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Agenda and minutes

Venue: The Kennet Room - County Hall, Trowbridge BA14 8JN

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

Items
No. Item

55.

Apologies

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

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Councillors Christine Crisp, Stewart Dobson, Howard Greenman and Jon Hubbard. Councillor Dobson was substituted by Councillor Roy While.

 

It was also noted during the meeting that following Council on 10 July 2018 Councillor Mary Douglas has been added to the Committee in place of Councillor Jacqui Lay.

56.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 5 June 2018

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 5 June 2018 were presented for consideration and it was,

 

Resolved:

 

To approve and sign as a true and correct record.

57.

Declarations of Interest

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

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations.

58.

Chairman's Announcements

To receive any announcements through the Chair.

Minutes:

Through the Chair there as a reminder of the Overview and Scrutiny Learning and Development Event, scheduled for 1300 on 10 October 2018. The theme of the event would be how to ensure effective overview and scrutiny meetings.

59.

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 11 September 2018 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 13 September 2018. 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:

No questions were submitted.


A statement was received from Mr Stephen Eades, Wiltshire Friends of the Earth, requesting removal as an option of incineration as a strategic option in the revised Waste Management Strategy.

 

In discussing the FWP at Minute 60 the Chairman of the Environment Select Committee noted his committee had discussed the issues previously and many were in relation to national government and Environment Agency concerns, and that the committee had considered the draft Waste Management Strategy. The Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Waste also provided comment in response to queries from the Committee regarding the issuing of permits by the Environment Agency.

 

Resolution thanking and something else

60.

Forward Work Programme

To consider the draft Forward Work Programme, and to receive updates from the Chairmen and 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.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Forward Work Programmes as detailed in the agenda pack were considered.

 

Additional points raised but were not limited to the intention to set up a task group on elective home education, updates on apprenticeship growth targets and timeliness of permanent arrangements for Looked After Children. It was also requested wherever possible that meetings of the Children’s Select Committee not take place in the first week of the school year as this was problematic for young people representatives.

 

Other points noted included a councillor appointment to the Traveller Reference Group, work looking at integrating transport arrangements for example regarding Special Educational Needs, and that the majority of waste contract task group proposals had been accepted by the Environment Committee.

 

Finally, it was stated there had been positive responses to the Health Select Committee rapid scrutiny exercise on NHS health checks, scorecards would be received quarterly on implementation of the adult social care transformation programme, and there was a proposed task group relating to the operation of health and wellbeing groups to identify best practice.

 

Resolved:

 

1.    To thank Mr Stephen Eades for attending the meeting and speaking under the Public Participation item on the council’s draft Waste Strategy.

 

2.    To approve the Overview and Scrutiny forward work programme.

 

 

61.

Executive Response to the Final Report of the Planning Committee System Task Group

To receive the written response of the Cabinet Member for Spatial Planning, Development Management and Property to the report of the Planning Committee System Task Group. The Task Group’s report was considered by OS Management Committee on 5 June 2018.

 

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

At its meeting on 5 June 2018 the Committee received a report from the Planning Committee System Task Group, and endorsed most of the recommendations of the Task Group as noted in the minutes for the meeting. The Cabinet Member for Spatial Planning, Development Management and Property, Councillor Toby Sturgis, had verbally indicated his responses to the various recommendations at the meeting on 5 June 2018.

 

A written report was therefore provided confirming the executive response from the Cabinet Member.

 

Resolved:

 

To note the executive response to the Final Report of the Planning Committee System Task Group.

62.

Task Group and Programme Board representative update

To receive updates on recent activity on the following Task Groups:

·         Digital Strategy and Implementation Task Group

·         Financial Planning Task Group

·         Military and Civilian Integration Partnership Task Group

·         Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership Task Group

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Reports and updates were provided by the Task Groups to the Management Committee as detailed in the agenda pack and supplements.

 

Additional points raised included queries relating to the Military Civilian Integration Partnership Task Group regarding areas of focus for surveying successful cooperation with the military, details on financial impacts of the army basing changes, usage of joint community facilities and staff supporting the programme.

 

There were also queries relating to the Wiltshire Online programme, details on levels of coverage, past funding, the impact of Brexit on state aid law and work to ensure no double funding would occur as a result of BT pushing hard to meet a government target for provision.

 

At the conclusion of discussion, it was,

 

Resolved:

 

1.    To note the update on OS task group and programme board representative activity provided.

 

2.    To add Cllrs Britton and Grant to the membership of the Financial Planning Task Group.

 

3.    To remove Cllr Blair-Pilling from the MCIP Task Group as he is now an Executive member.

 

4.    To endorse the Digital Strategy and Implementation Task Group’s amended Terms of Reference as set out in the report.

 

63.

Review of OS Councillor Remuneration Allocation Scheme

To consider alternative options regarding how the OS councillor remuneration fund is allocated. The fund forms part of Wiltshire Council's Members' Allowance Scheme.

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Since the creation of Wiltshire Council the Members’ Allowances Scheme has included a fund specifically to remunerate councillors for work on scrutiny activities. The methodology for apportioning the fund had been altered several times following recommendation of an Independent Remuneration Panel, and current sets out that the Management Committee would be responsible for allocating the fund in accordance with a scheme to be approved annually. The existing scheme sets out fund amounts for vice-chairmanship, and chairmanship of task groups and was approved for the previous financial year on 5 June 2018.

 

The Committee request a review of the scheme and the Chairman and Vice-Chairman therefore presented a report setting out options for the scheme including no change, and three alternative methods for allocating the scrutiny fund. These included allocating shared based on the number of meetings an activity included, putting a minimum number of meetings before taking on a role such as Chairman of a Task Group qualified for a level of remuneration, and a method wherein shares were allocated based on number of meetings undertaken for a task group, but with a cap on the total amount.

 

The Committee discussed the options detailed, and some concerns were raised that a share based on numbers of meetings held could encourage needless meetings, although the presence of a cap was considered by others to prevent this. At the end of discussion it was,

 

Resolved:

 

To adopt Option D (see Appendix A to the report) from the 2018-19 municipal years onwards as the method of allocating the £15,000 Overview and Scrutiny (OS) fund to better reflect the varying demands of leading different OS activities

64.

Date of Next Meeting

To confirm the date of the next meeting as XX XXXber 201X.

Minutes:

The date of the next meeting was confirmed as 20 November 2018. It was agreed that a briefing for councillors would be held from 0930 in advance of the meeting start at 1030.

65.

Urgent Items

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

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

As detailed in Agenda Supplement 1 the government was drafting new statutory guidance on overview and scrutiny in local government. The Committee had previously responded to the government consultation in March 2018.

 

The Centre for Public Scrutiny and Association of Democratic Services Officers were requesting feedback on what new government guidance should contain, and had provided a series of questions to councils. A proposed response was detailed in the report, and following discussion it was,

 

Resolved:

 

1)    To note that Central Government will be publishing revised Statutory Guidance on OS in Local Government by the end of 2018.

 

2)    To receive the new Statutory Guidance once published.

 

3)    To approve the proposed Wiltshire Council response to a call for evidence from CfPS and ADSO, which are drafting sections of the new guidance.