Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

Members are required to notify any substitutions by midday on the day of the meeting.

Late substitutions will not be accepted and Members attending as a substitute without having given the due notice will not be able to take part in the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Tina Bhartwas and Elizabeth Dennis.

Having given due notice, Councillor Emma Fernandes substituted for Councillor Bhartwas.

Audio recording – 1 minute 43 seconds

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Tina Bhartwas and Elizabeth Dennis.

Having given due notice, Councillor Emma Fernandes substituted for Councillor Bhartwas.

To take as read and approve as a true record the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on the 7 January 2025.

RESOLVED:That the Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee held on 7 January 2025 be approved as a true record of the proceedings and be signed by the Chair.

Audio Recording – 1 minute 58 seconds

Councillor Matt Barnes, as Chair, proposed and Councillor Ralph Muncer seconded and, following a vote, it was:

RESOLVED:That the Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee held on 7 January 2025 be approved as a true record of the proceedings and be signed by the Chair.

Members should notify the Chair of other business which they wish to be discussed at the end of either Part I or Part II business set out in the agenda. They must state the circumstances which they consider justify the business being considered as a matter of urgency.

The Chair will decide whether any item(s) raised will be considered.

There was no other business notified.

Audio recording – 2 minutes 43 seconds

There was no other business notified.

Members are reminded that any declarations of interest in respect of any business set out in the agenda, should be declared as either a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest or Declarable Interest and are required to notify the Chair of the nature of any interest declared at the commencement of the relevant item on the agenda.  Members declaring a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest must withdraw from the meeting for the duration of the item. Members declaring a Declarable Interest, wishing to exercise a ‘Councillor Speaking Right’, must declare this at the same time as the interest, move to the public area before speaking to the item and then must leave the room before the debate and vote.

(1)         The Chair advised that, in accordance with Council Policy, the meeting would be recorded.

(2)         The Chair drew attention to the item on the agenda front pages regarding Declarations of Interest and reminded Members that, in line with the Code of Conduct, any Declarations of Interest needed to be declared immediately prior to the item in question.

(3)         The Chair advised that for the purposes of clarification clause 4.8.23(a) of the Constitution does not apply to this meeting.

(4)         The Chair reminded Members of the adopted North Herts Scrutiny Charter and the need to ensure that the meeting was conducted with independence, initiative and integrity. The full Charter was available to Members via the Scrutiny Intranet pages.

(5)         The Chair advised that the updates and questions on Agenda Item 11 and Agenda Item 12 would be considered together, however the recommendations would be voted upon separately. The report for these two agenda items would be merged into one for future meetings. 

Audio recording – 2 minutes 47 seconds

(1)   The Chair advised that, in accordance with Council Policy, the meeting would be recorded.

(2)   The Chair drew attention to the item on the agenda front pages regarding Declarations of Interest and reminded Members that, in line with the Code of Conduct, any Declarations of Interest needed to be declared immediately prior to the item in question.

(3)   The Chair advised that for the purposes of clarification clause 4.8.23(a) of the Constitution does not apply to this meeting.

(4)   The Chair reminded Members of the adopted North Herts Scrutiny Charter and the need to ensure that the meeting was conducted with independence, initiative and integrity. The full Charter was available to Members via the Scrutiny Intranet pages.

(5)   The Chair advised Members that the updates and questions for Agenda Item 11 and Agenda Item 12 would be taken together, however they would require separated votes to approve. It was notified that for future meetings, the reports for the two agenda items would be merged into one.

To receive petitions, comments and questions from the public.

There was no public participation at this meeting.

Audio recording – 4 minutes 2 seconds

There was no public participation at this meeting.

The Chair to report on any urgent or general exception items which required their agreement. At the time of printing the agenda, the Chair had not agreed any urgent or general exception items.

No urgent or general exception items were received.

Audio recording – 4 minutes 7 seconds

No urgent or general exception items were received.

To consider any matters referred to the Committee for a decision in relation to a call-in of decision. At the time of printing the agenda, no items of business had been called-in.

There have been no called-in items.

Audio recording – 4 minutes 13 seconds

There have been no called-in items.

To receive and respond to any questions from Members either set out in the agenda or tabled at the meeting.

No questions had been submitted by Members.

Audio recording – 4 minutes 17 seconds

No questions had been submitted by Members.

To receive a presentation from Herts and West Essex Integrated Care Board on dentistry provision in North Herts.

Herts and West Essex Integrated Care Board provided a presentation on dentistry provision in North Herts, following which Members asked questions.

Audio Recording – 4 minutes 22 seconds

Michelle Campbell and Steve Claydon of Herts and West Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB) provided a presentation on dentistry provision in North Herts, and advised of the following, that:

·             The Integrated Care Board had taken over delegated commissioning of all dental services from NHS England (NHSE) in April 2023.

·             Unlike GP practices, dental practices did not operate a registered patient list, therefore patients both within and outside the North Herts and West Essex boundaries could access treatment from the dental practices there. 

·             There were two types of contracts awarded to practices under the National Dental Contract. The first was General Dental Services contracts which were to provide mandatory dental services. Contracts were commissioned on “units of dental activity” (UDA) which was set against a baseline reference year prior to 2004.

·             Within each contract, there were four treatment bands going from Band 1 for regular assessments and examinations all the way to Band 4 for urgent treatments. 

·             Contracts allowed for 4% under-delivery 2% over-delivery of UDA which was either carried over or deducted from the contractual baseline the following financial year. However, if funding was available, they would pay the practices that over delivered their services.

·             The second type of contract was Personal Dental Services contracts which were for locally commissioned services such as orthodontists. These were time limited and were not in perpetuity.

·             The ICB had delegated functions to make decisions on contractual changes such as practice relocation, alteration of practice activity bases and values, and incorporation requests.

·             229 General Dental Services and Personal Dental Services contracts were active across Herts and West Essex. These were broken down into 185 General Dental Services, 21 Orthodontic Contracts, 2 Special Care Dental Services, 1 Prison Dental Service (not currently managed by ICB), 1 Domiciliary Dental Service, 1 Dental Out of Hours Service, 16 Intermediate Oral Surgery Services, 2 Sedation Services and Secondary Dental Care.

·             Since Covid, providers and commissioners of dentistry had faced increased patient demand, more complex treatment needs, workforce recruitment and retention (although this had seen recent improvement), restricted funding for treatments, increased costs due to inflation, financial instability due to under-delivery, and contracts based on activity rather than outcomes.

·             A Primary Care Strategic Dental Delivery Plan had been developed in 2023 to identify priorities which would address the oral health needs of the population.

·             These were identified as improving urgent access to dental care, delivering oral support to the public through education, strengthening outreach to care homes, allocating the current workforce more effectively and planning routine care to reduce the need for urgent care.

·             The priorities identified from the delivery plan would also align with most of the priorities set by the ICB for 2024/25 and 2025/26.

·             In February 2024, NHSE in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care had published a Dental Recovery Plan, targeting the recovery of NHS dental services.

·             The plan aimed to support the prevention of poor oral health by working with public health and local  ...  view the full minutes text for item 81.

INFORMATION NOTE OF THE CUSTOMER & DIGITAL SERVICES MANAGER

To provide a brief presentation on the Council's digital transformation programme to date.

Councillor Ian Albert, as Executive Member for Finance and IT, presented the information note entitled ‘Digital Transformation Programme Update’ and invited the Customer and Digital Services Manager to give a presentation on the Digital Transformation Programme, following which Members asked questions. 

Audio Recording – 1 hour 13 minutes 22 seconds

Councillor Ian Albert, as Executive Member for Finance and IT, introduced the Information Note entitled ‘Digital Transformation Programme Update’ and advised that:

·             The Digital Transformation Programme was a critical initiative and was a key tool in the Council Delivery Plan.

·             Despite challenges such as public sector recruitment and retention, multiple business applications and a lack of synergy between applications, the IT Team had made significant progress on the programme.

·             In 2024, the Customer Relation Management (CRM) system contract had ended, but this had allowed the Council to explore other digital platforms.

·             After extensive research and testing, it was decided to go with a low code solution called Netcall which allowed users to create digital applications with minimal coding skills and had allowed the Council to accelerate its own digital transformation and create a Digital Transformation Strategy that was approved by Cabinet in January 2024.

·             Several goals in the strategy had been achieved including the investment in the low code digital platform, the implementation of a chatbot service, the integration of SharePoint, and signing a digital declaration introduced by the Government which many other councils nationally had also signed.

·             Ongoing projects included making services digital by default, conducting a customer-centric review of end-to-end processes and experimenting with generative AI.

·             More projects would be executed such as the creation of a new waste system, a Town Hall booking system and a burial system which would help to improve the service received by customers.

·             The feedback from the Corporate Peer Review was positive, however they would look to improve on digital inclusion, staff engagement, and capitalisation on digital skills across the Council as per paragraph 4.4 of the review.

·             It was recognised that residents who were not able to use digital services would have the necessary offline services made available to them. 

The Customer and Digital Services Manager and the Customer and Digital Project Manager provided an update and advised of the following:

·             When the Covid Pandemic took place, the Council had to change the way it carried out its work practices and customer interactions, but this had presented an opportunity for them to embark on a new digital transformation programme.

·             To address several ongoing challenges such as the uncertainty of funding, advancements in AI and the increased demand from the Local Plan, a Digital Services Team was built from existing budgets.

·             Various digital platforms were explored to replace the expiring CRM system. After market research had taken place, Netcall was chosen as a low code solution going forward.

·             It had helped to deploy applications to automate tasks, optimise business operations and deliver improved experiences.

·             A comprehensive Digital Strategy was produced to better meet the needs of those that the Council served. This document was a commitment to continuous improvement and innovation in service delivery.

·             Digital Transformation was an enabler and would allow the Council to tackle its workforce challenges and allow it to deliver both its current and future ambitions.

·             The Council was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 82.

REPORT OF THE SCRUTINY OFFICER

This report highlights items scheduled in the work programme of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the 2024-25 civic year. It also includes items that have not yet been assigned to a specific meeting of the Committee.

RESOLVED:

(1)   That the Committee prioritises topics for inclusion in the Work Programme attached as Appendix A and, where appropriate, determines the high-level form and timing of scrutiny input.

(2)   That the Committee, having considered the most recent iteration of the Forward Plan, as attached at Appendix B, suggests a list of items to be considered at its meetings in the coming civic year.

(3)   That the Corporate Peer Challenge Action Plan as attached at Appendix C be considered.

REASONS FOR DECISIONS:

(1)   To allow the Committee to set a work programme which provides focused Member oversight, encourages open debate and seeks to achieve service improvement through effective policy development and meaningful policy and service change.

(2)   The need to observe Constitutional requirements and monitor the Forward Plan for appropriate items to scrutinise remains a key aspect of work programming.

The Scrutiny Officer presented the report entitled ‘Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme 2024-25’ and the ‘Decisions and Monitoring Tracker’ and advised that:

·             Section 106 training took place on Monday 13 January and a background paper was circulated to Members on the effectiveness of S106 funding in delivering community infrastructure.

·             An email had been sent to group leaders about proportionality of the Section 106 Task and Finish group, and following this, leaders would be contacted for nominations.

·             The LGA Peer Review actions were included in Appendix C of the report.

·             A proposal had been put to councillors to align the Council Delivery Plan updates against service delivery updates. This would enable Members to look at the projects of each service area in detail and ask questions to the relevant Executive Members and officers.

·             Questions should be submitted ahead of each meeting to give officers and Executive Members time to research and compile the necessary information to respond at the meeting.

·             The Council Delivery Plan would next be generated in line with a Planning and Transport Portfolio update at the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on 11 March 2025.

·             The referrals and recommendations from the tracker, following the last meeting, were made to Cabinet on 14 January 2025 and presented by the respective Executive Members at the meeting. The recommendations were considered and noted by Cabinet and had been market as complete on the tracker.

In response to a question from Councillor Jon Clayden, The Chair advised that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee could consider a Council Data Strategy at a future meeting.

The Chair noted that the Peer Challenge Report, the Council Delivery Plan in line with a Planning and Transport Portfolio update, and a Museum Storage update would all be discussed at the next meeting on 11 March. The Chair also informed Members that the RIPA Annual Report was required to be completed within the Civic Year and would therefore be scheduled for the March meeting.  

Councillor Matt Barnes, as Chair, proposed and Councillor Tom Tyson seconded and, following a vote, it was:

RESOLVED:

(1)   That the Committee prioritises topics for inclusion in the Work Programme attached as Appendix A and, where appropriate, determines the high-level form and timing of scrutiny input.

(2)   That the Committee, having considered the most recent iteration of the Forward Plan, as attached at Appendix B, suggests a list of items to be considered at its meetings in the coming civic year.

(3)   That the Corporate Peer Challenge Action Plan as attached at Appendix C be considered.

REASONS FOR DECISIONS:

(1)   To allow the Committee to set a work programme which provides focused Member oversight, encourages open debate and seeks to achieve service improvement through effective policy development and meaningful policy and service change.

(2)   The need to observe Constitutional requirements and monitor the Forward Plan for appropriate items to scrutinise remains a key aspect of work programming.

REPORT OF THE SCRUTINY OFFICER

To consider the outcome of Overview and Scrutiny Committee resolutions, decisions and referrals.

RESOLVED: That the content of the Decisions and Monitoring Tracker was noted.

REASON FOR DECISION: To enable the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to review and comment on actions and feedback received regarding resolutions previously made.

Councillor Matt Barnes, as Chair, proposed and Councillor Tom Tyson seconded and, following a vote, it was:

RESOLVED: That the content of the Decisions and Monitoring Tracker was noted.

REASON FOR DECISION: To enable the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to review and comment on actions and feedback received regarding resolutions previously made.