Social Security and Housing - Approved Panel Minutes - 9 June 2008

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Agenda matter

Action

1. Minutes of previous meetings

1. Notes of the private meeting of 23rd May 2008 with the Minister for Health & Social Services were approved and signed.
2. Minutes of the meeting of 23rd May 2008 were approved and signed.

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2. Matters arising

Chairman and Panel Members' Actions

Copies  of  the  GP  Out  of  Hours  Report  requested  following Meeting 18 were distributed. A number of issues were highlighted for further questions. It was agreed to circulate copies to members of the original Sub-Panel on the GP Out of Hours Review (in confidence as it was unclear whether the report was yet in the public domain) to ask for their comments by the 20th June. It was further agreed that a Public Hearing should be held to address the issues  identified  and  that  Health  Department  representatives should be invited to attend for this purpose following the Panel meeting scheduled for 24th June 2008.

The  Panel  noted  that  it  would  address  other  actions  under separate agenda items.

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3. Forthcoming Propositions

The  Panel  noted  that  there  were  no  forthcoming  propositions lodged for debate by the States up to 1st July 2008 that had not

previously been considered by the Panel.

4. Questions to Ministers

The  Panel  noted  the  forthcoming  arrangements  for  questions without notice to Ministers.

5. Recent States Sittings

The Panel was advised that a summary of issues raised at the States sitting of 13th May relevant to the Panel would be circulated

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following the meeting by e-mail. The labour-intensive nature of producing such summaries was noted and it was suggested that in future it may be preferable for Members to advise officers of any particular  items  of  interest  so  that  transcripts  and  summaries produced could be targeted to these, to avoid officer time being spent summarising matters that may be of no further interest to Members.

CURRENT REVIEWS:

6. Telephone Mast Sub-Panel

The Panel were informed that an officers' meeting had taken place on Friday 30th May. A joint summary document detailing progress

with  the  Sub-Panel's  recommendations  would  be  produced  by Departments and forwarded to the Scrutiny Office by 23rd June,

with a view to agreeing a combined Scrutiny/Departmental media release to highlight achievements and draw attention to the JCRA telephone mast website which was intended to be up and running by that date.

7. Income Support Sub-Panel

1. In the absence of Deputy Martin (Sub-Panel Chairman) the Panel noted that work on Income Support was ongoing. There had been recent decisions to extend transitional provisions to January 2009 and some to January 2010; it was queried whether these moves may have been motivated by forthcoming elections. There were also some changes to arrangements affecting young people staying on for Higher Education.

2. Members  noted  a  paper  received  from  Social  Security  on Distributional Analysis of Income Support Households'.

8. Housing Sub-Panel

The Panel received new information following officer contact with the Economic Adviser's office indicating that two pieces of work were  under  way  related  to  Housing;  a  briefing  paper  for  the Council  of  Ministers  outlining  factors  influencing  the  housing market,  and  a  detailed  economic  analysis  of  housing  market activity across different sectors. It was clear that these targeted much the same area as the proposed Sub-Panel review, and Members agreed that the Sub-Panel should avoid getting into a situation  where  it  was  duplicating  work  already  being  done elsewhere. It was noted that this was another instance where Sub- Panel  recommendations  previously  rejected  by  Housing  had subsequently been acted upon, albeit in this case at the instigation of other Departments.

It was agreed that the best way forward for the Sub-Panel would be to concentrate on producing a coordinated response to recent Planning  propositions  and  the  results  of  the  Housing  Needs Survey.  In  particular  the  Sub-Panel  would  need  to  review  its recent response to the Jersey Homebuy consultation and issue a media release prior to the debate on 15th July. The Sub-Panel

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Chairman and Scrutiny officer had been due to meet the Housing Minister the week before but the Minister had not attended at the appointed time; the meeting had been rearranged and it was still intended to discuss the Sub-Panel's intentions concerning a report on housing market conditions, to obtain Ministerial support and facilitate access to necessary information.

While it was no longer expected that the Sub-Panel would be carrying out a full review into housing market conditions it was suggested that it may be beneficial to call upon the services of a housing  expert  to  review  the  findings  of  the  Housing  Needs Survey  and  assist  with  any  eventual  report.  The  Panel  was reminded that Professor Steve Wilcox of the University of York was  widely  respected  and  already  had  some  familiarity  with Jersey's  housing  situation;  it  was  suggested  that  it  may  be appropriate to approach the Professor to act in this capacity in due course.

9. New Directions

The Panel considered that it was still unclear as to whether the Minister for Health & Social Services or his Chief Officer was fully committed to the New Directions policy at the present time. Given all the delays the Panel did not expect to have time remaining to undertake a review in this area. However the Panel held to its previous agreement to defer a final decision about the review until after the meeting of the Council of Ministers on Thursday 12th June  when  New  Directions  was  expected  to  come  up  for Ministerial approval. It was suggested that it may be appropriate for officers to contact the Department immediately following the Council of Ministers' meeting to discover the outcome.

10. Long Term Care of the Elderly

1. The  Panel  was  advised  that  an  evening  meeting  with  the adviser had been arranged at a local restaurant at 8.15pm on Thursday  12th June.   Deputy  Power  would  join  the group  later owing to a prior commitment.
2. & c) Arrangements for Public Hearings on 26th-27th June and 29th & 30th July and a Public Meeting on 29th July were in hand.

4. The Panel expressed its approval of a draft Call for Evidence' advertisement with some minor alterations to wording suggested. It was agreed that this should be placed in the Jersey Evening Post at a date to be agreed.
5. It was felt that Channel 103's audience was probably not ideal for this review and an advertisement placed with them would not offer value for money. However the information contained in the JEP advertisement would be reworded in a general media release which it was hoped would be covered by BBC Radio Jersey and attract additional attention in the press and other media.
6. It was agreed that dates for a visit to gather evidence on the Guernsey Social Insurance Scheme would be discussed with the adviser on 13th June.
7. An article from the Times of 14th May 2008 Spare a few quid for the rich old folk' was noted.
8. The  Panel  also  noted  the  Commission  for  Social  Care Inspection report See me, not just the dementia – Understanding

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people's experiences of living in a care home.'

11. Annual Business Plan

A paper on the Capital Programme 2009-2013 was distributed to the meeting and noted.

12. Pandemic Flu Vaccine

1. The Health Minister and Departmental officers were to attend a Public  Hearing  on  preparations  for  Pandemic  Flu  immediately following the meeting.

2. Members received copies of the draft question plan for the Public Hearing previously agreed by Deputy Le Hérissier in his capacity as lead member for Health matters.

13. R.48/2008 States' Spending Review - Emerging Issues

Time  pressure  prevented  discussion  of  this  report  from  the Comptroller and Auditor General. (To be added to the next Panel agenda.)

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14. Law Drafting Programme

Members  noted  the  Law  Drafting  Programme  for  2009,  the majority  of  which  was  seen  to  be  in  the  areas  of  Economic Development (finance) and Home Affairs.

Future Meetings

The Panel noted that the next meeting would be at 9:30am on Tuesday 24th June in the Le Capelain Room, States Building.