Agenda and minutes

Venue: Main Committee Room, Council Offices, Brympton Way, Yeovil. View directions

Contact: Becky Sanders,Case Services Officer (Support Services) - 01935 462596  Email: becky.sanders@southsomerset.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

105.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 240 KB

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the previous meeting held on 2 January 2018.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 2 January 2018 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

106.

Apologies for absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Jason Baker and Tony Lock.

107.

Declarations of Interest

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.

Minutes:

Councillor John Clark declared a personal interest for item 7 on the District Agenda – 2018/19 Draft Revenue and Capital Budgets and Medium Term Financial Plan – as he was on the Project Brief Group for the new Westfield Community Centre which was the subject of a request for capital funding.

108.

Public question time

Minutes:

There were no members of public present at the meeting.

109.

Issues arising from previous meetings

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.

Minutes:

Councillor Martin Wale advised members that he had attempted to call in the item regarding Yeovil Markets on the District Executive agenda in January, but had since retracted for a number of reasons. He noted that after discussions with Legal it had been agreed that elements of the Council Constitution would be reviewed as the details about the terms of any call in was not as clear as it could be.

 

In response, the Scrutiny Manager clarified that a call in would normally be regarding a decision, and on this occasion the points raised didn’t refer to the decision but to the subject matter more in general. It had therefore been suggested by Councillor Wale that Scrutiny request a report providing an overview of the Yeovil Refresh including the funding and governance arrangements.

110.

Chairman's Announcements

Minutes:

The Chairman provided several updates including:

·         Outcome of the further meeting held with the Director for Strategy & Commissioning and the People, Performance & Change Lead regarding performance monitoring. The revised Performance Indicators were detailed in a report on the District Agenda.

·         Confirmation that the hours of the Scrutiny Officer had been reduced and so members may need to re-prioritise work undertaken by the Committee.

·         Task and Finish work by the Committee had featured in the Rural Housing Spotlight newsletter because we had identified the disposal policy as an example of failure to rural proof.

111.

Update Report on Progress with the Scheme to Develop and Refurbish Yeovil Crematorium pdf icon PDF 37 KB

Minutes:

The Portfolio Holder for Area South introduced the report as detailed in the agenda, and was happy to answer any questions members raised. The Environmental Health Manager noted the project was all on track and running to schedule and budget. He provided some updates including:

·         The project had now gone out to tender for the cremators

·         Work had commenced on the Bluebell Road access

 

Comments made by the Portfolio Holder and Environmental Health Manager in response to comments made during a brief discussion included:

·         A scale model of the scheme would be available in the near future – it was currently being modified to incorporate some minor changes that had been made to the design..

·         Project was on budget and included the small changes being made to the scheme and the new tarmac paths.

·         Plans will be available to view online when they are finalised, but members were welcome to view the current plans on request.

 

Members were pleased to note the progress and thanked the Environmental Health Manager and the Portfolio Holder for the informative report.

 

ACTION:

That members note the Update Report on Progress with the Scheme to Develop and Refurbish Yeovil Crematorium.

 

112.

Verbal update on reports considered by District Executive on 4 January 2018 pdf icon PDF 19 KB

Minutes:

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

 

The Scrutiny Manager noted at the last meeting a query had been raised under the draft budget item, about whether a figure had been set yet regarding a Council Tax premium on empty properties. A response had since been received from the Revenues Team Leader explaining that the change would no longer be taking effect from April 2018 due to required legislation changes. It would be from April 2019 that we could potentially charge 200% for long-term empty properties.

113.

Reports to be considered by District Executive on 1 February 2018 pdf icon PDF 80 KB

Minutes:

Members considered the reports within the District Executive agenda for 1 February 2018 and made comments including:

 

SSDC Council Action Plan 2018-19 (Agenda item 6)

 

·      Para 2.9 – Members were disappointed that rural businesses, land based businesses and agriculture did not feature more prominently in the Action Plan given that so much of the district is of a rural nature.

·      Broadband – several members felt this was more a key performance indicator for County and the LEP, as broadband is something that can be promoted by SSDC rather than administered.

·      Scrutiny queried what role SSDC was playing in the iAero project.

·      Page 12, priority 1 – regarding satisfaction rates, members queried if dis-satisfaction and complaints would continue to be monitored.

·      Members sought reassurance that there will be some directly comparable performance indicators, so that we can benchmark against other appropriate local authorities.

·      Members asked if data would be available at a district level or whether, in time, it would be possible to drill down to a lower level such as wards and specific service provision.

·      Members also sought reassurance that customer service data will continue to be measured in order to facilitate improvements being made or ensuring adequate capacity. eg. How long callers waiting, calls abandoned etc.

·      It was noted that customers contacting us by telephone now receive a recorded message indicating the time to be connected to an advisor. It is suggested that if a caller chooses to hang up after the message it should be recorded differently to an abandoned call, as the customer has made an informed choice to hang-up.

·      Member suggested that a performance monitor was measured for those activities that SSDC is specifically responsible for with regard to anti-social behaviour and make it clear in any reports – what constitutes anti-social behaviour so the measure is more meaningful to residents.

 

2018/19 Draft Revenue and Capital Budgets and Medium Term Financial Plan (Agenda item 7)

 

·      Members asked for some clarity and further explanation regarding the figures relating to New Homes Bonus within the report.

·      With regard to the Government 4 year settlement, Scrutiny queried if there was still doubt about funding for Year 5 onwards?

·      Page 21, para 23 – Members found elements of the table difficult to understand. It was suggested a short narrative for sub headings in the table may be useful or possibly to see if there is any alternative way of presenting the information.

·      Page 17 - Scrutiny felt the wording of Recommendation 4b was a little confusing as it wasn’t clear if the £1.85 for the SRA is part of, or in addition to, the Council Tax increase of £5.

·      Scrutiny were content that the recommendations go forward.

 

2017/18 Revenue Budget Monitoring Report for the Quarter Ending 31 December 2017 (Agenda item 8)

 

·      Scrutiny did not raise any queries, and were content that the recommendations go forward.

 

2017/18 Capital Budget Monitoring Report for the Quarter Ending 31 December 2017 (Agenda item 9)

 

·      Scrutiny did not raise any queries, and were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 113.

114.

Discretionary Housing Payment Policy Update pdf icon PDF 102 KB

Minutes:

The Benefits Team Leader presented the report as detailed in the agenda, which provided an update on progress made and analysis of results following the implementation of the new Discretionary Housing Payment Policy in April 2017.

 

There was a very brief discussion during which members were pleased to note the progress made. No concerns or issues were raised.

 

Members thanked the Team Leader for her report.

 

ACTION:

That the Discretionary Housing Payment Policy Update report be noted.

 

115.

Verbal update on Task and Finish reviews pdf icon PDF 85 KB

Minutes:

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.

 

Customer Accesibility An invitation to participate was issued at Full Council and included in the Full Council Agenda, but no names had come forward and so she would approach the political group leaders.  A meeting would be scheduled for mid-February for the group to meet with relevant officers and to collectively discuss the scope of the review in more detail

 

She explained this would be an important piece of work and integral to the Transformation Programme, and  the group would need to work at a pace.

 

Council Tax Support Scheme 2019 – No updates since the last meeting.

 

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

116.

Update on matters of interest pdf icon PDF 19 KB

Minutes:

There were no updates on matters of interest.

117.

Scrutiny Work Programme pdf icon PDF 107 KB

Minutes:

The Scrutiny Manager provided a number of updates including:

·         The report about the Yeovil Innovation Centre was due at the following meeting.  The Economic Development Manager had asked if members may wish for a tour of the Centre prior to the meeting. Members thanked the officer for the offer of a tour but declined due to concerns about time availability for the Committee meeting.

·         As discussed earlier in the meeting it was suggested that there was a follow up report on Yeovil Markets/Yeovil Vision/Yeovil Refresh following concerns raised at the previous meeting and the attempted call-in.

 

The Chairman also noted that she felt there was a need to look at the rural areas and market towns given the economy focus in the Council Plan.

118.

Date of next meeting pdf icon PDF 17 KB

Minutes:

Members noted the next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee was scheduled for 10.00am on Tuesday 27 February in the Main Committee Room, Brympton Way.