Agenda and minutes

to approve as a correct record and authorise the Chairman to sign the minutes of the Panel held on 24 August 2017;

O&S.55/17

The minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel held on 24 August 2017 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.56/17

Members and officers were invited to declare any interests in the items of business to be considered during the course of the meeting, but there were none made.

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

O&S.57/17

In accordance with the Public Forum Procedure Rules, there were no issues received for consideration.

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 9 October 2017 to ensure that the lead Executive Member(s) and lead officer(s) are aware of this request in advance of the meeting.

O&S.58/17

The Panel was presented with the most recently published Executive Forward Plan.  In accordance with Procedure Rules, a request had been made for the Panel to formally consider the following agenda item:

(i)      Set Up of a Local Authority Lottery

Having now viewed the published report on the Executive agenda, a Member advised that he still needed to receive assurances over a number of questions before he could support such a proposal.

As a consequence, the lead Executive Member agreed to propose that this item be deferred at the Executive meeting on 19 October 2017 to enable the Panel to then consider this item in greater depth at its next meeting on 9 November 2017.

O&S.59/17

Consideration was given to a report that provided a detailed overview of the One Council Consultation process, including how the consultation was devised and the range of methods used to engage with the public.

To instigate consideration of this matter, it was PROPOSED and SECONDED and when put to the vote declared CARRIED that:-

‘The Panel proceed to consider the consultation process and responses received.’

By way of an introduction, the Commissioning Manager presented the results of the One Council Consultation exercise that had expired earlier that week.  At the conclusion of this presentation, reference was made to:-

(a)     the telephone survey.  Some Members felt that there were limitations associated with the telephone survey that included:

-      the responder being asked at the offset whether or not they were in favour of the One Council proposal.  These Members stated that this constituted a fundamental difference between the telephone and online surveys;

-      the lack of a statement on the survey advising responders to read the background information prior to answering the questions;

-      the perception that the introduction was somewhat leading in favour of a responder supporting the proposal; and

-      the number of responses across the two councils.  The fact that 382 responses were received in the South Hams, compared to 381 responses in West Devon, did not reflect the population variances between the two areas;

To counter these concerns, officers advised that all Members had been given prior sight of the telephone survey script.  Furthermore, if responders were uncomfortable with answering the questions, they were able to leave the call at any given time;

(b)     completion of the online questionnaire.  Some Members highlighted that a number of responders had resented the fact that, despite not supporting the proposal, they were still forced to complete the survey and offer a view on elements including Council Tax equalisation.  In reply, officers informed that, in the event of a proposal being submitted to the Secretary of State, this would ensure that all responses were still taken into account;

(c)     additional information.  During the debate, Members requested receipt of the following additional information outside of this meeting:

-      A summary of the town and parish council responses to the Consultation process;

-      Access to those letter and email responses received during the Consultation process;

-      The number of telephone survey dropouts; and

-      If possible, the number of respondents who left the online survey part way through;

(d)     the levels of response rates during the process.  Some Members highlighted that a 4% response rate was well above the average for such surveys (deemed to be in the region of 1%).  In contrast, other Members felt that, when considering just how proactive the consultation process had been, a 4% response rate was disappointing;

(e)     the face to face public consultation events.  The view was expressed that these events had been successful and a number of Members wished to pay tribute to the Leader, Deputy Leader and their Executive Member colleagues  ...  view the full minutes text for item O&S5915

O&S.60/17     

The Panel considered a report that presented the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy for 2018/19 onwards.

In his introduction, the Chairman advised that it was his intention for the Panel to focus on the Member survey responses to each of the Budget Option questions and the following motion was therefore PROPOSED and SECONDED:-

‘That in accordance with Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business as the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1 and 3 of Schedule 12A to the Act is involved.’

Before the vote on this motion was taken, some Members did express their disappointment that 12 Members had not taken the time to complete what was such a user friendly survey on such an important subject matter.

When put to the vote, this motion was declared CARRIED.

The Panel proceeded to consider the results of each of the Budget Option questions and drew the following conclusions:

-         Question 1: progress this item to the next stage of the draft budget setting process;

-         Question 2: progress this item to the next stage of the draft budget setting process;

-         Question 3: progress this item to the next stage of the draft budget setting process;

-         Question 4: since aligned to Question 3, progress this item to the next stage of the draft budget setting process;

-         Question 5: progress this item to the next stage of the draft budget setting process;

-         Question 6: progress this item to the next stage of the draft budget setting process;

-         Question 7: remove from the draft budget setting process at the moment.  In so doing, the Panel recognised that, depending upon the outcome of meetings in the upcoming weeks, it may then be appropriate to reinstate to the process;

-         Question 8: progress this item to the next stage of the draft budget setting process;

-         Question 9: progress this item to the next stage of the draft budget setting process;

-         Question 10: progress this item to the next stage of the draft budget setting process, whilst acknowledging that a great deal more work was required;

-         Question 11: progress this item to the next stage of the draft budget setting process;

-         Question 12: progress this item to the next stage of the draft budget setting process and re-name the title to state ‘review of’ rather than ‘cease offering’;

-         Question 13: remove from the draft budget setting process;

-         Question 14: progress this item to the next stage of the draft budget setting process;

-         Question 15: remove from the draft budget setting process, whilst acknowledging that there may be alternative methods of delivering the service and the close linkages to Question 18;

-         Question 16: progress this item to the next stage of the draft budget setting process, whilst acknowledging that a great deal more work  ...  view the full minutes text for item O&S6015

(a)       Discretionary Grant Funding; and

(b)       Performance Measures.

O&S.61/17     

(a)    Discretionary Grant Funding

A Member advised that the final recommendations arising from the Task and Finish Group would be incorporated into the draft budget setting proposals for 2018/19. 

As part of the review, the Member advised that the Group had recommended a reduction in the annual Council contribution to the South Hams Community and Voluntary Service.

(b)   Performance Measures

By way of an update, it was noted that the Group was still gathering information in advance of its next meeting on 29 November 2017.  In addition, the Group remained on target to produce its final recommendations early in the New Year.

O&S.62/17

The contents of the latest version of the Log was presented and officers were specifically asked to follow up the outstanding action relating to an update on the potential impact arising from Universal Credits.

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.63/17     

In consideration of its Annual Work Programme, the following comments, additions and amendments were made:-

(a)    As highlighted above (Minute O&S.58/17 refers), the Set Up of a Local Authority Lottery agenda item would be added to the Programme for consideration at the next Panel meeting on 9 November 2017;

(b)    Following the decision of Council on 28 September 2017, the Panel agreed that the agenda item relating to ‘Options for Delivery of Social / Affordable Housing in South Hams’ would be added to the Programme for consideration at the Panel meeting on 22 March 2018.