Agenda and draft minutes

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

Apologies were received from Cllr A. Cuddy.

To receive any questions from members of the public and replies thereto.

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

There were no members of the public present and no Public questions had been submitted.

To record any interests on agenda matters.

No interests were declared under this item.

To consider whether to approve the minutes as a correct record of the meeting held on Tuesday 24 September 2024.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 24 September were approved as a correct record and SIGNED by the Chair.

To receive any announcements that the Chair may wish to make.

The Chair announced that workshops would be held in early 2025 to examine how a platform could be given to charities and community groups in the Mid Devon area to allow them to promote themselves.

To receive a report from the Director of Legal, People and Governance (Monitoring Officer)

The Group received and NOTED a report* from the Director of Legal, People and Governance (Monitoring Officer) on RIPA following the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Office (IPCO) Audit and in accordance with the IPCOs recommendation that the Policy was presented to Members annually.

·         The powers available to the Council had not been used since 2014.

·         There had been a three year audit carried out in August 2024. The Inspector had been satisfied with the information provided.

The Group RECOMMENDED to Cabinet that the Council’s policy for ensuring compliance with Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) is appropriate and shall remain as currently drafted.

(Proposed by Cllr C Connor, seconded by Cllr M Farrell)

The Group NOTED that the Council had not used its powers under RIPA since March 2014.

(Proposed through the Chair)

Reason for the decision

As set out in the report.

Note: *Report previously circulated.

To receive the Performance Dashboard for Quarter 2

The Group were presented with, and NOTED, a slide * showing performance information in the Community People and Equalities area for Quarter 2.

Since the Dashboard was last presented to this meeting, work had been ongoing to create a glossary. This contained all the measures used as part of the Dashboards and provided a definition for each. The definitions aimed to provide a fuller understanding of what was being measured and how. This was available on the Council’s website.

The following was referred to:

·         There was one Corporate Risk relating to this PDG, that being Severe Weather Emergency Recovery which was at 12 and increasing.

·         Two indicators that were shown as red on the dashboard related to “Let’s Talk Mid Devon”, the Communications Team were continuing to push use of the site and had recently launched the annual Residents Survey on the site which would encourage people to sign up and register. The team were having discussions with service areas to ensure that it was the best the platform for their needs and that work would feed into future planning around the platform. The platform had been licenced until January 2026.

·         The Resident’s survey was live from 30 October to 11 December 2024.

·         Licenced vehicle inspections were in red due to the fact that the majority of vehicles were due for inspection later in the year, so performance should increase in quarters 3 and 4.

·         With regard to Food Service total inspections completed (also in red), the new performance indicator replaced the simple count of the number of inspections completed. The “food safety inspections” performance indicator had been replaced with the more meaningful “Food Service – Total Inspections completed”. Inspections were prioritised based on risk, with bands A to C achieving 100% targets over quarters 1 and 2.

·         With regard to private water supply sampling (also in red), a risk based approach was being employed and sampling had commenced in October.

Discussion took place regarding:

·         Licenced vehicle inspections were low in the early part of the year as the vehicles were not due for inspection until later in the year.

·         Private water supply sampling had been paused in quarters 1 and 2 to allow the team to do some review work but the programme had recommenced from October 2024 using a more “risk based” approach, so that higher risk properties were prioritised in terms of sampling.

Note: * Slide previously circulated.

To present to Members the updated Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) which covers the period 2025/26 to 2028/29 for the General Fund (GF) and consider savings options including considering any savings options in relation to a reduction in engagement activity opportunities digitally and the impact on Let’s Talk Mid Devon.

The Group had before it and NOTED a report* from the Deputy Chief Executive (S151 Officer) presenting the updated Budget for 2025/26 and took account of the Council’s key strategies and demonstrated that it had the resources to deliver the new Corporate Plan.

The Head of Finance, Property and Climate Resilience presented the report and the following was highlighted:

• The report provided an update on progress made on setting the budget and outlined options for the remaining shortfall.
• The report provided clarity on service areas falling under the remit of this Policy Development Group and showed the movement to date in the process of trying to set the budget for 2025/2026 and beyond.
• The Council were awaiting Government announcements over the following three to four weeks which would hopefully close the remaining gap for next year.
• A report going to Cabinet in December 2024 would present the very latest position ahead of the Council needing to agree a budget in February 2025.

Discussion took place regarding:

·         SES 22 Pest Control was now a reactionary service and so did not carry a budget. This line would drop out of the MTFP.

Note: Report previously circulated.

To receive a report on the updated CCTV Policy from the Head of Finance, Property and Climate Resilience.

The Group had before it and NOTED a report * from the Head of Finance, Property & Climate Resilience presenting the updated Policy and Codes of Practice to Members for approval.

The contents of the report were outlined with particular reference to the following:

·         The updated Policy and Codes of Practice had undergone a thorough review based upon the previous 3 years’ experience. It had been examined by an external consultant, internally by the Legal Department and the Data Protection team.

·         The majority of any changes were to ensure consistency between the Policy and the Codes.

RECOMMENDED to the Cabinet that:

1.    The Surveillance and CCTV Policy (Annex A), Code of Practice for Surveillance Camera Systems operated by Mid Devon District Council (Annex B), Code of Practice for operation and management of  Body Worn Video Cameras (Annex C) and Code of Practice for management and operation of CCTV on Street Scene Vehicles (Annex D) be APPROVED.

2.    Delegated authority be granted to the Head of Finance, Property and Climate Resilience to make minor amendments to the Surveillance and CCTV Policy and Codes of Practice as required by changes to legislation, formal guidance or local operational considerations.

(Proposed by the Chair)

Reason for the decision

As set out in the report.

Note: * Report previously circulated.

To receive a report and consider the wording of Motion 606 to be put before Full Council.

The Group had before it a report * from the Head of Revenues, Benefits and Leisure presenting the revised Motion 606 previously set before Full Council on 30 October 2024.

The proposer of the Motion, Cllr S Robinson, outlined the contents of the report with particular reference to the following:

·         This Motion had been substantially revised since it had been before Full Council on 30 October 2024.

·         Circa. 11,800 women in the Mid Devon district had been affected, circa. 800 of whom had since died.

·         The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman had found that the Department of Work and Pensions had committed maladministration by not adequately communicating the increase in state pension age eligibility to women born in the 1950’s.

·         Many women had not been informed by Central Government via letters in the post of the changes being made to their pension age.

·         Many women had lost opportunities and been left in poverty.

·         There had been a broader impact on voluntary services of all kinds locally who were missing out on able active volunteers.

·         The aim of the Motion was to encourage all parliamentary groups to set out their stall regarding this miscarriage.

RECOMMENDED to Full Council that:

The revised Motion 606 be supported.

(Proposed by Cllr M Farrell and seconded by Cllr H Tuffin)

Reason for the decision

As set out in the report.

Note: * Report previously circulated.

To receive the current work plan for the Community PDG.

The Group had before it and NOTED the current work programme* for the Community, People and Equalities Policy Development Group (PDG) for 2024/2025.

Members were asked to consider whether there were any other areas that they wanted to focus on, in addition to those already in the work programme.

The proposed item on workshops relating to the community and voluntary sector was added to the Agenda for 25 March 2025.

Note: * Work Programme previously circulated.