Agenda and draft minutes

To receive the notes of the meeting held 28^th August 2018

The notes of the previous meeting held on 28^th August 2018 were received by the group.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no announcements.

The group discussed ways to further engage the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and how it could be more efficient.

Two potential recommendations were discussed, the first being that Overview and Scrutiny Committee should meet more regularly to allow shorter meetings with greater focus spread across fewer items.

The second being to reinstate three ongoing Working Groups consisting of a handful of Members that would be able to have greater focus on a more narrow range of topics than Overview and Scrutiny Committee allowing for a more in depth analysis of items on the agenda. Each Working Group would then be able to recommend the creation of Task & Finish groups to Overview and Scrutiny as needed.

The group discussed the arguments for and against each potential recommendation.

The Chairman proposed the following draft recommendation to Overview and Scrutiny:

That three ongoing Working Groups be established: Community Working Group, Finance and Performance Working Group and Business Improvement Working Group. A performance review of these groups would be carried out by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee after a period of twelve months.

The reason for this recommendation would be due to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee not being able to carry out detailed analysis work in all areas of the Council as well as the continuous scrutiny of ongoing works within various departments.

The group agreed that the Chairman would provide a definitive recommendation at the next meeting of the Task & Finish Group.

·         To consider any other options in relation to major items on the Cabinet Forward plan or work of the Council.ie. the Budget or major schemes such as the Hurst Road development

The Group discussed the potential for the new Working Groups to consider many of the options in relation to major items on the Cabinet Forward Plan or Work of the Council.

The Group decided to have further discussions on what to include on the Agenda for the next meeting.

It was agreed that the time and date of the next meeting should be 5.30pm Tuesday 30^th October 2018.