To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Tony Wilson, Mark Jervis and Councillor Muir. Councillor Greg Jones acted as a substitute for the latter.

To receive any declarations of interest.

Councillor C Da Costa declared that one of the complaints made within the Annual Complaints and Compliments Report was made by herself, not in her capacity as a Councillor.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That the minutes of the meeting held on 16 June 2022 be a true and accurate record.

To receive information from Kevin McDaniel, Executive Director of People Services.

Kevin McDaniel, Executive Director of People Services, introduced the item by stating that this item was proposed for the September meeting which was cancelled due to the arrangements of HM The Queen’s funeral. At this point this item included reforms that would have been brought in in October 2023, but this had been affected by the Chancellor’s Autumn statement. The statement included the proposal that the social care funding reforms would go back until at least October 2025 and as a result, the presentation had been changed to remove a large chunk of this element but there were still some changes in adult social care that were relevant, particularly the way the service would be reviewed by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Katharine Willmette stated that the charging reforms had been pushed back so no work was ongoing on this area at either a local or nation level. The big reform agenda was now centred around the CQC which currently regulated and inspected both health services and provider services which provided personal care. For the last 10-12 years, statutory adult social services hadn’t been inspected, and the proposal was to reintroduce regular inspection. The CQC were currently working through an assessment framework which would be used when the inspection regime started, with an expected start date of April 2023. This wouldn’t mean that RBWM would be inspected in April 2023, but the process would begin at this point. A large amount of work was currently being undertaken to ensure that the council was focused on quality improvement and making sure that services were the best they could be. A quality assurance process had been put in place which Optalis were working through, which would ensure that RBWM were as prepared as possible for when inspections began.

There were two main points that the Panel should be made aware of. The first was that when RBWM was inspected by the CQC, the date of which was unknown, it would result in a single word rating of either adequate, inadequate, good, or outstanding. Katharine Willmette highlighted the importance for RBWM and its residents to get the best possible outcome. The second point was that it would be useful for the Panel to be updated in either February or March 2023 on where the borough was in terms of the inspection process, the areas that needed to be improved upon and what the expected strengths would be.

Kevin McDaniel highlighted that this was a new process for all councils, not just RBWM, and it would be important to include regular updates on the work programme going forward. RBWM were working towards being ready for an inspection in April, though it may be two more years before the inspection occurred.

Councillor Carole Da Costa asked if the inspection featured a list of categories that would have to be met to receive a particular rating, and if RBWM knew what those categories were.

Kevin McDaniel confirmed that there would be, but the framework was still  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

To receive an update on the Sunningdale Health Hub

Alex Tilley, Director of Operations, RBWM, at NHS Frimley, introduced herself and stated that as part of her role, she was responsible for the population of RBWM in relation to a wide section of health services.

Planning permission had been granted in March 2022 and since then, the NHS had been working with the landowners and the developers. This work would result in a business case being submitted to NHS England by mid-2023, which was a critical milestone. Work was ongoing to gather insights and information from residents through either the practices or services that those individuals were using. Frimley Health Foundation Trust’s maternity services and the community provider in Berkshire Healthcare Trust were supportive of this service and would come into this service to provide a wide range of clinical and community-based services that had been set out in the original planning application.

More recently, the relationship with the current landowners had been progressing and they had been considering a full offer on a commercial case which was being taken to their board in December 2022. Alex Tilley stated that they hoped to have an outcome of that case within the next six to eight weeks.

The project had faced a delay in relation to national capital investment as a result of the Autumn budget statement in relation to NHS capital, but Alex Tilley stated that she was confident that NHS Frimley were continuing with the programme. NHS Frimley were committed to keeping the website regularly updated.

Councillor Del Campo asked about provisions for parking and whether there would be sufficient parking spaces at the Hub.

Alex Tilley stated that parking was a big issue in relation to the planning application and a lot of work had been undertaken to ensure that the ratio of parking spaces was adequate which Alex Tilley hoped would be used on other developments. In total, there would be 125 spaces as well as bicycle parking.

Councillor Del Campo asked if any GP surgeries would be closing down and if people would be moved to this site. Councillor Del Campo asked what the maximum distance patients would have to travel to the Hub.

Alex Tilley stated that this development affected two particular practices, with the site of the new Hub being directly between these two practices and less than two miles away from the current sites, which was the standard for levels of consultation and reasonableness around access for residents. Maternity and community services would be moved into this hub from locations in Bracknell and Frimley and would serve the needs of the local population.

The Chairman asked how often surgeries were updated, as she currently sat on a patient meeting and was frequently asked questions on the progress of the Hub.

Alex Tilley stated that it took time to get through the complexity of such a scheme so understood the frustration. The website was updated with anything that could be shared, and feedback was welcome on the website.

The Chairman asked if  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

To consider the report.

Kevin McDaniel introduced the report and stated that it was a requirement for the local authority to publish data on adults and children’s complaints. The report, which was originally scheduled for the cancelled September meeting, was based on data from 2021-22.

RBWM had seen a 30% reduction in contacts over the year compared to 2020-21 but there were still around 400 complaints, which was consistent with the year before. 97% of those complaints related to adults and children.

It was worth noting that there was a technicality in the way children’s complaints were reported. There were to types of complaints: statutory complaints, which covered children in need, looked after children and issues relating to social care, including post adoption support, and corporate complaints, which related to education and SEND.

Positive trends included that while there was a similar number of complaints, fewer were upheld in full or partially upheld, which suggested that RBWM were learning and improving. The timeliness in response to complaints across adults and children’s corporate had fallen year on year, particularly in adults, while there was a good improvement in the children’s statutory complaints. This reflected the complexity of complaints coming through and the interconnection of some of the services RBWM delivered.

The report covered the views from the local government and social care ombudsman which was the external body residents could go to after exhausting RBWM’s complaints process. While there were more decisions from the Ombudsman last year, this was no reflection on an increasing measure of quality but was rather a range of more people being prepared to take complaints through.

Kevin McDaniel concluded by recognising that this was both a complaints and compliments report and noted that while there were a similar number of compliments for adults as in previous years, there was almost over threefold increase in the number of compliments for children’s services in the year. This reflected positively on the increased communication and the effort that colleagues, particularly in Achieving for Children, had put into increasing the quality of communications with families.

Councillor Tisi asked how complaints were categorised when reporting these through the council’s website, and whether the terminology of a corporate or statutory complaint was raised or if this was a simpler choice between adult’s or children’s services.

Vanessa Faulkner, Service Lead – HR People Services, confirmed that it was both of these options. Complainants could select the area of either adults or children and also the type of complaint.

Councillor Tisi asked if the terminology of these categories was explained on the website as it was not day-to-day language that somebody would necessarily know.

Vanessa Faulkner stated that guidance was provided on the form surrounding the complaints process.

Councillor Tisi asked if there was anything RBWM could be doing with regards to areas such as SEND in order to avoid complaints from happening, such as signposting paters better to other areas to get advice.

Kevin McDaniel stated that a lot of signposting already occurred, particularly in relation to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

To review the work programme for the remainder of the municipal year and consider the scoping documents on domestic abuse and air pollution.

Becky Oates, Democratic Services Officer and Clerk to the Panel explained that a scoping document on air pollution had been produced by Councillors Sharpe and Davies who sat on the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Panel. The scoping document had been referred to the People Overview and Scrutiny Panel as it sat under the directorate of People Services. The document required approval from the Panel, with members able to make any amendments to the document as they saw fit.

Kevin McDaniel stated that there was an additional scoping document on domestic abuse which also needed approval from the Panel. Kevin McDaniel had sought advice on the air pollution scoping document as the topic cut across both the People and Place Panels. The Panel may be well served to set up a task and finish group to explore this issue rather than bring it just to the People Panel. This would enable members from other panels to be involved in the work, rather than leaving this issue to only be explored by the People Panel.

The Chairman stated that this sounded like a good idea.

Councillor Davies, member of the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Panel, agreed that this was an excellent suggestion. This was an important topic which had been referred to each Overview and Scrutiny Panel, so would be a good starting point.

Councillor Del Campo commented that it seemed there were two parts to this paper, with the ongoing monitoring of air quality most likely not relevant to a task and finish group. Councillor Del Campo stated that she didn’t wish to lose regular updates as part of this task and finish group.

Kevin McDaniel agreed and stated that one of the measures that might want to be put in the scope of the task and finish group would be to agree what that regular monitoring looks like in order to satisfy the needs of all panels.

Councillor Sharpe agreed that it was an issue that would be best served by regular updates to the Panel in order to understand the progress that was being made.

Councillor Del asked what the next steps would be as the next meeting would be in January 2023 with Christmas in between.

The Chairman commented that the work would likely begin after Christmas due to time constraints.

Becky Oates stated that in its current form, the air quality scoping document would mean officers attending the next January meeting to discuss how this would move forward. However, with a task and finish group being established, this attendance would not occur.

Kevin McDaniel stated that changing the scoping document to include a task and finish group would mean that work would be able to begin.

Councillor Tisi agreed with Kevin McDaniel’s point.

Councillor Carole Da Costa asked if all members of the Panel were required to be part of a task and finish group or whether it was a smaller group of members and officers.

The Chairman asked how the choice would be made with regards  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.