Issue - meetings

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE, MEMBER AND SCRUTINY MANAGER

To consider the issues that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee plans to review at future meetings and the activities of its sub-groups.

RESOLVED:

(1)   That the Committee prioritised topics for inclusion in the work programme attached as Appendix A and, where appropriate, determined the high-level form and timing of scrutiny input.

(2)   That the Committee, having considered the most recent iteration of the Forward Plan, as attached at Appendix B, suggested a list of items to be considered at its meetings in the coming civic year.

(3)   That the Corporate Peer Challenge Action Plan as attached at Appendix C was considered.

REASONS FOR DECISIONS:

(1)   To allow the Committee to set a work programme which provides focused Member oversight, encourages open debate and seeks to achieve service improvement through effective policy development and meaningful policy and service change.

(2)   The need to observe Constitutional requirements and monitor the Forward Plan for appropriate items to scrutinise remains a key aspect of work programming.

Audio recording – 55 minutes 0 seconds

The Democratic Services Manager presented the report entitled ‘Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme’ and drew attention to the following:

·       The most recent version of the Forward Plan uploaded on 16 February 2024 was still the most recent version ahead of Cabinet meeting in March.

·       Members should advise the Committee, Member and Scrutiny Manager, or email the Scrutiny inbox details of any items for consideration by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

·       The Strategic Housing Policy had been removed from the Work Programme following agreement with the Vice Chair, as this information had already been provided to Members in a briefing held in December 2023 and the slides from this had been circulated to Members.

·       After this meeting all items on the Work Programme had now been considered apart from the Call to Account – Harkness Court – Chairs Report.

·       The new Scrutiny Officer would start work on Tuesday 26 March 2024 and would be working on a Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

·       Training run by the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny would be held on 5 June 2024 and this was available to all Members of the Council.

·       Members had discussed and requested a new item be included on the Work Programme which was regarding recruitment and retention of staff at the Council.

·       Bitesize training for Members before meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee would be looked at for introduction in the autumn.

The following Members asked questions:

·       Councillor David Levett

·       Councillor Ralph Muncer

In response to questions, the Democratic Services Manager, advised that a recommendation from the LGA has been that evening committee meetings generally started too late and this meant that decisions were sometimes made very late in the evening.

Councillor Daniel Wright Mason proposed and Councillor Matt Barnes seconded and, following a vote, it was:

RESOLVED:

(1)   That the Committee prioritised topics for inclusion in the work programme attached as Appendix A and, where appropriate, determined the high-level form and timing of scrutiny input.

(2)   That the Committee, having considered the most recent iteration of the Forward Plan, as attached at Appendix B, suggested a list of items to be considered at its meetings in the coming civic year.

(3)   That the Corporate Peer Challenge Action Plan as attached at Appendix C was considered.

REASONS FOR DECISIONS:

(1)   To allow the Committee to set a work programme which provides focused Member oversight, encourages open debate and seeks to achieve service improvement through effective policy development and meaningful policy and service change.

(2)   The need to observe Constitutional requirements and monitor the Forward Plan for appropriate items to scrutinise remains a key aspect of work programming.