Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the previous meeting held on 5 December 2017.

 The minutes of the meeting held on 5 December 2017 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Carol Goodall and Tony Lock.

In accordance with the Council's current Code of Conduct (as amended 26 February 2015), which includes all the provisions relating to Disclosable Pecuniary Interests (DPI), personal and prejudicial interests, Members are asked to declare any DPI and also any personal interests (and whether or not such personal interests are also "prejudicial") in relation to any matter on the Agenda for this meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no members of public present at the meeting.

This is an opportunity for Members to question the progress on issues arising from previous meetings.  However, this does not allow for the re-opening of a debate on any item not forming part of this agenda.

There were no issues raised from previous meetings.

The Chairman informed members that following the meeting in November with the Director of Strategy & Commissioning and the Performance Manager to discuss Performance Monitoring – a follow up workshop for Scrutiny members had now been arranged for 10am to 12 noon on 17 January.

The Chairman noted that at the previous Scrutiny Committee meeting a question had been raised about ownership of Foundry House. She noted a detailed response had since been received from the Director of Commercial Services & Income Generation, and she summarised the information for members.

The Chairman noted that the Scrutiny comments had been considered and were included in the District Executive minutes which had been circulated.

Members considered the reports within the District Executive agenda for 4 January 2018 and made comments including:

Heart of the South West (HotSW) – Joint Committee (Agenda item 6)

·         Members generally endorsed the concept of progress with a single Joint Committee.

·         Members asked if a formal response had been submitted by SSDC to the productivity strategy consultation and if a copy could be circulated to all members.

·         Several members were concerned about some of the assumptions that were detailed in the report including:

o   Assumption that Somerset County Council have adequate resources

o   That initial contributions from member authorities for 2018/19 will be adequate (Rec F).

·      Regarding the risk matrix – members queried if the financial risk had been accurately reported in the risk profile matrix ‘after officer recommendation’.

·      Para 8 on page 5, second bullet point – members sought reassurance that Economic Development within SSDC had the resources and was strong enough to take this forward.

Council Tax Support Scheme 2018/19 (Agenda item 7)

·         Scrutiny made no comments as the matter had been thoroughly considered during a Task and Finish Review – the final report of which is included within the appendices for this item.

SSDC Transformation Programme – Progress Report (Agenda item 8)

·         It was noted that several times in the past (not necessarily at Scrutiny) members had requested a chart showing people involved with Transformation, including their photos and key responsibilities, but this had still not materialised.

·         Scrutiny noted that members had previously been informed that a fortnightly or monthly communication / newsletter would be sent to all members, however this seemed to no longer be happening.

·         Scrutiny sought re-assurance that the right level and type of communication was going out to staff.

·         The report indicated that the Transformation project is on budget and schedule, however Scrutiny noted the report did not detail the ripple effect on services and any impact on service delivery. Are all services meeting targets?

·         Page 34, para 20 – Scrutiny requested that any predicted reductions in service delivery as we progress through Transformation, should be communicated to members and appropriate stakeholders, in order to help manage customer expectations.

·         Page 37, Programme status report – Scrutiny noted the table at the top of the page did not define a key and so it looked like a line of ‘number ones’ – it was felt the table needed to be clearer about what it identified.

·         Page 39 – under Accommodation, it mentions that the Building Contractor has indicated terminating the contract with SSDC, but the report did not indicate what was being done to address the matter.

·         Page 41, Workstream status report – members noted it would useful if under the ‘Key activities next period’ if the activities could be prioritised or some narrative provided as to the importance of an activity.

·         Members queried if there were core posts remaining vacant in the programme, and if so, would it be an additional risk to the programme?

·         Page 50 – Members were pleased  ...  view the full minutes text for item 100.

Members noted the updates provided by the Scrutiny Manager on each of the Task and Finish Groups currently in progress or commencing in the near future.

Council Tax Support Scheme 2019 – The Task and Finish group had held their second meeting and were progressing with potential options to reduce administration time for the scheme. At the next meeting members will begin to assess options in detail considering impact.

Homefinder Somerset Plain English Policy - No updates since the last update.

Car Parking Charges – Review to commence once resource allows. Members briefly discussed the subject and noted the car parking strategy was also out of date. There was a general opinion that the Car Parking Strategy, in terms of planning future parking provision, should be reviewed prior to a Task and Finish review of car parking charges.

Transformation – Customer Accessibility  - the review will commence later in January 2018. The Scrutiny Committee have tasked this group to work with the Transformation Team to identify and deliver Best Practice to provide accessible on-line information and services for all. The group will compile its own project scope and terms of reference, to include meeting times. Volunteers were requested for the group. In response, Councillors Colin Winder, Dave Bulmer and David Norris expressed an interest in being on the Task and Finish Group.

There were no matters of interest.

The Scrutiny Manager updated members that the report regarding the Innovation Centre would come forward in the next few months, and information on the Innovation Centre may form part of a wider progress report. She also noted that the Portfolio Holder would attend the next meeting, on 30 January, to provide an update regarding the refurbishment of the Crematorium.

Members were asked for any issues they may wish to see added to the future Work Programme. One suggestion put forward related to the increased grant funding awarded (since the original application approved) to a dual-use centre at an Academy without any changes to the community usage being offered. It was suggested that possibly there could be a post-project analysis or look at the wider general remit of grants, funding and dual-use agreements, in particular those to / with Academies. The topic was supported by members.

Members noted the next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee was scheduled for 10.00am on Tuesday 30 January in the Main Committee Room, Brympton Way.