The Director of Law, H.R. and Asset Management reported that the minutes from the previous meeting, held on 9 April 2009 had been published and that minute 441 (Progress Towards the Transformation of Adult Social Services – Fees for Residential and Nursing Homes) had been called in and would be considered by the Social Care, Health and Inclusion Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 5 May 2009.

The minutes called in from the meeting held on 19 March 2009 had been considered by the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committees, and he set out the result of the call-in process –

Minute 407 (Asset Management Update) was considered by the Corporate Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 16 April 2009, which resolved (minute 63 refers) “That it is unacceptable to expect that the will of this Council, democratically arrived at, should deliberately be subverted by political campaigning pledges made by an opposition group. If the Conservative Group wish to make election pledges that is their prerogative, but to expect the Council to undermine its own policies to accommodate their pledges is outrageous and is resisted by this committee. Consequently, this committee supports the decision made by Cabinet and reported in minute 407”.

Minute 436 (Parenting and Preventing Commissioning) was considered by the Children’s Services and Lifelong Learning Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 20 April 2009 , which resolved (minute 75 refers) –

“(1) That the Cabinet’s decision in relation to the procurement of services for parenting and prevention be supported, albeit with the reservations set out in (2) below.

(2) That this Committee accepts that there are lessons to be learnt from the procurement exercise and asks the officers to look again at the issues that have been identified relating to:

the timing of the process;

the overall timescale allowed for tendering;

the slight confusion over the wording of tender documents;

delays in providing answers to queries and feedback.

(3) That the Committee record its thanks to all of the witnesses for their attendance and in particular to the representatives of the Parent Partnership for bringing this matter to its attention.

(4) That the Committee receive a report in due course on the outcome of the LINk Forum’s review of the procurement process”.

Resolved – That, with the exception of minute 441 (Progress Towards the Transformation of Adult Social Services – Fees for Residential and Nursing Homes) called-in, the minutes of the meeting held on 9 April 2009 be approved and adopted.