Meeting documents

+ Cllr Ken Pedder - Chairman

+ Cllr Richard Brooks - Vice-Chairman

+ Present

- Apologies for absence presented

Also present: Councillors Audrey Roxburgh and David Whitcroft.

PART I

(public)

The minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 24th June 2003 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Chairman welcomed the following guest speakers to the meeting:

Mike Abbott - Local Director, Surrey County Council

Judi Linney - Acting Director of Public Health, Woking Area Primary Care Trust

Kathryn Stuart - Corporate Projects Manager, Frimley Park Hospital

The Chairman reminded members that the Comprehensive Performance Assessment Peer Challenge Team was on site and welcomed the Team, Andy Sutton, Kerry Rickards and Martin House, to the meeting.

Mike Abbott welcomed the opportunity to address Members on the developing partnerships between the County and Borough Councils based on trust and shared goals. He cited the work of the Local Strategic Partnership, the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership and the involvement of the Borough Council in the County Council’s Local Committee as well as joint projects such as the community work being undertaken in the St Michaels and Old Dean wards.

Local Committees were set up as part of the new organisational strategy for Surrey County Council.  The Committees were part of the County Council’s drive to delegate decisions so they could be made closer to the customer, be more responsive to local communities and engage more with local people and users of services.  The Community Support Teams that worked with Local Committees also had the role of working with services to foster integrated working particularly on community safety, support to disadvantaged communities and community planning.

The role of the Surrey Heath Local Committee was to:

Mr Abbott welcomed the Borough Council’s recent decision to join the Local Committee.  Whilst recognising the need to develop trust and good working relationships, the Select Committee agreed with Mr Abbott that it would be essential for Borough and County Councils to work together to exploit synergies and produce joint reports.  It was felt the basis was in place for a good working relationship and Select Committee was pleased to note the County Council was committed to move forward with closer links.

In the course of discussions the following points were raised and responded to as indicated:

Members wished to know the County Council’s position on the use and/or increased use of speed cameras.  Mr Abbott said the County Council had monthly meetings with Surrey Police to get an overview on highways issues, including casualty figures. The mobile speed camera had proved a success but he was not aware of any proposals for additional fixed cameras.

With particular reference to the £600,000 spent locally on highway improvements and the proposals for a bus lane on the A30, Members sought assurances that Surrey County Council would consult on proposals before implementation.  Mr Abbott confirmed that where possible, consultation should precede major decisions, but that further consideration would need to be given to how this could be achieved. He would raise this as an issue to the Local Committee.

With regard to Borough Council representation on the Local Committee Mr Abbott felt this was a matter for the Borough Council.

Members were interested in how the Surrey County Council corporate priorities related to those of the Local Committee and those of Borough Councils such as Surrey Heath.  Mr Abbott agreed it made sense to consider the corporate priorities of County in relation to those of the Borough Council and vice-versa. He would raise this with the Chair of the Local Committee and offered to hold joint Member workshops to discuss the Surrey Heath element of the County Council’s Corporate Plan and Transportation Plan.

The Select Committee was concerned at the changing role of the County Youth Service.  Mr Abbott explained the new role of the County’s Youth Service was to work with the most disadvantaged young people in the Borough and for officers to deal with mainstream services for youth.  He would look to the Youth Service producing joint reports with the Borough Council’s Leisure Services on these issues.

On Community Safety, Mr Abbot welcomed the involvement of the County Council in the Surrey Police Community Policing initiative. The County Council was considering providing funding for a Police Community Support Officer to be based in the rural part of Surrey Heath.  If the Borough Council was able to provide similar financial support, it might be possible to fund three such posts, one of which could be considered for the St Michaels Ward.

The Committee thanked Mr Abbott for his presentation.

The Committee received a presentation from Judi Linney, Acting Director of Public Health for the Woking Area Primary Care Trust (PCT) on the role of the PCT and future developments. She explained that the role of the PCT was to improve the health of the local community, to develop primary and community care and to commission services for patients. The PCT covered a population of some 205,000 residents, which included Woking, Surrey Heath, two wards in Runnymede, Ash, Ash Vale, Pirbright, Tongham and a bit of Guildford. It was responsible for a range of services including doctors, dentists, optometrists and pharmacists.

There were five directors in the PCT and every PCT is required to have a public health director, responsible for preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health.

The Government saw PCTs as the engine for driving forward public health delivery, both locally and nationally. Public Health Teams worked closely with the Council’s Environmental Health Officers and there was a strong emphasis on partnership working across a range of issues including young people, where Ms Linney was the lead officer for the whole of Surrey. This was a typical example of the Public Health networks which pooled resources and expertise in specialist areas, which could then be available to several PCT areas.

Ms Linney highlighted the major roles of Public Health Practice as being:

She reiterated the importance of public health networks and the relationship between the PCT and the Council and emphasised the many common goals shared by both organisations. She noted the PCTs involvement in the Local Strategic Partnership and welcomed this opportunity to further develop the already close relationship.

In the course of discussions the following points were raised and responded to as indicated:

Ms Linney noted that general practitioners were independent, but that the PCT worked closely with GPs. The NHS Plan had been developed to ensure that planning was done with ‘frontline’ staff and every PCT had an Executive Committee, chaired by a GP and with other GPs and health professionals as members. In response to a query, Ms Linney confirmed that the PCT would investigate any difficulties experienced by care homes in relation to GP cover and liaise with GPs to ensure appropriate cover was arranged.

In response to a number of queries on MRSA and MMR and in particular, how to get advice on these, Ms Linney confirmed that the PCT would be a good point of contact for Members. The PCT had a communications Manager who would be able to direct them to appropriate specialists and there was also a Patient Advice and Liaison Officer. Ms Linney was working very closely with the Health Protection Team on MRSA and MMR.

Kathryn Stuart, Corporate Projects Manager at Frimley Park Hospital reported that the Hospital had just established the Patric Centre to provide patients with information on these and other issues and the Hospital was about to commence marketing this facility. She also noted that there was a policy of developing strong links between Frimley Park Hospital and GPs.

In response to a question on the travellers in Chobham and the impact that their health care needs were having on local residents, Ms Linney agreed to investigate this and assess whether additional resources would be required.

Ms Linney noted that the PCT published an independent annual report on the health needs of the local community. The PCT were concerned to ensure that it could get as full as possible feedback from the public. Ms Linney asked members to participate in patient forums and encourage their friends to get involved. She strongly welcomed the input of the Council and voiced her support for the Local Strategic Partnership. She invited Members to contact her if they needed information.

Ms Linney confirmed that the PCT were considering a name change to incorporate Surrey Heath and were also looking for accommodation in the Borough.

Kathryn Stuart noted that bed blocking continued to be a major issue, but that the Hospital, PCT, Social Services and other County and Borough Departments were actively working to make improvement which would reduce this problem.

The Committee thanked Judi Linney for her presentation and Ms Stuart for her input, and

The Committee received a presentation from Marjorie Hume and Kathryn Stuart, Corporate Projects Manager, Frimley Park Hospital, on the Local Strategic Partnership and the emerging Community Plan.

The Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) had been established to bring together representatives from the business community and public and voluntary sectors so that different initiatives and services support each other and work together.

The aim of the LSP was that all the sectors play a part and by working together and pooling skills and resources, services would be achieved that work better and more effectively and meet the community needs. It was intended that the LSP should be a forum for debate and discussion and common decision making and should not be dominated by one partner. The Partnership was expected to be strategic, inclusive, action focused and performance managed.

The presentation focussed on the core tasks of the LSP. In addition to the major task of preparing the Community Plan, it was seen as an opportunity to bring together local plans, partnerships and initiatives to provide a forum through which main stream providers could work effectively together to meet strategic needs.

An initial meeting had been held in May 2002 of representatives of a range of organisations, to discuss how each could help to improve services to the Borough residents, and following from this meeting, nominations were made to the Local Strategic Partnership Steering Group.

Since July 2002, the Steering Group had met regularly and had agreed terms of reference for the Group, and a Vision and Values for the draft Community Plan. The Government Office for the South East had been an active participant.

The Vision of the Community Plan was “To promote through inter-agency collaboration the development of a community where everyone had access to high quality services and the opportunity to live in a safe and healthy environmentâ€

The LSP Steering Group agreed an extensive set of values for the community plan which have subsequently been published on the Council’s website.

The Steering Group had identified transport, safety, health, education, community, housing and employment as key issues and had put together a draft Community Plan based on these issues.  The draft Community Plan would be subject to wide consultation in the community between October and December and it was anticipated that the final document would be published by March 2004.  To that end, a joint meeting of the Select Committees would be held in November to consider the draft Plan and comment upon.

The Committee noted that the LSP was a joint partnership, in which the Council was one of a number of equal partners. Members welcomed the establishment of the LSP and suggested possible extensions of the membership to include greater representation from residents associations and other such organisations as could be recommended by Ward Councillors. It was also considered vital that small businesses were involved as well as the larger organisations.

In response to a query, Ms Stuart explained that references to people being able to live near to where they worked was more a statement in relation to the need for social affordable housing for key workers. Members suggested the need to extend this service to lower paid workers who worked in private industry, but who found themselves in income brackets below the threshold for home ownership in the area.

The Committee thanked Marjorie Hume and Kathryn Stuart for their presentation.

The Committee recognised that there were many organisations which the Council would wish to bring ‘on board’, for initiatives such as those discussed at the meeting and other potential partnership arrangements. The Chairman was asked to approach the Mayor to see if he would be prepared to host a Reception for partners as a  useful way to make a positive contact with some of these groups and organisations.

CHAIRMAN