Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Cleaver, Cutkelvin, Dawood and Westley.

Members are asked to declare any interests they may have in the business to be discussed.

No declarations of interest were made.

The Chair did not make any announcements.

The minutes of the meeting of the Overview Select Committee held on 7 February 2019 are attaced and the Committee will be asked to confirm them as a correct record.

AGREED:

that the minutes of the meeting of the Overview Select Committee held 7 February 2019 be confirmed as a correct record.

The Chair reported on progress on the actions that were agreed at the previous meeting:

1.  It had been agreed that the details of the timeline for the Local Plan would be sent to all Councillors.

This information was included in the Member’s Bulletin early in March 2019.

2.  It had been agreed that the report on Brexit that was considered at the Audit and Risk Committee would be sent to Members of the Overview Select Committee.

This report was emailed to the Committee Members on 27 February 2019.

3.    It had been agreed that the findings of the Housing Tenancy Agreement Consultation be brought to the Overview Select Committee.

 The Director of Finance reported that the closing date of the consultation coincided with the date of the previous meeting of the Overview Select Committee. A Member had previously raised a concern that paper copies had not been available in the libraries, but the Director confirmed that hard copies of the consultation had been made available in all the City Council libraries. The responses to the consultation had been positive and a report would be sent to the Housing Scrutiny Commission. The Director added that the Chair of the Housing Scrutiny would be able to provide the Overview Select Committee with an update if Members so wished.

The Monitoring Officer to report on any questions, representations or statements of case received.   

The Monitoring Officer reported that there were no questions, representations or statements of case.

The Monitoring Officer to report on any petitions received.

The Monitoring Officer reported that there were no petitions.

The Monitoring Officer submits a report that updates Members on the monitoring of outstanding petitions. The Committee is asked to note the current outstanding petitions and agree to remove those petitions marked ‘Petitions Process Complete’ from the report.

The Chair referred to an update of the Tracking of Petitions Monitoring Report which was circulated prior to the meeting and is attached to the back of these minutes. It was noted that none of the petitions were flagged as ‘red’

AGREED:

that the Tracking of Petitions Monitoring Report be noted, and the petitions marked ‘petitions process complete’ namely 3/10/2018,

4/12/2018 and 8/01/2019 be removed from the Monitoring Report.

The City Mayor will answer questions raised by members of the Overview Select Committee on issues not covered elsewhere on the agenda.

Disabled parking bays. 

Councillor Khote said that some people had been waiting several months to have a disabled parking bay put outside their home.  She added that she was referring to proper bays rather than ‘H’ marking and there were people in desperate need for a parking bay to be put in place. Councillor Khote had heard that Highways were undertaking a review relating to those disabled bays and she asked if the City Mayor knew when the review would be concluded.

The City Mayor responded that he was not aware that a review was being undertaken, but the query would be investigated, and a response would be sent to Councillor Khote.

Pathway to the Market

Councillor Bajaj asked the City Mayor if he knew when the new pathway to the market would be opened and if there was a reason for the delay in finalising the work in the Market Square. It had been questioned as to whether the area would be ready for the Christmas Market.

The City Mayor explained that there were two pieces of work taking place.  One was the completion of the screen wall behind the Corn Exchange building. This work was nearly finished.

The other big scheme was the demolition through to the Town Hall Square which involved making good the existing buildings and the construction of a new wall at the back of the remaining building to take on some of the weight bearing load. The City Mayor added that he believed that both schemes were progressing well, and he would ask for a full response to the sent to Councillor Bajaj.

The Committee will receive the report of the Finance Task Group which met on 21 March 20149 to consider the following finance reports.

Minutes of the meeting of the Finance Task Group held 22 March 2019 (Appendix C)

Revenue Budget Monitoring Period 9  2018 / 19 (Appendix C1)

Capital Budget Monitoring Period 9  2018/19 (Appendix C2)

The Chair introduced the Report of the Finance Task Group, which had met on 21 March 2019 to consider the Revenue and Capital Budget Monitoring Reports for Period 9, 2018/19.

Revenue Budget Monitoring - Period 9, 2018/19.

A member referred to the overspend in the Coronial Services. The Member commented that the Government had said that still born babies needed to be examined and she queried whether the Government would fund this because the Coronial Services were already under financial pressures.

The Director of Finance responded that the overspend in Coronial Services had been discussed at the Finance Task Group. The overspend was partly due to the increased cost in testing. It was however a national issue and Local Government bodies were putting pressure on the Minister of Justice for increased funding.

The Director of Finance asked Members to note that the Council needed to publish their accounts by the end of May 2019; however, the first meeting of the Overview Select Committee in the new municipal year was expected to take place in June 2019. Due to the timing, the decisions normally included in the outturn reports that effect the Annual Accounts would need to be taken before the next meeting, but the Director said that if the new membership of the Overview Select Committee was known in time, she would be very happy to consult with the Chair prior to the decision being taken.

There were no further questions or comments on the minutes of the Finance Task Group or Budget Monitoring Reports.

AGREED:

that the report of the Finance Task Group and the Revenue and Capital Budget Monitoring Reports Period 9, 2018/19 be noted.

A work programme for the Overview Select Committee is attached.  The Committee is asked to consider this and make comments and/or amendments as it considers necessary.

The Chair thanked the Members of the Overview Select Committee for their input into the scrutiny process and commented that their contributions to the work of the Committee had been very well made.

The Chair also thanked the City Mayor, Executive Members, Directors and officers for their work in supporting the scrutiny process. He added that the Committee had discharged its duty well.

Members are asked to consider the Plan of Key Decisions and in particular, note any items pertaining to their own scrutiny commissions.

The Chair urged Members to be mindful of items on the Plan of Key Decisions. The Chair added that if Members wanted to consider reports prior to a decision being taken by the Executive, it was the duty of the Chair to request that the report be brought to scrutiny at an early stage.

Vote of thanks for the Chair

The City Mayor took the opportunity to thank the Chair, Councillor Singh, on behalf of himself and the Executive for his Chairmanship on the Overview Select Committee, and for the way business of the Committee had been conducted. The scrutiny carried out by the Committee had played an important part in making sure that the Council was properly governed and that the Executive were held to account.

The City Mayor added that although it seemed that Councillor Singh would not be returning to that role in the immediate future, he wished him well and felt sure that it would not be long before he was back.

The Chair thanked the City Mayor and responded that effective scrutiny was a two way process and he commended the City Mayor for his leadership.

The meeting closed at 5.52 pm.