Agenda and minutes

(Head of Research and Democratic Services)  To report the appointment of any substitute members for the meeting.

Noted that Councillor Mrs J H Whitehouse was attending the meeting as a substitute for Councillor Mrs P Brooks.

(Head of Research and Democratic Services). 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.

No declarations of interests were made pursuant to the Member Code of Conduct.

Noted

(Chairman/Lead Officer) The Overview and Scrutiny Committee has agreed the Terms of Reference of this Panel and associated Work Programme. This is attached. The Panel are asked at each meeting to review the information.

Noted.

(Item 2)           Review of Protocol on Outside Organisation

Review of second year of scheme to be considered at next meeting on 30 July 2007.

(Item 3)            Cabinet operations in emergency situations

It was stressed that the Panel look at the practices in place at other Councils for this

(4)                           Review of Polling Stations with particular reference to disabled people

Stressed that that this consider the needs of both the visually impaired  and the physically disabled. Size of signs should be reviewed as part of this. Consultation be carried out though the Members Bulletin

(5)                           Local Government White Paper

Noted that, at its next meeting on 16 July 2007, the Cabinet would be asked to consider options for exploring the paper. Agreed that the Cabinet be asked to  refer all of the elements to the Panel for consideration including those on Executive matters.

Should this be agreed, it was agreed that additional meetings of the Panel be arranged to deal with the workload for Autumn 2007 onwards. Agreed that these be arranged as provisional dates in view of the uncertainty around the timetable for the implementation of the changes. At this stage the government was indicating that the changes would become law in Autumn 2007 with an introductory period of 18 months.

As part of this, the Panel might wish to interview Cabinet members. Agreed that the Chairman of the Panel recommend this to the Cabinet on 16 July 2007.

(Head of Research and Democratic Services). To consider the attached report.

The Panel were invited to review the May 2007 Elections and submit feedback to the Returning Officer. The Panel received a report covering the key issues and made the following comments:

• the display screen for the Count was very useful, the display was very informative  but not visible from parts of the hall. Consideration should be given to placing it in the centre of the hall where it would be more visible;

• Returning Officer to establish whether there was capacity at the Theydon Bois Village Hall for the new  IT systems, displays and proposed ‘bus stop’ signs for identifying wards;

• in relation to the suitability of the hall for the count, some felt that the facilities/parking at the venue were ideal. Conversely a member felt that Waltham Abbey Town Hall would provide a better alternative venue as it would enable the count to be held in one hall;

• consideration should be given to having a Thursday Count for local elections. Some opposed a Friday County due to work commitments. There was strong lobbies for this option but also some support for a Friday Count. Views were mixed. There was a real need to carefully balance these arguments for local elections;

• the Returning Officer favoured a Friday count in view of the desire by the staff to be fresh for the count and for health and safety reasons;

• during combined elections, the feasibility of separating the various polls and holding them on different days should be considered;

• steps be taken to ensure the verification process was consistent. Xpress software be contacted with a view to securing this;

• Postal vote opening – all agents received advanced notification of the dates of this. Those submitted on the day of the election were dealt with straight after the close of poll;

• the results were put on the website but not broadcast live.  Consideration could be given to using the Webcasting system for broadcasting the count. A report would be submitted to Cabinet on future uses of the system to cover this;

• a system was necessary for estimating the order of the results for the various wards. A provisional timetable could be made available for this and put on the website;

• the ballot papers should be laid out in a line when being counted to show how the results were ‘panning out’;

• the Postal Vote form on the website was out of date and was only corrected at the last minute, this had since been addressed to avoid similar future occurrences.

• there were issues in the Marden Ash Ward regarding non receipt of poll cards;

• the total number of postal votes issued was 3925 with approximately 70% returned;

ACTION:

Report with view of the Panel to be submitted to next OSC on 10 July 2007.

To consider which reports are ready to be submitted to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its next meeting.

Report on Review of May 2007 Elections

Request for to Cabinet for work on White Paper.

The next programmed meeting of the Panel will be held on 30 July 2007 at 7.30 in Committee Room 1 and then on:

11 October OSC,

11 December OSC,

12 February, 2008 OSC

28 April

Noted that the next meeting of the Panel would be held on 30 July 2006 at 7.30 p.m in CR1.