Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies or substitutions for the meeting.

Apologies were received from Councillor Christine Crisp.

To approve the minutes of the ordinary meeting held on 5 January 2016, and the extraordinary meetings held on 3 February and 12 February 2016(to follow).

The minutes of the meetings held on 5 January, 3 February and 12 February 2016 were presented for consideration.

Resolved:

To approve and sign as a true and correct record.

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

There were no declarations.

To receive any announcements through the Chair.

There were no 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 Tuesday 23 February 2016.  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 were no statements or questions submitted.

To receive updates from the Chairmen and/or Vice-Chairmen of the Select Committees in respect of the topics under scrutiny in their areas, including any recommendations for endorsement by the Management Committee.

The Chairman will first provide an update on development of the terms of reference of the Digitisation Task Group proposed at the meeting held on 5 January 2016.

The Management Committee is asked to endorse the reports of the Chairmen of the Select Committee and the updated work programme.

Hydrocarbon extraction

At its meeting on 23 February 2016 Full Council considered a motion from Councillors Jeff and Helen Osborn on the hydrocarbon extraction process known as Fracking, following the granting of Petroleum Exploration and Development Licences (PEDL) in the county, though planning permission would need to be applied for prior to any construction works. A number of Councillor Briefing Notes had been prepared on the subject, and Council also received a petition and several representations from members of the public on the issue at the meeting.

An officer response to the original motion from the Councillors Osborn was published in the Summons for the meeting, and following debate and an amendment of the motion to request scrutiny involvement, Council resolved:

Consequently Council requests that Scrutiny establish a task group to help councillors better understand the general implications of possible hydrocarbon exploration and extraction in the county. This will enable members on relevant planning committees to be better briefed on such matters

The Committee discussed the referral and request, with input from the Leader of the Council, Councillor Baroness Scott of Bybrook OBE, and Corporate Director, Dr Carlton Brand.

The Committee considered the broad implications on the county and council from proposed hydrocarbon extraction, as well as the potential complexities of technical and decision making processes to be followed, and debated whether before any Task Group was approved it would first be appropriate to undertake further research into those complexities. This would ensure that should following that research a Task Group be considered necessary, it would have the required information to identify key lines of enquiry which would add value to the council’s processes and policies.

Some members felt any research or investigation was not necessary until such time as an application was actually submitted, but others such as the mover of the original motion felt there was a need for additional guidance to better inform councillors at the current time to prepare for any future eventualities.

A debate followed on the potential extent of any investigation, including utilising research undertaken by other authorities, the possibility of briefings from expert witnesses, councillor seminars, which service would coordinate the work across the council and other data collection possibilities such as the use of external consultants. Information to gather could include basic information on the process of hydrocarbon extraction, government and council policy, landowner rights, a brief overview of environmental issues and economic impacts.

The timescale of such an activity was questioned, with some members such as the Leader of the Council stating that there was extensive information already prepared across the council, and it would not necessarily be an extensive piece of work to collate all that information for the initial guidance to inform scrutiny in determining what further action would be appropriate.

It was acknowledged as particularly important to determine what functions in relation to hydrocarbon extraction were devolved to local authorities and what was retained at a national level, so that any investigation or future enquiries by Scrutiny related  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

To receive any available updates on the following Management Committee Task Groups:

·         Financial Planning Task Group

·         Military-Civilian Integration Task Group

·         Local Enterprise Partnership Task Group

In addition to the written reports, updates were received from the Management Committee Task Groups as follows:

Financial Planning Task Group

Following approval of the council’s budget, the Task Group would continue to assess revenue and council budgets and quarterly reports, and would also be focusing on adult social care budgets and the scrutiny process itself.

Military-Civilian Integration Partnership(MCIP) Task Group

The MCIP Task Group had not met since the last report, but the committee were informed a Peer Review would be taking place on 4 April, and it had been confirmed the transfer of military personnel to Wiltshire would be completed in 2020, the latest date initially proposed.

Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) Task Group

Two additional meetings had been scheduled and it was reported minor scrutiny work on LEP processes had now been performed. The committee were also informed the Director of the LEP Secretariat, Isobel Brown, had left the post in December, and the new appointment was Paddy Bradley, previously the Head of Economy, Skills and Property Development at Swindon Borough Council.

A written response will be circulated before the meeting.

On 5 January 2016 the Management Committee received the report of the Campus Governance Task Group and resolved:

That the Cabinet Member for Cabinet Member for Communities, Campuses, Area Boards and Broadband;

i. Considers the Terms of Reference offered as a potential governance model to deliver the community area’s priorities as identified by the Area Board;

ii. Ensures there is clear delineation of the roles of area board, governance body and Health and Wellbeing team with regards to the HWC and delivering the community area’s priorities as this would be crucial in maintaining supportive and harmonious working relationships between the three;

iii. Considers a review of the role and delegated powers of the area boards, as defined in the council’s constitution, if it is necessary to ensure that these would enable the area boards to fulfil its role with regards to the governance of campuses;

iv. Considers offering some administrative support for the Governance Body;

v. Considers if, and if appropriate when, the Task Group should be reconvened in 2016 to provide constructive input to the development of “A communications strategy for keeping communities informed about progress with revised campus developments.

The response of the Cabinet Member to the report was presented to the Committee. The Cabinet Member, Councillor John Thomson, thanked the Task Group for its work and commented upon the recommendations of the Task Group as detailed in his report, and stated his intention to, having regard to the comments of the Task Group, to use his delegated authority to implement the proposed governance arrangements as outlined in the form of policy guidance to the area boards. Although he considered the Task Group had concluded its work on the current issues, he welcomed future involvement of scrutiny if it were determined they could add further value to other aspects of Area Board governance.

The Committee discussed the executive response to the report of the Task Group, during which it was confirmed the area board members would not have responsibility for managing the finances of the Wellbeing centres under the proposed model, but would receive updates on the performance. It was also debated how best young people would be represented on Wellbeing governance boards, with some members wanting a community youth officer in addition to a young person representative to be explicitly included within the proposed terms of reference, and others considering the arrangements were flexible to enable each area to consider the most appropriate arrangements for them. The Cabinet Member confirmed the target size of a governance board would be a guide only, not a firm rule restricting the inclusion of additional members if deemed beneficial.

“Role clarity and working together workshop”

2 March 2.00-5.00pm Salisbury Room, County Hall, Trowbridge

This workshop forms part of the agreed learning and development programme for Overview and Scrutiny and will be delivered by Ann Reeder of Frontline Consulting, the region’s recognised expert in this field.  The objectives for the session are to:

·         Further develop understanding of the scrutiny function and its working relationship with the Executive and major partners

·         Exploring the challenges faced by the executive and non-executive member in planning, undertaking and evaluating effective scrutiny work

·         Hearing experiences of the overview and scrutiny process, from the executive and non-executive, from commencement to final product

·         Discussing current approaches and developing new ones to enhance the outcomes from scrutiny work

The event will benefit from good attendance and members are encouraged to confirm attendance with the Scrutiny team. Councillor Stuart Wheeler, as the Cabinet Member responsible for Governance, is co-ordinating the attendance of representatives from the Executive

A meeting had been prepared for non-executive councillors on 2 March, which would include discussions with several members of the Executive???

To confirm the date of the next meeting as 24 May 2016.

The date of the next meeting was confirmed as 24 February 2016.

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

There were no urgent items.