Agenda and draft minutes

To receive details of any apologies or substitutions for the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Committee Members Cllr Tony Jackson, Gordon King, Cllr Tom Rounds and Cllr Robert MacNaughton.

The following substitutions had taken place with Cllr Jacqui Lay attending the meeting in place of Cllr Tony Jackson.

Cabinet Members: Cllr Laura Mayes, Cllr Jane Davies, Cllr Nick Holder and Cllr Ashley O’Neill.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 13 February 2025.

The minutes of the meeting held on 13 February 2025 were presented for consideration, and it was;

Resolved:

To approve and sign as a true and correct record of the minutes of the meeting held on 13 February 2025.

To receive any declarations of disclosable interests or dispensations granted by the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive any announcements through the Chair.

The Chairman thanked the Democratic Services and Scrutiny teams for the support that they had provided as well as the Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen of the Select Committees who had enabled quality scrutiny to take place.

The Council welcomes contributions from members of the public.

Statements

If you would like to make a statement at this meeting on any item on this agenda, please register to do so at least 10 minutes prior to the meeting. Up to 3 speakers are permitted to speak for up to 3 minutes each on any agenda item. Please contact the officer named on the front of the agenda for any further clarification.

Questions

To receive any questions from members of the public or members of the Council received in accordance with the constitution.

Those wishing to ask questions are required to give notice of any such questions in writing to the officer named on the front of this agenda no later than 5pm on Thursday 6 March 2025 in order to be guaranteed of a written response. In order to receive a verbal response, questions must be submitted no later than 5pmon Monday 10 March 2025. Please contact the officer named on the front of this agenda for further advice. Questions may be asked without notice if the Chairman decides that the matter is urgent.

Details of any questions received will be circulated to Committee members prior to the meeting and made available at the meeting and on the Council’s website.

There were no questions or statements submitted by members of the public.

Cllr David Vigar, Member of the Health Select Committee, was present at the meeting in order to raise a point regarding the savings listed within Budget Papers. Cllr Vigar suggested that the wording of the savings included within the Budget Papers were generic and vague, which made them difficult to understand with examples of savings within Adult Social Care cited. Cllr Vigar stated that as such savings impacted some of the most vulnerable members of society, great care should be taken and that more meaningful explanations of savings within the Budget would be appreciated.

Cllr Johnny Kidney, Chairman of the Health Select Committee, noted that it had been resolved during the subsequent Health Select Committee meeting that a briefing would be received from Cllr Jane Davies, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, SEND and Inclusion on the matter. The Chairman also noted that the Committee would later in the agenda discuss a proposal for a Finance Select Committee, which could also include a discussion regarding the level of detailed information available to Overview and Scrutiny.

Committee Members also discussed the point raised, with it noted that there was a tight timeframe to scrutinise proposed budgets with various other factors such as government announcements for funding and the confirmation of the council tax base having a role. The level of detail within the budget papers was also discussed with an example of a post being deleted in year, which had been detailed at a high level within the papers. Reference was also made to how previous budgets had had a “daybook” which provided a clear summary of proposed savings. The Leader also suggested that sometimes it wasn’t possible to include explanations of savings within the budget paper itself and that these would potentially require discussions in Part 2 of meetings due to potential contract details.

The Chairman thanked Cllr Vigar for attending the meeting in order to raise the point that he had made and thanked him for the scrutiny work that he had been involved in over the past four years.

To highlight the key pieces of work undertaken by Overview and Scrutiny (OS) during the 2021-25 Council and to recommend topics to the Management Committee for suggested inclusion in a new OS work programme after the elections.

To review the approach and effectiveness of OS during the 2021-25 Council and make recommendations for consideration by OS Management Committee after the elections.

The Chairman noted that in the agenda pack, was a report highlighting the key pieces of work undertaken by Overview and Scrutiny during the 2021-25 Council. These were set out in Appendix A. The report also presented recommendations of topics for inclusion in a new OS work programme after the elections. These were set out in Appendix B. The report also reviewed the approach and effectiveness of Overview and Scrutiny during the 2021-25 Council and made recommendations for consideration by the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee after the elections. These recommendations were captured within the report.

The Chairman thanked the three select committees for the work they had done in pulling together their key activities from the past 4 years and their recommendations of further work to be done by their successor committees under the next council. It was stated that Appendix A demonstrated the scope and impact of Overview and Scrutiny and that there should be pride in the amount that had been delivered as a scrutiny function during this council term. It was suggested that that Appendix B would be a valuable starting point for Overview and Scrutiny under the next council and the topics included could be discussed further with the next Cabinet to ensure that Overview and Scrutiny continued to focus on the real priorities for Wiltshire residents.

The Chairman thanked everyone who had submitted their thoughts on the Committee’s effectiveness as a scrutiny function and how it might improve on this under the next council. This included all the select committee chairmen and vice-chairmen, as well as the council’s Leader and Chief Executive.

The Chairman outlined that contained in paragraphs 6 to 7, were strengths that the Committee could be proud of but areas that it must also focus on where improvements could be made.

The Committee discussed the report with feedback provided by the Children’s Select Committee that there seemed to be a large number of high priority items on the agenda and that the successor Committee would have to consider how this should be managed. It was also suggested that it was difficult for the Children’s Select Committee to find space in their agenda when additional reports were received. It was therefore believed that the future Committee would have to be ruthless in deciding on the work that it wished to focus on. One potential solution was referenced as splitting down issues and potentially grouping similar items. Gratitude was placed to Scrutiny Officers, Marie Gondlach and Julie Bielby for the work they had conducted to keep the Children’s Select Committee working.

Further feedback was also received from the Health Select Committee, with it noted that the Committee had requested that the ICB review its Terms of Reference to consider how it consults with Select Committees, specifically relating to contract changes where the Health Select Committee should be informed ahead of the procurement process. It was therefore requested that the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee also requested this change to the ICB.

Henry Powell,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.

To consider implications of an alternative Overview and Scrutiny (OS) committee structure that includes a dedicated Finance Select Committee.

The Chairman noted that attached to the agenda was a report that presented for discussion a range of options for the council’s future Overview and Scrutiny (OS) committee structure. The options presented in the report related to how scrutiny of council finance and other corporate resource matters would be undertaken.

The Chairman invited the Committee to consider these options outlined, and that if there was a consensus that some form of change would be beneficial, then it would be recommended that this be considered further by Overview and Scrutiny under the next council.

It was outlined that the best way to undertake scrutiny of financial and other corporate matters had been being discussed offline for some time and that the Committee had reviewed its approach to it in 2022 by resolving to undertake public scrutiny of key financial reports to supplement the scrutiny done by the Financial Planning Task Group. It was also previously resolved that this committee would undertake more scrutiny of other corporate matters, which has been done, taking reports on issues like complaints, transformation, corporate health and safety and the Community Safety Partnership.

The Chairman outlined that last year, he met with the Vice-chair of Overview and Scrutiny and Vice-chair of the Financial Planning Task Group, the Chairs and Vice-chairs of the other select committees, and the Chief Executive and other senior officers. During these discussions, officers had expressed their view that a change to the committee structure could enhance the depth of scrutiny undertaken on finance and other corporate matters. In light of this, the report attached to the agenda had been produced to be considered as part of the Committee’s legacy process, with any recommendations for change being passed to Overview and Scrutiny under the next Council for further exploration.

Henry Powell, Democracy and Complaints Manager, provided a summary of the report:

·       An overview of the scrutiny arrangements of councils nationally was provided, with it noted that there was generally three main structures in place.

·       An overview of the three structures included within the report was provided:

o   Option A retaining the current structure.

o   Option B adding a new Finance and Procurement Select Committee to the existing structure.

o   Option C adding a new Finance and Procurement Select Committee with an OS Liaison Board replacing the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee to be attended by the Chairs and Vice-Chairs of Select Committees.

Cllr Richard Clewer, Leader of the Council and Lucy Townsend (Chief Executive) provided their respective opinions on the proposals with it suggested that there was a support for scrutiny and that the decision made should add value and weight. Lizzie Watkin, Section 151 Officer, stated that the proposals supported the agenda of transparency however there would need to be mindfulness of making sure debates took place in the right places as well as that the budget process would need to be driven forward alongside a potential new Finance Select Committee. Perry Holmes, Monitoring Officer, made a point regarding incremental change and how  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

To confirm the date of the next meeting as 3 June 2025.

The date of the next meeting was confirmed as 3 June 2025.

The Chairman thanked Lucy Townsend (Chief Executive), Perry Holmes (Monitoring Officer) and Cllr Richard Clewer (Leader) for their guidance and for taking scrutiny in a positive spirit.

The Committee thanked the Chairman for his work over the past four years including Chairing the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee meetings and for being involved in the Select Committees and Task Groups.

Any other items of business which the Chairman agrees to consider as a matter of urgency.

There were no urgent items.