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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, 2013 Mill Lane, Wingerworth, Chesterfield S42 6NG

Contact: Damon Stanton  01246 217011

Items
No. Item

CSC/30/21-22

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors J Birkin, J Lilley, T Lacey and R Hall.

 

CSC/31/21-22

Declarations of Interest

Members are requested to declare the existence and nature of any disclosable pecuniary interests and/or other interests, not already on their register of interests, in any item on the agenda and withdraw from the meeting at the appropriate time.

Minutes:

Members were requested to declare the existence and nature of any disclosable pecuniary interest and/or other interest, not already on their register of interests, in any item on the agenda and withdraw from the meeting at the appropriate time.

 

There were no declarations of interest.

 

CSC/32/21-22

Minutes of Last Meeting pdf icon PDF 211 KB

To approve as a correct record and the Chair to sign the Minutes of the Communities Scrutiny Committee held on 3 September 2021.

Minutes:

RESOLVED – That the Minutes of the Communities Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 3 September 2021 were approved and signed as a correct record by the Chair.

 

CSC/33/21-22

Communications Provision for People with Disabilities

To consider a presentation from the Council’s Improvement Officer.

Minutes:

The Improvement Officer gave a presentation which outlined the current communication provisions in place for people with disabilities.

 

Committee heard about the range of measures that the Council had in place such as subtitles on leisure centre screens, bespoke British Sign Language (BSL) videos as well as the BSL interpreter service, and the reasonable adjustments form. Members also heard that the Council had been given an 89% accessibility rating when audited by Skilltide.

 

Members had a wide ranging discussion over the measures highlighted. In particular they asked how often Members and staff received equalities training. They heard that equalities training was delivered during induction training sessions and that staff were also required to undertake refresher training every two to three years.

 

Members also discussed other forms of sign language and heard that at present the Council only made use of BSL.

 

The Improvement Officer stressed the importance of keeping pace with technology and equality assessing web pages and documents.

 

CSC/34/21-22

Scrutiny Review pdf icon PDF 248 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

(a)      Approval of Project Plan and Timetable

 

It was confirmed that the Committee had agreed to review the Council’s Out of Hours Service to ensure that it was fit for purpose and provided an appropriate provision for residents and their needs.

 

Members were informed that a list of questions for interviewees would be brought to the next meeting.

 

RESOLVED

 

1.               That the Project Plan be approved.

2.               That the Timetable be approved.

 

(b)      Consideration of any Documentation

 

Members considered figures that represented the number of reactive service requests by year, that were raised for officers in Environmental Health to respond to, and were specifically relevant to the type of reactive work an out of hours team may be involved in.

 

The Improvement Officer spoke to Committee about bench marking and the ability to compare data across multiple councils. This could help to counter misleading information caused by factors such as different demographics.

 

Members discussed the documentation and requested further clarification on the figures. Members had probing questions such as; what was the split between in and out of hours, were these joint figures for both North East Derbyshire and Bolsover District Councils, and were the figures for the financial or calendar year. The responses would be provided to the Committee at its next meeting.

 

RESOLVED – That the documentation be noted.

 

CSC/35/21-22

Forward Plan of Executive Decisions

To consider the Forward Plan of Executive Decisions.  Please note, the most up-to- date Forward Plan of Executive Decisions can be accessed via the following link:-

    

https://democracy.ne-derbyshire.gov.uk/mgListPlans.aspx?RPId=1137&RD=0&bcr=1

 

Minutes:

RESOLVED That the Forward Plan of Executive Decisions be noted.

 

CSC/36/21-22

Scrutiny Work Programme pdf icon PDF 165 KB

To consider the Work Programme for the Communities Scrutiny Committee 2021/2022.

Minutes:

It was agreed that the figures highlighted in Agenda Item 5b Consideration of any Documentation would be brought to the next meeting.

 

RESOLVED – That the Work Programme be noted.

 

CSC/37/21-22

Additional Urgent Items (if any)

To consider any other matter which the Chair of the meeting is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency.

Minutes:

Committee discussed the meeting format going forward and agreed that a hybrid approach would be adopted. Members would meet formally when a decision was required, otherwise they would meet in an informal manner.

 

CSC/38/21-22

Date of Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Communities Scrutiny Committee will be held on Friday, 10 December 2021 at 1.30 pm.

Minutes:

The next meeting of the Communities Scrutiny Committee will take place on Friday, 10 December 2021 at 1.30pm.