Agenda and minutes

To receive as a correct record the Minutes of the Meeting held on 21^st January 2026. 

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 21^st January, 2026 were signed by the Chair as a correct record.

There was no Urgent Business to consider.

To receive declarations by Councillors of interests in respect of items on this Agenda. 

Councillors are reminded that, in accordance with the Localism Act 2011, they are required to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests which have not already been declared in the Council’s Register of Interests. (It is a criminal offence not to declare a disclosable pecuniary interest either in the Register or at the meeting). 

Whilst not a legal requirement, in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 9 and in the interests of clarity and transparency, Councillors should declare any disclosable pecuniary interests which they have already declared in the Register, at this point in the meeting. 

In accordance with Part B Section 2 of the Code Of Conduct, Councillors are required to declare the existence and nature of any other interests as defined in paragraphs 8(1) or 9(2) of the Code of Conduct. 

Councillor Gina Dowding declared an interest in Minute 61 as a Lancashire County Councillor.

Report of the Chief Officer Sustainable Growth. 

The Chair advised the Committee that the County Council, as the local Flood Authority had contacted officers to share the Lancaster City Surface Water Management Plan and had offered to meet with the City Council to discuss the Management Plan.

It was agreed that this was a suitable conclusion to this issue.

Helen Coombes, Executive Director of Adults, Health and Wellbeing, has been invited to attend the meeting for this item. 

Note:  All Members of Council have been invited to attend for this item either in person or via Microsoft Teams. 

All members of Council had been invited to attend for this item. 

The Chair welcomed Helen Coombes – Executive Director of Adults, Health and Wellbeing to the meeting.

The Committee received a presentation detailing the outcome of the assessment by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in February 2025 of Lancashire County Council’s Adult Social Care services which resulted in a 'Requires Improvement' rating across all nine quality statement scores.

In terms of strengths, the report highlighted multi-disciplinary collaboration between partners and good risk management to maintain people’s safety and well-being but also flagged that many people were waiting too long for assessments and reviews and that some systems, processes and relationships need to be improved.

It was reported that a high-level plan had been developed, drawing together improvement activity across the whole directorate. The plan considered each of the thematic areas and the relevant quality statements and considers what residents expected from services.

As part of the assurance process for Requires Improvement, authorities were required to submit a stage 1 report 10 days after report publication which included the County Council’s reflections, priorities for action and governance.  A Stage 2 report is then required three months after publication of the CQC assessment outcome. The stage 2 report included the development of an improvement plan with clear and realistic timeframes for each action,  risks, a plan for monitoring  and scrutinising progress and evidence of the capacity to deliver. Following this, a Stage 3 report is submitted every 3 months with updates on progress and any changes. Lancashire County Council’s was up to date with all of its required reporting with the next report due on 15th February 2026.

The Committee went on to discuss the importance of partnership working with the voluntary and faith sector within the community and the importance of Day Centres within the district.

Resolved :-

That Helen Coombes Executive Director of Adults, Health and Wellbeing be thanked for her attendance at the meeting.

Discussions regarding Fit for the Future following the recent Workshop. 

The Chair circulated a paper regarding Fit for the Future.

Resolved :-

That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee recommends that the Fit for the Future programme continues to encourage both modernising and innovative practices and a develops a framework of measurable outputs to enable successful monitoring. 

Members recognise the workload and pressure that is already placed on officers so we would like to consider how one of the current projects could be aligned to demonstrate these measurable outputs. We would be happy to work with officers on a task group or working group to see how this can be achieved.  The Committee would be happy to select a project with the officers.

The List of Forthcoming Key Decisions can be viewed here

There were no issues raised in the Forthcoming Key Decisions.

City Council Commissioned Consultations can be viewed here

The Committee discussed the amount of consultations that were currently underway.

The Chair to advise. 

The Chair advised that he had not been consulted on any decisions this month.

The updated Work Programme is attached. 

Members considered the updated Work Programme.

It was agreed to request the postponed Work Programme items from this meeting to be submitted to the 1^st April meeting of the Committee and that Pride of Place be added to the West End agenda item.

It was further agreed to invite the Executive Director of Adults, Health and Wellbeing to a future meeting to discuss Village Agents that had been introduced within Lancashire.

Resolved :-

That the actions above be agreed.