Agenda and minutes

This meeting is to be webcast. Members are reminded of the need to activate their microphones before speaking.

The Chairman will read the following announcement:

“This meeting will be webcast live to the Internet and will be archived for later viewing. Copies of recordings may be made available on request.

By entering the chamber’s lower seating area you consenting to becoming part of the webcast.

If you wish to avoid being filmed you should move to the public gallery or speak to the webcasting officer”

The Chairman reminded everyone present that the meeting would be broadcast live to the Internet, and that the Council had adopted a protocol for the webcasting of its meetings.

(Director of Governance) To report the appointment of any substitute members for the meeting.

It was reported that Councillor Hughes was substituting for Councillor Knight; Councillor Chana was substituting for Councillor Avey; Councillor Lea was substituting for Councillor Mitchell; Councillor Bassett was substituting for Councillor Stallan; and that Councillor Heap was substituting for Councillor Neville.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 6 June 2017.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the last Committee meeting held on 6 June 2017 be signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

(Director of Governance) To declare interests in any items on the agenda.

In considering whether to declare a pecuniary or a non-pecuniary interest under the Council’s Code of Conduct, members are asked pay particular attention to paragraph 11 of the Code in addition to the more familiar requirements.

This requires the declaration of a non-pecuniary interest in any matter before overview and scrutiny which relates to a decision of or action by another committee, sub-committee of the Council, a joint committee or joint sub-committee in which the Council is involved and of which the Councillor is also a member.

Paragraph 11 of the Code of Conduct does not refer to Cabinet decisions or attendance at an overview and scrutiny meeting purely for the purpose of answering questions or providing information on such a matter.

There were no declarations of interest made pursuant to the Member’s Code of Conduct.

(Director of Governance) To receive questions submitted by members of the public and any requests to address the Committee.

(a)         Public Questions

Members of the public may ask questions of the Chairman of Overview and Scrutiny Committee at ordinary meetings of the Committee, in accordance with the procedure set out in the Council’s Constitution.

(b)        Requests to address the Overview and Scrutiny Committee

Any member of the public or a representative of another organisation may address the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on any agenda item (except those dealt with in private session as exempt or confidential business), due to be considered at the meeting.

It was noted that there were no public questions or requests to address the committee.

(Director of Governance) To consider any matter referred to the Committee for decision in relation to a call-in.

There were no call-in of decisions to be considered.

(Director of Governance) The Cabinet’s forward plan of key decisions is reviewed by the Committee at each meeting, to provide an opportunity for the scrutiny of specific decisions to be taken over the period of the plan. Wherever possible, Portfolio Holders will attend the Committee to present forthcoming key decisions, to answer questions on the forward plan and to indicate where appropriate work could be carried out by overview and scrutiny on behalf of the Cabinet.

The Committee considered the Council’s corporate priorities and programme of key decisions for 2017/18. The committee went through the plan page by page asking questions as appropriate.

Councillor Surtees noted the item for the Safer, Greener and Transport Portfolio Holder on providing new car parking provision in the Vere Road car park. He noted that his ward also needed a car parking scheme and asked if there were any consultations going on and was on street parking also being looked at. Councillor Chris Whitbread noted that not all parking schemes were our responsibility, most were for the County. He noted that we had achieved a lot on parking and had spent a lot on consultation over the year.

The Chairman concluded that this was something that needed to be looked at further.

(Chief Executive) To consider the attached report.

The Head of Transformation, Mr D Bailey, introduced the report on the Corporate Plan for 2018 – 2023. This new Corporate Plan would run from 2018 to 2023 and sought to lay out the journey the Council would take to transform the organisation to be ‘ready for the future’. This plan strived to link the key external drivers influencing Council services, with a set of corporate aims and objectives, grouped under three corporate ambitions.

The Corporate Plan was the Council’s highest level strategic document. It set the strategic direction of the organisation for the lifetime of the plan, and as such informed all other plans produced by the Council. The Corporate Plan did not cover everything that the organisation did in detail, but it provided a framework to demonstrate how the work of the Council at a strategic level fitted together. It also provided a focus to establish a set of corporate priorities, describing how the organisation would deliver positive change. The Corporate Plan did not contain specific information on the wide range of services that the Council provided, or how it delivered statutory duties or enforced legislation.

The new Corporate Plan aspired to be written in language and presented in a style that could be readily understood by the Council’s customers. It also strived to ‘put the customer at the heart of everything we do’. For the purposes of this Plan, ‘customers’ meant people that:

§  Live (residents);

§  Work or do business;

§  Learn (students);

§  Visit (tourist economy) and

§  Play (leisure activities) in the district.

The final Corporate Plan document will include many of the sections found in the organisation’s previous Corporate Plans, including an overview of the district, our vision, purpose, values, and a set of corporate aims and objectives. The most significant change to the plan was its focus on our customers and the measurement of success as the impact that the delivery of the plan had on them.

An annual Corporate Specification details how the Corporate Plan would be delivered through a set of operational objectives for that year. Corporate Specifications would continue to be set annually. Every year during the lifetime of the Corporate Plan, the Corporate Specification will be agreed by the Cabinet, with the scrutiny of the Select Committees. New operational objectives will reflect the progress already achieved against the Corporate Plan.

The benefits maps were broken into three themes, people, place and council and were to be, unusually, assessed from right to the left.  Best practice was to start from the right-hand side and work towards the left, i.e. start with the needs of our customers or the end in mind, and work back to the solutions on the left-hand side. When the organisation delivers services, it starts on the left-hand side and works over to the right, i.e. the delivery goes from left to right.

Next year the maps will carry traffic lights in the boxes in the plan, to indicate how they were performing.

Councillor S Kane  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

(Director of Governance) To consider the attached report.

Barts Health NHS Trust

Mr Macnab the Director of Neighbourhoods introduced the report on future scrutiny of external organisations. He noted that the Barts Health NHS Trust had agreed to attend the 31^st October meeting and talk about their improvement plan.

Transport for London

Councillor Sartin noted that we had asked Transport for London (TfL) for a return visit and asked the committee to consider what they would like to be covered on their return visit. One of the things that had been raised, was asking about their bus services.

Councillor Bassett said that it would be nice to also get Essex Passenger Transport here and members were seeing a lot of bus services reduced. Mr Macnab said that Passenger Transport would be going to a future meeting of the Neighbourhoods Select Committee.

This Committee could ask for a specialist from TfL to come here to update us on the Central Line and on the bus services served by TfL. Also there were access issues on the Central Line, especially at Buckhurst Hill. Members should let Mr Tautz, Democratic Services know what they would like to ask.  

Councillor Bedford wondered if there was any room for manoeuvre between us and London Underground in regards to pricing, including over-ground lines, bringing them in line with underground prices. Councillor Sartin noted that this was a very big subject, maybe not so much for TfL as such. Mr Macnab noted that this was clearly an issue; the zones had been considered for extension outside London. We could pose the question and maybe get an up date on any dialogue happening at present on this. But this was a strategic issue outside our scope. Councillor Mohindra noted that this would fall under the responsibility of the Department of Transport and not really for TfL. Councillor Bedford suggested that maybe we should write to or invite the Minister of Transport here.

Councillor Mohindra would like to ask TfL what they were doing with their stations and specifically their car parks and if they were looking to invest some capital.

Councillor Bedford said he would also like to have to have the Essex Fire and Rescue Chief Officer here in about a year’s time to give us an update on the amalgamation of the Police and Fire and Rescue Service.

Councillor Sartin reiterated that if any member wanted to add something to the any of the above topics they should email Mr Tautz. Something would probably be going into the Members Bulletin to highlight this.

(Director of Governance) Progress towards the achievement of the work programmes for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and each of the select committees, is reviewed by the Committee at each meeting.

(a)             Current Work Programmes

The current overview and scrutiny work programmes are attached as an appendix to this report.

(b)             Reserve Programme

A reserve list of scrutiny topics is developed as required, to ensure that the work flow of overview and scrutiny is continuous. When necessary, the Committee will allocate items from the list appropriately, once resources become available in the work programme, following the completion of any ongoing scrutiny activity.

Members can put forward suggestions for inclusion in the work programme or reserve list through the adopted PICK process. Existing review items will be dealt with first, after which time will be allocated to the items contained in the reserve work plan.

Overview and Scrutiny Committee

The Committee reviewed their current work programme, noting that the Essex Highways Services had made an independent informal visit this evening and so that this could be taken off the work programme. The meeting had also discussed the Barts Health NHS Trust and TfL visits.

It was also noted the Epping Forest sixth-form consortium (item 1 on the reserve programme) was currently in flux. Officers would investigate and report back.

Councillor Patel commented that he had been to a recent Health Overview and Scrutiny meeting and had received a presentation on the North East London’s CQC report on their Mental Health Services. Some of this would impact on our residents. He would like the organisation responsible for front line Mental Health Services in our district here at some time to see how they delivered their services, not just after an diagnosis has been made, but how they dealt with people before they reached crisis point. Councillor Mohindra noted that there was the launch of the Essex wide Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy tomorrow. Councillor Whitbread would be in attendance and you may want him to report back.

Councillor Surtees noted that the Essex Children Services were also still on the reserve programme. He would like them to be reviewed again later on in the year following on from the Task and Finish Panel that looked into this recently.

Councillor Lea would like to ask officers from the Princess Alexandra Hospital or Barts Health to comment on the reports that the NHS were not taking on Australian or New Zealand nurses. Mr Macnab said that we could do this as we have asked this sort of staffing questions before. Officers will canvas questions from members for the next meeting.

Select Committees

Communities Select Committee – no comments were made on their work programme.

Governance Select Committee – Councillor Wixley reported that they had received a good presentation form Building Control at their last meeting and asked if they could have the PowerPoint presentation attached to the minutes.

Neighbourhoods Select Committee – the Chairman had nothing further to add.

Resources Select Committee – the Chairman had nothing further to add.

Task and Finish Panels

Transformation Task and Finish Panel – Councillor Patel the chairman of the panel noted that they would be holding their second meeting on 1^st August.

He noted that a comment was made on the timings of Overview and Scrutiny meetings in conjunction with the Cabinet meetings, could this be looked into. Mr Macnab said that there had been a review about a year ago looking at Select Committees. There is also the Scrutiny Chairs and Vice-Chairs meeting where this could be discussed.