Agenda and minutes

Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee - Tuesday 25 June 2013 10.30 am

Venue: Council Chamber - Council Offices, Monkton Park, Chippenham, SN15 1ER. View directions

Contact: Stuart Figini  (Democratic Services Officer)

Items
No. Item

103.

Apologies

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Councillors Peter Hutton, Mark Packard, John Walsh.

 

Councillor Stewart Dobson replaced Councillor Peter Hutton for this meeting only.

104.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 23 May 2013.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Minutes for the meeting held on 23 May were approved and signed as a correct record.

105.

Declarations of Interest

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

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest received.

106.

Chairman's Announcements

Minutes:

There were no Chairman’s announcements.

107.

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 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 18 June 2013.  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.

Minutes:

There was no public participation.

108.

Business Plan Scorecard Year End Report

The Management Committee receive the quarterly report, prepared for Cabinet, on progress against the targets set for the delivery of the Business Plan.  This is the final quarter report for 2012/13.

 

The report will have gone to Cabinet on 18 June and the outcome of discussion will be reported to the Management Committee.  Although after the event, the Committee still has the opportunity to comment on key areas for consideration by the Cabinet Member for Finance, Performance, Risk, Procurement and Welfare Reform.    

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Management Committee considered the Business Plan Scorecard end of year report, prepared for Cabinet, on progress against the targets set for the delivery of the Business Plan. 

 

The Chairman explained that the report had been considered by the Cabinet on 18 June 2013 and the outcome of the discussion at that meeting was reported to the Management Committee.  The Committee had the opportunity to comment on key areas for consideration by the Cabinet Member for Finance, Performance, Risk, Procurement and Welfare Reform.    

 

Councillor Dick Tonge, Cabinet Member for Finance, Performance, Risk and Welfare Reform spoke to the report and in particular mentioned that indicator 1005 ‘use of in-house foster carers (proportion nights)’ had been amended from amber in the original report to red as it was considered to be outside of the 5% target.  It was noted that the format of future reports would be amended to reflect the new Business Plan once adopted by the Council.

 

Members expressed concern that they were unable to scrutinise some areas of performance and that this was an important area especially in the role of policy formation.  It was suggested that an on-going Task Group of the Management Committee be set up to look at future targets against performance data. The Leader of the Council, who advised caution at the speed of establishing the Task Group especially as the new performance framework would evolve out of the adopted Business Plan 2013-17 from September 2013. However discussions around developing the new performance framework should involve Overview and Scrutiny.

 

Resolved:

 

1.    That the progress for the year end 2012/13 be noted

2.    That an on-going Task Group be established to look at performance data derived from the new performance framework.

 

 

 

 

109.

Review of the Business Plan

Members will be aware of the significance of the development of the Council’s new Business Plan which forms the major policy framework document for the next 4 years. It contains the draft priorities of the Executive for adoption by full Council in September. As such, Overview and Scrutiny is consulted prior to submission to Cabinet on 23 July.  

 

A copy of the draft Business Plan and a covering report from the Corporate Leadership Team is attached.  The Leader of the Council has been invited to attend.

 

The Management Committee is asked to review the Plan’s content and report its views to Cabinet. In discussing the process for review, the Children’s Services Select Committee from its meeting on 6 June recommended the Management Committee to request each of the select committees to establish a rapid scrutiny exercise to review relevant sections of the draft Plan for report to Cabinet.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Management Committee considered the draft Business Plan for 2013-2017 which contained the draft priorities of the Executive for adoption by full Council in September 2013 and a covering report from the Corporate Leadership Team. 

 

The Chairman reminded Members of the significance of the development of the Council’s new Business Plan which formed the major policy framework document for the next 4 years. He also explained that the Management Committee was asked to review the Plan’s content and report its views to Cabinet at its meeting on 23 July 2013.

 

The Management Committee heard from the Leader of the Council, who highlighted the main issues detailed in the draft Business Plan and explained that it was, at this stage, a very draft document mainly due to the timing of the local elections. However Cabinet were very keen to have a Business Plan in place early on in their administration and welcomed the views of Overview and Scrutiny in its formation.  It was noted that the business plan would be supported by detailed service plans from which a performance structure would be developed.

 

It was reported that the Children’s Services Select Committee at its meeting on 6 June 2013 recommended that the Management Committee request each of the select committees to establish a rapid scrutiny exercise to review relevant sections of the draft Plan for report to Cabinet.  Members generally welcomed the proposal for involvement of the Select Committees and felt that this was a vital piece of work to be undertaken.  However the Management Committee would need to collate a final report to Cabinet on 23 July 2013.  Councillor Hubbard was very concerned at the timescales which he felt were impossibly short for such a piece of scrutiny work to be undertaken in.

 

Members were reminded that they did not have to scrutinise the detail of the draft Business Plan, as that would be their task over the next 4 years, but to take a high level approach. The Leader referred to the existence of a list of 12 priorities/deliverables arising from the Business Plan and asked that these be made available to Overview and Scrutiny to help in the above process.

 

Resolved:

That the Select Committees and Management Committee be asked to urgently consider the draft Business Plan 2013-17, based on the 12 priorities/deliverables of the Council, with comments being considered collectively by the Chairs and Vice-Chairs of the Select Committees and Management Committee in order to produce a final report for consideration by the Cabinet on 23 July 2013.

 

 

 

 

 

110.

Appointment to the Focus Group on the Review of the Constitution

The Standards Committee at its meeting held on 30 July, 2012 resolved to re-establish the Focus Group on the Constitution with the following membership:

 

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.

 

The work of the Focus Group is on-going and 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 Jonathon Seed.

 

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Resolved:

That Councillor Jeff Osborn be nominated as the Committee’s representative on the Focus Group on the Review of the Constitution.

 

111.

Forward Work Programme

The Management Committee is responsible for the co-ordination of the single work programme. It agreed the continuation of the legacy topics for scrutiny from the last Council as reported to the new Management Committee at its first meeting. These were also formally adopted by the select committees at their recent round of meetings and will now be added to the work programme.

 

Action is underway to hold a series of meetings involving the chairs and vice-chairs of select committees with relevant Cabinet members, portfolio-holders and service directors to discuss service priorities and overview and scrutiny engagement. The outcome of these will recommend topics for the work programme.

 

The new Business Plan (see early item) will provide the main focus for future overview and scrutiny activities and it is clear from early discussion between leading councillors and seniors officers that an increased expectation will be placed on the overview and scrutiny function to undertake significant work at policy development and pre-decision stages, much of which will be co-ordinated through the new Executive Office and Transformation.  

 

All Councillors have been consulted about providing information on their work and professional experience, areas of interest and availability to undertake overview and scrutiny activities. This also included expressions of interest to join the legacy task groups. This will then form a “database” from which chairs and vice-chairs of select committees can consult when making appointments.

 

Potential topics for scrutiny review identified from councillor induction as reported to the last meeting are being investigated at select committee level. Those that were seen as the direct responsibility of the Management Committee are the subject of the  report attached.

 

Overview and Scrutiny Councillor Development

 

Centre for Public Scrutiny Annual Conference

 

A brief report is attached from the recent national conference.  The Chairman and Vice-Chairman who attended will comment on the key messages.

 

Ongoing Development

 

Feedback has been positive from the overview and scrutiny induction events. The next step identified was to deliver a session on the specific skills needed to operate effectively as a scrutiny member. Following initial discussion with an external provider, it is proposed to target the first session at the newly appointed chairs and vice-chairs of the select committees to help build “the team”. This would then be followed-up with roll-out targeted at the wider non-executive membership.

 

This proposal is currently being developed for consultation with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Management Committee before submission to the Councillor Development Group with a delivery target of September (after the August recess).    

 

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

a)    Forward Plan

 

The Management Committee were reminded that it was responsible for the co-ordination of the single work programme, and had agreed the continuation of the legacy topics for scrutiny from the last Council as reported to the new Management Committee at its first meeting. These were also formally adopted by the select committees at their recent round of meetings and would now be added to the work programme.

 

Action was underway to hold a series of meetings involving the chairs and vice-chairs of select committees with relevant Cabinet members, portfolio-holders and service directors to discuss service priorities and overview and scrutiny engagement. The outcome of these meetings would recommend topics for the work programme.

 

The new Business Plan would provide the main focus for future overview and scrutiny activities and it was clear from early discussion between leading councillors and seniors officers that an increased expectation would be placed on the overview and scrutiny function to undertake significant work at policy development and pre-decision stages, much of which would be co-ordinated through the new Executive Office and Transformation.  

 

The Chairman reported that all Councillors had been consulted about providing information on their work and professional experience, areas of interest and availability to undertake overview and scrutiny activities. This also included expressions of interest to join the legacy task groups. This would then form a “database” from which chairs and vice-chairs of select committees could be consulted when making appointments.

 

Potential topics for scrutiny review identified from councillor induction as reported to the last meeting were being investigated at select committee level. Those that were seen as the direct responsibility of the Management Committee were the subject of a report considered by the Committee.

 

In considering  the two topics (i) Improving the experience of customers making complaints to the Council and (ii) Increasing the public’s trust in politicians and public engagement with local democracy, arising from the Councillor Induction event relevant for this Committee, Members felt that in relation to (i) above, as there were a number of changes taking place in the service a review at this stage would not add value.  In relation to (ii) above Members generally felt that this was not an appropriate area for the Management Committee to look at and that no action be taken on this suggestion.

 

 

Resolved:

To note the above report and that no action be taken on the proposed topics arising from the Scrutiny Councillor Induction event.

 

b)    Overview and Scrutiny Councillor Development

 

Centre for Public Scrutiny Annual Conference

 

The Management Committee received a report on the Centre for Public Scrutiny national conference. The report highlighted the key messages coming out of the conference and summarised the workshops attended by the Chairman and Vice-Chairman.

 

Ongoing Development

 

The Management Committee were informed that feedback had been positive from the overview and scrutiny induction events. The next step identified was to deliver a session on the specific skills needed to operate effectively as a scrutiny member. Following  ...  view the full minutes text for item 111.

112.

Urgent Items

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

Minutes:

There were no urgent items.

113.

Date of next meeting

The next meeting will take place at 10:30am on 23 September 2013 and will be held in the Council Chamber at Monkton Park, Chippenham.

Minutes:

The next meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee would take place at 10:30am on Monday 23 September 2013 in the Council Chamber at Monkton Park, Chippenham.