Agenda and minutes
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Apologies Additional documents: Minutes: Apologies were received from Councillor Roly Hughes. |
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Substitute Members To note details of any substitution arrangements in place for the Meeting. Additional documents: Minutes: There were no substitute members. |
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To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 1st February. Additional documents: Minutes: The Chair commended the minutes of the previous meeting, highlighting that they believed them to strike a good balance of political neutrality.
Members suggested an amendment to the minutes, on page seven;
“(c) The matter does not require a Full Council decision, that there are sufficient grounds to refer it to Council and a request is therefore made for it to be added to the next Council agenda”
Should read:
“(c) The matter does not
require a Full Council decision
RESOLVED: To approve the minutes as an accurate record of the meeting held on the 1st of February, subject to the amendments being made.
Voting record- For 6, abstentions 2, absent 1*
*Councillor Patrick Coleman arrived to the meeting after this item of business and therefore did not vote on the minutes.
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Declarations of Interest To receive any declarations of interest from Members and Officers, relating to items to be considered at the meeting. Additional documents: Minutes: Cllr Claire Bloomer declared that she was a member of the Cirencester Food Pantry. The Chair advised that this interest did not explicitly relate to an agenda item, but welcomed any additional knowledge that came along with it. |
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Chair's Announcements Additional documents: Minutes: The Chair decided to take this item at the end of the meeting.
Although not on the agenda, Councillor Cunningham updated the Committee on the work of the Employment Policies Task and Finish Group at the Chair’s Discretion. He stated that the body of work was larger than initially envisaged, and that the work had been finished but the recent industrial action had slowed the consultation process with trade unions down. An update will be provided early into the next political cycle.
The Chief Executive noted that this was the last meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the political cycle and thanked the committee for its work and robust scrutiny.
The Chair reciprocated this thought, and thanked members for their diligence. The Chair remembered the late Councillor Theodoulou, who had not sat on the Committee for the last year, but had done so for many years prior, providing salient commentary. |
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Public Questions To deal with questions from the public within the open forum question and answer session of fifteen minutes in total. Questions from each member of the public should be no longer than one minute each and relate to issues under the Council’s remit. At any one meeting no person may submit more than two questions and no more than two such questions may be asked on behalf of one organisation.
The Chair will ask whether any members of the public present at the meeting wish to ask a question and will decide on the order of questioners.
The response may take the form of:
a) a direct oral answer; b) where the desired information is in a publication of the Council or other published work, a reference to that publication; or c) where the reply cannot conveniently be given orally, a written answer circulated later to the questioner. Additional documents: Minutes: There were no public questions. |
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Member Questions To deal with written questions by Members, relating to issues under the Committee’s remit, with the maximum length of oral supplementary questions at Committee being no longer than one minute. Responses to any supplementary questions will be dealt with in writing if they cannot be dealt with at the meeting. Additional documents: Minutes: There were no member questions. |
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Council Priority and Service Performance Report 2022-23 Q3 (30 minutes) Purpose To provide an update on progress on the Council’s priorities and service performance
Recommendation That the Committee notes overall progress on the Council priorities and service delivery for 2022-23 Q3 Additional documents:
Minutes: The Chair highlighted that there were two aspects to the item, the Council Priority and Service Performance Report included in the report pack, and the Q3 Finance Performance Report, which had been circulated as part of the updated supplementary pack. The Chair therefore invited the Committee consider them separately.
Council Priority and Service Performance Report
The purpose of the item was to provide the committee with an update on progress on the Council’s priorities and service performance.
The Chief Executive introduced the report. The Chief Executive highlighted Local Government Association peer review which had taken place in October, and that the recommendations, such as performance indicators would be implemented in future reports. The Chief Executive highlighted the key findings of the report;
Before inviting the committee to comment, the Chair reminded the committee of the pre-election period and the resultant need for the Committee to refrain from any political remarks.
The Committee asked for further detail regarding missed bins. The Chief Executive answered that this was caused by extreme weather, and were therefore not missed through any human error.
The Committee asked for a number of specific details, which the Chief Executive explained he would circulate following the details after the meeting;
The Committee congratulated David Morren on his work in his time as Interim Development Manager and asked what Publica’s plans were for making this role permanent. The Chief Executive explained that Publica was recruiting an Assistant Director for Planning and Strategic Housing, and that once this person was in post, they would recruit a permanent Development Manager.
The Committee commented on the change of circumstances affecting Council tax support, as referenced in the report and wanted to know how the Council dealt with instances where individuals had been overpaid Council tax ... view the full minutes text for item OS.248 |
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Task and Finish Group - Performance Management and Reporting (30 Minutes) Purpose To provide the Overview and Scrutiny Committee with an update on progress for Phase 1 of the Task and Finish Group’s Work.
Recommendation(s) That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee: 1. Notes and scrutinises the update contained within this report. 2. Recommends to Cabinet to develop and adopt performance indicators related to the areas included at Section 2.6 of this report; and work with Overview and Scrutiny to develop a programme for Phase 2 of this review Additional documents: Minutes: Councillor Coleman as Chair of the Task and Finish Group thanked the Business Manager for Resources, Data and Growth on their work on this.
The Business Manager introduced the item, highlighting that phase one had been undertaken, which identified quick fixes to the suite of indicators, and ensuring that all areas of the corporate plan were looked at.
Members discussed whether indicators on leisure centre use would be included, the Business Manager highlighted that this would be included in the recommendations to the incoming Cabinet, but the Assistant Director for Property and Regeneration added that the scope should be limited to areas within the Council’s control.
Members asked that the incoming Chair look at the indicators upon completion of the work, to highlight a small number (around two or three) which would simplify the Committee’s work in scrutinising performance.
RESOLVED: That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee: 1. NOTE the update and endorse recommendations contained within this report. 2. RECOMMEND TO CABINET to develop and adopt performance indicators related to the areas included at Section 2.6 of this report; and work with Overview and Scrutiny to develop a programme for Phase 2 of this review.
Voting Record- For 9, Against 0, Abstentions 0, Absent 1
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Update on Informal Work Planning Meeting (15 Minutes) Purpose To review the notes from the informal work planning meeting, which took place on the 1st of March.
Recommendation To note the work planning meeting discussion and recommend the provisional work plan to the new Committee (to follow). Additional documents: Minutes: The purpose of the item was to provide an update from the informal work planning Meeting held on 1 of March for members who were not in attendance and to discuss and recommend the work plan to the incoming committee.
The Assistant Director for Properties and Regeneration, in their capacity as the Locality Lead, introduced the item. The Assistant Director summarised the meeting, explaining that a number of items were looked at including the scrutiny process, pre-decision scrutiny, a time limit on the length of meetings, and that the Committee underwent a thorough process in prioritising work plan items to recommend to the next committee in the new political cycle.
Pre-decision scrutiny was highlighted, as attendants at the informal meeting felt that if it had been in place, it could have prevented the recent call-in of a Cabinet decision. The Committee felt that pre-decision scrutiny was a positive step.
The Committee commented that the planning committee process for deciding which applications to consider was a worthwhile topic to review in the new year, and welcomed its inclusion on the work programme, but noted that this was up to the new Committee to decide on.
The Assistant Director advised that the incoming Committee in June should explore these topics in more detail, in order to look at topics such as heritage assets, which were mentioned at the meeting.
RESOLVED: To note the work planning meeting discussion and recommend the provisional work plan to the new Committee
Voting record For 8, Against 0, Abstentions 0, Absent 1*
*As Councillor Coleman had left the meeting at this point, he did not vote. |