Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence and notices of appointment of substitute Members (if any).

Apologies were received from Cllrs Mrs E J Lloyd, L J Cruwys and F W Letch who was substituted by Cllr J Buczkowski.

Cllr A Wilce attended via ZOOM.

To elect a Vice Chairman for the municipal year 2022-2023

Cllr Mrs S Griggs was duly elected Vice Chairman for the municipal year

To record any interests on agenda matters.

Members were duly reminded to make declarations where appropriate

To receive any questions relating to items on the Agenda from members of the public and replies thereto.

Note:   A maximum of 30 minutes is allowed for this item.

There were no questions from members of the public present.

To consider whether to approve the minutes as a correct record of the meeting held on 19^th April 2022.

The minutes of the last meeting were approved as a correct record and SIGNED by the Chairman.

To consider any decisions made by the Cabinet at its last meeting that have been called-in.

The Committee NOTED that none of the decisions made by the Cabinet on 17^th May 2022 had been called in.

To receive any announcements that the Chairman of Scrutiny Committee may wish to make.

The Chairman announced that:

·         The meeting due on 27^th June had been postponed until 11^th July due to the upcoming election but as the agenda was light it would be held as an informal work programming session if there was no call in

·         No 9 on the agenda, the Leader’s Annual report, had been deferred until the 25^th July meeting

To agree the start time of meetings for the remainder of the municipal year

The start time of meetings was agreed at 2.15pm for the remainder of the municipal year.

To receive the Leaders Annual Report for 2021-2022.

This item was deferred.

To receive a mid point review of the Corporate Plan previously presented to the Cabinet.

The Committee had before it a *report from the Chief Executive presenting the Corporate Plan 2020-2024 Mid-Point Review.

The Chief Executive explained that the report had previously been presented to the Cabinet and that it was now being shared with the Scrutiny Committee in order that Members could feed back any priorities that they felt needed to be highlighted.

He explained that the Corporate Plan had been agreed just prior to the pandemic and therefore it was not as far along as originally hoped but that some progress had been made. He informed Members that it was now prudent to revisit the plan to establish what could be realistically completed in the timeframe to 2024.

He stated he would listen to any viewpoints that Members had and he would encourage them to contact either him directly or via the Scrutiny Chairman within the next 10 days in order that these could be fed back to the Cabinet.

Consideration was given to:

·         Members’ concerns that refugees were a continuing issue and that the Corporate Plan should include how the Council were going to deal with it at a local level

·         Members’ views that dealing with financial hardship should be part of the Corporate Plan

·         Access to Council buildings for older people

·         ICT – gatekeeping issues

·         Pricing in public car parks should not favour electric car users

·         Safer school journeys – could the Council assist in promoting them within the communities

·         Members’ views that there should be more disability equipment in Council playgrounds

Note: *report previously circulated and attached to the minutes

To review the existing Work Plan and consider items for the committee’s future consideration, taking account of:

(a)       Any items within the Forward Plan for discussion at the next meeting;

(b)       The update from the Policy Research Officer on existing projects and forthcoming matters;

(c)        Proposal form on Participating Budgeting; and

(d)       Suggestions of other work for the committee in 2022/23.

The Committee reviewed its current *work plan and the following items:

a)    The *Forward Plan – The Committee discussed the anticipated inclusion of 3RDL revised business plan and the annual report to Cabinet on 12^th July 2022. Some Members felt that these should be presented for pre Scrutiny prior to going to Cabinet. The Deputy Chief Executive explained that in line with the 3RDL process map, agreed by the previous Chairman of Scrutiny, as both items related to financial risk exposure that the Chairman of the Audit Committee had agreed to scrutinise the reports after they had been seen by the Cabinet. He also explained that the Scrutiny Committee had the power to call in any decisions of the Cabinet if it felt that a decision had not been made correctly. It was also confirmed that the 3RDL annual business plan would be seen by both the Scrutiny and Audit Committees before it was presented to Cabinet in November 2022, in accordance with the agreed process map.

b)    An update from the Policy Research Officer who stated that she had received a number of replies from neighbouring authorities who wanted to work together investigating the Bio Energy industry. She explained that the Committee could discuss and agree what approach it wanted to take moving forward at the informal work programming session on 11^th July. The Officer also confirmed that the proposal form on Participatory Budgeting would also be discussed at that meeting so that Members could decide if this was something that they wanted to look into.

c)    There had been no further suggestions for other work for the Committee consider and the Policy Research Officer explained that if Members had ideas then they should complete a Scrutiny Proposal Form and send it to her so that it could be tabled at the informal meeting on 11^th July.

Note: * Work plan, proposal form and Forward plan previously circulated and attached to the minutes