Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the previous meeting held on 2 February 2016.

The minutes of the meeting held on 2^nd February were approved as a correct record, subject to correcting the spelling of Councillor Rob Stickland’s surname at minute 123, and were signed by the Chairman.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Garry Shortland, Tony Lock and David Recardo.

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.

There were no Chairman’s announcements.

Members noted the update given by the Chairman of the Scrutiny Committee.

The Scrutiny Committee considered the reports contained in the District Executive Agenda for the 3^rd March 2016 and made the following comments:

Yeovil District Hospital report

-       Members noted that the reports refer to the problems YDH have encountered since introducing the ANPR parking arrangements and suggested that SSDC bears these in mind when considering implementing similar arrangements.

Transformation Programme

-       Members commented on how useful they had found the briefing sessions on this topic. As this represents such a major project for SSDC, Scrutiny felt it was important all members fully understand the decision they are being asked to take and requested that a further session is offered to members between 4 and 6 pm on Thursday 17^th March.

-       Members noted that this is a complex issue but suggested that a more ‘plain English’ document is produced prior to Full Council in March to ensure that the key messages are clearly communicated and understood.

-       Members sought clarification as to how the Transformation Programme fits with the Strategic Alliance as discussed recently at Full Council and noted the Strategic Director’s response closer working with other authorities (including Sedgemoor) in the future will not be dependent on having the same technological systems in place.  We would have the same front end – Customer Relationship Management System (CRM) with specific connectivity software between the CRM system and the various back office systems such as Northgate and Uniform.

-       Members discussed the governance arrangements should the decision be made to proceed with Transformation and were told that the Programme Board (which will be cross party) would report periodically to DX and there Scrutiny would be able to consider those reports in the normal way.

-       It was noted that all expenditure associated with the Transformation Programme would be subject to the usual Financial Procedure and Procurement Rules and that there would be a considerable period of time before services and hardware would be procured as consultation work is undertaken.

-       The Transformation Portfolio Holder will lead sessions to identify what members want in terms of service provision and then the shape and form of the structure will be considered.

-       Members were informed that whilst the ‘Lean Programme’ as a separate entity would cease upon the adoption of the Transformation Programme, Lean is essentially a Business Process Re-engineering process and the principles will continue within Transformation although will be applied across the authority rather than on a service by service basis.  All processes would have to be looked at again with a view to utilising technology to achieve efficiencies and reduce duplication.

-       Members were re-assured that although within transformation there will be a specific focus on enabling customers to do more via self-service 24/7, the provision of face to face contact and speaking to people over the phone would remain.

-       Members were pleased to note that lessons were being learnt from those further down the Transformation route than us and this learning had been reflected in the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 128.

The Scrutiny Managers updated the Committee on the work of the Task and Finish Group established to review the on-going Journey of Exploration. The first phase has now been completed with a report submitted to Full Council by the Task and Finish Group. Members were informed that as the implementation of the Solo Business case progresses, the Task and Finish Group will be retained albeit with an amended focus. The membership and Terms of Reference of the group will be revisited in due course.

Homefinder Somerset

Members were informed that the first meeting had been held of the Task and Finish Group established to review the significance placed on ‘local connection’ with the Home Finder Somerset Allocation policy.

Consent for disposal / Rural Lettings policy

Following on from the consideration of the Call-in at the January Scrutiny meeting, all members have been asked to put their names forward for the Task and Finish Group that is to be established to review our current policy for consenting to the disposal of affordable homes previously owned by SSDC – the review will also encompass a review of some elements of the Rural Lettings policy.

Members noted that Task and Finish Groups would soon be commencing work to monitor the Council Tax Reduction Scheme and to review the Discretionary Housing Payment Policy.

It was agreed that a Scoping paper would come forward to the next meeting outlining proposals for a review to better understand the role and work of the Community Council for Somerset.  It is hoped undertaking this review will identify any areas of potential duplication with the work of SSVCA and SSDC and where communication across the organisations could be improved to benefit the community.

Bearing in mind the current and proposed workload of the Scrutiny Task and Finish Groups, members were asked to give some consideration to the prioritisation of items.

No updates were reported.

Members noted the Scrutiny Work Programme.

Members noted the next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee would be held on Tuesday 5^th April 2016 in the Main Committee Room, Brympton Way.