Agenda item - OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY WORK PROGRAMME

REPORT OF THE SCRUTINY OFFICER

This report highlights items scheduled in the work programme of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the 2025-26 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, suggests a list of items to be considered at its meetings in the coming civic year.

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 – 2 hours 45 minutes 44 seconds

The Scrutiny Officer presented the report entitled ‘Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme 2025-26’ and advised that:

· Members should contact the Scrutiny Officer, Chair or Vice-Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee if they wished to raise an item for the Work Programme and a form to aid this process was in development.

· Detailed explanations on deferrals to the Museum Storage Update and North Herts Town Centres Strategy items could be found in the published supplement.

· The S106 Task and Finish Group met on 16 July to draft consultation questions. These had since been compiled into questionnaires and would be circulated to stakeholders.

· A further meeting would be held with Strategic Planning Officers on Tuesday 30 September to address questions on scope and S106 obligations.

· The Local Government Association Peer Review had been removed from the report as all actions on this had been completed.

· The Decisions and Monitoring Tracker had not been included in the report as there were no decisions to monitor at this meeting.

Councillor Ralph Muncer noted that due to advice to delay stakeholder consultation, it would be more appropriate for the S106 Task and Finish Group to present their report to the Committee meeting in February rather than January.

The Chair highlighted the following:

· The update from the Director on Health Equalities could be deferred to the meeting on 6 January 2026 as it was not a time critical item.

· It would be feasible to postpone the item on Environmental Health to the Committee meeting in January.

· Given the volume of business, 2-3 items scheduled for the Committee meeting on 11 November would need to be postponed or deferred.

In response to points raised by the Chair, the Director – Resources advised that:

· The Council Tax Reduction Scheme (CTRS) item could be deferred as consultation needed to take place on this before changes were made.

· As part of Local Government Reorganisation, future CTRS timelines would be changed to align with other authorities once it was known which authorities would be grouped together to form the new unitary authorities.

The following Members asked questions:

· Councillor Paul Ward

· Councillor Ralph Muncer

In response to questions, the Chair advised that:

· The North Herts Town Centres Strategy would be presented at the meeting in November.

· The Museum Storage Update did not have a deadline for decision, therefore, it could be postponed to a future meeting.

In response to questions, Councillor Jon Clayden advised that they did not have the data related to the waste contract change yet, therefore, it would be better to delay discussion on this until the relevant data was available.

In response to questions, the Scrutiny Officer advised that they would contact the Director – Environment to investigate the availability of data from the waste contractor.

In response to questions, Councillor Paul Ward advised that the waste contractor might be operating under a normal regime once the six-monthly review was due in February.

In response to advice, Councillor Ralph Muncer highlighted that bin collections impacted all residents, therefore they should be reviewing this sooner to bring positive change to the service.

Councillor David Chalmers highlighted the following:

· Hertfordshire Constabulary had decided to withdraw all visible support for LGBT Pride events in Hertfordshire which was of real concern at a time when trust amongst the LGBT community with the police was not at its strongest, therefore, questions should be put to the Police on hate crime when the Crime and Disorder Matters item was considered at the Committee.

· The Committee should request an update on recent crime against the LGBT community in Hitchin.

· They should also request how their decision to withdraw support had correlated with the community as they were one of the first police forces in the country to come to this decision.

In response to points raised by Councilor David Chalmers, Councillor Ralph Muncer noted that:

· They needed to consider the appropriateness to discuss this issue at the Committee as this policy would have been taken at headquarters rather than a local level, therefore, it would be more appropriate for this to be asked at a Police and Crime Panel meeting where the Police and Crime Commissioner and Chief Constable could be held to account.

· However, local issues should be discussed and they could look at the existing community work by the Constabulary and how they could build relationships with the Council, its councillors and officers.

In response to points raised by Councillor Ralph Muncer, Councillor Jon Clayden detailed that the decision affected residents everywhere but perhaps the scope could be broadened to look at all hate crimes.

In response to points raised by Councillor Ralph Muncer, Councillor David Chalmers advised that the decision taken would impact the community and they should ask questions on their behalf.

In response to points raised, Councillor Claire Winchester advised that they had until January to submit questions to the Police on this.

Councillor Paul Ward highlighted that burglaries in the form of organised crime had taken place in the district, therefore, it would be useful for the Police to speak about organised gang crimes relating to burglaries and other crimes.

Councillor Sadie Billing highlighted that they should look at crime trends and how those compared with the previous year.

Councillor David Chalmers highlighted that cybercrime against elderly residents should be discussed.

Councillor Ralph Muncer advised that they should decide on a few topics to ensure that depth on each topic was not sacrificed.

Councillor David Chalmers put forward crime against the LGBT community district as the main topic to discuss with the Police.

Councillor Tina Bhartwas suggested for antisocial behaviour in the context of vulnerable residents in social housing to be discussed.

Councillor Sadie Billing suggested to have LGBT related issues as the main topic of discussion but to request written responses on other topics that had been raised.

Councillor Tina Bhartwas proposed and Councillor David Chalmers seconded and, following a vote, it was: