Meeting documents

Apologies were received from Mr Tim Butcher and Mr Brian Roberts.

To disclose any personal or disclosable pecuniary interests.

There were none.

Of the meeting held on 12^th July 2016 to be confirmed as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 12^th July were confirmed as a correct record.

This is an opportunity for members of the public to put a question or raise an issue of concern, related to Environment, Transport and Locality Services.   Where possible, the relevant organisation to which the question/issue is directed will be present to give a verbal response.  Members of the public will be invited to speak for up to four minutes on their issue.  A maximum of 30 minutes is set aside for the Public Questions slot in total (including responses and any Committee discussion). This may be extended with the Chairman’s discretion. 

For full guidance on Public Questions, including how to register a request to speak during this slot, please follow this link:

http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/about-your-council/scrutiny/getting-involved/

There were none.

For the Chairman of the Committee to provide an update to the Committee on recent scrutiny related activity.

The Chairman reminded Members that they had been asked for their feedback on the Economic Development Inquiry, which had been well-received by Cabinet.

The Chairman extended his thanks to the Committee and Governance Adviser, Mrs Kelly Sutherland, for her work in support of the Committee.

The Buckinghamshire County Museum Trust has now been operational for two years. Members will receive a progress report highlighting the Trust's successes and challenges.

Attendees:

Mr Martin Phillips, Cabinet Member for Community Engagement and Public Health

Mrs Ruth Page, Culture & Leisure Services Development Manager

Mr Richard de Peyer, Museum Director

The Chairman welcomed Mrs Margaret Aston, Deputy Cabinet Member for Community Engagement and Public Health, Mrs Ruth Page, Culture and Leisure Services Manager and Mr Richard de Peyer, Museum Director to the meeting.

The Committee received an update on the performance of the Bucks County Museum Trust which had delivered the county museum service on behalf of the County Council for the past two years.  Mrs Ruth Page and Mr Richard de Peyer highlighted both successes and challenges for the Trust and in response to member questions and during subsequent discussions, the following main points were noted:

·         A Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) bid in April 2016 to enable the extension of the Museum had been unsuccessful. A revised bid would be submitted in December 2016.  If successful, this would secure £3.5million and the Trust hoped to raise a further £1million through other grants.

·         The Trust was keen to extend the Museum to enable more of the collection to be put on display for the public.  Meanwhile there were plans to promote Tours of the Museum Stores in Halton in a more profitable format.

·         The Museum had some collections of national significance, including the McDowall collection of neo-romantic 20^th Century art, the Embroiderer’s Guild collection and artefacts belonging to the National Paralympic Heritage Trust.  There were plans to exhibit these collections with a view to attracting a much wider audience to the Museum.

·         The Trust’s service level agreement (SLA) with Milton Keynes would end in April 2018.  The Museum Director was confident that a further SLA could be negotiated with the Milton Keynes Museum Trust.

·         School visits accounted for 14,000 of the Museum’s 90,000 annual visitors, mainly servicing schools in Aylesbury Vale but also attracting schools from as far away as Leicester and Hampshire. 

·         The Museum varied its exhibitions to appeal to different sections of the community for example, the recent Friars Music Club and the Art of Islam exhibitions.  A Wedding exhibition was being planned next year to appeal to younger adults.

·         In relation to promotion through tourism, the Museum Director commented that links between the Museum’s artefacts and where they were found or originated from, could be useful for generating interest in the Museum and additional income. Wifi hotspots at certain sites, could enable access to online historical information, linked to artefacts.  Similar Apps had been successful in Brighton and Bristol.

·         There was a discussion about the possibility of rationalising the Museum’s three sites – the Museum itself in Church Street, Aylesbury and its two stores at Halton and Great Missenden - in order to cut costs. In addition, the suggestion was made to sell all three sites and use the capital receipts, plus any HLF funding, to buy one larger building which would be fit for purpose. However, this was not a realistic option as none of the three sites were owned by the Trust.

·         A feasibility study had been undertaken with a view to combining access and storage facilities for the Museum and the County Archives  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Committee will consider a report reviewing the Buckinghamshire and Surrey Joint Trading Standards Service's first year of operation.

Attendees:

Mr Martin Phillips, Cabinet Member for Community Engagement and Public Health

Mrs Amanda Poole, Assistant Head of Trading Standards

Mr Steve Ruddy, Head of Trading Standards

The Chairman welcomed Mrs Margaret Aston, Deputy Cabinet Member for Community Engagement and Public Health, Mrs Amanda Poole, Assistant Head of Trading Standards and Mr Steve Ruddy, Head of Trading Standards to the meeting.  The Committee received an overview of the performance of the shared Trading Standards Service to date.  In response to Members’ questions and during subsequent discussions, the following main points were noted:

·         The joint Buckinghamshire and Surrey Trading Standards Service went live in April 2015. The service was governed through a joint committee arrangement with equal representation from both local authorities. If the service underspends, then an agreed percentage of the savings would be returned to each Council.

·         The joint service was created as a means of continuing to grow and develop, despite diminishing local government budgets. To date all savings outlined in the original business case had been met and a further 1.5% savings per annum had been agreed, which the service was on target to deliver.

·         Primary Authority Partnerships (PAP) were a key way of generating income.  Companies pay for assured advice and the joint service had a wide breadth of knowledge to deliver a quality service.  In addition to PAPs with individual companies, the service also had PAPs with trade associations, such as the Association of Convenience Stores.

·         The larger service allowed more innovation, for example, undertaking financial investigations to recover the proceeds of crime.  This work had retrieved a significant amount of money for victims and also monies for the service, which could then be used for community safety purposes in both Bucks and Surrey.

·         The joint service had been recognised nationally – the Local Government Association (LGA) held up the service as an example of successful joint working in its Trading Standards Review, published in January 2016.

·         Surrey County Council contributed 66% of the budget and Buckinghamshire County Council contributed 34%, therefore any savings were returned to the respective Councils proportionally. This reflected Surrey’s larger population and demand for the service and also Surrey had more staff.  However in terms of responding to issues in either county, the split of one third:two thirds was not applied rigidly in terms of staffing and a Risk/Harm matrix was used to allocate and prioritise resources. 

·         Doorstep crime remained a priority and the service had a seconded Police Officer working with them, which was helpful when attending doorstep incidents. The service was organising two conferences in conjunction with the National Scams team, bringing together the Police, Trading Standards and Local Authorities to discuss how to combat scams online, on the telephone and on the doorstep.

The Chairman thanked the Deputy Cabinet Member, Amanda Poole and Steve Ruddy for attending the meeting.

Members will receive an overview of the Growth proposals for Bucks outlined in the District Council's Local Plans and also the County Council's consultation responses, in a PowerPoint presentation. This will be an opportunity for Members to consider the implications for County Council services going forward and to understand the work which is already underway in preparing for Growth.

Attendees:

Mr Warren Whyte, Cabinet Member for Planning and Environment

Mr Mark Shaw, Cabinet Member for Transportation

Miss Rachel Wileman, Head of Strategic Plan and Infrastructure

The Chairman welcomed Miss Rachel Wileman, Head of Strategic Plan and Infrastructure and Mrs Joan Hancox, Head of Transport Strategy to the meeting.  Miss Wileman delivered a presentation about Growth in Bucks, which focussed particularly on the Aylesbury Vale Local Plan.

Members welcomed the presentation but wanted more time to be able to discuss the details of all the Local Plans in the County and the implications of the Growth agenda for the County Council’s own services in the future.  The Committee requested that an additional special meeting should be arranged to allow more time to consider this important topic.  It was agreed that the Committee and Governance Adviser would organise an additional date which would also allow the Cabinet Members to attend.

ACTION: Committee & Governance Adviser

Members are asked to note that the following items will be considered at the 15^th November meeting –

·         Future of the Library Service

·         Safer Bucks Plan

·         Digital Projects and Customer Journey within TEE

 An informal workshop will be organised during the Autumn to discuss potential items for the 2017 Work Programme.

The Committee noted the future work programme.  A member suggested that the County Archives might be added to the work programme and also consideration of Asset Transfer.

Tuesday 15^th November 2016 at 10am in Mezzanine Room 2, County Hall, Aylesbury.  A pre-meeting will be held for members of the Committee only at 9.30am.

Tuesday 15^th November 2016 at 10am in Mezzanine Room 2, County Hall, Aylesbury. There will be a pre-meeting for members of the Committee only at 9.30am.