It was reported that, in accordance with the wishes of the Liberal Democrat Group, the membership of the Board had been amended for this meeting by including Councillors Doggett and Pountney in place of Councillors Darling and Pentney.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meetings of the Board held on 18 September 2013.

The minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 18 September 2013 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Board considered the item in Minute 31 and not included on the agenda, the Chairman being of the opinion that it was urgent by reason of special circumstances i.e. the matter having arisen since the agenda was prepared and it was unreasonable to delay a decision until the next meeting.

The Chairman of the Board tabled an Interim Report of the Priorities and Resources Review Panel which had been prepared following meetings of the Panel to discuss the revenue budget for Children’s Services for the current financial year.

Resolved:  that the report and its recommendations be adopted and forwarded to the Mayor and the Executive Director – Operations and Finance for their consideration.

To consider the proposals in relation to the re-modelling of accommodation services for victims of domestic abuse including the results of the recent consultation exercise and the draft Equality Impact Assessment.

Further to the previous meetings of the Priorities and Resources Review Panel, representatives of Westcountry Housing Association attended the meeting to explain to the Board the services that they provided in relation to domestic abuse.  The representatives were asked to give their views on how well they felt services were co-ordinated in Torbay.  They were also asked for their views on the Council’s proposals for re-modelling accommodation services for victims of domestic abuse.

The Board went on to consider a report which provided an update on the Council’s proposals for re-modelling accommodation services for victims of domestic abuse, the reasons behind the decision to change the delivery model and the interim results of the (recently extended) consultation exercise.

The Executive Head – Community Safety and the Supporting People Manager (together with the Executive Lead for Community Safety) also attended the meeting to answer the Board’s questions, in particular around the development of the Domestic Abuse Strategy, the decision making process for de-commissioning the seven dispersed units of accommodation for victims of domestic abuse in March 2012 and how the recommendations of the Domestic Abuse Steering Group to review the current delivery model had been reached.

It was noted that the re-modelling of accommodation services for victims of domestic abuse would now be considered at the meeting of the Council scheduled to take place in December 2013 and that the Overview and Scrutiny Board would give further consideration to the issue at its next meeting.