Agenda and minutes

Venue: Virtual Meeting - Skype - Virtual. View directions

Contact: J Gresham  Democratic Services Officer

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies and named substitutes

Minutes:

There were no apologies for absence.

2.

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.

3.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 410 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED that

 

the minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on Thursday 4th June 2020 be approved as a true and correct record and signed by the Chair.

4.

Public Speaking

To invite members of the public who have registered in advance of the meeting to speak to the Committee.

 

Minutes:

There were no registered public speakers on this occasion.

5.

Redditch Community Lottery - Update pdf icon PDF 469 KB

Minutes:

The Redditch Partnership Manager introduced the Redditch Community Lottery Update and in doing so highlighted the following:

 

·         the timeline of activity

·         the promotional channels of the lottery including the use of social media and local newspapers and the impact of Covid-19 on the promotion of the lottery

·         the percentage split of each lottery ticket purchased

 

Councillor Dormer, Portfolio Holder for Planning, Economic Development, Commercialism and Partnerships thanked officers for their hard work on setting up the Redditch Community Lottery.

 

There was a lengthy discussion regarding the figures that were presented in the report and whether they were as expected. The Redditch Partnership Manager explained that the operator of the lottery, Gatherwell Ltd, had indicated that they were in line with their expectations. It was requested that the Redditch Partnership Manager review the figures provided and report back to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at a later date.

 

In addition, Members requested future updates on the following: -

 

·         What were the average number of tickets sold per week?

·         What was the average cash pay out to the organisations per week?

·         Was the Council expected to meet the target?

·         How did the Council keep the lottery in residents’ minds?

·         What areas of Redditch have most of the ticket sales come from including the demographics?

 

Members requested a breakdown of the charities and the amount each had received in order to understand the differing amounts that had been awarded. The Head of Community and Housing Services reported that organisations promoted to their customers and some were more effective at raising support. As many organisations had not been able to meet during the Covid-19 Lockdown this might have had an impact on their ability to promote the lottery.

 

At this point the Chair moved to make a recommendation to the Executive Committee. The recommendation was as follows: -

 

“That the Executive Committee

 

review the financial implications to the Council in terms of costs and viability of continuing with the Redditch Community Lottery”

On being put to the vote the proposal was agreed.

 

RESOLVED that

 

the Executive Committee review the financial implications to the Council in terms of costs and viability of continuing with the Redditch Community Lottery.

 

 

6.

Dementia - Task Group pdf icon PDF 206 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor Chalk presented a scoping document to investigate Dementia within the Borough. In doing so, the following was highlighted: -

 

·         The length of the review – Members agreed that the investigation might take longer than six months and that more meetings might be needed.

·         The ageing population and the increase in numbers of people diagnosed with dementia

·         The different types of dementia

·         Services provided to those diagnosed with dementia and their families and how to access these services

 

During consideration of this item there was a discussion about whether the relevant Portfolio Holder should be invited to attend meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee when scoping documents were considered.  Members requested that this matter be referred to the Monitoring Officer after the meeting for further consideration.

 

RESOLVED that

 

1)    a Dementia Task Group be launched; and

 

2)    Councillor Chalk be appointed to Chair the group.

7.

Executive Committee Minutes and Scrutiny of the Executive Committee's Work Programme - Selecting Items for Scrutiny pdf icon PDF 436 KB

The minutes of the meeting of the Executive Committee held on Tuesday 9th June 2020 have been attached for Members’ consideration.

 

The next edition of the Executive Committee’s work programme is due to be published on 1st July 2020 after the publication of the agenda for this meeting.  Therefore the Executive Work Programme will be provided for Members’ consideration in an Additional Papers Pack for this meeting.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

During consideration of this item Members discussed the content of the Executive Committee’s Work Programme for the period 1st July to 30th  November 2020. The Suicide Prevention Task Group Report, which was due to be considered at the meeting of the Executive Committee on Tuesday 4th August 2020 was added to the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme. As this item was due to be considered before the next scheduled meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee it was decided that an extra meeting would be needed and Members agreed that this meeting would take place on Thursday 30th July 2020.

 

It was explained that the Financial Outturn report for 2019/20 would be scrutinised at the next Budget Scrutiny Working Group meeting. In addition to this item, it was requested that the Homelessness Grant be scrutinised at the Budget Scrutiny Working Group and then brought to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

 

Members also considered the minutes from the meeting of the Executive Committee held on Tuesday 9th June 2020 when the Parking Enforcement Task Group report was considered. It was explained that the majority of recommendations were endorsed by the Executive Committee with the exception of one recommendation where the wording had been slightly amended.

 

RESOLVED that

 

1)         the minutes of the meeting of the Executive Committee held on 9th June 2020 be noted; and

 

2)         the content of the Executive Committee’s Work Programme for the period 1st July to 31st November 2020 be noted.

 

 

8.

Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme pdf icon PDF 265 KB

Minutes:

The content of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s Work Programme was considered by Members. It was confirmed that the extra meeting due to be held on 30th July 2020 would be added to the Work Programme and the Suicide Prevention Task Group report item included.

 

RESOLVED that

 

the content of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s Work Programme be noted.

 

 

9.

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

a)        Budget Scrutiny Working Group – Chair, Councillor Wheeler

 

b)        Performance Scrutiny Working Group – Chair, Andrew Fry

 

c)         Suicide Prevention Scrutiny Task Group – Update provided by Councillor Baker

Minutes:

The following updates were provided in respect of the work of scrutiny Task Groups and Working Groups:

 

a)    Budget Scrutiny Working Group – Chair, Councillor Jenny Wheeler

 

Councillor Wheeler informed members that the first meeting of the municipal year had been arranged for Monday 13th July 2020 at 6pm.The Head of Environmental and Housing Property Services was to be invited and an overview of how the Budget Scrutiny Working Group operated would be discussed.

 

b)    Performance Scrutiny Working Group – Chair, Councillor Andrew Fry

 

Councillor Fry explained that the first meeting of the new municipal year was still to be arranged.

 

c)    Suicide Prevention Task Group

 

Councillor Baker explained that there were recommendations to be put forward to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at the next meeting.

 

10.

External Scrutiny Bodies - Update Reports

 

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

 

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

Minutes:

Councillor Chalk informed members that he had not attended the latest West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) Overview and Scrutiny meeting. However, he would contact them in order to obtain the minutes and would provide a detailed update from both this and the Worcestershire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee at the next Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting.