CHILTERN DISTRICT COUNCIL

MINUTES of the Meeting of the SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

held on 13 JUNE 2001

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE were received from Councillors Mrs V Head and R T Young

IN ATTENDANCE Councillors J A Banham, T Dodd, I T Gomm, Mrs M A Hamilton, D W Phillips and Mrs E P Stacey.

1.     ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN

     RESOLVED –

That Councillor A Campbell be elected Chairman of the Committee for the ensuing year.

     Note: Councillor A Campbell took the chair.

2.     APPOINTMENT OF VICE-CHAIRMEN

     RESOLVED –

3.     APPOINTMENT OF SUB-COMMITTEES

Best Value Sub-Committee

RESOLVED –

1.     That nominations of Members of the Best Value Sub-Committee be made at Council

Scrutiny Sub-Committee

RESOLVED -

2.     That nominations of Members of the Scrutiny Sub-Committee be made at Council.

4.     DECLARATION OF INTERESTS

The declaration of interests for Members would relate to the agenda items placed before each meeting. None were declared.

5.     ROLE AND POWERS OF SCRUTINY

Officers had prepared a report on the scope of the Scrutiny Committee, including its role and powers. Scrutiny Committee was established to scrutinise the work of the Executive but could also choose other subjects.

     The Terms of Reference were noted as set out in appendix 6.1 of the report.

Members discussed the practical operation of Scrutiny Committee and a number of points were clarified -

Should any Member of Scrutiny request an item be placed on an agenda, it would be a requirement that the item was included on the next available agenda.

The work of a Policy Advisory Group could not be scrutinised.

Minutes would be reported to Council.

The published date would be included on all Executive Committee minutes.

To avoid frivolous calling-in some Members suggested that an agreement or protocol should be made between Members.

The style of minutes needed to be fuller to show on what basis decisions were made.

The Chief Executive was requested to investigate how the minutes could be improved to give more detail.

Scrutiny can prioritise its own workload.

Best Value Reviews were the only pre-existing requirement for Scrutiny Committee.

Scrutiny Committee make recommendations to Executive and Council.

Whether a matter is a key decision or not may be challenged.

A typical agenda was included in the officer's report and this was accepted by Members.

Access to Documents and Information -

The present access to information rules on open and exempt information still applied.

Matters not suitable for Scrutiny were discussed and Members agreed that in the early months of this new system some latitude must be allowed.

It was envisaged that the Scrutiny Sub-Committee would undertake some of the primary work with decisions being made by the parent committee. Decisions must always be taken in the public domain, unless in the exempt areas as currently defined.

     RESOLVED -

That the report be noted.

Note: Councillor J E Ford entered the meeting at 6.47pm

6.     BEST VALUE REVIEWS: POSITION STATEMENT

Members were appraised of the current position on the review of progress.  

The Community Safety Review may be postponed until 2003/2004 and would be in line with the

Police Review and other districts.

The work on Parking and Transport had now started and Members were advised that the Inspector's Report following the Reprographics Inspection was still awaited as the Inspectorate were considerably behind with the issue of all reports.

The Open Spaces Inspection would be the next to be undertaken and Members were invited to attend the Briefing and Interim Challenge meetings.

Six monthly updates of the Action Plans would be undertaken.

A date for the Best Value Sub-Committee was agreed as Wednesday 25 July 2001 at 6.30pm in the Council Offices.

RESOLVED -

1.     That the report be noted

7.     CHAIRMAN'S REVIEW

The Chairman gave a short slide presentation to Members.

A full discussion was held on the best way to develop this Committee and a number of points were

raised:

Note: Councillors D W Phillips and T Dodd left the meeting at 8.00pm and 8.03pm respectively.

8.     FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF THE COMMITTEE

     To assist Members it was suggested that some training be undertaken by the Committee and various      options were considered.

It was agreed that a Councillor from Mid Suffolk, who was Chairman of Scrutiny Committee and his Vice-Chairman, be invited to lead a session with support from officers. The date was set as 10 July 2001.

A suggestion was also made that Councillors could visit other authorities that had been operating the new system for some time.  It was agreed that Chichester District Council would be suitable as a Council of a similar size that had been operating the Leader and Executive system for two years.

The Chief Executive agreed to circulate information about possibilities.

RESOLVED -

2.     That Councillors visit Chichester District Council to observe Scrutiny meetings.

9.     BUSINESS ITEMS

(i)     Review of Executive Forward Plan: July - October 2001

          This would be a regular item to be placed before Scrutiny Committee.

(ii)     Review of Executive Decisions: 6 June 2001

The minutes of the meeting held on 6 June 2001 were tabled at the meeting.

The meeting ended at 8.35pm