Agenda item - RESOLUTIONS OF THE OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE, MEMBER AND SCRUTINY MANAGER

To consider the future format of the Resolutions Report and agree any future actions required in respect of resolutions previously agreed.

RESOLVED:

(1) That the report entitled Resolutions of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee be noted;

(2) That the proposed format of the Resolutions of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee report be agreed as follows:

(i) All Resolutions whereby Status had been highlighted bold and marked as complete, be removed from any future reports; and

(ii) for future ease of reading of the resolution section within the report, that subjects would be grouped together and placed in date order.

(3) That the Task and Finish Group for the Waste Contract be divided into two separate groups:

(i) Tender and Contract

(ii) Community Engagement; and

(4) That for the balance of political proportionality, 5 Members would sit in each of the two Task and Finish Groups for the Waste Contract.

REASON FOR DECISIONS:

To enable the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to agree a format for the Resolutions of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee report and to review and comment on actions and feedback received regarding resolutions previously made.

Audio Recording – Start of Item – 2 Minutes 18 Seconds

The Chairman informed Members that the format of the Agenda had been altered slightly and the normally placed last two items on the Overview and Scrutiny Agenda, namely, Resolutions and Work Programme for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had been, due to their importance, been moved to the beginning of the Agenda.

The Chairman drew the Committee Members’ attention to the resolutions on page 31 of the report and stated that a number of resolutions had been completed and should therefore be removed from the report with the agreement of the Members.

The Chairman informed that he had arranged to meet with the Vice-Chairman and The Committee, Member and Scrutiny Manager, to discuss a slight format change for future ease of reading of the resolution section within the report, which would require the grouping together of subjects and placed in date order.

The Chairman named and listed the resolution items that had been completed and would therefore be removed from future reports. Members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee were all in agreement.

The Committee, Member and Scrutiny Manager reported that the SIAS Review, in respect of Waste, had been sent out to Members of the Committee and that a Task and Finish Group was scheduled to take place after the Hitchin Town Hall Review had been completed. It was the Committee, Member and Scrutiny Managers’ aim to bring a Draft Scope to the next meeting for the Committee’s consideration. The Committee, Member and Scrutiny Manager requested that Members discussed and agreed the number of Members that they felt were required to sit on the Task and Finish Group in order that she could advise individual group leaders.

The Chairman stated that he and the Vice-Chairman had agreed during discussion, that due to the vast scope of the Waste Contract, and deciding which aspects of the Waste Contract would be better scrutinised, felt that the Task and Finish Group should be divided into two parts:

(1) Tender and Contract; and

(2) Community Engagement

In response to a The Chairman’s question, The Service Director – Legal and Community confirmed that due to the informality of a Task and Finish Group, the number of Members did not have to be proportionate. Members discussed the balance of political proportionality, and agreed that 5 Members in each group would, in this case, be appropriate.

The Committee, Member and Scrutiny Manager further reported:

· Response had been received from the Service Manager – Place in respect of the Committee’s request for Route Maps. A list of Roads, Rounds and Collection Days could be supplied swiftly, however, as there were over 80 Maps to put together, the Scrutiny Officer had been advised that this would require a little more time in order to fulfil that particular request.

· Task and Finish Group on Consultation – The Chairman and the Leader of The Council had confirmed that there was no further requirement for that particular group to meet.

· Crematorium – The Legal Commercial Team Manager and The Service Manager - Greenspace were both present that evening to provide the Members with an update.

· Commercialisation – The Service Director – Commercial was present that evening to provide the Committee with a verbal update.