Brighton & Hove City Council
People Overview & Scrutiny
4.00pm28 January 2026
Hove Town Hall Council chamber
MINUTES
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Present: Councillor O'Quinn (Chair) Gauge (Deputy Chair), Cattell, Lyons, Mackey, Parrott, Shanks, Sheard, Winder and Lademacher |
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Other Members present: Maria Cowler (Catholic Church diocesan representative), Sara Fulford (Older People's Council), Joanna Martindale (Community Works Rep), Adam Muirhead (Community Works Rep), Fiona England (PaCC), and Dr Anusree Biswas Sasidharan (Community Works)
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PART ONE
34 Procedural Business
34.1 Cllr Lademacher substituting for Cllr Mcleay.
35 Minutes
35.1 RESOLVED: the draft minutes of the 08 October 2025 People Overview & Scrutiny Committee meeting were approved.
35.2 RESOLVED: the draft minutes of the 10 November 2025 People Overview & Scrutiny Committee meeting were approved.
36 Public Involvement
36.1 Adrian Hart asked a public question. The Chair gave the following answer:
Thank you for your question. It is important to note that it is not within the purview of this committee to review decisions made by Chairs concerning the conduct of their respective committees. But it is Full Council who would deal with such a question as they are the ones who make these decisions, it is not the individual chairs of committees like the scrutiny committees. Where you have concerns about conduct by councillors which you consider amounts to a potential breach of the Code of Conduct for Members, the appropriate way to raise such a concern is through the standards process. But I think you are talking much more about the constitution and the discretion within that for various Chairs to make decisions. So, what I would advise you to do is take this question to a committee that can deal with it, because these committees can’t but full council is the final say.
Adrian Hart asked for clarification that people like himself and those mentioned in his question should go to full council when the decisions were deemed final.
Cllr O’Quinn responded:
That was not what I was saying. What I am saying is that you need to ask a question about how much discretion there is for Chairs when a question comes up. That is the question you need to ask, and it is constitutional and it’s a shame that we don’t have the constitutional working group anymore because I think that is where that kind of matter could truly be discussed. I do appreciate your concerns, and I thank you for bringing that to us, unfortunately on this committee you do not get a supplementary question but if you want a very brief final comment I’m happy to hear it.
Adrian Hart said that some of that would be tested tomorrow in the chamber and that he was sceptical. He said that if a deputation or question was curtailed or corporate complaints is declined on the basis that the matter has been explained in email it was not clear what internal forum could examine if that was fair. He said that he heard Cllr O’Quinn’s suggestion that full council will allow that.
Cllr O’Quinn said:
It is a constitutional matter and as I say there is a case for having our constitutional working group, that’s my thought not what everybody else thinks.
37 Member Involvement
37.1 There was no member involvement.
38 Chair's Communication
38.1 The Chair gave the following communication:
We have two very important items before us today. In response to the recent CQC inspection the Adult Social Care Improvement Plan has been put together and is here today for us to scrutinise.
Following this we have the issue of Large Panel Systems building and estates renewal come to this committee for the first time. Previously this has gone to Place committee as the focus has been on the buildings themselves. Today we will be looking at the Section 105, Rehousing Policy and Leaseholder Offer Consultation Programme. For this item an invitation has gone out to members of the Place committee allowing them to take part.
39 Scrutiny of Adult Social Care Improvement Plan
39.1 Cllr Mitchie Alexander and Steve Hook presented to the committee. The main points were: CQC inspection announced in November 2024,overall score of 48%, waiting times and assessment were significantly overdue, high use of out of are placement were found but 85% were within Sussex, strengths were assessment and care plans being strength based and person centred, assessing needs were rated as 1 (38%), a Section 50 notice was served meaning further scrutiny from DHSC, Phase 1 high priority actions (for scores of 1) were underway and due to be completed in March-June 2026, improved governance involving cabinet member, informal cabinet and DASC, annual reviews have improved from 29.5% to 41% with a target of 44%, when inspection was carried out high level of residential and nursing admissions, some teams have made significant improvements on waiting times.
39.2 members asked a range of questions including:
· About the scoring system used by the CQC
· How BHCC compared to East & West Sussex
· Concerns about resources available
· Membership of the Task & Finish Group
· Retention of staff
· Reablement work with the NHS
· The balance of ambition and deliverability in the plan
· Whole systems issues
· Focusing on prevention work
· Concerns over the use of the term ‘waiting well’
· Targets for the following financial year
· The 18-25 cohort and transition to adulthood
· How out of areas placements can be dealt with
· How equalities data is collected and reviewed by senior leadership
· Oversite of senior leadership team
· Staff morale
39.3 Steve Hook confirm that the Improvement Plan was due to go to Cabinet in February and was scheduled to be returning to Cabinet in July for a progress update. Members agreed that they would like that update to come to the July meeting of the People Overview & Scrutiny Committee to provide scrutiny members with the opportunity to monitor the Improvement Plan’s progress.
39.4 RESOLVED that the People Overview & Scrutiny Committee note the report.
40 Large Panel Systems Building and Estates Renewal - S105, Rehousing Policy and Leaseholder Offer Consultation Programme
40.1 Cllr Gill Williams, Cabinet Member for Housing, presented to the committee and gave a background of the issue. She was joined by Darren Levy, Interim Director of Housing Regeneration and Harry Williams, Director of Housing People Services, and Laura Webster, Regeneration Programme Manager (Housing Supply).
40.2 Member spoke on the following issues:
· Praise for the deposit scheme
· The possibility of someone exercising their right to buy after moving back into a new flat once the rebuild has taken place
· Communication with residents
· Concerns over risk to the wider housing market of giving residents housing deposits
· Supporting disabled residents and communication with adult social care teams
· The phrase ‘wherever possible’ in the commitment to a right to return
· Concerns over residents who are not engaging
· Mental health support for residents
· Uptake for the homeless repayment scheme
· The big use of resources, particularly around each household having a named officer
· If staff were trained to provide the wide range of options given to households
· If older residents were moving into senior housing and concerns that some senior housing is being used for other age groups due to demand
· The opportunity for people to address their housing needs, either by downsizing, moving into seniors housing, or supported accommodation.
· If removal costs were being met
· Where the funding for all of the work was coming from
· Potential disruption from demolition of the buildings
40.3 RESOLVED:
People Overview & Scrutiny provide responses to the s105 survey questions, as appropriate, so these can be included in the consultation report back to
Cabinet on 19th March 2026.
People Overview and Scrutiny to provide feedback and comment on the Rehousing Policy and draft Local Lettings Plan, so these can be included in the
consultation report back to Cabinet on 19th March 2026.
People Overview & Scrutiny to provide comment and feedback on potential options for enhancing the leasehold and tenant offer that they would like Cabinet to consider, so these can be included in the consultation report back to Cabinet on 19th March 2026.
The meeting concluded at 18:30
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Signed
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