Scrutiny Committee

This afternoon I attended the City Council's Scrutiny Committee. There were a number of very interesting reports at this committee. The Social care and Support Services and Housing Support services received a very good report. Throughout this report the links between social care and health care are highlighted. There are good links and working practices, I sought an assurance that as we move forward that service changes and the cuts which the Administration are bringing forward bear this in mind. It would be ridiculous for us to make changes to council services which have a knock-on effect on other services.

I also asked about how officers plan services when performance indicators highlight the need to employ more staff but budget pressures and council policy looks to cut numbers of staff. I was pleased to be told that service delivery was the most important factor. I certainly hope that is the case, but I will be keep an eye on this.

I was pleased to hear that the council had recognised that it doesn't need to produce vast numbers of reports such as the council's glossy Performance Report. I was astonished to hear that each copy of the report that was produced cost £14. Whilst we need to make sure that information about the council's work is available to everyone but I think there must be more cost effective ways of producing this information.