Meeting documents

CHILTERN DISTRICT COUNCIL

MINUTES of the Meeting of the SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

held on 19 February 2002

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE were received from Councillors D J Lacey, C H Spruytenburg and A W Walters.

NOT PRESENT were Councillors G H Dean, L A Hodgkinson, Sir John Horsburgh-Porter, M A Peters and G E Sussum.    

45.     MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 18 December 2001, copies of which had been previously circulated, were signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

46.     DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST    

There were no declarations of interest.

     Councillors J E Ford and R T Young entered the meeting at 6.35 p.m.

The Chairman informed Members that the Committee was coming to the end of its first year and it was important now to review the constitutional duties of the Committee.

Discussion took place with regard to the content and format of the Chairman’s report. It was agreed that the report should be focused and concise and should consist of a short overview from the Chairman and two brief reports from each sub-committee in a table format.

It was established that a draft copy of this report should be circulated and be approved by the Scrutiny Committee at the March or April meeting in time for the Annual Council meeting in May.  

The Director of Corporate Services highlighted that, in addition, the Committee needed to consider a projected work programme. It was agreed that much of this had already been provided for by the progress reports of the Sub-Committees.

Concern was raised at the amount of work being generated by the Committee and that it was not receiving adequate resources.

     Councillor Mrs V Head entered the meeting at 6.40 p.m.

     The aim of the Scrutiny Committee was to, firstly, produce a programme of work that complemented those of the Best Value and Ad-hoc Committees, secondly, there were the statutory duties. One of these duties was to review the performance of the Executive. Members were concerned with the workload of the Executive and asked if there was a need for more Executive Members or if certain functions could be delegated to other Councillors.

The Director of Corporate Services suggested that performance of the Superannuation Fund would provide an opportunity for Scrutiny to review an outside body under para. 7.3(1) (e).  The Budget was also given as an example of a way forward for the Scrutiny Committee as it had resolved to be more involved in the financial planning of the Council in future years.

The general consensus was that the Committee should be proactive and focus attention upon the areas where the Council was under-performing as measured by current performance indicators.

It was suggested that the Committee could look into PAGs as recommended by the Sub-Committee.  These consumed a great deal of officer time and resources and it was agreed that there was a need to ensure they were fulfilling their potential. Concern was raised at the overlap of the work of some PAGs and other Committees. Members were reminded of the importance of PAGs as they provided a forum for the Executive to utilise the experience of other Councillors and assisted the Executive in making decisions.    

The issue of having an officer dedicated to Scrutiny was also raised. It was requested that the officers provide a report for the next meeting outlining the pros and cons of having a dedicated officer. The Director of Corporate Services informed Members that Management Team would discuss the need for further resources for the Scrutiny Committee as it was under a duty to ensure an adequate provision to enable the Committee to carry out its functions.

49.          AN UPDATE OF THE WORK OF THE SCRUTINY SUB-COMMITTEE FROM THE CHAIRMAN

The Vice-Chairman outlined the various projects being undertaken by the Ad-hoc Committee and gave a progress report on each. A brief of these would be attached to the Minutes. These were as follows –

The initial report had not yet gone to the Executive, however they had endorsed the proposal from Scrutiny for a Seminar in the spring. A progress report would be given to the Scrutiny Committee in six months time.

It would start when Officers had finished the review on the performance of Onyx. This raised the issue of prioritising the work of Scrutiny in relation to staff resources. It was suggested that Scrutiny should deal with one review at a time, however investigate the ways in which the review process could be speeded up.

There was a lengthy discussion concerning a letter sent to the Chairman from Councillor J F Warder about this review which raised a number of issues. Members were concerned that they had not seen the letter and that they had not had the opportunity to discuss its content. The Chairman offered to copy it to Members.

This was on hold so that it could be linked into the Community Plan.  

The members of this Review had met once and would produce a report.  A private meeting with Onyx would be set up in the near future. It was agreed that this was still a valid project.

It was agreed to defer this project for the time being.

Councillor Ms J E Bramwell left the meeting at 8.05 p.m.

50.     AN UPDATE OF BEST VALUE ACTIVITIES

A report was circulated to the group outlining the activities of the Best Value Sub-Committee, a copy of which was circulated with the Minutes. It was agreed that no verbal report would be given due to the time factor. Members were informed that a Best Value Sub-Committee meeting had been arranged for 4 April 2002.

The meeting ended at 8.17 p.m.