Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 3 Town Hall. View directions

Contact: J Bayley  Democratic Services Officer

Items
No. Item

37.

Apologies and named substitutes

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Matthew Dormer, Pattie Hill and Gareth Prosser with Councillors David Thain, Natalie Brookes and Roger Bennett present as substitutes respectively.

 

38.

Declarations of interest and of Party Whip

To invite Councillors to declare any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests and / or Other Disclosable Interests they may have in items on the agenda, and to confirm the nature of those interests, and any Party Whip.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest nor of any party whip.

 

39.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 295 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED that

 

the minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 7th September 2017 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

 

40.

Local Discretionary Relief Scheme - Pre-Scrutiny (Revenue Services Manager) pdf icon PDF 86 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Financial Support Manager introduced the report and in so doing explained to Members that the last revaluation had taken place in April 2010 and that the 2017 revaluation resulted in a number of businesses at a national level facing large increases to their liability.  The Government had therefore provided local authorities with funding in order that they might design their own local schemes to support rate payers facing any such increases.

 

The scheme had been designed to ensure that the costs of relief remained within the allocated funding whilst maximising support for those eligible.  The exact criteria was detailed within the report and included the ratepayer occupying fewer than four hereditaments within England, occupying the premises for ordinary commercial business and not using the premises for an excluded purpose.  The expected costs were also detailed within the report. 

 

Following presentation of the report Members raised a number of points which were discussed in more detail:

 

·                Whether from the modelling there were sufficient funds available to cover the costs of the relief.  The Financial Support Manager confirmed that the scheme had been designed to maximise support.

·                The types of excluded premises.

·                Air B&B premises and any future inclusion.  The Financial Support Manager explained that bed and breakfast premises were rateable when accommodation for six or more people was provided.

 

Following further discussion the Committee

 

RECOMMENDED that

 

1)        the criteria for allocation of Discretionary Revaluation support as appended to the report at appendix 1 are adopted; and

 

2)        the Executive Director of Finance is provided with delegated authority, after consultation with the relevant Portfolio Holder and leader of the opposition, to adjust the percentage relief awarded in years 2018/19 and onwards in order to ensure that the maximum level of support is provided to businesses and that the Government funding meets the overall costs of the relief.

 

41.

Staff Survey Joint Scrutiny Task Group - Final Report (Councillor Jane Potter) pdf icon PDF 140 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair, as Vice Chair of the Staff Survey Joint Task Group, delivered a short presentation which covered the following areas:

 

·                Background information – it was highlighted that this had been the first piece of joint working between the scrutiny functions of both Bromsgrove and Redditch.

·                The staff survey had been an area of concern, particularly at Bromsgrove over a number of years, and it was noted that little progress appeared to have been made since the first survey was carried out in 2013.

·                The recommendations had focused in particular on the importance of staff being aware of Members’ concerns and desire to ensure that staff were being listened to and actions were being put in place to address the concerns which had been raised.  It was also important for staff to understand that Members would monitor those actions.

·                The group had acknowledged the importance of joint working and that the Performance Scrutiny Working Group (in Redditch) and Measures Dashboard Working Group (in Bromsgrove) would work together to ensure that performance management processes and performance targets were considered jointly.

·                A number of observations and conclusions and had been reached including the need to ensure that 1-2-1s and team meetings took place regularly and that communication and the aims of a team were clear at all levels.

·                The need to ensure that the corporate dashboard was fit for purpose and accessible, particularly to Members – it was noted that improvements had been made and that Members were able to access the dashboard more readily.

·                It was questioned whether the strategic purposes continued to be relevant, particularly as each Council had very different demographics, and whether these should be realigned to each Council.

 

Following the presentation, it was

 

RESOLVED that

 

1)        a Member of the Overview and Scrutiny function be appointed to the role of Leader Councillor for Supporting Staff;

2)        a quarterly update on the Programme Board’s Action Plan be received by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee; and

3)        the Performance Scrutiny (RBC) and Measures Dashboard (BDS) Working Groups’ terms of reference be updated to include an area covering performance management processes, performance targets and objective setting across both authorities.

 

RECOMMENDED that

 

the Lead Councillor for Supporting Staff and the relevant Portfolio Holder from each Council assist in the formulation of all future staff surveys and attend staff briefings.

 

Following further discussion it was agreed that the appointment of a Lead Councillor for Supporting Staff would be deferred until the next meeting in order for Members to consider whether they would like to put their names forward for this role. Members were asked to contact the Senior Democratic Services Officer and the Chair of the Committee if they wished to be considered for this role.

42.

Executive Committee Minutes and Scrutiny of the Executive Committee's Work Programme - Selecting Items for Scrutiny pdf icon PDF 407 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the minutes from the Executive Committee meeting held on 12th September 2017.

 

Officers provided an update on a number of amendments to the Work Programme which had been recently published.  Following a brief discussion it was agreed that no further items would be added to the Committee’s own work programme for pre-scrutiny.

43.

Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme pdf icon PDF 182 KB

Minutes:

The Deputy Chief Executive took the opportunity to discuss with Members a workshop which had been planned in conjunction with the Chair in respect of the Strategic Housing Intervention for the strategic purpose ‘help me find somewhere to live in my locality’. The aim of the workshop would be to cover a range of issues, in order to look at how Members could be involved in the intervention and the priorities which need to be addressed.  It was important to ensure that all groups affected were involved in the process.

 

The session would be held on 14th November 2017 at 6.30 pm and the Committee agreed that all Members should be invited.  It was confirmed that, prior to the meeting an agenda and information pack wold be provided.  The Chair encouraged all Members to attend.

 

44.

Scrutiny Task Groups, Short Sharp Reviews and Working Groups - Update Reports

 

a)    Budget Scrutiny Working Group – Chair Councillor Jane Potter

b)    Civil Contingencies Review – Chair, Councillor Gareth Prosser

c)    Mental Health Services for young People – Chair, Councillor Nina Wood-Ford

d)    Performance Scrutiny Working Group – Chair, Councillor Matthew Dormer

Minutes:

Budget Scrutiny Working Group

 

Councillor Potter, as Chair of the Working Group, confirmed that at the previous meeting the group had discussed the work of the Contracts Working Group with the Head of Legal and Democratic Services, which had covered how contracts were organised and handled.  The group’s next meeting would look at quarterly budgets for all areas.

 

Civil Contingencies Review

 

In the absence of Councillor Prosser, the Chair of this Review, officers gave a brief update advising that a number of meetings had been held at which information in respect of the Emergency Plan and Rest Centres had been considered.  Arrangements to meet with a number of representatives form key responders had been arranged including representatives from Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust (WAHT) and Worcestershire County Council.

 

Mental Health Services for Young People

 

Councillor Wood-Ford, as the Chair of this group, advised that despite contacting all schools in the area with a survey in respect of Personal, Social, Health and Economic PSHE services unfortunately no schools had responded.  Therefore Councillor Wood-Ford proposed that no further action should be taken on this matter.

 

Performance Scrutiny Working Group

 

In the absence of Councillor Dormer, Chair of the Working Group, officers provided an update and advised that a different approach had been adopted since September and the group were looking at each strategic purpose and the measures which underpinned them in turn.  This had led to a number of questions and concerns being raised and where appropriate additional information was being requested from officers, either in writing or through attendance at meetings. 

 

45.

External Scrutiny Bodies (Councillor Wood-Ford)

a)        West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) Overview and Scrutiny Committee; and

b)        Worcestershire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC)

Minutes:

a)    West Midlands Combined Authority Overview and Scrutiny Committee

 

Councillor Wood-Ford confirmed that there had not been a meeting of this Committee since her last update.

 

b)    Worcestershire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC)

 

Councillor Wood-Ford informed Members that at the HOSC’s most recent meeting the new Chief Executive and Commissioning Manager had attended and responded to questions from Members.  She had raised the issue of the number of nursing vacancies being at 10%.  It was believed that this was the figure which was given when all vacancies were filled.  The Chief Executive and Commissioning Manager had offered to provide additional information.  Councillor Wood-Ford had commented that if all vacancies were now filled then consideration should be given to returning the maternity function back to the Alexandra Hospital.

 

46.

Exclusion of the press and public

Should it be necessary, in the opinion of the Chief Executive, during the course of the meeting to consider excluding the public from the meeting on the grounds that exempt information is likely to be divulged, it may be necessary to move the following resolution:

“That, under S.100 (A) (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following matter(s) on the grounds that it/they involve(s) the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the relevant paragraphs (to be specified) of Part 1 of Schedule 12 (A) of the said Act”.

 

These paragraphs are as follows:

Subject to the “public interest” test, information relating to:

·           Para 3 -  financial or business affairs

·         Para 4 -  labour relations matters;

·           Para 7 - the prevention, investigation or prosecution of crime;

                     and may need to be considered as ‘exempt’.

 

 

Minutes:

RESOLVED that

 

under S.100 I of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following matters on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12 (A) of the said Act, as amended:

 

Minute 47 – Future Leisure Service Provision.

 

47.

Future Leisure Service Provision (Councillor Potter and the Executive Director of Finance and Corporate Resources) pdf icon PDF 1 MB

During consideration of this item Members will consider the following two reports regarding future operating arrangements for Leisure and Cultural Services:

 

a)        Leisure Service Provision Short Sharp Review – final report and presentation

b)        Leisure and Cultural Services Options Review – report and presentation (attached)

 

Based on consideration of both reports Members will be asked to consider whether to make any recommendations regarding the future delivery of Leisure and Cultural Services to the Executive Committee.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed Mr Steve Morton and Mr Chris Malkin from V4 who gave a presentation in respect of Management Options for Leisure and Cultural Services.  She explained that the majority of the presentation would be in public session, but for commercial reasons the final three slides would need to be considered in private session.

 

Mr Morton thanked Members for being given the opportunity to present V4’s findings and advised that the presentation was an overview of the full report which Members could find within their agenda packs. The presentation (attached at appendix 1) covered a number of key areas including:

 

·                Background information in respect of V4 and the experience of the company in this field, which included successfully facilitating the establishment of 23 new operating models across the UK for local authorities. 

·                A client base which included the public sector – Councils, the NHS and social enterprises, together with private sector clients.

·                Details of the specific requirements of the Council, which were typical of those of any local authority, with the key drivers being “more people more active” and efficiency savings whilst ensuring staff protection.

·                The response rate to the consultation which had been carried out by the Council, which showed the high level of interest among local residents.

·                The scope of work that V4 had worked to – this included which model would best meet the needs of the Council, what was possible within the new procurement regulations, the potential financial savings of each model and the best fit to make it work for the future.

·                How future arrangements could meet the Council’s strategic purpose ‘provide good things for me to see, do and visit’, which brought with it competing and complementary issues.  It was highlighted that it was the Council’s decision as to how that balance would be achieved.

·                Options available – this was broken down into two categories, Council controlled and Outsourced.  Details were provided in respect of each option.

·                The criteria and weightings which had been applied to each option as part of the work that had been carried out.

·                By applying those weightings the option which was best suited to the needs of the Council based on the information V4 had been provided with was a Local Authority Trading Company (LATC).

·                An LATC would satisfy the bulk of the needs of the Council.  The other 3 options were of a similar score, with the LATC being 15% higher than these.

 

[During consideration of this item Members discussed matters that necessitated the disclosure of exempt information. It was therefore agreed to exclude the press and public during the debate on the grounds that information would be revealed which relates to the financial and business affairs of the local authority].

 

48.

Crime and Disorder Scrutiny Panel - Chair's Update (Councillor Matthew Dormer) pdf icon PDF 262 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

In the absence of the Chair of the Crime and Disorder Scrutiny Panel officers advised that the Minutes of the most recent meeting of the Panel had been attached for information.  If there were any areas which Members required further information on it was suggested that they contact the Chair, Councillor Matthew Dormer or the Senior Democratic Services Officer.

 

Appendix 1 Leisure Presentation - public pdf icon PDF 1 MB

Additional documents: