Issue - meetings

Cabinet Member for Resources - Councillor Mark Elliott – introduced the item.

Panel members made the following points and asked the following questions:

Councillor Halsall stated that it was positive that the CQC had rated most Council care homes as ‘good’. He stated that in terms of the report, it would be useful to know comparisons with previous years.

Councillor Hounsell agreed that it would be useful to see values over a period of time rather than a promotional report. He asked about ‘Clean and Green’ weeks which no longer happen. The Cabinet Member stated that the intention is to imbed this work in the regular round of work for the team.

Councillor Hounsell stated that there were disappointing figures on resident satisfaction. He asked how the Communications Team could help to address the gap between achievement and perception. The Cabinet Member agreed, he stated that our value for money is good but that there is a gap between public perception and reality. It is ok to have legitimate criticism. He agreed there could be more impact from Communications which has recently been restructured.

Councillor Treby echoed the plea for a document that would allow more effective scrutiny (either offline or online). He stated that the Panel need to see Amber markers and plans to bring them back on track eg. Renewable energy. The Cabinet Member stated that he was happy to take this feedback away. He stated that the Cabinet have recently considered revised PI’s which can be shared.

Councillor Blackburn agreed that context information was needed in order that the Panel can do its work.

Councillor Moss asked if any analysis was done on the comments that come in after press releases. The Cabinet Member stated that he was not aware of any analysis of social media, he stated that there was a lot of negativity from a small percentage of people.

Councillor Simon agreed that the red/amber/green system was useful to monitor plans.

Councillor Hodge stated that the Panel have asked for this information before and there are no changes to how the numbers are presented. She proposed that the issue is taken outside of this meeting so certain indicators can be focused on (Panel agreement).

The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member.