Cornwall Council Governance Review
Witness inquiry: meeting note
Thursday 21 June, 2012.
Mrs Carolyn Webster: Chief Executive, Job Centre Plus
Biography
Carolyn Webster has played a key role in the delivery of a number of employment and skills programmes across Cornwall. These include, Cornwall Neighborhoods for Change, Fifteen Cornwall and Cornwall School for Social Entrepreneurs.
Carolyn was instrumental in developing Cornwall Works. This is a programme designed to help people overcome the barriers to employment through targeted training and work experience opportunities. Cornwall Works has been recognised as a model of good practice by the Cabinet Office and European Union.
Current decision making structures at Cornwall Council
Job Centre Plus works in close collaboration with Cornwall Council across a number of service areas. In my experience, it has often been difficult to assess who is responsible for making a decision (i.e. Full Council, the Cabinet or delegated to an officer) and what the process is for inputting our views.
An organisation, such as Job Centre Plus, would benefit from a clearer understanding of how it can influence decisions made by Cornwall Council and the timescales that must be adhered to.
There is also a need within my organisation to understand how Elected Members are informed i.e. who provides briefings on related subjects. Job Centre Plus would welcome the opportunity to brief Elected Members during the induction process and to provide information and support through an ongoing Member training and development programme.
Policy and strategy development
There has been an inconsistent approach to policy and strategy development across Cornwall Council. There has often been an internal dialogue between council officers and members, a policy or strategy is then drafted and circulated to stakeholders for comment. Therefore, I would call for the Council to ensure that a robust process is put in place to enable all stakeholders to engage in the policy and strategy development process from inception. However, I acknowledge that the Public Sector Group is a positive step forward in developing a coordinated and strategic approach to driving efficiencies and improving services for local people.
I would also recommend that there is a Portfolio Holder or lead elected representative for the Department of Work and Pensions. This would provide a key point of contact to drive improvements and will help more people in Cornwall start work, stay in work and progress in work.
Community Network Panels
From my perspective as a local resident, I have not received any correspondence from my elected representative or Community Network Panel and I am, therefore, unaware of whether the Community Network Panels can be described as an effective vehicle for change in local communities.
Models of governance
From a partnership organisation’s perspective the process is not relevant when designing a new system the following principles must be taken into account:
·  Clear vision and clarity purpose
·  Collaborative working
·  Open, transparent and decisive decision making
·  Evidence based (in touch with the needs of local communities)
·  Effective consultation and engagement with local partners and residents
It also important to acknowledge that an effective system will be based on the personalities and the commitment of those involved. No structure or system can compensate for a positive, proactive and flexible culture within an organisation.
Ms Lezli Boswell: Chief Executive Officer, Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust
Biography
Lezli Boswell joined the Southwest Strategic Health Authority in September 2010 as the Director of Provider Development on secondment from the Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust in Cornwall.
Lezli is an experienced Chief Executive and has held a number of positions in the North West and South West. As Chief Executive of the Cornwall Partnership Trust, Lezli led the organisation through a successful foundation trust application. Lezli is also a registered nurse, a health visitor and has experience working in acute, community and specialist health care delivery.
Health and Adults Overview and Scrutiny Committee
The relationship between Cornwall Council and the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust has significantly improved since I started working in the County in 2006. I consider that the boundaries are clear and that the structure of governance works very effectively.
There is more clarity in regard to the role and function of the scrutiny committees than in recent years. Behaviours and relationships between members are much improved. Health and Adults Overview and Scrutiny Committee members are more respectful of partnership organisations, there is a good degree of constructive challenge and it is vital that this good practice is maintained under any new system of governance.
Elected members
The Portfolio Holder for Health and Wellbeing is welcomed at RCHT meetings and this has helped us to develop a mutual understanding of our respective roles and responsibilities. A number of Elected Members attend meetings of the West Cornwall Hospital Forum. This has recently helped us to communicate the economic and patient benefits of a potentially contentious decision regarding access time for x-rays. Local Members acted as community leaders: mediating, helping local people to understand the impact of the change in their area and as a result the negative impact was mitigated. This approach was welcomed by the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust (RCHT).
In the past hospitals have been inward looking, there is now a need to engage with local community and the role of the Elected Member will help us to achieve this. The RCHT is aiming to become a Foundation Trust next year and would like to strengthen its representation in the community and its relationship with the Council.
Policy and strategy development
The Health and Wellbeing Strategy has a commissioner focus and it could be argued that there has been insufficient provider input. Decisions must be taken with pace with a collaborative approach to risk taking within structured boundaries.
Models of Governance
*Please note that this section has been taken from Lezli Boswell’s written evidence*
I have no preferred option for the structure of Cornwall Council. However, the essential elements of a sound governance structure will be:
·  Ensuring that any structure accurately reflects the operational model
·  In view of future models being based on commissioning services, ensuring that members within governance structures can influence contractual compliance and project evaluation measures (including consulting affected organisation) before services are commissioned. This should ensure effective and transparent post contractual scrutiny.
·  Ensuring that sufficient member development is provided to ensure that ‘backbench’ members with governance responsibilities have sufficient understanding of changing models of service provision and specific projects.
·  Being sufficiently flexible to rely on shared or integrated governance processes, including governance processes
Councillor Roger Phillips: Herefordshire Council
Biography
Councillor Phillips has corporate responsibility for Strategy and Finance and is a member of the County Councils Network (CNN) and West Midlands Local Government Association.
Councillor Phillips was a member of the Local Government Association’s Peer Review Team that assessed Cornwall Council in March 2012. The purpose of the review was to identify areas of good practice and to provide clear recommendations for how Cornwall Council can improve services for the future.
The Peer Review Team undertook a series of interviews with key individuals at Cornwall Council as well as a number of workshops with stakeholder groups.
Councillor Phillips facilitated Cornwall Council’s peer review workshop on Governance.
Findings of the Peer Review
The Peer Review Team found that Cornwall Council’s direction of travel in terms of performance, leadership and management was moving forward.
Open and transparent decision making
The Review Team considered that Cornwall Council’s current governance structures were operating effectively and that the Cabinet was open and transparent. The Cabinet meeting that I attended in Cornwall was well chaired and dealt with business efficiently. The meeting was attended by non-cabinet members as well as local partners and members of the public. All Cabinet meetings are webcast and the general public and non-executive members are permitted to ask questions. The Leader encouraged the Chairs of Scrutiny Committees to speak on related items. This approach strengthens the importance of Scrutiny’s function of holding Cabinet to account.
The number of elected members
The number of elected members should not be the primary issue of focus. The important question is how to engage all elected representatives? The role of an elected member is varied i.e. a local representative and advocate, a member of an executive decision making committee, a member of a scrutiny committee that holds the executive to account and a member of the council’s corporate body. There is a need for both officers and elected members to understand the different roles that elected representatives must undertake in order to perform their role effectively.
Any new governance structure should not allow elected representatives to opt out of being ambassadors for the areas that they represent. Members must clearly understand their role and purpose whether they are a member of the executive or not. They must not be preoccupied with the question of who is in the Cabinet but with the question of who holds the Cabinet to account.
Partnership working
Following a discussion with the Chairman of Cornwall Association of Local Councils (CALC), Cornwall Council could do more to engage Town and Parish Councils in decisions that affect local areas. This relationship is vital in terms of future service design and delivery, particularly in the context of reduced budgets and cuts in public spending.
Community Network Panels
The Community Network Panels have the potential to drive improvements in local areas. There are a number of examples of how the panels have been an effective vehicle for change but there is a general feeling that their impact is dependent on the skills, contacts and motivation of the network chair and that they are not viewed as a fail-safe mechanism for community engagement.
Models of governance
A Committee system does not provide strong strategic direction. In my view Cornwall requires strong leadership from the Cabinet. There will always be a ‘them and us’ mentality with a Cabinet system but this is a national issue. The role of the backbencher must be strengthened in order to become meaningful.
Members in Cornwall have strong community connections. They are knowledgeable and passionate about their communities and not driven by party politics. Therefore, I would question whether the Mayoral option is appropriate for Cornwall.
Shropshire Council
·  Cllr G Butler, Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Flourishing Communities
·  Ms Lois Dale Principal Rural Policy Officer,
·  Mr Tom Brettell, Senior Community Action Officer
The role of the rural councillor as a community leader: The Shropshire approach
Shropshire Council has 74 elected representatives and operates a Leader and Cabinet governance model. Shropshire is a large and sparsely populated rural area and shares many socio-demographic characteristics with Cornwall.
Representatives from Shropshire Council have been invited to provide evidence to the Governance Review External Group as they have recently adopted an innovative approach to empowering local councillors to drive improvements in local areas.
The Shropshire model is based on the recognition that each rural area has a range of individual needs and priorities and that elected members are best placed to galvanise their communities, drive local action and develop innovative solutions to local challenges.
Shropshire Council has worked with the Office for Public Management (OPM) to explore the changing role of the Councillor and this has resulted in the implementation of a bespoke training and development programme. This has helped Councillors to develop new skills in areas such as social media, enabling them to engage harder to reach communities, and has helped them to understand the interdependencies between needs and priorities at a local level against the backdrop of national strategic objectives.
Shropshire Portfolio Holders have encouraged parish planning and community capacity building by leading by example in their own rural areas. They are actively supporting and encouraging all Members to build relationships with their local Town and Parish Councils through mechanisms such as Local Joint Committees. They are also supporting all Councillors to develop constructive working relationships with officers from across all service areas, including: Departmental Directors, Community Action Officers and Planning Policy officers, and with other public sector bodies, such as, the voluntary and community sector and the business community.
Representatives from Shropshire confirmed that Cornwall Council’s customer satisfaction surveys would be an effective tool in establishing whether local people were happy with the services provided by the Council and, therefore, whether it operates an effective governance model.
The changing role of local government and the elected member
In the past Shropshire Council was officer led, strategies were developed and delivered by officers with little Member input.
Since becoming a unitary authority in 2009 and in the context of the recent provisions of the Localism Act, community leaders must now focus on developing solutions that are tailored to the challenges facing their communities. There is a need to establish a close link between the County Council, Town and Parish Councils and an increasing opportunity to maximise the potential of the voluntary and community sector.
In recent years Council Members have been ambassadors for the local community, now local authority Members and Town and Parish Councillors are all responsible for driving improvements in local service provision. Through the recent member development and training programme implemented by Shropshire Council, there have been significant improvements in engagement between community ambassadors. This has helped to ensure that a local consensus is reached, resulting in improved services for local people.
At Shropshire Council the role of the Portfolio Holder has been to bring the local community together and to get them to work with all local stakeholders i.e. school governors, chamber of commerce, voluntary and community sector for the benefit of the local community. This has been a total shift in culture from County Hall, down to local communities deciding how services are delivered in their areas.
Models of governance
Shropshire is moving away from a traditional model of governance. However, in our view the current Leader and Cabinet model is an effective method of ensuring decisive decision making. However, in order to fulfil their role all Councillors must have a direct link to the Cabinet. This will help to ensure that all Members are engaged in Council business and are able to influence decisions in the communities that they represent.