Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the previous meeting held on 5^th August 2014.

The minutes of the meeting of Scrutiny Committee held on Tuesday 5 August 2014 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Carol Goodall, Pauline Lock, Sue Osborne and Martin Wale. Councillor Tony Fife was susbstitute for Pauline Lock.

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.

When the Council Tax Reduction Scheme had been discussed at the July meeting the Revenues and Benefits Manager had indicated he would source some information that had been requested at the meeting and circulate to Scrutiny members. It was noted that the information had not been circulated.

The Chairman noted she had recently attended a meeting of the Somerset Water Management Partnership. She commented it had been agreed that the Levels and Moors Task Force would be held in abatement until such time as it was needed again.

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 4 September 2014. It was agreed that the following comments would be taken forward to District executive for consideration:

Quarterly Performance and Complaints Monitoring Report – 1^st Quarter 2014/15 – item 6

·         Members noted the figures for planning appeals and have agreed to keep a watching brief on this indicator to ensure that, as stated in the report, this increase does not become a trend.

·         Scrutiny queried that if, as stated on page 3 of the report, an increase in sickness absence could not be attributed to stress caused by the current levels of change within the organisation, what are the other contributing factors and how are these being addressed?

·         Members sought clarification as to what evidence led to the comment made on page 3, that the reduction in FTE’s could be seen as a positive in terms of a reduction of costs / increase in efficiency? How can we be sure that the reduction of staff has not led to a decrease in service standards and/or led to an increase in temporary staff and/or consultants?

·         Scrutiny queried if SSDC had a Work Force Strategy that provided a more strategic approach to workforce levels?

Affordable Housing development Programme – item 7

·         Members queried who had made the decision that the HCA would no longer financially support mortgage rescues, and questioned if the eligibility criteria for mortgage rescues was clear? If SSDC were to agree to take on a Mortgage Rescue function, would there be scope for us to influence the eligibility criteria?

·         Scrutiny asked what the risks were for the future HCA funding if there was a change in government?

Update on the creation of a Day Centre and related accommodation at 80 South Street, Yeovil – item 8

·         Scrutiny made no comments.

Community Right to Bid – Nominations Received for Assets of Community Value – item 9

·         Scrutiny made no comments.

District Executive Forward Plan – item 10

·         No comments

CONFIDENTIAL - Exclusion of the Public

In accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended), the Committee resolved that the press and public be excluded from the following item in view of the likely disclosure of exempt information as described in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act, i.e. “Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

Confidential – Lease of Floor at Churchfield, Wincanton – item 13

·         Members made comments in closed session.

The Chairman and Scrutiny Manager updated members on the progress of current Task and Finish reviews:

Connecting Devon and Somerset Broadband

The draft report was now with members of the group for comment and would be considered by Scrutiny Committee on 30 September and by the East Devon Scrutiny Committee in mid October.

Civil Contingencies

There will be a further meeting of the group on 9 September to look at how the Somerset Local Authorities Civil Contingencies Partnership is structured and how partnership actions are commissioned and delivered. The meeting will be attended by officers from both SSDC and SCC.

Somerset Strategic Housing Framework

The group would not meet again until a 12 week consultation period had finished, when they would consider the responses. To date, the response rate had been very low.

Members were informed that there would be a Budget Task and Finish Group established shortly.

The Scrutiny Manager updated members that the Flooding Steering Group would meet in September to discuss the future role of the Steering Group and its relationship with the 20 year Flood Action Plan.

The Scrutiny Manager informed members that it had been arranged for someone from the Centre for Public Scrutiny (CfPS) to attend the next meeting to talk about Health Scrutiny.

Members noted that the next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee would be held on Tuesday 30 September 2014 at 10.00am in the Main Committee Room, Brympton Way, Yeovil.