Present:
Devon County Council
Cllrs, Knight, Randall Johnson, Channon, Diviani, Bowden, Wragg, Taylor, Giles, B Hughes, S Hughes.
East Devon District Council
Cllr Chugg,
Devon Association Parish Councils
Apologies
Cllrs Moulding, Pollentine Bloxham
*41 Minutes
RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 5 July 2010 be signed as a correct record.
*42 Representation on Outside Bodies:Local Issues
There were no issues to be raised but Members updated the Committee on the work of DAWRCC, SW Region Flood Defence Committee and Devon Sea Fisheries Committee.
*43 Emergency Planning for Communities in Devon
Mr Richard Horne, Emergency Planning Manager and Mr Dom Maxwell-Batten attended and gave the Committee a presentation on current initiatives to encourage community emergency planning. It included: the emergency planning structure and hierarchy; the main risks facing the UK which were mainly weather related; the reasons why Communities should plan and what things could be considered; the community resillience programme roadshow dates and what is happening locally to encourage community emergency planning.
Members discussed and asked questions on the following:
a national emergency flooding exercise that will take place in March 2011. The exercise would test the country's preparedness while also testing a number of other key recommendations from the Pitt Review and other recent flood reviews. Exercise Watermark would put all the emergency plans to the test. It would use scenarios based on severe weather conditions including flooding from the sea, rivers, surface water and reservoirs;
an example of good practice with the Plan of Halwill Parish;
whether a list of Parishes not yet getting involved in the process could be given to Members so that they could approach them and give some encouragement;
*44 Provision of Youth Services in East Devon
Lisa Rutter, Youth Service East Devon Area Co-ordinator, Children and Young People s Services Directorate attended and gave an update to the Committee on the work of the service in terms of the workforce, now fullly staffed after carrying vacancies for an eight month period; new partnerships and service level agreements, a youth club in Broadclyst and extending hours for Sidmouth Youth Trust; and general news including:
new twilight session in Honiton for young people with additional needs;
opening of the junior/intermediate youth club in Axminster for 11 to 13 year olds;
6 week young mens project was run in Exmouth, extended for a further 6 weeks due to its success;
12 young people will attend the Intergration Conference in November to represent the intergration project work carried out over the last year. A member from Honiton would be chair of the event and the team would be delivering a presentation;
Lisa Rutter advised that a scrutiny task group had completed its investigations and that the report would be on the agenda of the Children s and Young Peoples Services Scrutiny Committee on 3 November 2010.
*45 The Work of the Childrens Trust in East Devon
Lisa Rutter, Youth Service East Devon Area Co-ordinator, Children and Young People s Services Directorate attended and gave an update to the Committee on the the work of the East Devon Local Childrens Trust. It was reported that it was a difficult time with possible cuts in funding and that conferences due to be held shortly had been cancelled. The duty to co-operate had been removed by government and it was therefore up to Local Authorities to decide on the structure they wished to work within. A multi agency safeguarding hub (MASH) was to be set up in Devon whereby all agencies would be under one roof. At present all agencies have different IT systems which do not communicate and therefore to track a young person through the system is very difficult. Within the Hub, agencies can share data and information and get a whole picture of the young person. Councillor Channon reported that the work of the Childrens Trust was vital with the collaboration between the agencies, but that the key priorities needed to be highlighted and become the focus.
*46 Maternity Services: Update on Consultation Process
Unfortunately no-one was able to attend from the Devon PCT to talk to this item therefore a paper was prepared and circulated to Members which gave details of the report which was considered and endorsed by the Board of NHS Devon on the 27th October. The Board made the following recommendations:
reorganise midwifery teams to correspond with their nearest birthing centre and to reduce the midwifery caseloads in line with nationally recommended levels;
introduce a flexible approach to provide overnight stays and transfers where appropriate for women who would otherwise be clinically fit for discharge but following an assessment by a midwife require additional support. This will be through the provision of maternity support workers overnight.
Require the development of an implementation plan setting out the process and date by which the adapted proposals will be in place in each area. In line with clinical advice this will include the development of clear governance arrangements and clinical protocols for review by NHS Devon and the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS foundation Trust. This will be agreed by the Clinical Commissioning Executive Committee prior to implementation.
*47 Surplus Property Rationalisation
Mr Richard Buzzacott, Head of Business Transformation Unit and Matthew Jones, Senior Asset Manager attended to discuss the schedule of DCC assets. They explained that the County Council needed to streamline its estate in order to be able to provide fit for purpose buildings to support service delivery. This meant releasing buildings which were not fit for purpose where investing in improvement was not viable and gaining capital receipts from sales to fund replacement or improvement of other properties and other capital assets. The County Council was looking to reduce its office floor area by a minimum of 25% and therefore a series of property reviews was being undertaken, on which the County Council was working in partnership with the other public organisations (District Councils, Police, Fire, Health etc).
Richard Buzzacott circulated for information a list of DCC properties in East Devon then responded to queries and comments from members, including:
that the public had been asking Members what was happening as they had heard rumours. Members needed the information to be communicated to them early on so that they could answer the public s questions;
Website with up to date schedule is available for Members to check;
that the schedule covers all assets where DCC has an interest in some way, not necessarily by ownership of the property.
*48 Locality Budgets 2010/11 - Confirmation of Spending Proposals Spend to Date
The Committee considered the report from County Community Strategy Officer (CX/10/110 - text onlyCX/10/110) on the current budget situation for 2010/11 and noted the spending proposals which have been approved by the chair or vice chair since the previous meeting.
It was MOVED by Councillor Channon , SECONDED by Councillor Hughes and
RESOLVED that
a) the current budget position for 2010/11 be noted and that the spending proposals set out in the report, including those agreed by the Chair/Vice Chair since the previous meeting, be approved.
b) that the following additional new spending proposal be approved
| Ottery District Skate BMX Trust | For installation of drainage system | Cllr Roger Giles | 2,000.00 |
| Stockland Parish Council | for repairs to Stockland Village Hall car park | Cllr Paul Diviani | 205.62 |
| Buckerell Parish Council | For the purchase of 3 grit bins | Cllr Roger Giles | 375.00 |
| Honiton Town Council | For Notice Boards for St Michael s Ward | Sarah Randall- Johnston | 3,500.00 |
*50 Member Development Steering Group
The Minutes of the meeting held on 10 September, 2010 were noted.
*49 Date of Next Meeting and Items for Future Discussion/Work programme
The Committee noted that the next meeting was due to be held on Monday 28 March at 12pm.
*DENOTES DELEGATED MATTER WITH POWER TO ACT
The meeting started at 12.45pm and finished at 3.30pm
| The Minutes of the East Devon County Committee are published on the County Council s Website at:-
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