Agenda item

The Chairman invited the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to meet with members to discuss how Scrutiny Committee can effectively be part of South Somerset moving forward.

The CEO explained that in his previous roles he has developed the role of Scrutiny and values constructive challenge to assess processes are sound and the council is delivering for the community and people of South Somerset.  He commented on the agenda noting the number of Task and Finish reviews and felt this approach was useful to get under the skin of issues and that from his perspective it is all about striking a balance to not get too immersed in the detail as this can have a detrimental impact as it should be being reviewed on behalf of the community.

During discussions the following points were made:

·         Task and Finish work provides non-executive members a good opportunity to work with officers and representatives of the community and external organisations to develop policy and get a thorough knowledge of the services SSDC provides.

·         The overview that comes from Scrutiny Committee in the form of recommendations is taken into account by the executive.

·         The committee provides insight and knowledge that provides confidence and encourages members to ask difficult questions effectively.

·         Some Scrutiny Committee members would like a more formal scrutiny arrangement of the transformation involving more members.

·         The Transformation board agenda is sent to all members so they can contribute through Cllrs Sue Steele and John Clark.

·         The next transformation board is on 18^th November- as at yet there are no reports scheduled to go before District Executive

·         No CRM system, software or hardware has been procured yet, IT and Ignite consultants have met with every service and conducted analysis of all the IT Systems that are in use and are required in the near future and a draft plan is being developed now.

·         In the future model there will still be clear lines of accountability  but they will run across the organisation opposed to up and down as they do now, there will still be a named report lead and manager.

·         There is a relationship between Income Generation and Transformation, it takes a long time to build up an income stream and to generate other efficiencies, it is not realistic to think we can achieve enough through Income Generation to lessen the pressure to achieve savings through Transformation and we should always be looking to achieve the most efficient way of doing things on behalf of our residents.

Members commented that they had been advised at their Transformation workshops that they would need to change with regard to Transformation and asked for clarification and examples.  The CEO responded “A detailed transition plan will be developed for how members’ will engage with the authority, for example if members’  continue to go to Officers X for this and Y for that this could undermine the process.  Ultimately what it means for members is still in member hands, how do you want it to benefit you and your work?”

Alex went on to explain that in Eastleigh members had Members View, this enabled members to request support and raise issues and track the progress of their requests.

Scrutiny Committee asked what consultation has and is being done to identify what our residents want and need from SSDC.

Officers explained there would be service testing with customers before we go live and an evaluation of how customers think our services are improving and have also conducted a study of social media.

Scrutiny committee raised concerns of this process and said they felt more needed to be done to ensure we identified exactly what customers want and need to inform the process moving forward and that we don’t assume.

Scrutiny Committee members requested they have sight of the member’s transition plan identifying the main steps of members’ involvement with an accompanying communication plan for member involvement. It was also suggested that Scrutiny Committee could aid this part of the process with a Task and Finish group.