Agenda and decisions

Members are required to notify any substitutions by midday on the day of the meeting.

Late substitutions will not be accepted and Members attending as a substitute without having given the due notice will not be able to take part in the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Louise Peace.

To take as read and approve as a true record the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on the 3 September 2024.

RESOLVED:That the Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee held on 3 September 2024 be approved as a true record of the proceedings and be signed by the Chair.

Members should notify the Chair of other business which they wish to be discussed at the end of either Part I or Part II business set out in the agenda. They must state the circumstances which they consider justify the business being considered as a matter of urgency.

The Chair will decide whether any item(s) raised will be considered.

There was no other business notified.

Members are reminded that any declarations of interest in respect of any business set out in the agenda, should be declared as either a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest or Declarable Interest and are required to notify the Chair of the nature of any interest declared at the commencement of the relevant item on the agenda.  Members declaring a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest must withdraw from the meeting for the duration of the item. Members declaring a Declarable Interest, wishing to exercise a ‘Councillor Speaking Right’, must declare this at the same time as the interest, move to the public area before speaking to the item and then must leave the room before the debate and vote.

(1)   The Chair advised that, in accordance with Council Policy, the meeting would be recorded.

(2)   The Chair drew attention to the item on the agenda front pages regarding Declarations of Interest and reminded Members that, in line with the Code of Conduct, any Declarations of Interest needed to be declared immediately prior to the item in question.

(3)   The Chair advised that for the purposes of clarification clause 4.8.23(a) of the Constitution does not apply to this meeting.

(4)   The Chair reminded Members of the adopted North Herts Scrutiny Charter and the need to ensure that the meeting was conducted with independence, initiative and integrity. The full Charter was available to Members via the Scrutiny Intranet pages.

To receive petitions, comments and questions from the public.

There was no public participation at this meeting.

The Chair to report on any urgent or general exception items which required their agreement. At the time of printing the agenda, the Chair had not agreed any urgent or general exception items.

No urgent or general exception items were received.

To consider any matters referred to the Committee for a decision in relation to a call-in of decision. At the time of printing the agenda, no items of business had been called-in.

There have been no called-in items.

To receive and respond to any questions from Members either set out in the agenda or tabled at the meeting.

No questions had been submitted by Members.

INFORMATION NOTE OF THE CUSTOMER AND DIGITAL SERVICES MANAGER

Half year update for Comments, Compliments & Complaints for 24/25.

Councillor Val Bryant, as Executive Member for Community and Partnerships, presented the Information Note entitled ‘3Cs Half Year Update 2024/2025’.

REPORT OF THE SERVICE DIRECTOR – HOUSING AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

To consider the allocation of £73k of ringfenced MHCLG Homelessness Prevention Grant to Herts County Council to match fund the two-year pilot of Druglink’s Supported Housing Scheme for Women.

RECOMMENDED TO CABINET: That the Cabinet supports the allocation of £73k of ring fenced MHCLG Homelessness Prevention Grant to HCC to match fund the two-year pilot of Druglink’s Supported Housing Scheme for Women.

REASON FOR RECOMMENDATION: This proposal has been made in order to enable the two-year pilot to go ahead.

REPORT OF THE SERVICE DIRECTOR – ENTERPRISE

To provide the committee with an update on the progress of the Enterprise Directorate.

RESOLVED: That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee noted the report.

REASON FOR DECISION: The report is following the request of the committee for an update on the progress of the Enterprise Directorate and is for information only.

REPORT OF THE CULTURE AND FACILITIES SERVICE MANAGER AND PRINCIPAL ESTATES SURVEYOR

This report explores the current options with regards to solving or alleviating the storage pressures facing the museum collection of North Hertfordshire.

RECOMMENDED TO CABINET:

(1)   That Cabinet note the current projected costs, advantages and disadvantages of each option.

(2)   That Cabinet approve use of £30k of the allocated £4m budget in the current capital programme for this project to develop more detail on the costs of Option D (warehouse proposal) and to acquire the necessary details for a planning application to be made.

(3)   That Cabinet approve use of £20k of the allocated £4m budget in the current capital programme for this project to develop more detail on the costs of Option E (Purchase of a freehold/long leasehold building (new or existing)), should a suitable property become available.

(4)   That Cabinet consider and give approval for officers to apply for grant funding towards the investigations mentioned in 2.2 and 2.3 and recognise the need to align investigations with grant funding timetables in this instance.

(5)   That Cabinet resolve to discount options A, B and G and recommend that they are no longer developed or explored further.

(6)   That Cabinet indicates that Options C, F and H outlined within the report should be pursued further.

REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATION:

(1)   Officers do not have the capacity or financial budget to progress all 8 options to an advanced stage and some early decisions are required in order to focus time and budget on pursuing the most advantageous options based on the best information available to officers and members at the present time.

(2)   In addition, the pursuit of greater detail on a number of the options will require expenditure on external reports and consultants which officers are seeking Cabinets approval to progress. Estimated figures are included in the main body of the report which can be found in Appendix 1 and are summarised in the Executive Summary Grid in Appendix 2.

REPORT OF THE SCRUTINY OFFICER

To consider establishing a Task and Finish Group on Section 106 Contributions and alternatives available.

RESOLVED: That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee:

(1)   Reviewed and commented on the draft scoping document as attached at Appendix A.

(2)   Noted the Task and Finish Group Protocol 2020 as attached at Appendix B.

(3)   Endorsed the principles of the review and approves consultation with Group Leaders to appoint members and a Chair for the Task and Finish Group, subject to recommendation 2.4.

(4)   Delegated authority to the Scrutiny Officer, in consultation with the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, to update and finalise the Scoping Document for the Task and Finish Group on Section 106 Contributions.

REASONS FOR DECISIONS:

(1)   To ensure that the final scoping document takes into account suggestions from Members and relevant officers.

(2)   To allow Members to be appointed to the Task and Finish Group.

REPORT OF THE SCRUTINY OFFICER

This report highlights items scheduled in the work programme of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the 2024-25 civic year. It also includes items that have not yet been assigned to a specific meeting of the Committee.

RESOLVED:

(1)   That the Committee prioritised topics for inclusion in the Work Programme attached as Appendix A and, where appropriate, determines 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.

REPORT OF THE SCRUTINY OFFICER

To consider the outcome of Overview and Scrutiny Committee resolutions, decisions and referrals.

RESOLVED: That the content of the Decisions and Monitoring Tracker be noted.

REASON FOR DECISION: To enable the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to review and comment on actions and feedback received regarding resolutions previously made.