Meeting documents

CHILTERN DISTRICT COUNCIL

MINUTES of the Meeting of the SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

held on 11 SEPTEMBER 2001

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE were received from Councillors Miss P A Appleby, J E Ford and D J Lacey.

IN ATTENDANCE Councillors T Dodd, I T Gomm, D W Phillips and J F Warder.

20.     MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 17 July 2001, copies of which had been previously circulated, were signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

21.     DECLARATION OF INTERESTS

None were declared

22.     COMMUNITY PLAN

Reports on the Community Planning Process had been considered by the Executive on 7 August

and 4 September 2001.  A timetable until September 2002 was circulated at the meeting.

An initial consultation on the draft Community Plan had taken place in Autumn 2000. More in depth work was needed with local residents, organisations and partners with the aim of revising and updating the plan.

The key issues that were formed from the consultation were:

Resources were limited and concentrated work in one area would necessitate resources being directed away from other areas.

Members discussed the way to take the community planning process forward:

It was agreed that the Committee would recommend to the Executive that Ward Members be requested to consult the local residents in whichever way they would prefer, either as individuals or collectively. The information gathered would then be assembled and published in a final concise document.  

     Note: Councillor I T Gomm entered the meeting at 7.07pm.

23.     REPORT OF THE CHAIRMAN

The Chairman submitted a report that set out a method of reviewing documents that could be adopted when scrutinising Council Policy documents.

Members agreed that it would be useful to review documents at the draft stage and would like more information on other methods that could be used, but would prefer to postpone this until the new system had been in place for a year.

24.     LANGUAGE SUPPORT SERVICE

Minute Number 99 of the Executive meeting held on 4 September 2001 had been called in.  This item was added as a late item in view of the time factor.

     The protocol to be adopted for this meeting was outlined by the Chairman:

Councillor Ms Bramwell submitted that the decision not to join the Buckinghamshire County Council Language Support Service should be deferred until all avenues had been explored, including the outcome of the negotiations with the Citizens' Advice Bureau.

Members agreed to proceed with the Call In and the Chairman requested Councillor Dodd to address the meeting. The report that was submitted to the Executive Meeting on 4 September 2001 gave details of the proposed operation of the Buckinghamshire Language Support Service and set out the probable budgetary implications for subsequent years.

Councillor Dodd explained the concerns that the Executive had regarding the Buckinghamshire Service including lack of accountability, the future need for bigger premises and that there would be little local control over who accessed the service. Alternatively, the Citizens' Advice Bureau already provided language translation services and this gave rise to the possibility of providing an accountable language support service locally and more cheaply.  In this respect Councillor Dodd had spoken to the Manager of the local Citizens' Advice Bureau about the consultants they use.  The Manager had agreed in principle to set up a pilot scheme and Councillor Dodd and the Director of Planning and the Environment would be meeting with her next week.

During questioning Councillor Dodd stated the language translators used by the Citizens' Advice Bureau were properly trained and that he did not consider that the Executive had ruled out the option of participating in the Buckinghamshire Language Support Service if an acceptable local service scheme could not be agreed with the Citizens' Advice Bureau.  In that regard the Council had not informed the County Council that it would not be supporting the Buckinghamshire scheme.

Following closing remarks by Councillor Ms Bramwell, the Committee voted to refer the decision to the next meeting of the Executive with a recommendation that the Executive reconsiders the wording of Resolution 1. of Executive Minute 99/01 so that the option of participating in the Buckinghamshire Language Support Service was not rejected before an acceptable local scheme had been agreed.

     Note 1: Councillor Lole requested that his vote against the above recommendation be recorded.

Note 2: Councillors T Dodd, I T Gomm, P T Lole, D W Phillips, A H Reed, A W Walters and J F Warder left the meeting at 8.00pm.

25.     CAPITAL STRATEGY AND ASSET MANAGEMENT PLAN

Copies of the Capital Strategy and Asset Management Plan had been included in the report to the Executive on 7 August 2001.

Members agreed that the Director of Corporate Services should arrange a training session, to be held before the start of a future Scrutiny Committee meeting.

RESOLVED -

That the report be noted and that the Executive be informed accordingly.

25.     MINUTES

The Minutes of the Scrutiny Sub-Committee held on 28 August 2001, were submitted and considered.

RESOLVED –

That the Minutes of the meeting of the Scrutiny Sub-Committee, held on 28 August 2001, be approved and accepted.

     Note: Councillor G E Sussum left the meeting at 8.05pm.

26.     FORWARD PLAN

Copies of the Forward Plan had been circulated with the report to the Executive Committee meeting on 4 September 2001.

Further consideration was being given to the format of the plan.  

The meeting ended at 8.12pm.