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.

(Assistant to the Chief Executive). To report the appointment of any substitute members for the meeting.

There were no substitute Members for the meeting.

Decisions required:

To confirm the minutes of the meetings of the Committee held on 29 January 2013.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on 29 January 2013 be agreed.

(Assistant to the Chief Executive). To declare interests in any items on the agenda.

In considering whether to declare a personal or a prejudicial interest under the Code of Conduct, Overview & Scrutiny 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 personal and prejudicial interest in any matter before an OS Committee which relates to a decision of or action by another Committee or 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 does not refer to Cabinet decisions or attendance at an OS 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 Council’s Code of Member Conduct.

To receive a presentation from Peter Massie, Head of Highways Commissioning, Highways and Transportation at Essex County Council on the recent changes in Highways, the relationship between Highways, the District and the Public and how the Council could contact Highways Officers.

The Committee welcomed Peter Massie, the Head of Highways Commissioning at Essex County Council (a copy of his presentation is attached).

Mr Massie told the meeting that Essex County Council (ECC) in wanting to contract out it’s highway services and wanting continuous improvement, chose to go into partnership with ‘Ringway Jacobs’ to enable them to keep within the budget they were allocated.

Ringway Jacobs have two main parent companies backing them, Vinci and Jacobs. Ringway Jacobs was a company in its own right and not two companies joined together. They have contracts across the country and are structured for collaborative working.

He acknowledged that they had experienced some delays during the past year while trying to maintain a level of service and still achieve efficiency savings.  They did not have a traditional client contractor relationship – as they work together on solutions in a partnership. ECC did not take a traditional leadership role but had a joint lead role with the Ringway Jacobs’s managers. They always considered their customers and were committed to continuous improvement and to developing their own people.

Each of their areas have, as part of their yearly plan, efficiencies and targets that they must meet, so they know what is expected of them.

At the top of the structure they have a Strategic Partnering Board, bringing together their national management structure, with an Operations Board, made up of Heads of Service, sitting underneath that. Sitting to one side of that they have their Commissioning Core, of which the Strategy Team looked after major projects and Commissioning, which Mr Massie looked after. They have now reduced what used to be thousands of orders. Service areas are now provided with one service order for an area/type of work, enabling greater economies of scale. Under the Operations Board there sits various delivery units headed by a service leader, Mark Rowe, a Ringway Jacobs employee. The delivery units that deliver the work are made up of five service areas. Erwin Deppe (a Ringway Jacobs employee) leads the Transport & Improvements Unit, which looked after transport planning, structures, design and consultancy and passenger transport infrastructure. Bob Southey (a Ringway Jacobs employee) leads the Programme & Information Unit, which looked after communications, Public Rights of Way (PROW) and records management, development management, asset management and programme and project control. David Forkin (an ECC employee) leads the Maintenance & Operations Unit looking after maintenance, operations and inspections, street lighting and capital works and improvements. Liz Saville (an ECC employee) leads the Network & Safety Unit which looked after road safety, network management and traffic signals. And, lastly Sean Acton (a Ringway Jacobs employee) leads the Finance & Commercial Unit which was responsible for buying, organisation support and finance. Again, Mr Massie emphasised that as a structure these teams sat together to enable them to operate as a partnership.

In answer to questions on when projects were going to happen, Mr Massie stated that they were put on their website. They endeavoured to put as much information as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 73.

RECOMMENDATION:

To consider any items to be raised by the Chairman at the Cabinet meeting on 11 March 2013.

(Assistant to the Chief Executive). Under the Overview and Scrutiny rules the Committee is required to scrutinise proposed decisions of the Executive. The Chairman is also required to report on such discussions to the Cabinet.

The Committee is asked to consider the 11 March 2013 Cabinet agenda (previously circulated) to see whether there are any items that they wished to be raised at the Cabinet meeting.

The Committee reviewed the Cabinet’s agenda for their 11^th March meeting but there were no specific items that the Committee wanted to be brought to their attention other than Councillor Philip, who wanted to know, under Cabinet agenda item 10, ‘extending the range of pre-planning application charging’, how could charging for retrospective applications be ultra-vires?

(Deputy Chief Executive) To consider the attached report (Appendix to follow).

The Committee considered the report from the Leader of Council on the Corporate Plan 2011-2015 and Key objectives 2013/14.

They noted that the annual identification of key objectives provided an opportunity for the Council to focus specific attention on how areas for improvement were to be addressed, opportunities exploited and better outcomes delivered over the coming year. The key objectives were intended to provide a clear statement of the Council's overall intentions for each year, containing specific actions to achieve desired outcomes.

It was also noted that the identification of the Council’s medium-term aims over the four-year period of the Corporate Plan, and the annual adoption of key objectives and service delivery priorities, provided an opportunity for the authority to focus specific attention on how areas for improvement were to be addressed, opportunities exploited and better outcomes delivered.

The Corporate Plan for 2011 to 2015 included an annual supplement reflecting the Council’s key objectives for each of the four years to 2014/15.

The key objectives were intended to address national and local priorities and specific service challenges, and to provide a clear statement of the Council's overall objectives for each year.

In order to complete the Business Plans for 2013/14, Management Board had identified a range of proposed key objectives and supporting deliverables, drawn initially from objectives developed for the Chief Executive in discussion with the Leader of the Council. Current progress in respect of the key objectives for 2012/13 had also been reviewed by the Board, and a number of objectives had been carried forward from 2012/13 (with new or revised actions and outcomes), alongside new objectives responding to other issues of national or local importance. The draft key objectives for 2013/14 were also considered as part of a joint Cabinet and Management Board meeting held in December 2012.

Councillor Philip commented that:

• These all seem to be medium term aims with nothing beyond 2013/14;
• Item 3 on the draft key objectives - ‘Decision Making Framework’ was a council wide objective but seems to only be targeting front line services. In addition there was no reference to the Key Aim to protect front line services;
• Item 5 on the draft key objectives – ‘Operating Models’  would contribute a major change to the democratic structure of the authority and would have expected more consultation.

Councillor Lion commented that item 3 – ‘Decision Making Framework’ should be addressed first as it was the responsibility of the Cabinet.

RESOLVED:

(1)          That the Committee considered the Council’s proposed key objectives for 2013/14, and commented as appropriate; and

(2)          That, subject to the concurrence of the Cabinet, progress against actions to achieve the key objectives be reported to the Committee on a quarterly basis.

(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 plan 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.

Overview and Scrutiny Committee

It was noted that the proposed presentation for the April meeting, the Local Strategic Partnership update, had to be postponed. It was hoped to get someone there to speak about Children Services and Essex County Council (item 14 on the Work Programme) in their place. If possible, item 17 (Corporate Parenting) should be brought to the same meeting as they appeared to be linked.

It was agreed that the review of Epping Forest College be moved into the new year as the college did not have a new permanent principal as yet.

Items 13 (review of PCT) and 15 (Mental Health Services in the District) should be linked as topics.

It was agreed that item 18, the Essex Probation Service, should go to the Safer Cleaner Greener Standing Panel as it was more appropriate.

Standing Panels:

Constitution and Member Services Standing Panel

It was noted that there were three reports that would have to go to the Committee’s next meeting. They were:

a)      Review of Contract Standing Orders;

b)      Review of Officer Delegation; and

c)      Review of Financial Regulations.

Safer Cleaner Greener Standing Panel

It was noted that the Police and Crime Commissioner had been to their last meeting to talk about his first few months in office, and his aspirations for his term in office and to answer any question from Panel members.

Finance and Performance Management Standing Panel

It was noted that their next meeting would be on 12 March. They were considering looking at cross charging issues and the format of certain reports such as the Value for Money report and the business plan.

Task and Finish Panels:

Overview and Scrutiny Review Task and Finish Panel

It was noted that their next meeting would be held on 25 March. Hopefully they would only need one more meeting after this to finish their task.

Review of Chief Executive Appointments Task and Finish Panel

This panel would need one more meeting to complete its work and report back to the April meeting.

Review of Licensing Services Task and Finish Panel

They had their final meeting and were now finalising their report to go to the April Committee meeting.