Items
No. |
Item |
*O&S 1 |
Apologies for Absence
Minutes:
*O&S
1
Apologies for absence for this meeting were
received from Cllrs R E Baldwin, R Cheadle, J R McInnes and J B
Moody.
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*O&S 2 |
Confirmation of Minutes PDF 44 KB
Committee Meeting held on 8 May 2018
Minutes:
*O&S
2
The minutes of the Meeting of the Overview and
Scrutiny Committee held on 8 May 2018 were confirmed and signed by
the Chairman as a true and correct record.
In respect of Minute
*O&S 94 (‘Fusion Annual Review Presentation:
January to December 2017’), a Member informed that he had
still to receive a response to his query for greater clarity over
the £27,882 funding that had been achieved in 2017 and
particularly the £13,500 to the Okehampton Community
Recreational Association (OCRA). In
response, officers gave a commitment to follow up this meeting
outside of this Committee meeting.
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*O&S 3 |
Declarations of Interest
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.
If Councillors have any questions relating to predetermination,
bias or interests in items on this Agenda, then please contact the
Monitoring Officer in advance of the meeting.
Minutes:
*O&S
3
Members and officers were invited to declare
any interests in the items of business to be considered during the
course of this meeting. These were
recorded as follows:-
Cllr J Yelland declared a personal interest in
Item 13(a): ‘Task and Finish Group Updates –
Partnership Grant Funding Review’ (Minute O&S 12(a) below
refers) by virtue of knowing of a number of individuals who were
involved in Partnerships and remained in the meeting during the
debate and vote thereon; and
Cllr G Parker declared a personal interest in
Item 13(a): ‘Task and Finish Group Updates –
Partnership Grant Funding Review’ (Minute O&S 12(a) below
refers) by virtue of being the President of the Rotary Club, which
was instrumental in the running of the South West Rotary Youth
Games and remained in the meeting during the debate and vote on
this agenda item.
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*O&S 4 |
Public Forum PDF 10 KB
A period of up to 15 minutes is available to
deal with issues raised by the public.
Minutes:
*O&S 4
There were no issues
raised during the Public Forum session at this meeting.
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*O&S 5 |
Draft Hub Committee Forward Plan PDF 124 KB
If any Member seeks further
clarity, or wishes to raise issues regarding any future Hub
Committee agenda item, please contact Member Services
before 12 noon on Friday, 22 June 2018 to ensure
that the lead officer(s) are aware of
this request in advance of the meeting.
Minutes:
*O&S 5
During consideration of the most recently
published Hub Committee Forward Plan, the Committee was advised
that:-
(a)
the following Hub Committee agenda items were to be deferred to the
meeting on 11 September 2018:
-
GDPR / Data Protection 2018 Compliance;
-
Council Tax Reduction Draft Scheme; and
-
Policy for Civil Penalties for breaches of Housing Standards
Enforcement Notices.
(b)
the Annual Treasury Management Report 2017/18 would now be
considered by the Audit Committee instead of the Hub Committee;
(c)
the following reports that were linked to the Joint Local Plan
(JLP) would need to be added to the Hub Committee Forward Plan:
- a recommendation to
Council to approve the JLP itself;
- proposed future governance
arrangements for monitoring the progress of the Plan; and
- the preparation of the
Tavistock Conservation Area Management Plan.
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*O&S 6 |
Exclusion of Public and Press
Minutes:
*O&S 6
RESOLVED
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 paragraph 3 of
Schedule 12A to the Act is involved.
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*O&S 7 |
Financial Stability Review Group: Progress Update
Minutes:
*O&S 7
The Committee considered an exempt
Briefing Note that had also been presented to the Hub Committee
meeting on 5 June 2018 for consideration (Minute *HC 5 refers).
Following an introduction by the lead
Hub Committee Member, reference was made to:-
(a)
the role of the wider membership in the work of the Review
Group. In agreement with the lead Hub
Committee Member, the Committee recognised that there was a need
for wider engagement with all Members as the work of the Group
continued to evolve;
(b)
the Public Toilet Review. It was
confirmed that more information on the Review would be considered
by the Hub Committee at its next meeting on 17 July
2018.
It was
then:
RESOLVED
That the
contents of the Briefing Paper be received and noted.
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*O&S 8 |
Re-admittance of Public and Press
Minutes:
*O&S 8
RESOLVED
That the
public and press be re-admitted to the meeting.
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*O&S 9 |
Update Report on Food Safety Audit Action Plan PDF 62 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
*O&S 9
Members considered a report that provided an
update on the Food Safety Audit Action Plan and gave an opportunity
for the Committee to comment upon the Food Safety Service Plan for
2018/19.
In
discussion, the following points were raised:-
(a)
Committee Members wished to
thank and pay tribute to the achievement whereby 100% of due food
safety inspections had been completed during 2017/18. In expressing their thanks, the Committee asked
that their congratulations be passed on to lead
officers;
(b)
When questioned, it was
confirmed that resources had been reallocated from External Health
and Safety activities to Food Safety work. The Committee was also informed that resources
would need to be reappraised upon the conclusion of the twelve
month temporary specialist post that had been referred to in the
presented agenda report;
(c)
With regard to fees and income,
officers advised that, in line with Better Business for All
guidance, the Council charged between £60 and £80 per
hour to deliver the service.
Furthermore, the Committee was informed that there was potential to
generate income through the delivery of higher education
training.
It was then:
RESOLVED
That the Committee welcomes the update on the
Food Safety Audit Action Plan and has been given the opportunity to
comment upon the Food Safety Service Plan 2018/19.
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*O&S 10 |
Overview and Scrutiny: Draft Annual Report PDF 48 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
O&S 10
The Committee considered a paper that
presented its draft Annual Report for 2017/18.
In discussion, the following points were
raised:-
(a)
Some minor typographical errors were highlighted and, as a way
forward, it was PROPOSED and SECONDED that delegated authority be given to the Senior
Specialist – Democratic Services, in consultation with the
Committee Chairman, to make the necessary amendments;
(b)
Members were of the view that the Annual Report helped to
illustrate the amount of work (and added value) that the Committee
had undertaken during 2017/18. In
addition, Members expressed the view that the Overview and Scrutiny
function was now much more effective and efficient than it had been
in previous years;
(c)
A Member queried the reference in the Annual Report to the
principle of holding the Hub Committee to account. In expanding upon the point, it was noted that the
Leader was particularly keen on the Committee monitoring and
scrutinising the work of the Hub Committee. Furthermore, officers made the point that, with
almost half of the Council membership serving on it, the levels of
influence that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee could exert were
very significant.
It was then:
RESOLVED
That the Council be RECOMMENDED to approve the Overview and Scrutiny Draft
Annual Report for 2017/18, subject to delegated authority being
given to the Senior Specialist – Democratic Services, in
consultation with the Committee Chairman, to make the necessary
amendments as referred to above.
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*O&S 11 |
Joint Local Plan: Standing Agenda Item
Minutes:
*O&S 11
By way of an update, one of the Joint Steering
Group (JSG) Members advised the Committee that:-
-
Due to illness, it was noted that there had been a delay in the
receipt of the interim findings from the Examination in
Public. It was now hoped that the
report would be received during mid-July; and
-
In respect of the current status of the Plan, whilst it depended
upon the specific policy (and the context), elements of it could
now be given ‘significant weight’ in planning
terms.
During the ensuing discussion, reference was
made to the Neighbourhood Planning process and the current
disillusionment amongst Groups and parish councils. The JSG Member shared the frustrations that were
being raised but emphasised the importance of the Groups continuing
to plough on. The Member also gave an
assurance that things would begin to get easier once the Plan had
been formally adopted.
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*O&S 12 |
Task & Finish Group Updates (if any) PDF 88 KB
(a)
Partnership Grant Funding Review
(b)
‘Digital by Default’ Proposal
(c)
Performance Measures and Targets Review Proposal
Additional documents:
Minutes:
O&S 12
(a)
Partnership Funding Review
A
report was considered by the Committee that presented the final
report of the Partnership Funding Review Task and Finish Group.
The Group Chairman introduced the report and informed that the
membership of the Task and Finish Group had been expanded following
Council consideration of the draft Budget for 2018/19. In addition, the Chairman wished to thank those 26
Members who had recently completed the Member Survey and emphasised
that the results of this Survey had been given great recognition by
the Group when it reached its final recommendations.
During the ensuing debate, particular reference was made to:-
(i)
the Heart of the South West Local
Enterprise Partnership (LEP).
Widespread disappointment was expressed amongst Committee Members
that the Group had not recommended any reduction to the
£5,000 annual grant allocated to the LEP. Further doubts were raised over whether the
Council was obtaining value for money for its £5,000 annual
grant and the point was also made that these monies would be much
better used to support other more local partnership arrangements
that were being proposed to face reductions (e.g. the Youth Games;
Junior Life Skills; Okehampton Community Transport; and Tavistock
Ring and Ride);
(ii)
interpretation of the supporting
comments in the presented agenda report that underpinned the Member
Survey results. Some Members took issue
with some of the comments and felt that, in certain instances, they
were rather misleading and therefore made it difficult to reach
definite conclusions;
(iii)
those Partnerships deemed as being
‘statutory’. A number of
Members were unconvinced that those partnerships that were listed
as being ‘statutory’ (Tamar Estuaries Consultative
Forum; Tamar Valley AONB; and the World Heritage Site) provided
sufficient value for money. In
addition, discontent was expressed that the Task and Finish Group
had seemingly accepted that the funding for these was
‘fixed’ and therefore unable to be reduced. Such was the strength of feeling that some Members
were firmly of the view that there was scope to reduce the funding
allocated to these instead of some of the other partnerships that
were proposed to lose monies;
(iv)
the work undertaken by the Task and
Finish Group to reach this point. A
Member of the Group expressed his deep frustrations at the general
direction that the debate had taken and, once again, highlighted
the amount of time and effort that had been put in to produce this
set of recommendations. In addition,
the Member reminded his fellow Committee Members that the Council
was faced with meeting a significant budget gap and there was a
need to take difficult decisions now;
(v)
the recommendations being to
2023/24. Such were the difficulties in
predicting the future financial position for the Council (coupled
with the vast difference in Member opinions expressed), that a
number of Committee Members questioned the actual need to make a
series of recommendations that were looking so far in advance (i.e.
to 2023/24).
As a
consequence, it was PROPOSED and SECONDED and on being put to ...
view the full minutes text for item *O&S 12
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*O&S 13 |
Rural Broadband Working Group Update (if any)
Minutes:
*O&S 13
During the update, reference was made to:-
(a)
an invite having been extended to the
Connecting Devon and Somerset Programme Manager to attend a future
Committee meeting. At the time of this
meeting, it was noted that officers were still awaiting a response
to this invitation;
(b)
a meeting of the ‘Connecting Dartmoor and Exmoor’ Board
had been scheduled to take place on 14 August 2018;
(c)
Ultrafast Broadband rollout. A Member
informed that he had met with representatives from BT and he was
hopeful that a couple of cabinets would be upgraded in the Borough
to ensure that nearby residents could be in receipt of Ultrafast
Broadband provision.
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*O&S 14 |
Annual Work Programme 2017/18 PDF 19 KB
Minutes:
*O&S 14
The Chairman introduced the latest version of
the Work Programme for the next 12 months. In discussion, it was agreed that an update on the
IT Procurement project would be presented to the Committee meeting
on 4 September 2018.
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*O&S 15 |
Member Learning and Development Opportunities Arising from this meeting
PART TWO ITEMS WHICH
MAY BE TAKEN IN THE ABSENCE OF THE PUBLIC AND PRESS ON THE GROUNDS
THAT EXEMPT INFORMATION IS LIKELY TO BE DISCLOSED (if any)
If any,
the Committee is recommended to pass the following
resolution:-
“RESOLVED that under Section
100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded
from the Meeting the grounds that exempt information may be
disclosed as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A to the
Act”.
This
document can be made available in large print, Braille, tape
format, other languages or alternative format upon request.
Please contact the Committee section on
01822 813662 or email darryl.white@swdevon.gov.uk
Minutes:
*O&S 15
In discussion, the Committee was reminded of
the contacts details for the recently appointed Member IT Support
Officer and Members were urged to utilise his expertise.
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