Agenda and minutes

(Directorate of Governance) To report the appointment of any substitute members for the meeting.

The Panel noted that no substitutes had been appointed for this meeting.

(Director of Governance) To declare interests in any items on the agenda.

In considering whether to declare a personal or a pecuniary interest under the Code of Conduct, Overview & Scrutiny (OS) 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 pecuniary 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 Member Code of Conduct.

To confirm the minutes of the last meeting of the Panel, held on 15 February 2016 (attached).

Resolved:

(1)        That the minutes of the meeting held on 15 February 2016 be taken as read and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

(Director of Communities) To consider the attached report (GAR-007-2015/16).

J Chandler introduced the draft final report of the Panel for 2015/16.

J Chandler reminded the Panel that it had reviewed one-off major grants during 2014/15 and had reported its findings to the Overview & Scrutiny Committee on 27 April 2015. Those findings were agreed and the Panel was requested to review those Grants issued as part of a three-year Service Level Agreement during 2015/16.

The Panel noted that it had considered the various criteria for the distribution of funding, the monitoring and evaluation for each Grant awarded, and the Service Level Agreements applied. More detailed consideration had been given to the higher level funding agreements for Voluntary Action Epping Forest and Epping Forest Citizens Advice Bureau, both of whom had given presentations to the Panel.
In addition, visits were made by the Panel to various organisations in receipt of Grant Aid funding. Five recommendations had been proposed by the Panel:

            (1)        That the current level of Grant Aid funding be maintained;

            (2)        That, from 1 April 2016, Grant Aid funding of less than £5,000 per    annum for three years be provided for Voluntary Groups without the need for      a formal Service Level Agreement, but subject to the receipt of an annual             report from each Group outlining the benefit to the District from the funding;

            (3)        That the revised Service Level Agreement as agreed by the Panel be          adopted by the Council;

            (4)        That provision for longer term funding by the District Council to        Voluntary Action Epping Forest and Epping Forest Citizens Advice Bureau be           maintained from 2016/17 onwards, based upon performance management   benchmarking closely monitored on an annual basis; and

            (5)        That a more rigorous approach of monitoring be adopted for the       higher Grant Aid awards currently in operation for Voluntary Action Epping         Forest and Epping Forest Citizens Advice Bureau.

The Panel had concluded that the recommended revisions to the Service Level Agreements and improved monitoring of performance management would ensure that the Council was obtaining best value from the Grants awarded. The Panel  particularly felt that the level of the remaining Grant Aid funding should remain at current levels to ensure that support of the essential services provided by the voluntary sector could be continued.

The Panel was requested to consider the draft Final Report for 2015/16, and whether any further amendments should be made prior to its consideration by the Overview & Scrutiny Committee on 19 April 2016.

The Panel felt that Cllr Murray and N Wilkinson (Grant Aid Clerical Assistant) should be added to the acknowledgements in the Chairman’s Foreword, and that the Recommendations should be in bold text. The Panel then reviewed the draft Final Report, page by page, and made a number of typographical revisions.

Cllr Surtees suggested that a chart explaining the different levels of Grants available to applicants should be made available to accompany the application forms. G Wallis accepted that this should have probably been done during the first stage of the Review; however, Cllr Kane emphasised that this information was explained in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

Section 100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972, together with paragraphs (6) and (24) of the Council Procedure Rules contained in the Constitution require that the permission of the Chairman be obtained, after prior notice to the Chief Executive, before urgent business not specified in the agenda (including a supplementary agenda of which the statutory period of notice has been given) may be transacted.

In accordance with Operational Standing Order 6 (Non-Executive Bodies), any item raised by a non-member shall require the support of a member of the Committee concerned and the Chairman of that Committee. Two weeks notice of non-urgent items is required.

The Panel noted that there was no other urgent business for consideration.

Exclusion

To consider whether, under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press should be excluded from the meeting for the items of business set out below on grounds that they will involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the following paragraph(s) of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act (as amended) or are confidential under Section 100(A)(2):

The Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006, which came into effect on 1 March 2006, requires the Council to consider whether maintaining the exemption listed above outweighs the potential public interest in disclosing the information. Any member who considers that this test should be applied to any currently exempted matter on this agenda should contact the proper officer at least 24 hours prior to the meeting.

Confidential Items Commencement

Paragraph 9 of the Council Procedure Rules contained in the Constitution require:

(1)        All business of the Council requiring to be transacted in the presence of the press and public to be completed by 10.00 p.m. at the latest.

(2)        At the time appointed under (1) above, the Chairman shall permit the completion of debate on any item still under consideration, and at his or her discretion, any other remaining business whereupon the Council shall proceed to exclude the public and press.

(3)        Any public business remaining to be dealt with shall be deferred until after the completion of the private part of the meeting, including items submitted for report rather than decision.

Background Papers

Paragraph 8 of the Access to Information Procedure Rules of the Constitution define background papers as being documents relating to the subject matter of the report which in the Proper Officer's opinion:

(a)        disclose any facts or matters on which the report or an important part of the report is based;  and

(b)        have been relied on to a material extent in preparing the report and does not include published works or those which disclose exempt or confidential information (as defined in Rule 10) and in respect of executive reports, the advice of any political advisor.

Inspection of background papers may be arranged by contacting the officer responsible for the item.

The Panel noted that there was no business which necessitated the exclusion of the public and press.

(Director of Governance) To note that this is the last scheduled meeting of the Task & Finish Panel.

The Panel noted that this was their last scheduled meeting.