Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

There were none.

The minutes of the meeting held on 10 November 2022 were approved as a true and accurate record.

Officers updated members in relation to ‘What is Statutory Nuisance’

Members asked in regards to an abatement notice, what the procedure would be if someone was to break the notice

Officers explained it depends on what the nuisance is, the notice would come down to legal action or prosecution. It would come down to what the specific case is, noise is the most common one, music noise from a domestic premise, find it more effective to arrange the seizure of the that noise making equipment as opposed to carrying out a prosecution procedure.

When Officers do the seizure of noise making equipment we would keep it for a period of time and the person it has been seized from would have to pay a reasonable cost in order to get the equipment returned.

Members asked if someone has a vacant property, does the councillor come to the officer directly. Officers explained Environmental Health had set up an online system for a number of years and they do encourage that everything is put through that online report purely because the public will receive an instant notification back with a reference number and will go straight to the Officer.

Members mentioned they had dealt with a number of complaints in privately rented properties regarding noise, what sort of legal or statutory powers do local authority have under the environmental health act to get the landlord involved.

Officers explained that the action they can take in terms of services of abatement notice is on the person responsible for causing the statutory nuisance. Officers do get landlords involved in the process and if there is a structural issue or a property related problem, then the law says those structural issues are the responsibility of the owner.

To select appropriate items from the Cabinet Board agenda for Pre-Decision Scrutiny (Cabinet Board reports included for Scrutiny Members)

Members agreed to scrutinise items 7, 8,9,11 and 12 from the Cabinet Board agenda.

Children & Young People and Adult Services - 2nd Quarter Performance Report (April 2022- September 2022)

Members were presented with a report relating to the background and summary of the content of the Children & Young People and Adult Services - 2nd Quarter Performance Report (April 2022- September 2022)

Members asked, in relation to the reregistration of children, the indicator was red, was there any more information. Officers explained when children were reregistered, there was a multi-agency decision. Our partners would take a view as to whether a child needs to be placed on the register, when a child is placed on the register that would result in a manager’s review and officers were notified of the reregistration.  

Members asked in relation to children going into care could they explain the emergency situation.

Officers explained there was an action plan where we were working to in to link in children’s right across Children’s Services and had been successful in getting what officers think would be best described as a kite mark in children’s rights. When children do enter care in an emergency that they do or are furnished with as much information as possible in respect of placement on where they were going, where they’ll be sleeping, who the foster carers are etc. Officers explained it was red because it was being worked upon and the quality practice leader was linking in with engagement, looked after children and fostering to ensure that all the foster carers had pen portraits etc.

Officers suggested that a report would be brought back to committee in relation to reregistration.

Members asked in relation to the wellbeing objectives, it states the significant increase of new assessments completed compared to the same period last year, was there a reason for the numbers increase.

Officers explained they had seen a huge increase of referrals and there was a huge demand during the cost of living crisis. Officers explained there were additional members of staff to meet the demand and was something that was looked at on a daily basis. Members asked for more information on Single Point of Contact, officers were happy to provide a report on this topic.

Members asked in relation to the number of overdue reviews, why had the numbers increased by 150 since the end of April.

Officers explained these were receiving statutory services, they were either in residential care or domiciliary care.

Following scrutiny members were supportive of the recommendations to be considered by the Cabinet Board.

Quarterly Performance Management Data 2022-2023 - Quarter 2 Performance (1st April 2022- 30th September 2022)

Members were presented with a report relating to the background and summary of the content of the Quarterly Performance Management Data 2022- 2023 – Quarter 2 Performance (1^st April 2022 – 30^th September 2022)

Members asked in relation to the figures, it stated there were four new referrals during quarter one, where were the referrals from.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Officers asked if the items that were discussed today could be put on the Forward Work Programme.

Any urgent items (whether public or exempt) at the discretion of the Chairperson pursuant to Section 100B (4) (b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There were none.