutes of the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on 21 November 2022.

RESOLVED: That the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee agreed the minutes of the meeting on 21 November 2022 as an accurate record.

To receive any communications from the Chair.

The Chair advised that the timetable for corporate work on sports and leisure needs assessment and on Housing Allocation Policy had changed and these topics had therefore needed to be rescheduled from the current Committee meeting. The shorter agenda for the meeting had helped to accommodate the workshop on the development of Overview and Scrutiny that had taken place immediately beforehand. The Chair thanked members for their contribution to the workshop.

To consider an update on the development of the Integrated Care System in Northamptonshire.

RESOLVED: That the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee

a)    Noted the presentation on the development of Integrated Care Northamptonshire.

b)    Requested that further information be provided to Committee members on the following matters:

·         The resources that will be available to support Local Area Partnerships, including whether all LAPs will have community officers as in the N4 LAP.

·         Whether LAPs will be able to bid for funding to support particular projects.

·         How any additional demand on voluntary and community sector groups that results from working with LAPs will be managed.

·         How National Lottery funding recently awarded to Northamptonshire will be used in the county. 

c)    Raised the need for all LAPs to operate within a common framework to assist in assessing the outcomes that they produce.

d)    Raised the need for LAPs to be informed about how to make bids to relevant local funding streams and for West Northamptonshire Council to be ready to respond effectively to such bids.

e)    Agreed to seek to scrutinise the developing outcomes framework for the Northamptonshire Integrated Care Strategy. 

f)     Agreed that Northamptonshire Police should be requested to update its crime data reporting processes so that they reflect West Northamptonshire Council ward boundaries.

The Cabinet Member for Adult Care, Wellbeing and Health Integration introduced the report and commented on the development of Integrated Care Northamptonshire (ICN), highlighting the following points:

·         The 10-year ICN Strategy had been endorsed by the West Northamptonshire (WNC) Cabinet on 6December 2022. The ICN Strategy set out 10 shared ambitions that underpinned the overall aim for residents to ‘Live Your Best Life’. WNC would refresh its corporate plan where necessary to support these ambitions and partners would apply them to their services, reflecting the wide range of services that contributed to good health outcomes.

·         The ICN operating model included the Integrated Care Board of chief officers and the wider Integrated Care Partnership. As the portfolio holder he chaired the West Northamptonshire Health and Wellbeing Board.

·         ICN benefitted from covering a clear geographical area, whereas some other integrated care system covered multiple local authorities. ICN was made up of two places: West and North Northamptonshire. West Northamptonshire included two localities, Northampton and Daventry and South Northamptonshire, and 9 Local Area Partnerships (LAPs). The LAPs were intended to translate strategic priorities into community-level action to deliver practical outcomes.

·         Two pioneer LAPs had been established: N4 in Northampton and DSN4 in the south of the authority. Each had held around four formal meetings so far involving ward councillors and local GPs. WNC had signed up to a local insight data system that provided very good information on issues affecting health and wellbeing.

·         Service providers were working to change operating arrangements to align with LAPs. For example, Northamptonshire Police was changing the geography of its beats to take into account LAP areas. 

·         Metrics for each of the 10 ICN ambitions were currently being developed, which would assist in forming delivery plans.

·         The ICN Community Engagement Framework would help to shape how partners worked with local communities.

·         Useful information and experience had been gained from the pioneer LAPs. Emerging themes for the N4 LAP included high levels of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and that crime data showed that 50% of crime in Northampton was caused by people who lived in the N4 area. Local inequalities funding had been received from the government for central Northampton to address some of these issues.

·         The DSN4 LAP had raised issues around access to key services and cross-border working as some residents used health services in different authorities.

·         The key challenge now was to apply the ICN Strategy so that it made a difference. Part of his role as the WNC portfolio holder was to make sure this was done. Overview and Scrutiny could also consider reviewing delivery against the outcome measures adopted. 

The Committee considered the report and overview given and members made the following points during the course of discussion:

·         How long would the pioneer LAPs operate and when would others be set up? What lessons had been learnt from the pioneers and would this change the establishment of other LAPs?

·         The LAPs would be a very powerful tool for change.

·         The ICN Strategy referred  ...  view the full minutes text for item 87.

To review and note the Committee Work Programme.

RESOLVED: That the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee

a)    Agreed to request that an update on progress with the proposed new West Northamptonshire Council homecare framework be brought to an appropriate future Committee meeting.

b)    Noted the work programme.

The Chair introduced the report and advised that it was still intended that the Committee should use its meeting on 21February 2023 to meet with the Department for Education Regional Director to discuss academy schools, provided that their attendance could be secured.

The Democratic Services Assistant Manager advised that all non-executive councillors had been contacted following the previous Committee meeting regarding the task and finish panel on provision for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) that the Committee had agreed to establish. Councillors Barrett, Herring, Emma Roberts, Davenport, Cali, Clubley and Hughes had expressed an interest in participating, which would produce a reasonably balanced group. A meeting involving these councillors and relevant officers would now be arranged as soon as possible to draft the scope for the scrutiny review for final approval by the Committee.

The Committee considered the report and members made the following points during the course of discussion:

·         Information about the number of academy schools in West Northamptonshire required to become sponsored academies, the length of time since those schools converted and their current Ofsted outcomes should be provided to the Committee ahead of an agenda item on academy schools.

·         The Cabinet meeting on 6 December 2022 had agreed actions relating to homecare services commissioning. The Committee should seek to scrutinise progress with implementation. 

RESOLVED: That the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee

a)    Agreed to request that an update on progress with the proposed new West Northamptonshire Council homecare framework be brought to an appropriate future Committee meeting.

b)    Noted the work programme.

The Chair to advise whether they have agreed to any items of urgent business being admitted to the agenda.

There were no items of urgent business.