Items
No. |
Item |
48. |
Apologies for Absence
Minutes:
*O&S
48
Apologies for absence for this meeting were
received from Cllrs J R McInnes, D E
Moyse, P J Ridgers and D K A
Sellis.
|
49. |
Confirmation of Minutes PDF 35 KB
Committee Meeting held on 17 October 2017
Minutes:
*O&S
49
The minutes of the Meeting of the Overview and
Scrutiny Committee held on 17 October 2017 were confirmed and
signed by the Chairman as a true and correct record.
|
50. |
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
50
Members and officers were invited to declare
any interests in the items of business to be considered during the
course of this meeting, but there were none made.
|
51. |
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 51
There were no issues raised during the Public
Forum session at this meeting.
|
52. |
Draft Hub Committee Forward Plan PDF 108 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, 3 November 2017 to ensure
that the lead officer(s) are aware of
this request in advance of the meeting.
Minutes:
*O&S 52
The most recent Hub Committee Forward Plan was
presented for consideration.
The Chairman advised that the
‘Productivity Plan Joint Committee’ and ‘Housing
Position Statement’ reports were intended to be presented to
the meeting of the Hub Committee scheduled for 28 November
2017.
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53. |
Community Safety Partnership PDF 63 KB
Minutes:
*O&S 53
Cllr Musgrave, in his capacity
as the Council’s representative on the Community Safety
Partnership, presented a report that provided Members with the
opportunity to scrutinise the work of the Community Safety
Partnership (CSP) as defined by Sections 19 and 20 of the Police
and Justice Act 2006 and the Crime and Disorder (Overview and
Scrutiny) Regulations 2009.
The Senior Community Safety
Officer (SCSO), South Devon and Dartmoor Community Safety
Partnership, highlighted several areas within the report and
responded to questions. She also raised
two areas not listed in the report, the first of which was a
methodology for the trafficking of drugs which targeted vulnerable
young people and as such was a focus for the
Partnership. The second issue was the
prevalence of gang culture within one of the towns in the South
Devon and Dartmoor area.
In discussion, reference was
made to:-
(a)
the likelihood of continued funding. In
response the SCSO advised that the funding was guaranteed for a
further year however there was uncertainty arising from the
proposed merger between Devon and Cornwall Police and Dorset Police
Authorities;
(b)
that the frontline Police were very supportive,
albeit within resource constraints;
(c)
that Members would appreciate a training session on the issues that
the Partnership dealt with. All Members
supported the request for training and it was agreed that it should
be included in the recommendation;
(d)
that the Partnership provided very good value for money.
It was then:
RESOLVED
1.
That the report be noted; and
2.
That training for Members be arranged on issues
relevant to the Partnership.
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54. |
Joint Local Plan: Standing Agenda Item
Minutes:
*O&S 54
The Lead Member for Strategic Planning and
Housing gave a verbal update on progress with the Joint Local Plan
(JLP).
Key areas included:
§
A timetable for the examination of the Plan would be circulated to
Members;
§
The Inspector had built in time to enable discussion on matters
that may arise;
§
There was a comprehensive Local Plan Library as the Inspector was
concerned that members of the public could access any
documents;
§
There had been representations from people with sites that had not
been allocated. Alternative sites would
only be looked at if sites within the Plan were unsustainable;
§
In terms of a five year land supply, full details would be made
available to the public on 29 November 2017.
In response to a question on how performance
of the Plan could be measured, the Lead Member confirmed that the
JLP Steering Group had turned its attention to that and the Plan
contained a series of measures. It
would be important to agree which were the key measures to
monitor. The five year land supply
figures would be reviewed annually. It
would also be important to monitor and reflect on the performance
of the delivery of the Plan itself.
Another Member raised the problem of planning
permissions being granted but not actioned, so questioned whether
there was any mechanism to enforce. The
Lead Member responded that there were a range of actions that could
be taken at a local and national level, but that West Devon did not
perform badly in terms of housing delivery. The JLP would be a 20 year programme, some sites
would come forward sooner than others and the key would be to
identify sites that could be in trouble.
One Member asked if proposals to standardise
the methodology for assessing housing need could affect the numbers
of houses that the authority was required to provide. The Lead Member responded to the question in
detail and concluded that within the JLP area, the Group had added
together the requirements and then looked at the most sustainable
way to provide those houses across the three authorities.
The Chairman thanked the Lead Member for his
update and agreed that it would now be appropriate for a short
update on progress of the Plan to be presented to the O&S
Committee at each meeting.
|
55. |
Quarter 2 Performance Measures PDF 52 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
*O&S 55
The Lead Member for Support Services presented
a report that set out the performance levels against target as
communicated in the Balanced Scorecard and the performance figures
supplied in the presented background and the exception
report. Member’s attention was
drawn to a new indicator, percentage of Change of Circumstances
benefits claims received online.
During discussion,
reference was made to the following:
1.
The length of time taken to process new benefits claims being back
within tolerance;
2.
Whilst it was accepted that not all benefits claimants had access
to a computer, encouraging channel shift would ‘free
up’ call handlers to assist those who needed to contact by
phone;
3.
The indicator for percentage of enquiries resolved at first point
of contact no longer being collected.
This led to a wider discussion on the Customer Contact Centre and
Members were advised that the Centre was set up in such a way that
the Customer Contact Centre Manager was able to quickly more
resource within teams to respond to changing levels of demand;
4.
The way that sickness absence was recorded was not helpful and this
would be reviewed to reflect the single organisational
workforce.
It was then:
RESOLVED
That the performance levels against target
communicated in the Balanced Scorecard and the performance figures
supplied in the background and the exception report be noted.
|
56. |
Ombudsman Annual Review Letter 2017 PDF 38 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
*O&S
56
The Lead Member for Support Services presented
a report that considered the Local Government Ombudsman’s
Annual Review Letter 2017 regarding complaints received against the
Council for the period 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017. As part of his introduction, he set out how the
level of complaints had decreased over the previous four years
indicating a steady improvement in service levels.
It was then:
RESOLVED
That the Ombudsman Annual Letter for 2017, as
presented at Appendix A, be reviewed, corporate lessons learnt and
whether service improvements are required had been considered.
|
57. |
General Data Protection Regulation -Readiness Update PDF 44 KB
Additional documents:
Minutes:
*O&S 57
The Lead Member for Support Services presented
a report that outlined the changes that the Council would need to
implement in order to achieve compliance with the General Data
Protection Regulation (GDPR) by 25 May 2018. He advised that progress would be reviewed on a
regular basis.
The Support Services Specialist Manager
advised Members that the Information Commissioners Office had been
in touch in respect of the need for Members to be registered as
data controllers. As part of their
role, they collected data relating to residents. He advised that it was likely that the Council
would cover the cost of ensuring all Members were appropriately
registered. He also confirmed that
training for town and parish councils on Data Protection
Regulations was being considered.
Members welcomed this information and requested that they be
included in any training sessions that were arranged.
It was then:
RESOLVED
That the approach to General Data Protection
Regulation readiness ahead of implementation in May 2018 was
supported, and that Members should be fully trained in the
implications and responsibilities of the regulations.
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58. |
Task and Finish Group Updates (if any):
(a)
Discretionary Grant Funding Review; and
(b)
Performance Measures
Minutes:
*
O&S 58
(a)
Partnership Grant Funding Review
The Chairman confirmed that this group had not met yet, and also
advised that the name of the group should be Partnership (not
Discretionary). They would meet in time
to bring a report to the January 2018 meeting of the O&S
Committee.
(b)
Performance Measure
By way of an update, it was
confirmed that joint working with South Hams District Council was
currently on hold. The outcome of this
piece of work was not needed until April
2018.
|
59. |
Annual Work Programme 2017/18 PDF 16 KB
Minutes:
*O&S 59
The Chairman introduced the latest version of
the Work Programme for the next 12 months and the following updates
were highlighted:
-
Following recent incidents where the Ambulance Service were
reported to have failed to provide an appropriate level of service
to residents, a Member asked if they could be invited to attend a
future meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to have the
opportunity to outline how they were facing public sector
challenges. The Committee agreed to
this request and asked that they attend the meeting scheduled for
27 February 2018;
-
JLP Update would now be a standing agenda item for every
meeting.
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60. |
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 60
The Chairman advised the Committee that a
trainer had been sourced to deliver the Overview and Scrutiny
related training and this would take place on the morning of 5
December 2017 commencing at 10.00am.
In addition, the Committee noted that, further
to items earlier in the agenda, training sessions would be arranged
on the Community Safety Partnership and Data Protection.
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