Meeting documents

Apologies were received from Mr L Clarke OBE, Mr S Bowles, Mr S Lambert, Mr D Dhillion.

To disclose any personal or disclosable pecuniary interests.

There were none.

Of the meeting held on 31^st October 2017.

The minutes of the meeting held on 31^st October were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

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

The Chairman welcomed Mr R Reed as a new Member of the Committee.

The Committee has received the following questions from Mr Terry Reilly:

1.    How can the residents of Bucks be assured that the Transport for Buckinghamshire service adequately investigates issues and problems as they are reported and, where required, takes the necessary action to resolve issues or ensures that the proper authority is aware of the issue and that it is then dealt with by them?

2.    How can the residents of Bucks know that their problems are dealt with in a suitable timeframe and that the resolution is fit for purpose?

3.    As it is now more difficult to make contact with the County Council what provision has been made to ensure that the services provided by the County Council remain accessible for all, and not just those with access to the internet?

4.    Finally, once the County Council has acknowledged that the problem is to be resolved by its service provider who do we, as your customer, hold to account to ensure that the issue is resolved, and how do we escalate such matters if they are not?

Contributors:

Mr M. Shaw, Cabinet Member for Transportation and Mr M. Kemp, Director in TEE, will be present to provide a verbal response to Mr Reilly’s questions.

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/

The Committee received a public question from Mr Reilly regarding the quality and responsiveness of TfB when dealing with enquiries from the public. The full question(s) can be viewed in the agenda papers.

The Chairman read out the questions on behalf of Mr Reilly and the Cabinet Member for Transportation and Mr Kemp, Director of Growth, Strategy and Highways, attended to respond.

The full response can be viewed on the webcast.

The Cabinet Member’s response included:

·         An apology for the length of time it had taken to address the issues highlighted.

·         An overview of action taken in relation to the example given within the public question.

·         A reminder that members of the public could contact their local councillor to follow up on issues locally and to get updates on the progress of logged enquiries.

·         He encouraged Mr Reilly to take any outstanding matters through the formal complaints process.

Members of the Committee raised the following in response:

·         The benefits of the Members portal to monitor progress of TfB issues reported and enquiries.

·         They suggested that the portal should be available to town and parish councils to help answer residents’ concerns and queries.

·         They encouraged members of the public to engage with their local Councillors.

·         A need to ensure we have clear guidance on how the council holds contractors to account.

·         Members expressed a general satisfaction with how issues and matters have been resolved locally, the improvements they have noticed and the benefits of the portal to keep residents up to date.

The Chairman thanked the Cabinet Member and Managing Director for attending.

The Committee will review and assess the progress towards the recommendations made within the Inquiry report as agreed by Cabinet in April 2017.

Contributors:

Mr. M. Shaw, Cabinet Member for Transportation

Ms J. Hancox, Head of Transport Strategy

Ms K Telkman, Senior Transport Strategy Officer

The Chairman welcomed the following contributors to the meeting to present the 6 month recommendation progress report:

·         Mr Mark Shaw, Cabinet Member for Transportation

·         Mr Mike Appleyard, Cabinet Member for Education

·         Ms Joan Hancox, Head of Transport Strategy

·         Ms Katie Telkman, Senior Transport Strategy Officer

·         Ms Paula Campbell-Balcombe, Joint Commissioning

The Cabinet Members for Transportation and Education provided an overview of the progress made towards the implementation of the recommendations and introduced their update report.

The following areas were highlighted in the Cabinet Member introduction:

·         As a result of the Committee’s inquiry they were working much more closely (Education and Transportation) when planning for new developments and the provision for sustainable transport infrastructure.

·         A school walking mapping tool had been developed, to highlight walking routes and distances to schools to encourage walking.

·         The issue of ensuring pupil safety was discussed when  short stretches of roadway were included as part of expected walking routes to schools.

·         Drop off and Pick up issues could be resolved for a lot of schools if one way systems were in place.  The Cabinet Member for Education had asked for this to be considered.

·         Home to School Transport was 54% of Education and Skills budget and this needed to be reduced.. This would involve more public bus use and a need for pupils and parents to get used to walking more, and realise the benefits of walking.

Members considered progress towards the recommendations and the following points were raised:

·         Road safety training: Members asked whether road safety training was offered. They were told that through the Footsteps initiative, representatives within schools were trained to deliver road safety training. This had been successful where there was buy in from the school.

·         Recommendation 5: Junior road safety training had been delivered – Members were encouraged to attend one of these to see for themselves the training being delivered.

Action: Ms K Telkman to send dates of the Junior Road Safety Training days to Ms K Wager to send to Members.

·         Recommendation 3: Members heard that there had been a significant amount of joint working between Education and TEE when planning for new schools/expansion of schools and travel planning.  Members heard that it was now a requirement of the planning permission for there to be a school travel plan and for the school to register with the STARS system if they wish to expand.

·         Recommendation 4: Members asked for the specific details of the routes that have been cleared.

ACTION: Ms J Hancox to send details to the Ms K Wager to share with Members.

·         Recommendation 3 and 6: TEE and Education meet early on to ensure that they build in mitigation for plans early on. For example, Wendover where mitigation measures were included early on in the design.

·         A significant change was that the s106 policy has been amended, to ensure that the costs of sustainable travel infrastructure would be met by developers.  Members believed progress was on track.

·         A Member suggested that a list of schools with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Members will review and assess the progress towards completion/implementation of the Inquiry recommendations

Contributors:

Mr M. Tett, Leader 

Mr J. Rippon, Head of Growth and Strategy

Ms P. Batting, Bucks Business First

Mr I. Barham BTVLEP

The Chairman welcomed the following contributors to the meeting to present the 12 month recommendation progress report:

·         Mr Martin Tett, Leader of the Council

·         Mr John Rippon, Head of Growth and Strategy

·         Mr Ian Barham, Thames Valley Local Enterprise Partnership (TVLEP)

·         Ms Philippa Batting, Bucks Business First.

The Leader of the Council thanked the Committee for their report and recommendations; in his introduction he covered the following:

·         An overview of the significant progress made over the last 18 months.

·         The current challenges, such as the government growth agenda, the need to build viable towns and villages and drive economic growth.

·         The issue of the transport agenda over the next 20-30 years.

·         The Leader advised that his vision was to drive employment not just housing, as he wanted to see thriving towns and villages.

Mr I Barham from the Thames Valley LEP, provided an overview including:

·         The annual report was presented to over 25 Members.

·         £20.5 million invested in projects being delivered locally.

·         A commitment had been given to Members to provide 6 month verbal updates on national and regional projects.

Mr J Rippon went through the recommendation updates and key points to summarise progress included:

·         1-3 had been actioned.

·         4 is in progress with a Cabinet Key Decision being taken later in 2018.

·         Bucks TVLEP was highest performing over 49 LEP areas.

·         Business start ups were over 30% above national average.

·         £73m local growth funding secured

·         Aylesbury Enterprise Zone making great progress

·         Aylesbury Vale seen as most rapidly developing in the country by the Government.

·         Business Membership to Bucks Business First over 10,000, 30% of all businesses in Bucks.

·         2500 jobs created through BBF

·         479 apprenticeships created through BBF.

Ms Philippa Batting highlighted the following points of progress:

·         The engagement with Members had directly led to more enquires from businesses.

·         For every £1 invested, £4 was leveraged in to support businesses to achieve the aspiration for a thriving economy.

·         Bucks had successfully delivered a Brexit event which was recognised nationally as leading the way. This event was also delivered to the Leaders of England’s Economic Heartland.

Members of the Committee were impressed with the amount of progress that had been made. They felt that work had significantly developed and moved on from when the inquiry was undertaken and were confident that the recommendations had been implemented.

The Chairman thanked the contributors for their update.

PRE DECISION SCRUTINY: Members will review the options for the future delivery arrangements of mobile library services, which will be considered by the Cabinet Member, following public consultation. This is an opportunity for the Committee to examine and inform the plans ahead of a key decision being taken.

Contributors:

Mr N. Brown, Cabinet Member for Community Engagement.

Mr D. Jones, Head of Community Focus.

The Chairman welcomed the Cabinet Member for Community Engagement and the Director of Culture and Learning who provided the Committee with an overview of their paper.

Key points highlighted included:

·         The rationale for considering alternative delivery options, including to make savings, and explore better more sustainable delivery arrangements.

·         That a consultation had been carried out on the discontinuance of the mobile library service and alternative delivery arrangements. This was now closed and results were being analysed.

·         A key decision was due in March 2018.

·         Research had been carried out (included in the report) which identified all individuals who used mobile services only. These people had bene written to directly to seek their views on alternative delivery options.

·         The alternative delivery options were discussed, including Home Library Lending Service and Click and Collect options.

Members considered the following through their questions:

·         The impact of changes on vulnerable and isolated residents who would be affected by the discontinuance mobile library services.

·         How the Home Library Service would work, the risks and benefits of this arrangement. It was reported that it would be easy to extend this service to the 500 people who would be affected.

·         Members heard that this approach would enable important social interaction to be maintained. Some Members felt that if it worked well, it could offer a better service, but that it was important that the life line of the library service was not lost for isolated communities.

·         A member raised concern over the data looking at just those who use only mobile services vs the number of visits to mobile libraries to assess the real impact.

·         Members raised concern about the click and collect option and the issue of lack of access to the internet of some vulnerable residents. Members heard that the survey covered this issue specifically. Members were advised that the 500 mobile only users were also sent letters and free post envelopes to complete the survey.

·         Members raised the need for a full Equalities Impact Assessment to be carried out and for this to inform the Cabinet Member Decision.

·         Members discussed in detail the risk of isolation for vulnerable residents and wanted to be reassured that the alternative options would meet the needs of these residents.

·         Members felt that they could not give informed views to the Cabinet Member ahead of his decision based on the information they had. Members agreed that they wanted to view the results of the consultation and Equalities Impact Assessment to enable them to provide informed views for the Cabinet Member to consider as part of the Key Decision in March.

The Committee resolved to set up a task group to consider the consultation results alongside the Equalities Impact Assessment. They would then provide the Cabinet Member with their views to inform the Cabinet Member Decision Report.

Members of the Task Group to include: Mr D Carroll, Mr P Martin, Mr R Reed, Mrs A Macpherson.

Action: Mr D Jones to provide Ms K Wager with timescales so a Task  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Members will consider and agree the draft Inquiry interim report for stage one of the Modern Slavery Inquiry. Subject to Member approval, it will be reported to Cabinet on the 12^th February 2018.

Ms K Wager, provided an update on the next steps of the inquiry on behalf of the Inquiry Chairman.

She informed Members that a scoping review meeting had been held with the Anti-Slavery Network Chairs and Community Safety Team to review the value of progressing to stage two.

The outcome of the meeting was that it was not necessary to continue with stage two at present. This was due to the announcement of a pilot victim service launching in Bucks in March, whose role would be to establish the level of demand for a service through outreach work with stakeholders. The establishment of this service would begin to build a picture of prevalence. It was felt it would be duplication of work if the committee were to also explore this at this time.

The Committee agreed that the key lines of inquiry within stage 2 would be examined within the 6 month recommendation update which would include a review of the pilot service. Members agreed that this would be a more timely opportunity to review the progress of the service, the level of demand and how the service should develop  going forward.

The Committee agreed the Inquiry Report to go to Cabinet subject to minor amendments to confirm that this would be the final report rather than an interim report, given the decision to conclude the review at stage 1.

Members will note the written update on the TfB Members Portal project.

Members noted the information paper.

Members noted the Work Programme.

The next meeting will be held on the 13^th March at 10:00 am in the Mezzanine Room 1, County Hall.

The next meeting was confirmed as taking place on the 13^th March 2018 at 10:00 am in the Mezzanine Room 1, County Hall.