Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED:  That all items of business be considered in public.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 14 March 2018 be agreed as a correct record. 

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 10 May 2018 be agreed as a correct record. 

The Chairman welcomed those present to the meeting.  He advised that the External Services Select Committee held statutory scrutiny responsibilities in relation to health as well as crime and disorder.  In addition to these responsibilities, the Committee’s terms of reference enabled Members on the Committee to scrutinise and review the work of local public bodies and utility companies whose actions affected residents of the Borough.  As well as giving Members the opportunity to scrutinise non-Council services, meetings often provided a forum for external organisations to speak to each other. 

With regard to health scrutiny, the Trusts operating in the Borough attended External Services Select Committee meetings at least twice each year.  At these meetings, the Trusts provided Members with updates on the services that they provided.  Healthwatch Hillingdon also attended these meetings to offer a patient perspective on the services provided.  It was agreed that, whilst each Member of the Committee would be able to question any of the Trusts on any aspect of their organisation during meetings, each Councillor would have responsibility for drilling down on issues faced by a specific Trust as follows:

·         Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL): Councillor Denys

·         Hillingdon Clinical Commissioning Group (HCCG): Councillors Lakhmana and Rani

·         London Ambulance Service NHS Trust (LAS): Councillor Barnes

·         Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust (RBH): Councillor Nelson

·         The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (THH): Councillors Arnold and Milani

Once the relevant agenda had been published, Members were asked to try to identify up to five questions from the reports (or other research that they had undertaken) in relation to their allocated Trust and submit them to the Democratic Services Manager by the day before the meeting.  It was noted that the THH Chief Executive would be moving to St Bart’s later this year and there would therefore be a management restructure.  This might be something that Members would want to ask about at the next health related meeting on 10 July 2018.

As the Select Committee’s meetings tended to be busy, it would only undertake single meeting reviews within its scheduled meetings, such as a bi-annual review of child sexual exploitation.  However, Members would be able to set up Select Panels to undertake longer and more in-depth task and finish reviews on its behalf.  Previous issues that had been scrutinised in this way had included community sentencing and policing and mental health issues.  Some of the recommendations made to Cabinet had included the escalation of concerns to Government and other bodies. 

RESOLVED:  That the report and discussion be noted.

Due to the Select Committee’s close ties to Hillingdon’s Health and Wellbeing Board, it was suggested that Councillor Philip Corthorne (the Board’s Chairman) be invited to attend a future Select Committee meeting to give an overview of the Board and its responsibilities. 

It was agreed that the Democratic Services Manager would forward Members a link to a webpage where they could access all of the reviews that had been undertaken by Hillingdon’s Policy Overview and Scrutiny Committees (POSCs) since 2003/3004.  She would also upload a range of reports previously considered by the Committee to the Google Drive so that Members were able to see the type of information that they were likely to receive at future meetings.

The Committee would be looking at crime and disorder at its meeting on 6 September 2018.  As well as receiving a performance update on the Safer Hillingdon Partnership, it was agreed that this meeting should focus on the new policing arrangements (Basic Command Unit) where Chief Superintendent Paul Martin now had command of the boroughs of Hillingdon, Ealing and Hounslow.  Members were keen to ensure that local residents were still receiving a good police service and to establish what impact the new structure had had on policing and mental health.  It was noted that Councillor Ian Edwards would be asked to join the Committee in its questioning and consideration was given to inviting Councillor Douglas Mills, Cabinet Member for Community, Commerce and Regeneration, to attend the meeting and give his perspective on the new arrangements. 

With regard to possible Select Panel review topics, the following were suggested:

·         Knife crime – there had been some recent stabbings at Brunel University;

·         The effectiveness of cancer screening and diagnostics – screening was commissioned by Public Health England (PHE) and NHS England (NHSE); diagnostics was commissioned by Hillingdon Clinical Commissioning Group (HCCG).  It was suggested that screening had not been as active as it should be and that direct access to diagnostics tests needed to be addressed. 

·         Child friendly police facilities – it was noted that the Northwood Police Station was closing down.  This facility housed the only child-friendly interview suite in the Borough.  Although there were proposals to build a new facility, Members would need reassurance that there would not be a time lag between the closure of one and the opening of the other as well as assurances that the facility would remain within the Borough.

·         It was noted that consideration would be given to a future review of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in Hillingdon. 

RESOLVED:  That:

1.    Councillor Corthorne be invited to attend a future Select Committee meeting to give an overview of the Health and Wellbeing Board;

2.    the Democratic Services Manager provide Members with a link to all previous POSC reviews;

3.    the Democratic Services Manager share previous Committee reports with Members on the Google Drive;

4.    Chief Superintendent Paul Martin and Councillor Ian Edwards be invited to attend the meeting on 6  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.