Venue: Committee Room 2 Town Hall. View directions
Contact: Jess Bayley and Helen Saunders Overview and Scrutiny Support Officers
No. | Item | |
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Apologies and named substitutes To receive apologies for absence and details of any Councillor (or co-optee substitute) nominated to attend this meeting in place of a member of this Committee. Minutes: Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors Chalk and Taylor.
The Committee was informed by the Labour Group Leader that, further to the decision of the Council on 11th August, he had yet to appoint the extra minority Overview and Scrutiny Committee Member to the Committee. He explained that he would inform the Committee as soon as possible of the identity of the new Member.
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Declarations of interest and of Party Whip To invite Councillors to declare any interest they may have in items on the Agenda and any Party Whip. Minutes: There were no declarations of interest or of any party whip. |
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To confirm the minutes of the most recent meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee as a correct record.
(Minutes attached) Additional documents: Minutes: RESOLVED that
the minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on Wednesday the 30th of July be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair. |
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To note the contents of the Overview and Scrutiny Actions List.
(Report attached) Minutes: The Committee considered the latest issue of the Actions List.
Officers informed the Committee that Action Six, regarding the outcome of the discussion during the Work Programme Planning Afternoon on the subject of relations between the Overview and Scrutiny and the Executive Committee had been completed. The Executive Committee had considered this issue at their meeting held on the 13th of August and had concurred with the comments made.
It was reported that for Action Eleven, Councillor Smith had approached Officers to request that the start date of the Housing Mutual Exchange review, which he was due to chair, be moved from 26th of November to the 17th December. Members agreed this suggestion and requested that Officers amend the Actions List and Work Programme accordingly.
Officers explained that they had investigated the constitutional requirements for the composition of Task and Finish Groups as requested in Action Twelve. Officers confirmed that, when appointing Members to Task and Finish Groups, the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Committee were obliged to consult with Party Group Leaders. Officers explained that consultation with the Group leaders on the membership of the current Task and Finish Groups had taken place. This had resulted in one extra Member appointment to the Third Sector Task and Finish Group.
Officers informed the Committee that the seven points listed under Action Thirteen, that had resulted from the Committee’s consideration of the Performance Outturn Report, had been completed and responses emailed to Members. With regards to points 2 and 3 relating to indicator ET05 “incidents of fly tipping”, Officers from Environmental Services had offered to attend a future meeting of the Committee to explain these points in further detail. Members agreed this proposal.
RESOLVED that
1) Officers amend the Work Programme to reflect the new start date of 17th December for the Housing Mutual Exchange review; and
2) Environmental Services Officers attend a future meeting of the Committee to provide further detail regarding fly tipping in the town.
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Call-in and Pre-Scrutiny To consider whether any Key Decisions of the Executive Committee’s most recent meeting(s) should be subject to call-in and also to consider whether any items on the Forward Plan require pre-scrutiny. (No separate report). Minutes: There were no call-ins and no proposed items for scrutiny.
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Task & Finish Reviews - Draft Scoping Documents To consider any scoping documents provided for possible Overview and Scrutiny review.
(No reports attached)
Minutes: There were no draft scoping documents on this occasion. |
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Task and Finish Groups - Progress Reports To consider progress to date on the current reviews against the terms set by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
The current reviews in progress are:
1. Role of the Mayor Task and Finish Group – Chair – Councillor M Chalk; and
2. Third Sector Funding Task and Finish Group – Chair – Councillor D Thomas.
(Oral reports) Minutes: The Committee considered update reports in relation to current reviews.
The following oral reports were given:
a) The Role of the Mayor Task and Finish Group
In the absence of Councillor Chalk, Officers provided an update for this item. The Committee were informed that the Group had held their second meeting where they had interviewed the Mayor’s Secretary about current arrangements for the Mayor. Officers also reported that at this meeting the Group had decided that they would like to interview past Mayors from other local authorities in Worcestershire. Officers were in the process of organising interviews to take place in September.
b) Third Sector Task and Finish Group
Councillor Thomas reported that the Group had undertaken their
third and fourth meetings. At the third
meeting, members of the Group had interviewed the Council’s
three Party Group Leaders. The
objective of these interviews was to clarify the Council’s
purpose for giving out grants and donations. Councillor Thomas explained that at this meeting,
the Group discovered that the Council had not officially signed up
to the Worcestershire Compact, as the Council had not been
officially represented at the relevant meeting of the Compact
Group. Councillor Thomas explained that, at their fourth meeting, the Group had interviewed the Acting Borough Director about the Council’s purpose for giving out grants and donations. The Group had decided to interview other comparable local authorities that had reviewed their procedures for allocating grants and donations. The Group had decided to interview Officers from Gloucester City Council and from Worcestershire County Council. In the case of other comparable local authorities that were located too far away for interviews to be practical, a list of questions was to be sent to relevant Officers to complete.
The Committee was informed that, at the next meeting of the Group, Councillor Thomas and co-opted member Ann Sowton were due to present information to the Group on how to work towards an “outcomes focus”. In addition, the Group were due to compile a list of questions for their interview with Officers from Gloucester City Council and other comparable local authorities.
RESOLVED that
the Task and Finish Group reports be noted. |
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Joint Scrutiny Exercise on Flooding
(Oral report)
Minutes: Officers provided an update on the ongoing Joint Scrutiny Exercise on Flooding. The Committee was informed that the final report was currently being drafted and circulated amongst members of the Scrutiny Group. Once this was completed, the report would be presented to each of the District authorities’ Overview and Scrutiny Committees. It was anticipated that Worcestershire County Council and each District authority would follow their own processes in consideration of the report at the Overview and Scrutiny stage and in submission to their Executives.
RESOLVED that
the report be noted. |
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Jobs, Employment and Economy – review of scrutiny report To consider the Jobs, Employment and Economy Scrutiny Review and t determine whether any further work needs to be undertaken.
(Report attached) Minutes: The Committee considered a review of previous Overview and Scrutiny work in the area of Economic Development.
At a previous Committee meeting in March, members of the Committee had outlined several points for further scrutiny on issues relating to economic development. Officers explained that these points had been listed in the Actions List under Action Three. The first point had requested that the Jobs, Economy, and Employment report produced by the old Leisure, Tourism and Economy Overview and Scrutiny Committee be re-circulated for consideration at a future meeting of the Committee. Officers explained that Members needed to decide what action, if any, they wished to take on the remaining points for further scrutiny.
Officers explained that a report was due to be considered at a meeting of the Executive Committee on the 3rd of September. This report focused on presenting draft economic development priorities for the Council. The Committee was informed that many of the findings contained within the Jobs, Economy and Employment Scrutiny Report had been taken into account and that the Scrutiny report was appended to the report to the Executive Committee. Members of the Committee decided that, as issues of economic development were due to be presented to the Executive Committee, no further action was required on this item.
RESOLVED that
1) no further action be taken at the present time with regard to the scrutiny of economic development; and
2) the report be noted. |
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Quarterly Performance Monitoring April - June 2008 To consider the Council’s performance report data for the first quarter of the year.
(Report attached) Additional documents: Minutes: The Committee
considered the first quarter performance monitoring report.
Members requested clarification on how indicator NI191 ‘residual household waste per household’ was measured. Officers responded that this indicator was measured in kilograms per household. Officers offered to clarify this in the indicator description. Members also queried the ‘Target’ column. Officers confirmed that this column referred to the annual targets for each of the indicators. Officers explained they would adjust the title of the column to reflect this.
RESOLVED that
1) Officers amend the Performance Monitoring Report as set out in the preamble above; and
2) the report be noted.
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Quarterly Budget Monitoring April - June 2008 To consider the Council’s budget report data for the first quarter of the year. (Report to follow) Additional documents:
Minutes: The first quarter
budget monitoring report was considered by the Committee.
RESOLVED that
the Quarterly Budget Monitoring report be noted. |
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Referrals
Minutes: The Committee
considered a referral from Councillor Hicks about an issue that had
arisen at a recent Winyates PACT meeting.
Officers advised that, as the wider Anti-Social Behaviour service area was so large, any such scrutiny would need to be extremely focused to concentrate on neighbour nuisance. The Committee decided that it wished to receive further information from Councillor Hicks regarding this proposed review.
RESOLVED that
Councillor Hicks be invited to submit a scoping document for consideration at a future meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. |