Minutes:
7.1 As the first element of this item, Cllr Rennison advised Members that the January Governance and Resources Commission (for which she was Vice Chair) had held a discussion in January around any future Budget Scrutiny Task Groups which they felt that the Scrutiny function might carry out.
7.2 These would be in addition to the groups which met in late 2015 to review budget savings proposals for the financial year 2016/17.
7.3 There was a view from the Governance and Resources Commission that other Members had been enthusiastic and positive about the previous set of sessions, and that there was appetite for them to continue.
7.4 Further to this discussion, Cllr Rennison had been in dialogue with the Assistant Chief Executive. She now had a proposed set of four Task Groups with separate remits, as per below:
· Commercialisation and Income Generation
· Preventative Spend on Vulnerable Residents
· Housing revenue Account Savings
· Targeted Services
7.5 Cllr Rennison advised Members that she wished to receive
a view tonight around whether the groups should run again, whether
they should be established for a one year period or for a longer
term, and whether the areas proposed were acceptable to
Members.
7.6 Cllr Rennison reminded Members that one point of learning from the previous set of meetings had been that they should have been set up at an earlier point of the year. This would enable the groups to fully help to shape the proposals for savings, rather than working more to review the options put forward. She therefore proposed that if the activity was to go ahead, that meetings should start during the summer.
7.7 Cllr Rennison also advised Members that a decision on whether the Scrutiny function should again support the Budget Scrutiny Task Groups would need to be made alongside a consideration of the resources available and how these would be prioritised. The previous set had been delivered as an add-on to the general workloads of the Scrutiny Team. She said that this arrangement was not necessarily sustainable for the longer term, particularly as there appeared to be a view among Members that any further set(s) of Task Groups should conclude with the production of a report (which the previous set did not). She said that a decision to re-establish a set of Task Groups with reports to be produced might impact on the ability of Officers to also support Scrutiny reviews of the different Commissions.
7.8 There was a general view among the Chairs and Vice Chairs that the previous set of Task Groups had been useful and worthwhile. There was a majority that these should continue, although there was also a view from one Member that any agreement on their continuation should be subject to the work of Scrutiny Commissions not being undermined.
7.9 At the end of the discussion, the following was agreed:
· That there was an agreement in principle that Budget Scrutiny Task Groups be established, but that this was contingent on the findings of the Member-led Scrutiny Review.
· That the groups should be delivered initially as a short term set of meetings (1 year or less), but with a remit of looking over a longer term (3 years).
· That Cllr Rennison would explore any scope for additional resources for supporting the groups with the Assistant Chief Executive.
· That Cllr Rennison would circulate to Members the proposals for the remits of the four groups, for discussion outside of the meeting.
· That Cllr Rennison would liaise with the Head of Scrutiny and Ward Forums to set provisional dates for meetings.
· That Cllr Rennison would liaise with Cllrs Chapman and Munn around Governance arrangements.
7.10 The Chair noted that there were only 3 possible Full Council meetings in 2016/17 to which Scrutiny Commissions might send reports from the reviews that they carried out during 2015/16. He invited Chairs and Vice Chairs to advise of any reports that they felt should be submitted to Full Council.
7.11 Cllr Williams (Chair, Community Safety and Social Inclusion Scrutiny Commission) advised Members that her Commission was close to publishing its report from its ‘Anti-social behaviour, crime and policing bill: Measures for tackling ASB’ review. There was agreement that this should be submitted to Full Council.
7.12 Other Chairs and Vice Chairs agreed that they would consult with Members of their Commissions on the items that should be submitted to Full Council.