Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the previous meeting held on 6 January 2015.

The minutes of the meeting held on 6 January 2015 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Pauline Clarke, Nick Colbert and Carol Goodall.

In accordance with the Council's current Code of Conduct (adopted July 2012), 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. A DPI is defined in The Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012 (SI 2012 No. 1464) and Appendix 3 of the Council’s Code of Conduct.  A personal interest is defined in paragraph 2.8 of the Code and a prejudicial interest is defined in paragraph 2.9. In the interests of complete transparency, Members of the County Council, who are not also members of this committee, are encouraged to declare any interests they may have in any matters being discussed even though they may not be under any obligation to do so under any relevant code of conduct.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no members of public 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.

Councillor Sue Steele, as a Governor of Musgrove Park Hospital, reported that the hospital had been working with the Royal Marsden Hospital in London to assist with the improved treatment of women with cancer. 

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

Members considered the reports outlined in the District Executive agenda for 5 February 2015. It was agreed that the following comments would be taken forward to District Executive for consideration.

Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership (presentation) – item 6

·         No comments

Somerset Waste Partnership Business Plan 2015/16 – item 7

·         Members commented that it would be useful to have more detail behind how the budget as set out in the tables on pages 12 and 13 were arrived at. It was also suggested that the latest outturn and variance figures would have been useful.

·         Members felt more communication and education was needed to remind the public of what could be recycled and noted that the Business Plan contained plans for this.

2014/15 Revenue and Budget Monitoring Report for the Quarter ending 30^th December 2014 – item 8

·         Page 29 – Members sought clarification that our Disaster Recovery Plan was up to date, tested and implementable.

·         Page 52 – Usable Reserves – members asked if it would be possible in future to indicate the capital and revenue reserves separately.

2014/15 Capital Budget Monitoring Report for the Quarter ending 30^th December 2014 – item 9

·         Members asked if the loan to the Somerset Waste Partnership had been finalised yet.

·         Page 69 – Members noted that some schemes showed zero across the board such as the Park Homes, Ilton and questioned why such schemes were still indicated in the report.

Revenue Budget 2015/16 – Medium Term Financial Plan and Capital Programme – item 10

·         A member asked what level of tolerance was used when calculating the budget given that the Revenue Support Grant and New Homes Bonus had yet to be confirmed.

·         Page 24 of the Budget Book – members noted the increase in income for Property Services and enquired about what projects had led to such a rise in the figures.

Investing in Market Housing – item 11

·         Members sought clarification on the issues regarding Right to Buy and what the implications would be and the detail of how these implications would be mitigated.

·         Scrutiny queried how the ‘need’ would be defined as stated in para.6 – how will this be applied consistently?

·         Members queried what the risk would be if the market changed.

·         Scrutiny queried the recommendation for purchases to be agreed at Portfolio Holder and senior officer level, and whether it was more appropriate for a decision to be made by District Executive to allow for this new policy initiative to be accurately monitored in the first 12 months.

·         Members queried if SSDC would be the direct landlord for any future purchases and the associated implications.

·         It was queried where this policy would sit with other policies relating to housing and homelessness.

·         It was noted there was no risk assessment included with the report.

Policy for Awarding Private Sector Housing Grants/Loans and other Financial Assistance – item 12

·         Members asked if any issues had been encountered in the past few years

·         Scrutiny recommend that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 113.

The Scrutiny Manager noted that the Council Tax Reduction Group had been reconvened and was acting as a sounding board for some work being undertaken by the Revenues & Benefits Manager.

With reference to the meeting of full Council in January, the Scrutiny Manager informed members that an item regarding the possibility of reviewing the Planning Scheme of Delegation would be added to the Scrutiny Work Programme for consideration after the elections in May.

The representative on the Avon and Somerset Police & Crime Panel tendered his apologies for the Scrutiny Committee on 3 March 2015. It was suggested that a written report was made rather than a verbal one, or that report be made to a later meeting.

Members noted the next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee would be held on Tuesday 3 March 2015 in the Main Committee Room, Brympton Way.