Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED

That Councillor Leonard Crosbie be elected as Chairman of

the Committee for the ensuing Council year.

(The Vice-Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee will be from the majority group (HDC Constitution Part 4c.5))

RESOLVED

                        That Councillor David Coldwell be appointed as Vice-

Chairman of the Committee for the ensuing Council year.

RESOLVED

That the meetings of the Committee be held at 5.30pm for

the ensuing Council year.

To approve as correct the minutes of the meeting held on 3^rd April 2017

The Committee agreed an amendment to the minutes of the meeting held 3^rd April 2017 item SO/55 Minutes, it was agreed that a) should be replaced with the following more accurate minute:

“a)  The Budget’s proposed expansion of the Council’s real estate investment/non-operational portfolio by £3million per annum from 2017/18 to 2020/21 (detailed in the capital programme in the report to Cabinet on 26^th January 2017 Appendix E(i)) would be financed by a combination of cash and other funds, including the sale of Council property.”

To receive any declarations of interest from Members of the Committee

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive any announcements from the Chairman of the Committee or the Chief Executive

There were no announcements.

The Committee received the report of the findings of the Overview and Scrutiny Self-Evaluation Group.

The report set out the findings of the self-evaluation and recommended that the structure of the Overview and Scrutiny function be adjusted.

A seminar had taken place as part of the review, to which all Members were invited to discuss the outcome of the review, and the final report and recommendations were presented to the Committee.

The preferred format of the Overview and Scrutiny function going forward was one Overview and Scrutiny Committee and no more than three task and finish groups to be operating at any one time.

The review had looked at the most efficient and effective ways of working, in line with the good practice identified by the Centre of Public Scrutiny.

Some Members were concerned about the timing of data which was currently received by the Finance and Performance Sub Committee, as these reports would, under the proposed system, be considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, the timings and number of meetings may need to be adjusted to ensure that the reports were received at an appropriate point, in order for the Committee to be able to comment before the data became historic.

The Vice Chairman presented the recommendations in the report.

It was suggested that the new structure be reviewed in 12 months time.

                        RESOLVED

(i)            That ‘structural model B’ as described in 3.7 of the Report of the Findings of the Overview and Scrutiny Self-Evaluation Group, be adopted.

(ii)           That the existing work programme be adjusted to discharge the function according to the structural model agreed.

REASON

To enable the Overview and Scrutiny function to be more effective and aligned to the good practice identified by the Centre of Public Scrutiny.

Following the decision to dissolve the four current sub-committees, three new suggestions for the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme were made and the following Members volunteered to sit on the task and finish groups:

1)    Traffic Problems at Primary Schools in the District

Councillors David Coldwell, Mike Morgan and Tricia Youtan

2)    S106 and further investigations into the appropriate ways to fund parishes and wards and unparished areas with no planned development

Councillors Paul Clarke, Nigel Jupp, Tim Lloyd and Michael Willett

3)    CenSus Revenues and Benefits Service

Councillors Nigel Jupp, Tim Lloyd, Brian O’Connell and Michael Willett

An invitation to join these three task and finish groups would be sent to all Councillors.

Councillor David Coldwell was nominated by the Committee to represent Horsham District Council on the West Sussex County Council Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee.

The Head of Legal and Democratic Services provided a briefing note, following a request from the Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, on Call-in.

The note would be formalised and should be used to help define the Call-in rules as set out in the Constitution.

The Committee accepted the note.

The Committee received the report by the Business Improvement Sub-Committee on the S106 Funding Review which followed on from an earlier review on the S106 process.

There was still some confusion around how the S106 process worked and requested that a short note be provided including details of what triggers S106 funding. Although it was noted that the process would soon change with the introduction of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL).

The Committee welcomed the report and the recommendations. It was suggested that the first and second recommendation in the report could form a further review under a task and finish group.

                        RESOLVED

(i)            That the possibilities for an appropriate way to fund parishes and wards with no planned development, be investigated.

(ii)           That an appropriate way to fund unparished areas that will have community projects but no developments, be investigated

(iii)          That the ward members and parish councils continue to receive the S106 reports, to allow them to stay updated and work better with the parish councils on S106 monies.

The Committee noted the current Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme.

Following the Committee’s earlier decision to dissolve the sub-committees, the Vice Chairman welcomed any suggestions for reviews by task and finish groups.

Three suggestions had been made at the meeting, the first formed part of the agenda which suggested a review into the traffic problems and issues at primary schools in the District. Members welcomed this review but agreed that consideration should be given to the work which was currently being done on this subject by West Sussex County Council as they were the Highways Authority and also the North Horsham CLC.

The second  suggestion was to combine recommendation one and two in the S106 Funding Review Report and undertake a review within a task and finish group to investigate appropriate ways to fund parishes, wards and unparished areas, with no planned developments.

The third suggestion was to review the CenSus Revenues and Benefits Services, work had already begun on this under the Finance and Performance Sub-Committee, however since the decision to dissolve the sub-committees it was suggested that this could be picked up through a task and finish group.

The Members also noted the terms of reference which had been circulated at the meeting for an officer report on the Business Transformation programme.

The Work Programme would be revised to reflect the decisions made at the meeting.

Members of the Committee were encouraged to look at the Cabinet Forward Plan

and if they wished look at decisions before they were made, Members could do so

through the Committee, although it was advised that Overview and Scrutiny should

be careful not to duplicate the role of the Cabinet Members Policy Development

Advisory Groups.

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee would be given the opportunity to review and

comment on the Budget later on in the year.

Items not on the agenda which the Chairman of the meeting is of the opinion should be considered as urgent because of the special circumstances

In light of the new Members of the Committee, it was suggested that some training on the functions of Overview and Scrutiny might be useful. The Committee welcomed this. The Chairman and Vice Chairman would look into the training options available.