Agenda and minutes

Venue: Civic Suite, North Warehouse, The Docks, Gloucester, GL1 2EP

Contact: Democratic and Electoral Services 

Items
No. Item

115.

Declarations of Interest

To receive from Members, declarations of the existence of any disclosable pecuniary, or non-pecuniary, interests and the nature of those interests in relation to any agenda item. Please see Agenda notes.

Minutes:

Councillor Gravells declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 8 (Integrated Care System Update) owing to his position as Chair of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee for Gloucestershire County Council.

116.

Declaration of Party Whipping

To declare if any issues to be covered in the Agenda are under party whip.

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations of party whipping.

117.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 193 KB

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on Monday 27th February 2023.

Minutes:

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 27th February 2023 were approved and signed as a correct record by the Chair.

118.

Public Question Time (15 minutes)

To receive any questions from members of the public provided that a question does not relate to:

 

·       Matters which are the subject of current or pending legal proceedings or

·       Matters relating to employees or former employees of the Council or comments in respect of individual Council Officers.

 

To ask a question at this meeting, please submit it to democratic.services@gloucester.gov.uk by 12 noon on Wednesday 22nd March 2023 or telephone 01452 396203 for support.

Minutes:

There were no public questions.

119.

Petitions and Deputations (15 minutes)

To receive any petitions and deputations provided that no such petition or deputation is in relation to:

 

·       Matters relating to individual Council Officers, or

·       Matters relating to current or pending legal proceedings.

Minutes:

There were no petitions nor deputations.

120.

Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme and Council Forward Plan pdf icon PDF 234 KB

To receive the latest version of the Committee’s work programme and the Council’s Forward Plan.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED - That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee NOTE the Work Programme.

121.

Integrated Care System Update pdf icon PDF 6 MB

To receive an update from the NHS Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board on the One Gloucestershire Integrated Care System.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

121.1  The Integrated Care Board Chief Executive delivered a presentation on the One Gloucestershire Integrated Care System (ICS). She provided Members with an overview of how the Integrated Care System worked, including its vision for health and care in Gloucestershire and key priorities, such as transformation initiatives and plans to improve care across Gloucestershire in the future. She further explained that the NHS Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board (IBC) was responsible for deciding how NHS money was spent in the local area and consisted of a formal Board structure with Executive and Non-Executive Directors.

 

121.2  The Integrated Care Board Chief Executive went on to explain that the One Gloucestershire Health and Wellbeing Partnership or ‘Integrated Care Partnership’ (ICP) included representatives from health, social care, public health, and voluntary sector partners and was responsible for writing the interim Integrated Care Strategy for Improving Health and Wellbeing in Gloucestershire. She confirmed that this strategy had been approved and published back in December 2022, and offered to circulate the published document to Overview and Scrutiny Committee Members.

 

121.3  In relation to issues and challenges particular to Gloucester, the Integrated Care Board Chief Executive confirmed that respiratory health was an issue in the city and that there had also been ongoing challenges with local dentistry provision. She noted that the ICP were focusing on tackling health inequalities, particularly in relation to children and young people, and provided an overview of the 10 priority areas to assist with the development of the One Gloucestershire workforce.

 

121.4  At this stage in the meeting, the Integrated Care Board Chief Executive invited questions from Members.

 

121.5  Councillor Wilson referred to the narrative in the presentation concerning the development of a Gloucestershire Citizens Panel and asked for further information as to how the panel would operate. The Integrated Care Board Chief Executive confirmed that the ICB were in the process of advertising for representatives and would be in a position to provide further information over the next few months.

 

121.6 The Chair also noted his interest in the Citizens Panel and suggested that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee might be keen to revisit this initiative and partnership working in the future. He stated that although oversight of health and social care was primarily a responsibility of Gloucestershire County Council, decisions made by the ICB and partnership would have an impact on City Councillors’ wards and constituents.

 

121.7 The Integrated Care Board Chief Executive delivered an additional presentation on the ICB’s approach to contract management, explaining that the ICB was a commissioning organisation and worked to design pathways for local health service procurement. She provided an overview of the stages of contract management, some of the existing contractual arrangements with Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Gloucestershire Health and Care Foundation Trust, South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, Primary Care providers and local GP Out of Hours Services. The Integrated Care Board Chief Executive also provided Members with an overview of remedial actions to address under-performance or contract breaches.

 

121.8  In  ...  view the full minutes text for item 121.

122.

Annual Equality Diversity and Inclusion Report 2022-23 pdf icon PDF 127 KB

To consider the report of the Cabinet Member for Communities and Neighbourhoods updating Members on the work City Council Officers have undertaken regarding equalities, as well as the work the Equality and Diversity Working Group has completed over the last year.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

122.1  The Cabinet Member for Communities and Neighbourhoods introduced the report. He confirmed that the administration was committed to upholding the Equality Act 2010, noting that equalities, diversity and inclusion (ED&I) objectives had been embedded into the Council Plan, and that the council was reviewing and approving a new Action Plan for ED&I in 2023. The Cabinet Member for Communities and Neighbourhoods further highlighted that various initiatives to tackle inequalities had taken place across the Council and throughout the city over 2022.

 

122.2  The Chair referred to the 2022 Awareness Days Calendar at Appendix 2 and requested clarification on the ‘IDAHOBIT’ acronym. The Policy and Development Officer explained that this referred to ‘International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersex-phobia and Transphobia.’

 

 122.3 In response to an additional query from the Chair regarding the Awareness Days Calendar, the Policy and Development Officer confirmed that the main aim of the calendar was to raise awareness and that he along with the Community Wellbeing Team compiled the list. He noted that awareness days could be marked through small campaigns, internal City Council newsletters or civic events.

 

122.4  The Chair asked whether the awareness days were promoted on the City Council’s social media channels. The Policy and Development Officer confirmed that the Community Wellbeing and Communications teams did promote awareness days on the City Council’s Twitter, Facebook and Linked- In webpages. He confirmed that the council did not use TikTok or Instagram at this stage.

 

122.5  Councillor Pullen reflected on his experience of attending the recent Holocaust Memorial service which he found to be an impressive and sobering event and asked that his comments be fed back to the event organisers.

 

122.6  Referring to the narrative in Appendix 1 and the council’s commitment to ensure that 95% of staff and Councillors receive training in ED&I by March 2024, Councillor Pullen asked whether this training was likely to be delivered in-house of by external organisations. He also asked whether the council planned to make this training mandatory. The Head of Culture confirmed that the council had committed money from the training budget towards ED&I training and that it would likely be a combination of in-house and external providers. He provided reassurances that the council as an employer was committed to ensuring that staff were appropriately trained in this area. Referring to the revised SMART goals in Appendix 1, the Policy and Development Officer confirmed that the council hoped to follow the approach of the Gloucester City Commission to Review Race Relations in engaging with local communities and was committed to working with community partners. He noted that consideration was being given to hiring translators.

 

122.7  In response to a query from Councillor Wilson regarding People Impact Assessments (PIA) and whether this was a statutory obligation, the Policy and Development Officer explained that a PIA screening process needed to be completed for every City Council report which considered the impact on protected characteristics. He noted that if any protected characteristics were identified, then  ...  view the full minutes text for item 122.

123.

Overview of Here to Help Facility pdf icon PDF 633 KB

To receive an overview of the Here to Help reporting facility.

Minutes:

123.1  The Director of Communities delivered a presentation on the Here to Help and Report It facilities. She provided an overview of the context, explaining that Report It and Here to Help were part of a digital transformation process brought about by the ‘Together Gloucester’ project.  She noted that the work sat across several service areas, including Policy and Resources which had oversight of the council’s IT and transformation services and Communities through the customer service element. The Director of Communities further advised that the cyber incident in December 2021 had had a significant impact on the transformation process as business analyst and IT resources were preoccupied for several months with the cyber recovery.

 

123.2  The Director of Communities provided an overview of the Here to Help central email inbox, and Report It as an online reporting tool accessed through My Gloucester. She explained that Report It was a quick and easy way for residents to report issues online, which allowed customer services colleagues to help residents who need more support over the phone or via Here to Help email. It was noted that registered Report It users were increasing, and the Cabinet Member for Performance and Resources confirmed that she had two separate Report It accounts for reporting issues as a resident, and reporting issues in her capacity as Councillor.

 

123.3  The Director of Communities outlined some planned new processes and next steps for the services. She confirmed that feedback from Members’ interviews had been noted and was being taken on board. The Director of Communities also provided an update on the review of face-to-face services.

 

123.4  The Chair reflected on his frustrations with reporting issues and receiving return email notifications signposting to Gloucestershire County Council. He asked whether consideration could be given to passing Members’ referrals onto County Council colleagues. The Director of Communities confirmed that City Council customer services colleagues were in regular contact with the County Council, however if emails were to be passed on automatically, the County Council would return a response to customer services rather than individual Members.

 

123.5  In response to a suggestion from Councillor Norman it was agreed that a list of City Council and County Council responsibilities be circulated to all Members to assist with signposting queries at first instance.

 

123.6  Councillor Hilton noted that he preferred to raise issues on behalf of residents via email rather than through online Report It or Contact Us forms as he found it easier to track casework through email trail. He expressed the view that a dedicated email box for Councillors was a good suggestion, noting that the County Council Highways team had a dedicated email box for Members which he found useful. Councillor Gravells noted his agreement with Councillor Hilton’s comments.

 

123.7  Councillor Hilton stated that he was aware that reception staff at Gloucestershire County Council had raised concerns about signposting residents to the City Council, noting that the Eastgate Office was not open to the public. Councillor Norman noted that she was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 123.

124.

Date of Next Meeting

Monday 24th April 2023 at 6.30pm in Civic Suite, North Warehouse.

Minutes:

Monday 24th April 2023.