Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Cllr Christopher Newbury and Cllr Carole Soden.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 17 July 2012.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 17 July 2012 were approved and signed as a correct record.

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

No declarations of interest were received.

There were no Chairman’s Announcements.

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 above 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 above no later than 5pm on Thursday 30 August 2012.  Please contact the officer named on the first page 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 was no public participation.

At that Committee’s last meeting discussion in relation to the continuation of the ICT Task Group was undertaken.  The Chairman proposed that no decision should be made in relation to its retention until consideration of the ICT Strategy had taken place in September.

The Management Committee is now asked to consider the revised Strategy, a hard copy of which will be circulated via separate cover, and determine whether any future scrutiny engagement is required.

The Committee, at its previous meeting held on 17 July 2012, resolved to consider the ICT Strategy prior to making a decision on the continuation of the ICT Task Group.

Cllr John Noeken, Cabinet member Resources, was in attendance and provided background to the report which he felt was a good illustration of where the Council was hoping to be in 2015 and demonstrated a more efficient way of operating.  Savings had already been achieved with a proposal for a further £1.3m savings for this year and next.

In opening up discussion to the floor, Committee members welcomed the report and congratulated the positive work of the Cabinet member and officers involved. 

Discussion included the provision made for members wishing to provide their own IT equipment post election and whether the current ‘Good’ application which enabled councillors approx 90% access on personal equipment could be further improved.

Cllr Alison Bucknell, Portfolio Holder for Customer Care, confirmed that work was ongoing and would be available for consideration by the Member Support in the Locality Task Group expected to meet in October.

The issue of Cloud computing which was not yet fully implemented across the Council and developments in relation to SAP and Sharepoint were also raised.  It was proposed that Cllr Nigel Carter, Chairman of the ICT Task Group, meet with the Cabinet member and relevant officers to discuss these areas further and that an update report be provided at a future Committee meeting rather than reconvene the ICT Task Group.

The Chairman, in concluding debate, thanked both the Cabinet member and officers for the update provided.

Resolved:

1)    To disband the ICT Task Group;

2)    That Cllr Nigel Carter meet with the Cabinet member for Resources and relevant officers to review the Technology Plan further; and

3)    That an update on any specific issues arising from the above review be provided to the Management Committee at a future date.

The Committee received the Business Plan Annual Update at its last meeting.  During debate the Cabinet member indicated that changes would be made to future reporting to better reflect the Council’s performance. 

A copy of the first quarter Business Plan Scorecard report for 2012/13 is attached.  The Management Committee is asked to consider the report ahead of Cabinet on 10 September 2012.

A copy of the first quarter Business Plan Scorecard report for 2012/13 was presented by Cllr John Brady, the attending Cabinet member for Finance, Performance and Risk.  The report, which was to be considered by Cabinet on 10 September, now included a ‘comments’ column to provide details on the majority of the indicators as outlined within Annex 1 to the report following comments received at the Committee’s previous meeting.

The Policy Performance and Partnership team were continuing to review the way in which future performance information was reported, the outcome of which would be presented to the Corporate Leadership Team, Cabinet and Scrutiny for consideration.

On presenting the report, clarification was made that of the 11 priority indicators only 2 were not on target but that work was ongoing to address these and improvements were already being demonstrated.  These were ‘Care leavers in suitable education, jobs or training’ and ‘Safeguarding: initial assessments done in 10 days’.

In conclusion the Cabinet member confirmed that the reporting of information had improved since the Annual Update report and that communication with members of the press had not identified any specific comments or questions.

Ensuing debate included comment from the Chair of the Safeguarding and Young People’s Task Group, also a member of the Management Committee, who confirmed that there was an acknowledgement of the work being done to rectify the timeframes in which assessments were undertaken. 

The creation and safeguarding of jobs within the Economy and Unemployment targets was also raised with reassurance provided that this area remained a key priority for the Council with work ongoing to secure jobs and attract new businesses to the County.  This was a specific area that the Environment Select Committee would be pursuing.

Further clarity on recruitment and salary figures was sought as although staff numbers had reduced, salary costs appeared to have increased.  Clarification was provided that this was due to the inclusion of redundancy costs within the figures provided.

The Chairman thanked the Cabinet member and officers for the report.

Resolved:

That the report was noted.

The Standards Committee at its meeting held on 30 July resolved to re-establish the Focus Group on the Constitution.  Membership will be as follows:

A member from each political group on the Council

Chairman of the Standards Committee

2 co-opted non-voting members of the Standards Committee (to include one town and parish representative)

A member of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee

A member of the Audit Committee

A copy of the Terms of Reference can be found attached.

Noting that the membership is to include representation from the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee, the Committee is asked to appoint a member accordingly.

The Committee may wish to note that the previous scrutiny representative on the Task Group was Cllr Tony Trotman.

The Committee was asked to appoint a scrutiny representative to the Constitution Focus Group following its establishment by the Standards Committee on 30 July.

Resolved:

That Cllr Jonathon Seed was appointed the scrutiny representative on the Constitution Focus Group.

Written updates on Task Group activity are attached, to include:

Budget

Campus and Operational Delivery Programme

Traded Services

Member Support in the Locality

The Committee was asked to note the Task Group updates as provided.

Further clarification was provided that the Budget Task Group would hold its first meeting at 1:30pm later today and that a further meeting of the Campus and Operational Delivery Programme Task had been scheduled for later in the autumn where the next round of campus applications to be considered by Cabinet would be reviewed.

Resolved:

That the Task Group update was noted.

The scrutiny representatives on the following project boards will provide a verbal update:

Staffing Management Executive Board (Cllr Ricky Rogers)

Wiltshire Online Project Board (Cllr George Jeans)

Verbal updates from the respective scrutiny representatives were provided.  A written update on the work of the Wiltshire Online Project Board was circulated via Agenda Supplement following publication of the agenda papers.

Staffing Management Executive Board

Cllr Ricky Rogers confirmed that no further meetings had taken place since his previous update but that the Board were scheduled to next meet on 2 October.

Wiltshire Online Project Board

Cllr George Jeans confirmed that the local ‘Call-Off’ contracts tendering exercise had been launched in July with returns expected by 14 September.  However a two week extension had been granted due to unforeseen events within one of the tendering companies.

The grant funding from central government was expected to be concluded in October.  It was recognised that the project was highly dependent on the funding in order to proceed. 

The next meeting of the Board was expected to be held towards the end of September once finalisation of the tendering process had taken place.

Resolved:

To note the updates provided.

A report on call-in procedures is attached.  The Committee is asked to consider how it wishes to operate the provision in future.

Following extensive consultation revised overview and scrutiny arrangements were agreed at Full Council in May 2012 and included that responsibility for call-in decisions would rest with the Management Committee as part of its overarching role.

A report, which included an extract of the current call-in arrangements, was circulated with the agenda papers.  Members of the Committee were asked to consider how the call-in provision should be operated in future, noting the exceptional nature and tight prescribed timescales and the recent case considered by the Environment Select Committee.

In opening discussion the Chairman was of the view that the authority for call-in remain with the appropriate overview and scrutiny committee on receipt of a request from the Chairman or 3 members of the appropriate committee, subject to consultation with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee.

The Committee debated the proposal made and the other options provided within the report.  It was then proposed and seconded that the Management Committee exercise full responsibility over all call-ins.

Ensuing debate included retention of the previous arrangements by delegating responsibility to the select committees as this had not caused difficulties or been particularly abused in the past.

The proposal was put to the vote and it was:

Resolved:

1)    That the Overview & Scrutiny Management Committee exercise full responsibility over all call-ins; and

2)    That the decision of the Overview & Scrutiny Management Committee in relation to the call in procedure be considered by the Constitution Focus Group.

(NB: Cllr Jon Hubbard and Cllr Judy Rooke requested that their vote against the proposal be noted.  Cllr Jon Hubbard also requested that the Council Solicitor confirm the constitutional issues arising from the decision).

1.            To consider the single Forward Work Programme and give direction on further progress for the O&S function as a whole, including those activities specifically identified for the Management Committee.

2.            To discuss the format/layout of future programme and offer suggestions for improvements.

A copy of the Forward Work Programme was considered by the Committee with each Committee’s Chairman requested to provide an update where appropriate.

Environment Select Committee

That the decision for future scrutiny would be passed to the Management Committee in relation to Bus Service reviews as the Environment Select Committee did not feel that further scrutiny was required.  The Committee agreed to remove the item from the Future Work Programme.

That a Joint Air Quality Task Group be established with the Health Select Committee as air quality would fall within the remit of both Committees.

That the following Task Group and Rapid Scrutiny Exercises be established:

Waste: Future Service Delivery Project – Task Group

Community Infrastructure Levy – Task Group

Energy Efficient Homes – Rapid Scrutiny Exercise

Street Light Savings - Rapid Scrutiny Exercise

Clarification was provided that a successful meeting had been held between the Chairman, Vice Chairman, Service Directors and Cabinet members where areas of future overview and scrutiny engagement had been identified. 

The Environment Committee had also agreed that future overview and scrutiny work would be undertaken via Task Groups where possible as this was felt to provide a more focused approach.  As a result the Committee was expected to hold 4 set meetings per year with others added if and when appropriate.

Health Select Committee

The next meeting of the Health Select Committee had been replaced by a Health Workshop to take place to help shape the future work programme of the Committee in the light of changes being made under the Health and Social Care Act 2012.

The Workshop would take place on Wednesday 3 October and would be held at 2pm in the Angel Hotel, Chippenham.  All Councillors were encouraged to attend.

Children’s Select Committee

The Forward Work Plan incorporated the work to be undertaken.

Resolved:

1)    That the Management Committee endorse the amendments as outlined above to the Forward Work Programme; and

2)    That the revised Programme be circulated to Committee members.

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

There were no urgent items for consideration.

18 October 2012

18 October 2012.