Agenda and minutes

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

2.         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.

There were no substitute Members for the meeting.

Decisions required:

To confirm the minutes of the meetings of the Committee held on 16 September 2014.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 16 September 2014 be signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

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

To consider and agree the draft Terms of Reference of the new Task and Finish Panel looking at the future structure of the Council’s Scrutiny Panels.

The Chairman of the Scrutiny Panel Review Task and Finish Panel, Councillor Angold-Stephens briefed the Committee on what the Task and Finish Panel had been doing since it had been set up.  They have held two meetings so far when they had started gathering information and speaking to Directors and Officers to get their thoughts on the state of the Scrutiny Panels. So far they had noted that some areas of the Council’s activity did not fall under the umbrella of any Scrutiny Panel and that some reports tended to get agreed without full scrutiny. The system should be member led and not officer led. The Panel has the services of a post graduate Management Trainee to help with the research, write background reports and also look at what other councils were doing. As part of this initial phase they have put together a set of terms of reference for the Panel and were now seeking the agreement of the Committee to endorse these terms. Once they have firmed up their proposals they will consult all members.

RESOLVED:

The Terms of Reference for the Scrutiny Panel Review Task and Finish Panel be agreed.

(a)          To consider the updated work programme

The current Overview and Scrutiny work programme is attached for information.

(b)          Reserve Programme

A reserve list of scrutiny topics is required to ensure that the work flow of OSC is continuous.

OSC will ‘pull out’ items from the list and allocate them accordingly once space becomes available in the work programme following the completion of existing reviews.

Members can put forward any further suggestions for inclusion in the reserve list either during the meeting or at a later date.

Existing review items will be dealt with first, then time will be allocated to the items contained in the reserve work plan.

(c)          PICK Forms Received

Attached is a PICK Form from Councillor S Neville regarding particulate pollution in Epping Forest. The Committee is asked to review the form and allocate it to an appropriate Panel or consider establishing a new Task and Finish Panel to deal with this topic.

a)         Overview and Scrutiny Committee - Work Programme

The Committee considered their work programme for the remainder of the year. They noted that they were supposed to have had a presentation from Essex County Council’s Children Services; however this had to be cancelled. It was hoped that this could be brought to the next meeting in November. If this was to go ahead, Councillor Murray asked that the Youth Council be formally invited to attend the Children’s Services presentation.

Councillor Girling asked if ECC Children Services Presentation could cover the changes to children services happening across the district. Councillor Murray would also like them to address the loss of ‘Homestart’ in Epping Forest.

SCRUTINY PANELS

b)        Housing Scrutiny Panel

There was nothing further to add as they had not met since the last O&S Committee meeting.

c)         Constitution and Member Services Scrutiny Panel

The Chairman of the Panel noted that their work programme had now been added to and they had a full programme for the coming year.

d)        Safer Cleaner Greener Scrutiny Panel

The Chairman of the Panel noted that they had recently met. They had a lively meeting mainly focusing on waste. There may also be a chance to receive a presentation from Thames Water at one of their future meetings.

Councillor Surtees raised some concerns about the Local Highways Panel; Councillor Lea said that she would raise these issues at the next Highways Panel she attended.

e)         Planning Services Scrutiny Panel

The Chairman of the Panel noted that they had not met since the last meeting of this Committee. He urged all members to attend the Panel when the Local plan was discussed. He noted that the new Planning Electronic Document Management System was now up and working well and that the Panel would look at Building Control when it could.

f)          Finance and Performance Management Scrutiny Panel

The progress of the work programme was noted.

TASK AND FINISH PANELS

g)        Scrutiny Panel Review Task and Finish Panel

This had been dealt with under a previous item.

h)        Grant Aid Task and Finish Panel

This panel was still to meet and set their Terms of Reference. Councillor Whitbread asked that that they extend their terms to also look at discretional rate relief. This was agreed by the Committee.

PICK FORM

i)             PICK Form

A PICK form had been submitted by Councillor Neville on air particulate pollution in Epping Forest. This was based on a ‘Public Health England Report’ that had worrying findings of high rates of particulate pollution, attributable to 6% of all deaths in our district. He noted that this was worrying and needed to be looked into.

This form was supported by Councillors Surtees and Mead. Councillor Surtees made a supporting statement.

Councillor Murray spoke in support, noting that this was worthy of scrutiny as it would also have an effect on the forest. He thought that this should be looked at by the Safer Cleaner Greener Scrutiny Panel (SCGSP).  Councillor Sartin agreed that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.

To review the Cabinet Forward Plan (Key Decision List) on a meeting by meeting basis.

The Committee reviewed the Cabinet’s Forward Plan for September 2014. They had no specific items that they wanted to consider.