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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Kennet Room - County Hall, Bythesea Road, Trowbridge, BA14 8JN. View directions

Contact: Kieran Elliott  01225 718504, Email: kieran.elliott@wiltshire.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

44.

Apologies

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

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Councillors John Walsh and Stuart Wheeler.

 

Councillor Ian Thorn as Chairman of the Financial Planning Task Group also gave apologies due to ill health.

45.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 4 June 2019.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 4 June 2019 were presented for consideration, and it was,

 

Resolved:

 

To approve and sign the minutes as a true and correct record.

46.

Declarations of Interest

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

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations.

47.

Chairman's Announcements

To receive any announcements through the Chair.

Minutes:

There were no specific announcements.

48.

Public Participation

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 9 July 2019 in order to be guaranteed of a written response. In order to receive a verbal response questions must be submitted no later than 5pm on 11 July 2019. 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.

Minutes:

There were no questions or statements submitted.

49.

Wiltshire Council Equality and Inclusion Annual Report 2019 and Objectives 2019-22

To receive the draft Cabinet report on meeting the Public Sector Equality Duty to agree the new objectives and action plan for 2019-22

 

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a draft Cabinet report on the Wiltshire Council Equality and Inclusion Annual Report 2019 and Objectives 2019-22. The report was designed to demonstrate the council’s compliance with the Public Sector Equality Duty, and five new objectives had been included since the last revision in 2015. The report was presented by Councillor Richard Clewer, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Corporate Services, Heritage, Arts, Tourism, Housing and Environment.

 

The Committee welcomed the opportunity to comment upon the report before it was considered by the Cabinet and in particular discussed the proposed new objectives in respect of building resilient communities representing the voices and diversity of Wiltshire ‘specifically in respect of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, BME and Trans communities’.

 

Some members of the Committee were concerned that the objective indicated these groups in particular would be the only focus in seeking to build such resilient communities when many groups and communities would also need to be included such as the Gypsy and Traveller community. In response others stated that the objective did not preclude the inclusion of other groups, but that it was considered in the report that the listed groups required particular focus on representation and inclusion as a result of historic and other discrimination. The Committee debated the matter and a resolution was made to note the report, action plan and the Cabinet recommendations, but also to ask officers to consider what evidence supported the need to specify particular diverse groups in the objective regarding building resilient communities.

 

At the conclusion of debate, and following a request for a recorded vote which was not backed by the required number of members, it was,

 

Resolved:

 

1)        To note the contents of the annual report

 

2)        To note the action plan and the direction of travel for the council’s diversity and inclusion agenda.

 

3)        To note that Cabinet will consider whether to recommend:

 

a)    the adoption of the Equality & Inclusion Objectives (The Corporate Equality Plan) by Full Council; and

b)   that all elected members complete the Equality and Diversity e-learning module that is currently mandatory for staff.

4)        To ask officers and Cabinet to consider whether there is evidence to support the equality objective (bullet 2, page 17) specifically emphasising building resilient communities that represent the voices and diversity of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, BME and Trans communities in Wiltshire.

 

Councillor Jon Hubbard requested that his vote in opposition to the resolution be recorded.

50.

Corporate Peer Challenge Update

Update on the actions agreed.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Following the formation of a new council in 2017 and the agreement of a new 10- year business plan the council invited the Local Government Association (LGA) to arrange a Corporate Peer Challenge (CPC) for Wiltshire.

3. CPCs are improvement focused and are tailored to meet individual councils’ needs, designed to complement and add value to a council’s own performance and improvement. An action plan was approved by Cabinet in March 2018 and a report received by the Committee in November 2018.

 

Councillor Philip Whitehead, Leader of the Council, presented the Corporate Peer Challenge Update report which had been requested by the Committee, including an updated action plan. He noted the peer review had been positive, although had identified areas where there could be improvement, and the council was continuing to progress the action plan to deliver those improvements.

 

It was then,

 

Resolved:

 

To note the progress against the Corporate Peer Review Action Plan and that no further scrutiny specifically against the Plan is required.

 

51.

Forward Work Programme

Updates from the Chairs

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received details of the forward work programmes of the select committees, along with updates from the Chairmen of each select committee on recent work that had been undertaken.

 

In relation to the Children’s Select Committee the contribution of representatives from the Wiltshire Youth Union was praised on work relating to transport and young people, as well as noting recent elections to the Youth Parliament. The Committee was updated on executive responses to task group recommendations relating to SEND provision. The recent Ofsted inspection was also noted, with thanks given to staff for their work during that period.

 

In relation to the Environment Select Committee updates on Public Transport Review and Waste Management Strategy were forthcoming, and the business of future meetings was highlighted.

 

In relation to the Health Select Committee it was stated scrutiny would like some involvement with any successor body to the Adult Social Care Performance Board. A performance review was received from the South West Ambulance Service Foundation Trust, and details were provided on forthcoming work.

 

Resolved:

 

To note the forward work programme and the updates on overview and scrutiny work provided.

 

52.

Management Committee Task Groups

Updates from the Task Groups

 

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a report and verbal updates on the activity of the Task Groups established by the Management Committee. Attention was drawn to a survey that would be sent to members regarding their experiences with internal communications, and it was reported that there had been more positive engagement with the Digital Strategy and Implementation Task Group since the last meeting.

 

In response to queries it was explained that proposed changes to the terms of reference of the Financial Planning Task Group were to recognise work that was already being undertaken, and that this did not duplicate work of the Audit Committee as the scrutiny of the council’s performance and risk reports was from a different perspective. Concerns had also been raised by the Public Consultations Task Group regarding the council’s capacity to deliver appropriate consultations with existing resources.

 

At the conclusion of discussion, it was,

 

Resolved:

 

1)           To note the update on Task Group activity provided.

 

2)           To note that Cllr Allison Bucknell is no longer a member of the Communications with Councillors Task Group, having taken up an Executive position.

 

3)           To expand the terms of reference of the Financial Planning Task Group to include the following: “To review the council’s Performance and Risk monitoring reports and the Corporate Performance Framework.”

 

53.

Date of Next Meeting

To confirm the date of the next meeting as 24 September 2019.

Minutes:

The date of the next meeting was confirmed as 24 September 2019.

54.

Urgent Items

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

Minutes:

There were no urgent items.