Agenda and minutes

Attached.

RESOLVED:

That the notes of the last meeting of the Panel held on 29 March 2010 be agreed.

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

It was noted that Councillors Mrs D Collins and B Rolfe were substitutes for Councillors Ms C Edwards and Councillor D Stallan respectively.

(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.

(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 both documents.

The OSC is about to formulate next years OS work plan incorporating a programme for this Panel. In view of this, the Panel may wish to bring forward suggestions/ideas on topics for inclusion in its work programme for next year.

(a)        Standard Work Programme Item.

(b)        Additional Reviews – Referred by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 1 June 2010.

Two proposals are attached as follows:

(i)         Annual Council Meeting – Appointment Procedures (Appendix 1)

(ii)        Cabinet Members – Assistants (Appendix 2)

It is suggested that both items be referred to the September meeting.

The Panel’s Terms of Reference were noted.

The Panel was advised that in relation to the Work Programme, Item (2) “Planning/Landowner Roles,” the issue had been referred by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in April 2010 to this Panel. It was suggested this should be scheduled for the September 2010 Panel meeting.

The Panel was also advised that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had referred the issue of “Appointments made at Annual Council” to this Panel. The issue would be scheduled into the Work Programme as well. Alongside this, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had referred the issue of “Setting up Assistants to Portfolio Holders” to this Panel. This would be scheduled into the Work Programme.

Members were advised that the Remuneration Panel had referred the matter of “Member Role Accountability Statements” to the Panel. It was agreed to schedule the report to the Panel Work Programme.

RESOLVED:

(1)        That the Review of the Council’s Planning/Landowner Roles be scheduled for the September 2010 Panel meeting.

(2)        That the issues referred from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, namely Appointments made at Annual Council and Setting up Assistants to Portfolio Holders, be scheduled into the Work Programme.

(3)        That Member Role Accountability Statements be scheduled into the Work Programme.

(Assistant to the Chief Executive) To consider the attached report.

The Panel received a report from Mr C Overend, Policy Officer, regarding Statutory Guidance on the new Duty to Respond to Petitions.

The Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 contained requirements setting out how local authorities responded to and dealt with the receipt of petitions. This new duty for local authorities to respond to petitions came into force on 15 June 2010, with the requirements for E-Petitions coming into effect on 15 December 2010. The report set out the main provisions identified in the Act and highlighted issues for consideration when determining how the Council’s current petitions scheme should be enhanced to reflect the new requirements.

Handling Petitions – Summary of Requirements in 2009 Act

The 2009 Act required all principal local authorities in England to establish a scheme for handling petitions made to the authority.

Requirements for Scheme:

(a)        must be approved by Full Council before it came into force;

(b)        must be published on the authority’s website and by any other method by which it was brought to the attention of those who live, work or study in its area; and

(c)        can be revised, but this must be approved and published in the same way.

Requirements for petitions:

(d)               anyone could sign or organise a petition as long as they lived, worked or studied in the local authority area, including persons aged under 18;

(e)               the facility for submitting electronic petitions was provided by the local authority; and

(f)                 petitions must be acknowledged within a time period to be included in the petitions procedure.

(g)        among the steps that a local authority could choose for responding to a petition, the following must be included amongst the options listed in the scheme:

(i)         take the action requested in the petition;

(ii)                consider the petition at a meeting of the local authority;

(iii)               hold an inquiry, public meeting or commission research;

(iv)              write a response to the petition organiser setting out the authority’s views on the petition request;

(v)                refer the petition to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee;

(vi)              petitions with a significant level of support trigger a debate of the Full Council. Councils determine this threshold locally but it must be no higher than 5% of the local population;

(vii)             petitions with a requisite level of support trigger a senior local government officer to give evidence at a meeting of the authority’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee; and

(viii)           petition organisers could prompt a review of the local authority’s response if this was felt to be inadequate.

Rejecting Petitions

(h)        In addition, because established processes already existed, the following matters were excluded from the scope of the petitions duty:

• any matter relating to a planning decision;

·         any matter relating to an alcohol, gambling or sex establishment licensing decision; and

·         any matter relating to an individual or entity in respect of which that individual or entity had a right of course to a review or right of appeal.

E-Petitions

(i)         The 2009 Act applied  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Panel received a report from Mr I Willett, Returning Officer, regarding the Elections in May 2010.

The Epping Forest Parliamentary Constituency Election was contested on 6 May 2010 together with 19 District Wards.

The Parliamentary elections were contested by seven candidates, the turnout was 67% and Eleanor Laing was elected to represent the constituency having received 54% of the votes cast.

Combined Elections

(a)         There had been the issue of an assenter’s signature on the nomination paper for an unsuccessful candidate, was referred to the police.

(b)         In each District Ward contested, except for Chipping Ongar, Greensted and Marden Ash, one councillor was due to be elected. Turnout in the District Wards varied between 74.1% in the Theydon Bois Ward and 53.6% in the Waltham Abbey Paternoster ward.

(c)         Holding combined elections had advantages, for example the sharing of costs. However, combining Parliamentary and local elections created practical difficulties as the timetables were different. For the elections on 6 May 2010, the publication of the persons nominated for the local elections was noon on 12 April, whereas for the Parliamentary election it was 5p.m. on 20 April.

(d)         Combined poll cards were issued, therefore, with the disadvantage that they could not be delivered until 15 April, the date of the notice of the Parliamentary election.

(e)         In the event the comparatively late issue of poll cards did not cause undue problems, although some complaints were received about poll cards not being delivered by Royal Mail in parts of the Grange Hill Ward. It was noted there had been delivery problems in the Theydon Bois area as well.

Polling Stations

(f)           Established polling stations were used except at Theydon Bois, there were no representations received raising issues about the lack of facilities at any polling station.

(g)         Station visitors were asked to complete an access questionnaire, the returns did not indicate the need for any modifications to be made to the buildings used or to the procedures for accommodating electors with particular needs.

Postal Votes

(h)         The total number of Parliamentary postal votes issued was 7,125, approximately 85% returned.

(i)            There was no evidence of any postal vote fraud although 172 postal votes were rejected because of a lack of comparison between signatures and/or dates of birth.

Spoilt Papers

(j)            There were 134 ballot papers rejected, 119 for being unmarked or wholly void for uncertainty, and 15 where the elector had voted for more than one candidate.

(k)          The number of ballot papers rejected in respect of the District Council elections varied between 5 and 55.

Police Liaison

(l)                  Discussions were held with the police about security for the elections and their response was again very good.

Complaints and Queries Received in the Elections Office

(m)             The majority of telephone calls made to the Elections Office were from persons unable to vote due to not being included on the Electoral Register. In all cases this was due to a registration form not having been completed and submitted to the Registrations  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

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

The Panel was advised that an oral report concerning E-Petitions would be made at the next Council meeting, and the report concerning the May 2010 Election would be submitted to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on 12 July 2010.

The next programmed meeting of the Panel will be held on 23 September 2010 at 7.30 in Committee Room 1 and then on:

16 December; and

17 March 2011

The next meeting of the Panel was scheduled for Thursday 23 September 2010 at 7.30p.m. in Committee Room 1. Members had been advised in advance of the meeting that it was necessary to book an extra meeting of the Panel due to its workload. Following consultation, the extra Panel meeting would be on Tuesday 9 November 2010 at 7.30p.m.