Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Ashley and Holz.

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.

Councillor Marshall declared that she was a member of the Executive Committee at the time Section 24 Notice was issued to Redditch Borough Council. It was noted that the nature of the interest declared did not preclude Councillor Marshall from full participation in the discussion, and voting on, any of the items on the meeting’s agenda.

There were no other declarations of interest or of party whip.

The minutes of the meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 23^rd February 2023 and 16^th March 2023 will be considered at this meeting.

The minutes of the meetings held on 23^rd February and 16^th March 2023 were submitted for Members’ consideration.

RESOLVED that

the Minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meetings held on 23^rd February and 16^th March 2023 be approved as a true record and signed by the Chair.

To invite members of the public who have registered in advance of the meeting to address the Committee. Please note that the deadline to register to speak at this meeting is 12 noon on Tuesday 6^th June 2023.

There were no registered public speakers on this occasion.

This report will follow in an Additional Papers pack once the report has been published for consideration of the Executive Committee (due for publication on Monday 5^th June 2023).

The Deputy Chief Executive Officer provided an overview of the report on Corporate Peer Challenge – Action Plan and in doing so explained what happened during the Peer Review Challenge visit that took place at the Council between 7^th and 10^th March 2023 and presented the feedback report from the Local Government Association (LGA) Peer Review team on the Peer Review visit. This feedback included six key recommendations for the Council, which were as follows:

1.     The council needs to review its strategic priorities and realign resources accordingly.

2.     The organisation should consider a governance review to improve decision-making.

3.     Embed the 2022-2026 Workforce Strategy and develop an action plan which needs to be implemented at pace.

4.     Agile working principles and policies need to be implemented consistently.

5.     Ensure the Section 24 Notice and Interim Annual Audit Report recommendations are fully implemented.

6.     Use engagement, shared values, and improved processes to create a positive democratic culture.

It was explained that Appendix B to the main report provided the Council’s response and action plan against each of the six key recommendations. These responses had been submitted for the Executive Committee to consider alongside supporting action plans included at Appendices C to G.

It was reiterated that Members views were particularly sought as to what, if anything, else the Council should do to address Recommendations 2 and 6

(Appendix D).

Following the main presentation, Members had the opportunity to make comments and question the Officers in attendance. The following comments and suggestions were made by Members, and responses provided by Officers:

·       It was reiterated that residents, elected members, local partners from public and private sectors, and members of staff all had the opportunity to take part in the peer review. There were resident, elected member, and staff focus groups to facilitate participation from these groups. In total, the peer team gathered information and views from around 55 meetings and spoke to over 130 people over the course of the peer review for Redditch and Bromsgrove Councils.

·       It was raised by some Members that consideration should be given to altering the dates of Overview and Scrutiny meetings so that they aligned better with dates of Executive Committee meetings, thereby enabling Members of Overview and Scrutiny to have maximum possible time period to access Executive Committee papers that had been chosen for pre-scrutiny.

·       It was explained that for the purposes of the Council agile working was defined as the ability of staff to work from different locations, and that as part of the strategy indicators to monitor customer/resident experience were being developed. Progress on this would be reported to Council on a quarterly basis.

·       With regards to procuring external support to implement the six key recommendations, it was explained that support from LGA was available, and the Council already paid a subscription so there would be no additional cost implication. A support could also be sought, if required, from the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny (CfGS), and based on anecdotal evidence  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The next edition of the Executive Work Programme, due to be published on 2^nd June 2023, will be provided in an Additional Papers pack for this meeting.

The Committee requested that the following items from the Executive Committee’s Work Programme be added as pre-scrutiny items to the Committee’s Work Programme:

·       Playing Pitch and Built Facilities Strategies

·       Parking Enforcement Service Level Agreement

·       Matchborough and Winyates Regeneration Proposals

·       Decarbonisation of the Council Fleet

·       Carbon Reduction Strategy – Annual Review

·       Review of Governance Arrangements for Rubicon Leisure Limited

·       Future Plans for Auxerre House.

In addition, it was requested that the following items from the Executive Work Programme be referred to the Budget Scrutiny Working Group for its consideration:

·       Treasury Outturn Report 22/23

·       Draft Council Tax Support Scheme 2024/25

·       HRA Rent Setting 2024/25.

RESOLVED that

the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme be updated with items from the Executive Committee’s Work Programme as per the pre-amble above.

The Democratic Services Officer explained that there had been a number of items identified by Members for inclusion in the Committee’s work programme during the overview and scrutiny training event held on 5^th June 2023. The suggestions made by Members at the training event would be considered as an agenda item at the next meeting of Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 20^th July 2023.

RESOLVED that

the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme be noted.

a)          Budget Scrutiny Working Group – Chair, Councillor Kane

b)          Performance Scrutiny Working Group – Chair, Councillor Holz

c)           Consideration of any outstanding Task Groups – All Councillors

Updates on Task Groups and Working Groups were provided as follows:

a)    Budget Scrutiny Working Group – Chair, Councillor Kane

Councillor Kane reported that a number of meetings of the Working Group had now been scheduled.

b)    Performance Scrutiny Working Group – Chair, Councillor Holz

As Councillor Holz had submitted his apologies, he could not provide an update. It was reported, however, that meeting dates for this Working Group had now been arranged.

c)     Consideration of any outstanding Task Groups – All Councillors

Members present agreed that the Bulky Waste and Fly Tipping Task Group should be launched and undertaken in the first instance.

RESOLVED that

the Task Groups, Short Sharp Reviews and Working Groups Update Reports be noted

a)          West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) Overview and Scrutiny Committee – Council representative, Councillor Marshall; and

b)          Worcestershire County Council Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) – Council representative, Councillor Marshall.

Councillor Marshall provided an update in respect of External Scrutiny Bodies and in doing so that no meetings of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) Overview and Scrutiny or the Worcestershire County Council Health Overview and Scrutiny (HOSC) had yet taken place in this municipal year.

Councillor Marshall thanked the previous long-time representative on external scrutiny bodies, former Councillor Michael Chalk, for his regular written reports that were considered at meetings of this Committee. She undertook to similarly provide written updates in advance of the Committee meetings.

RESOLVED that

the External Scrutiny Bodies updates be noted.