Agenda item

Report of the Democratic Services Manager.

Consideration was given to a report of the Democratic Services Manager, which had been circulated in advance of the meeting, summarising the most recent position with regards to the Committee’s work programme and the following was covered:

·         Members noted that the Waste Policy would be taken forward to Cabinet once a new Corporate Director had been appointed.

·         In relation to the future work programme, the issue of sewerage discharge into the Borough’s water was discussed. A similar concern had been raised at the last Cabinet meeting and an information report on how this affects Gedling would be considered at a future meeting. Once this had been shared with Cabinet, members of Overview and Scrutiny would be given the opportunity to review this with a view to possibly including this as a potential area for scrutiny.

·         In terms of the idea discussed at the last meeting for a working group to be established on health provision, a discussion was held on how best to take this forward. Several members commented that it would be of benefit to members to have dialogue with their local GP practices in an attempt to help dispel the public perception that GPs are not seeing patients face to face. The reality of the situation was that doctors would see patients face to face if needed after being triaged through a phone call.

·         At the next committee meeting Councillor Wheeler, Portfolio Holder for Health and Wellbeing, would be in attendance. Members asked whether Cllr Wheeler could use his position as a member of the Health and Wellbeing Board to find further information and it was agreed to suggest this as an area for discussion at the next meeting. Information such as what is the present state of GP numbers in the borough wold be a useful starting point. Additionally the issue of how developer contributions from new housing developments feeds through into investment in GP provision was discussed.

·         A further area of interest in Councillor Wheler’s Portfolio was to request more detailed information about temporary accommodation and how steps are being taken to reduce the Council’s use of it.

·         A final area of interest identified within the Portfolio was the idea of how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the mental health of residents and in particular how the idea of social prescribing may assist.

·         A number of Members expressed the view that the Committee should focus its attention more towards the council’s operations. With this in mind, the Committee requested a report on the recently held Gedling Satisfaction Survey to a future meeting. Members were also keen to explore the wellbeing of the Council’s workforce so a report on the most recent staff survey was requested.

·         Finally, it was requested that the emerging procurement strategy be examined at a future meeting. It was also noted that a review of the Carbon Reduction Strategy could not happen until at least the middle of next year in order to give the Climate Change Officer sufficient time to make an impact.

RESOLVED to:

1)    Include the issues of sewerage discharge, Residents’ Satisfaction and Staff Satisfaction as topics for future scrutiny; and

2)    Put forward the topics as discussed to the January agenda for Scrutiny of the Health, Housing and Wellbeing Portfolio.