Agenda and minutes

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

The Panel noted there were no substitute members.

(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 pursuant to the Council’s Code of Member Conduct.

“(a)  To examine and make recommendations on the reporting arrangements between the Cabinet and Overview & Scrutiny; and

(b)  To examine and review other operational aspects of Overview and Scrutiny.

The Panel noted the original terms of reference set by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

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

The Panel considered the scoping report for the Panel reviewing their terms of reference and the timescale for the completion of the review. The Panel noted that:

a)      The rules on ‘Questions from the public’ were being reviewed at present and may well be changed by Cabinet and Council by next February;

b)      The members of the Panel discussed the possibility of Chairmen being given the discretion to allow more than the stipulated number of public speakers at any meeting;

c)      The Panel agreed that they should also look at how the Council Chamber should be laid out, especially when the O&S has a presentation. Should they all be on the same level so that the Committee did not have to look up to them?

d)      Should the Committee be introduced to visitors so that they knew who they were talking to and what wards they represented, or was it that the Councillors were there to represent the district as a whole;

e)      Should topics at presentations be limited in number so that they could be considered in more detail;

f)        They noted the comments made in the recent interviews with members that O&S needed to be reviewed as it lacked bite; and

·         that there were concerns on the appointment of the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the O&S Committee;

·         there were concerns over the whipping of members over O&S matters;

·         that the relationship between O&S and the Cabinet did not seem as good as it could be, they did not seem to be working well together.

g)      That the O&S Committee and the Cabinet meetings were too close together;

h)      Would it be better to use the forward plan to review the Cabinet’s work over a three month period;

i)        Councillor Waller would like to address the Committee – this was agreed;

j)        For wider geographical topics such as public health, would joint scrutiny with an adjoining authority be more useful;

k)      There was a need to scrutinise how outside bodies were dealt with;

l)        How do you get members more involved in the process?

m)   The work of the Standing Panels be reviewed, are they in the right format?

n)      There were concerns raised over budget monitoring, with too much detailed figure work going to the scrutiny panel, that was really more for the Cabinet to deal with. It was thought that Scrutiny should look at the broader budget issues, and not the detailed figure work;

o)      The Panel would like a report on this from the Director of Finance brought to its next meeting, it would also be a good idea for the Chairman of the Finance Standing Panel to attend this meeting as well;

p)      Should the relevant KPIs go to the relevant Standing Panel to look at and not to the general Finance Panel;

q)      All Panel Chairmen should be consulted on what they think was right or wrong with the present system (Mr Willett to arrange);

r)       That  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

To consider the date of the next and future meetings.

Various dates are to be circulated to members for their consideration.