Agenda and minutes

O&S.47/16     

The Chairman reminded Members that, after ten years of managing the South Hams Leisure Centres, the Council was saying goodbye and thank you to Tone Leisure.

Both the Panel Chairman and Leader of Council proceeded to pay tribute to the excellent job undertaken by Tone Leisure and wished the organisation every success in the future.  These tributes were echoed by a number of Members.

to approve as a correct record and authorise the Chairman to sign the minutes of the Panel held on 3 November 2016;

O&S.48/16     

The minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel held on 3 November 2016 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Members are invited to declare any personal or disclosable pecuniary interests, including the nature and extent of such interests they may have in any items to be considered at this meeting;

O&S.49/16     

Members and officers were invited to declare any interests in the items of business to be considered during the course of the meeting.  These were recorded as follows:

Cllr P C Smerdon declared a personal interest in agenda item 11(b): ‘Task and Finish Group Updates – Partnerships’ (Minute O&S.55/16(b) below refers) by virtue of being a trustee of the South Hams Community and Voluntary Service and remained in the meeting during the debate, but abstained from the vote on this matter.

A period of up to 15 minutes is available to deal with issues raised by the public;

O&S.50/16     

In accordance with the Public Forum Procedure Rules, no items were raised at this meeting.

(a)    Homeless Strategy  (Lead Executive Member - Cllr Bastone)

(b)   Devon Home Choice and Allocations Policy (Lead Executive Member - Cllr Bastone)

Note: If any Member seeks further clarity, or wishes to raise issues regarding any future Executive agenda item, please contact Member Services before 5.00pm on Monday 21 November 2016 to ensure that the lead Executive Member(s) and lead officer(s) are aware of this request in advance of the meeting.

O&S.51/16     

The Panel was presented with the most recently published Executive Forward Plan. 

In the general discussion on the Plan and, in accordance with Procedure Rules, a Member had given notice of his wish to ask why those Members who did not serve on the Local Authority Controlled Company (LACC) Joint Steering Group (JSG) had been refused access to the draft legal advice from Bevan Brittan.

Having previously been made aware of this request, the Chairman advised that he had sought clarity from the Monitoring Officer on the following questions:-

1. Do Members have an underlying right to "any" documentation held by the Authority?

(Could you quote the relevant para in the Constitution?)

2. Is it within the jurisdiction of the LACC JSG to decline to issue documents requested by Members. Or is it within your remit to consider the appropriateness of requests as Monitoring Officer.

3. Were you consulted on this issue and if so what was your advice?

4. If a request was made under FOI would the Bevan Brittan report be able to be issued?

5. Would it be treated as Exempt and if so on what grounds?

The Chairman had received a response from the Monitoring Officer to his questions, which he proceeded to read (and agreed to circulate to the wider membership).  The statement read as follows:

“Constitution-wise, the starting point is the Protocol on Member / Officer Relations which covers the issues surrounding ‘Access to Information’ (please see paragraphs 24 – 32 in the Protocol on the Council’s website (http://shdcweb.swdevon.lan/article/1815/Our-Constitution).

The general principles are that the Council wishes to conduct its business as openly as possible and to give Councillors maximum access to information in order to enable them to discharge their role as Councillors and information is provided to Members on what is commonly known as a ‘need to know’ basis.  Under FOI, we would not release the Bevan Brittan advice note, as it legal advice provided to the Council to enable it to make an informed decision on the LACC and the argument of legal privilege would apply.

In short, I was at the JSG meeting on 14 November when this was discussed, and I had previously been consulted for my views. These were reflected in the JSG’s response on the question of releasing the BB advice note at this point.

It is not the case that Members will not see the Bevan Brittan advice (which will be ultimately available as an exempt item) but that it is not appropriate to circulate it at this point in time. The reason that it is a timing issue, is that the Advice Note has been commissioned by the JSG in order to enable it to make informed recommendations to the Council on whether it should go ahead with the LACC and to provide responses to the issues of concern raised by Council in July 2016. The Advice Note is therefore very much a working document with currently unresolved issues (the JSG  ...  view the full minutes text for item O&S 51/16

Lead Executive Member – Cllr Wright

Report to follow

O&S.52/16     

The Chairman reminded the Panel that he had agreed that this agenda item should be deferred until a future meeting to enable for the potential impact arising from the Autumn Statement and Finance Settlement to be known. 

The Panel was happy to endorse the suggestion that this item be included on the agenda for the joint Budget meeting with the Development Management Committee Members on 19 January 2017.

Lead Executive Member – Cllr Hicks

O&S.53/16     

Members considered a report that presented performance measures for Quarter 2.  The report confirmed that performance had remained relatively consistent with the previous quarters, however there had been a marked improvement in the benefit processing speed.

Officers proceeded to give visual updates on the live performance dashboard information (particularly relating to Development Management and the Contact Centre) and the new Council website.

In discussion, reference was made to:-

(a)    the format of future performance information reports.  In recognising the ability to be in receipt of ‘real time’ performance information, Panel Members were asked to give consideration to how they wished to see future performance information presented to their meetings;

(b)    current performance.  There was a general recognition that overall performance had now stabilised and was improving in certain areas.  In sharing their own experiences, a number of Members subsequently welcomed and commended this performance trend;

(c)    the T18 Performance versus Budget indicator.  A Member expressed his surprise that the indicator was showing as being ‘on or above’ target when considering that the Council had decided to spend an additional £550,000 on transitional resources;

(d)    complaint response speed.  Officers advised that the downward performance trend was attributed to the knock-on effect of the Council dealing with the backlog generated from waste complaints during this quarter;

(e)    the status of being ‘narrowly off target, be aware’.  A Member requested that future performance reports include more explanatory information for those indicators that have achieved this status definition;

(f)     the contact centre.  Members wished to extend their continued thanks to the Contact Centre Manager and her team, who continued to work exceptionally in difficult circumstances.  A Member recommended that fellow Members pay a visit to the Contact Centre to witness first hand both the work being undertaken, but to also get a sense of the nature of the issues being raised by callers;

(g)    the new website.  The Panel was informed that the new website would not only be more resilient, but would also be more transaction focused.  Further benefits of the new website were felt to be speed of access and ease of use.  It was confirmed that Members would be asked to test the new website for themselves in the next three weeks, before it was then actually launched.

It was then:

RESOLVED

That the monitoring report and the progress made to date be noted.

Lead Executive Member – Cllr Wright

O&S.54/16     

A report was considered that presented the Local Government Ombudsman’s Annual Review Letter 2016 regarding Ombudsman complaints received against the Council for the period 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2016.

In the ensuing debate, the Monitoring Officer was congratulated for the positivity of the Annual Review Letter.  Members also welcomed the decrease in the number of Ombudsman complaints and felt that this was an example of the benefits of an increased corporate emphasis being given to complaint handling.

It was then:

RESOLVED

That the Ombudsman Annual Letter for 2016 (as outlined at Appendix A of the presented agenda report) has been reviewed with consideration being given to what corporate lessons may be learned and whether further service improvements be required.

(a)  Dartmouth Lower Ferry; (Lead Executive Member – Cllr Gilbert)

(b)  Partnerships; (Lead Executive Member - Cllr Ward)

(c)  Waste and Recycling;(Lead Executive Member – Cllr Gilbert)

(d)  Events Policy; (Lead Executive Member – Cllr Gilbert) and

(e)  Permits Review (Lead Executive Member – Cllr Gilbert)

O&S.55/16

(a)   Dartmouth Lower Ferry

The Chairman advised that it was still intended that an outcome report would be presented to the Panel in the New Year.

(b)  Partnerships

The Panel considered the final recommendations arising from the Task and Finish Group in relation to South Hams Citizens Advice (CA) and South Hams Community Voluntary Sector (CVS).

In introducing the report, the Chairman advised that this project had been an immense and arduous piece of work.  In thanking the hard work that had been undertaken by the Task and Finish Group and lead officers, the Chairman confirmed that this was the final strand of this review.

In discussion, reference was made to:-

(a)  closer working opportunities.  Whilst some Members wised to make the point that CA and CVS were distinctly separate organisations, there were considered to be opportunities for them to work more closely together to be more efficient and avoid duplication of effort;

(b)  the community work undertaken.  The Panel recognised that both organisations carried out tremendous work in the community and offered significant support to the Council;

(c)  the role of the Council.  To be fair to both organisations, Members acknowledged that the Council needed to ascertain a better understanding of its own needs that could have an effect on the CA and/or CVS (e.g. the Health and Wellbeing agenda and outreach services);

(d)  the recommendations.  In expressing their support, Members considered the Task and Finish Group recommendations to be fair and reasonable at this time;

(e)  residents accessing services from Plymouth CA.  Having been informed that an agreement had been reached whereby residents living at the western end of the district could now use the Plymouth CA services, some frustrations were expressed that neither local ward Members nor parish councils had been made aware of this change.

It was then:

RESOLVED

(c)       Waste and Recycling

In providing an update, the lead Executive Member for Commercial Services advised of the intention for a fully detailed report to be presented to the next Panel meeting.

(d)      Events Policy

The Group Chairman advised the Panel that work was ongoing on this review.

(e)       Permits Review

Members considered a report that sought the approval of Council to make amendments to South Hams parking permits, as considered and endorsed by the Permits Task and Finish Group.

In discussion, the following points were raised:-

(a)  Members were of the view that the Task and Finish Group had completed an excellent review and the recommendations were considered to amount to a positive way forward;

(b)  A Member reiterated his previously raised view that charges should be imposed for parking at Follaton House.  In reply, officers informed that this had been  ...  view the full minutes text for item O&S 55/16

O&S.56/16     

In presenting the latest log, the Chairman made reference to two updates:

1.      The meeting between representatives of the Economy Working Group and the Joint Local Plan Steering Group had been arranged to take place at Plymouth City Council offices on Wednesday, 30 November at 10.00am; and

2.      With regard to the request for Members to send a list of organisations to officers who they believe should be included in the consultation exercise on the Events Policy, one Member had since provided details of additional groups who should be approached.  A holding message had been sent this week to all prior respondents of the consultation advising them that the review was ongoing and that they would be contacted again to consult on detailed proposals when these were available.

to consider items for programming on to the annual work programme of the Panel, whilst having regard to the resources available, time constraints of Members and the interests of the local community

O&S.57/16     

In consideration of its Annual Work Programme, the Panel noted its content with no further issues or comments being raised.