Agenda and minutes

See above.

No additional declarations were made at the meeting.

The Chief Executive has received notification that five members wish

to call in the decision made by the Cabinet on 24 July 2019

on the Future Provision of Care Homes in Gloucestershire.

The signatories to the call-in are:

Cllr Paul Hodgkinson

Cllr Lesley Williams
Cllr Rachel Smith

Cllr Eva Ward

Cllr Kate Haigh

3.1      A report responding to the call-in and setting out the matters to be considered by the committee had been circulated before the meeting. The decision called in had been taken by the Cabinet on 24 July 2019 regarding the future provision of care homes in Gloucestershire. This related to the closure of Southfield and Wyatt House.

The signatories of the call-in were

1. Cllr Paul Hodgkinson

2. Cllr Lesley Williams

3. Cllr Eva Ward

4. Cllr Rachel Smith

5. Cllr Kate Haigh

Outline of the Process

3.2      The Chairman invited the Statutory Scrutiny Officer, Simon Harper, to set out the process for the committee to consider the call-in.  The procedure rules were set out in detail in the constitution. In summary, any Cabinet decision could be called in within a prescribed timescale. Call-in should only be used in exceptional circumstances and be invoked when there was evidence to suggest one or more of the prescribed grounds had been satisfied.

3.3      The committee were advised that members were to consider the grounds stated in the call-in notice which were:

·         (Call in procedure rule 3.3) In making the decision, the Cabinet, Leader of Council or Cabinet Member took account of an irrelevant matter or failed to take account of a relevant matter.

·         (Call in Procedure 3.4) The Cabinet, the Leader of the Council or a Cabinet Member or Officer under delegated powers acted contrary to the Cabinet Procedure Rules, the Access to Information about the County Council’s Formal Business and/ or the principles of decision making set out in part 2, Article 7.02 of the Constitution.

o   (Part 2, Para 7.02.3) – They should take proper consultation with others.

o   (Part 2 Para 7.02.8) – They should be properly reasoned and alternatives that are discounted should be identified and the reasons for their rejection explained adequately.

3.4      The first stage was for the committee to decide whether it agreed wholly or partially with the grounds for call-in. If they did agree with any of the grounds there were four possible options for the committee to decide.

·         Support the Cabinet’s decision without comment

·         Make adverse comment about the way they reached their decision, but no adverse view on the decision itself.

·         Propose changes to the decision, modifications or an alternative to achieve the same effect

·         In exceptional circumstances, which the committee must determine, arrange for fill council to review or scrutinise the decision.

Initially the spokesperson for the signatories would be asked to speak followed by the Cabinet Member in response.

Consideration of the Call-in

3.5      Cllr Lesley Williams, as lead signatory of the call-in, outlined that the decision had been called in as the signatories believed that Cabinet had not taken proper consultation with residents, their families and the wider community or other stakeholders. In addition the due regard statement pack had not been published five full days before the meeting and she stated that it was not possible to be certain that Cabinet members had seen it. She added:

·         The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.