Agenda

To issue a welcome to those present, and to confirm if there are any apologies for absence.

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

The minutes of the meeting of the Overview Select Committee held on  Thursday 1^st May 2025 have been circulated, and Members will be asked to confirm them as a correct record.

Members will be asked to note the membership of the committee for 2025/26

as follows:

Members will be asked to note the meeting dates of the committee for 2025/26

as follows:

9 July 2025

24 September 2025

3 December 2025

28 January 2026

18 March 2026

29 April 2026

The Committee will be asked to note the Terms of Reference.

Dr Patel asks:

As a member of the public, I would want to engage with the democratic process as much as I possibly can. However, the current policy requires the public questions to be submitted five working days before a scrutiny meeting. However, the agenda for the meeting is also only published five working days in advance. This means members of the public have no way of knowing whether their questions will be relevant to the agenda.

Will the Overview Scrutiny Commission consider reviewing this process to improve meaningful public engagement and allow questions to be submitted after the agenda is published?

Possible solutions -

1. Change deadline for questions to be submitted 4 working days prior to committee.

or

2. Publish a provisional agenda front sheet earlier.  Provide a draft or indicative agenda 10 working days before the meeting.  Mark it clearly as “subject to change”.

The Chair is invited to make any announcements as they see fit. 

The Monitoring Officer to report on any petitions received.

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

The Director of Corporate Services submits a report providing an overview reminder of the corporate customer service arrangements we have in place, update on the performance of the customer contact centre, and update on some of the improvements that have been made to the operational arrangements during the last 12+ months, particularly to the Customer Service Line operations.

The Director of Finance submits a report providing the Overview Select Committee with an overview of the Revenues and Benefits Service, summarising its performance, impact, and strategic direction.

The Director of Finance submits the final report in the monitoring cycle for 2024/25 and reports performance against budget for the year.

The Director of Finance presents a report giving the final position of the capital programme for 2024/25.  

The Director of Finance submits a report detailing progress made in collecting debts raised by the Council during the year 2024-25 together with debts outstanding and brought forward from the previous year. It also sets out details of debts written off under delegated authority that have not been possible to collect at reasonable effort and expense.

The Director of Finance submits a report reviewing how the Council conducted its borrowing and investments during 2024/25.

The City Barrister and Head of Standards submits a report providing a summary of the Scrutiny Annual Report 2024-25.

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