Agenda and minutes
PDF 75 KBVenue: Committee Rooms 1 & 2
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Election of Chair Purpose: Election of the Chair for Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the remainder of the Civic Year 2023/24. The Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee must be an opposition member.
Recommendation: That the Committee elects a Chair for the remainder of the Civic Year 2023/24. Minutes: Andrew Brown, the Democratic Services Business Manager opened the meeting, welcoming Members and Officers to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting. The Business Manager referred Members to the first item on the Agenda, Election of Chair, and asked the Committee for nominations to the position of Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the municipal year 2023/24. Councillor Alex Wilson proposed that Councillor Andrew Beaney be appointed to the position of Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the municipal year 2023/24. This was seconded by Councillor Julian Cooper, was put to a vote, and was carried. The Committee Resolved to: 1. Appoint Councillor Andrew Beaney to the position of Chair of Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the municipal year 2023/24.
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Election of Vice-Chair Purpose: Election of the Vice-Chair for Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the remainder of the Civic Year 2023/24. The Vice-Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee can be from any political group or none.
Recommendation: That the Committee elects the Vice-Chair for the remainder of the Civic Year 2023/24.
Minutes: Councillor Andrew Beaney thanked the Committee for the appointment of Chair and welcomed everyone to the meeting. The Chair asked for a nomination for the position of Vice-Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. Councillor Julian Cooper proposed that Councillor Rizvana Poole be appointed to the position of Vice-Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the municipal year 2023/24. This was seconded by Councillor Alex Wilson, was put to a vote and was carried.
The Committee Resolved to:
17:37 Councillor Rizvana Poole arrived at the meeting at this point, thanked the Committee for the appointment of Vice-Chair to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. |
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Apologies for Absence and Temporary Appointments To receive any apologies for absence and temporary appointments Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Phil Godfrey and David Cooper. Councillor Dan Levy substituted for Councillor Phil Godfrey. The Chair welcomed Councillor Levy to the Committee.
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Declarations of Interest To receive any declarations from Members of the Committee on any items to be considered at the meeting. Minutes: Bill Oddy, the Assistant Director for Commercial Development declared an interest on Agenda item 9, recommendation 3, and suggested he left the room at that point in the meeting. Andrew Brown, the Business Manager for Democratic Services clarified that it would not be necessary to leave the room as the Committee would only be considering holding a meeting to scrutinise the Publica Review; the Publica Review would not be subject to any decision at this meeting.
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Minutes of Previous Meetings of Overview and Scrutiny Committees To approve the following sets of minutes: · Climate and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 3 July 2023; · Finance and Management Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 6 September 2023; · Economic and Social Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 4 October 2023. Additional documents:
Minutes: The Chair asked members for a proposer and seconder to approve the minutes of the previous Scrutiny Committees, and asked for those only present at each of the meetings to propose and second the approval of said minutes. Councillor Natalie King proposed to approve the minutes of the Climate and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 3 July 2023, this was seconded by Councillor Mark Walker, was put to a vote and was carried. The minutes were signed by the Chair as a correct record. The Committee Resolved to: 1. Approve the minutes of the Climate and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 3 July 2023.
Councillor Michele Mead proposed to approve the minutes of the Finance and Management Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 6 September 2023, this was seconded by Councillor Jane Doughty, was put to a vote and was carried. The minutes were signed by the Chair as a correct record. The Committee Resolved to: 1. Approve the minutes of the Finance and Management Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 6 September 2023. Councillor Nick Leverton proposed to approve the minutes of the Economic and Social Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 4 October 2023, this was seconded by Councillor Alex Wilson, was put to a vote and was carried. The minutes were signed by the Chair as a correct record. The Committee Resolved to: 1. Approve the minutes of the Economic and Social Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 4 October 2023.
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Participation of the Public To receive any submissions from members of the public, in accordance with the Council’s Rules of Procedure, anyone who lives in the district or who pays council tax or business rates to the Council is eligible to read a statement or express an opinion at this meeting. You can register to speak by sending your written submission of no more than 750 words to [email protected], by no later than 10.00am on the working day before the meeting. Minutes: There was no participation of the public. |
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Treasury Management Mid-Term Report Purpose: To provide Members with an update on Treasury Management activity, the performance of internal and external funds and prudential indicators for the period 1st April 2023 – 30th Sept 2023.
Recommendation: That the Committee scrutinises the Treasury Management Mid-Term Report.
Invited: Councillor Alaric Smith, Executive Member for Finance Madhu Richards, Director of Finance Georgina Dyer, Chief Accountant Minutes: Councillor Alaric Smith, the Executive Member for Finance introduced the Treasury Management Mid-Term Report, which provided the Members with an update on the Treasury Management Activity, the performance of internal and external funds and prudential indicators for the first half of the financial year. The Executive Member for Finance handed over to Georgina Dyer, the Chief Accountant, who introduced the detailed report that the Council is required to report on and asked the Committee if they had any questions.
Councillors had many points of clarification on the report:
The Chief Accountant explained to the Committee that they used a CIPFA standard report template, hence why the report had been laid out in the way it had. Councillor Alex Wilson was concerned that unless you were a finance expert how could the committee effectively scrutinise the report, as to present only points of clarity had been discussed. Andrew Brown the Business Manager for Democratic Services confirmed that the Constitution stipulated that the report must come to Overview and Scrutiny and Audit and Governance. The Chief Accountant added that it was also a legislative requirement to produce quarterly reports to Members. In response to a question from Councillor Liam Walker, the Chief Finance Accountant confirmed that Arlingclose do benchmark and that West Oxfordshire District Council (WODC) were doing well against similar Council sizes, and no major red flags at the moment. Councillor Alex Wilson through the Chair proposed that the Committee refer to the Constitution Working Group the constitutional position on where treasury performance reports are considered, with a recommendation that this is a responsibility of the Audit and Governance Committee and not the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. This was seconded by Councillor Thomas Ashby, was put to a vote and was carried. The Committee Resolved to:
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Q2 Finance Report - Nov 23 Purpose: To detail the Council’s financial performance for Quarter Two 2023-2024.
Recommendation: That the Committee scrutinises the Financial Performance for Quarter Two 2023-2024
Invited: Councillor Alaric Smith, Executive Member for Finance Madhu Richards, Director of Finance Georgina Dyer, Chief Accountant
Additional documents: Minutes: Councillor Alaric Smith, the Executive Member for Finance, introduced the Quarter Two Finance Report, which included a forecast outturn position for the first time. The Director of Finance introduced herself and explained that she had only been in post for just over three weeks. The forecast allowed the Council to review progress against the budget that was set earlier in the year, and that as a forecast it probably will change. The main areas of overspend were in:
These three areas will be a focus of work during the 2024/25 budget setting process. The Director of Finance then asked if the Committee had any questions on the report. Councillors asked about the following points within the report:
Point 1.1 recycling cost impact. Bill Oddy the Assistant Director for Commercial Development confirmed it was a national problem where the cost of processing the recycling had increased, and the public was recycling more. The Council’s contracts and neighbouring districts’ contracts were up for renewal, so the option of jointly procuring contracts would be explored. WODC had increased waste charges this year by £5, but this had not affected the number of licences, they remained broadly the same. After a benchmarking exercise the Council’s fees were found to be lower than average, and the second lowest across Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire. Point 1.7 GLL payment and future payments. Recent meetings with GLL had taken place and a number of positive avenues were being explored Point 1.9 Appeal external legal fees. Jon Dearing, the Assistant Director for Resident Services, confirmed that appeal legal fees were significant, and that it was dependant on the planning appeals outcomes. Councillor Alaric Smith informed the Committee that at a recent informal Executive meeting Phil Shaw, the Business Manager for Development & Sustainability had attended, and informed the Executive that they were considering a Development Control briefing, that would explain the impact of appeal fees to the members of the planning committees. The Director of Finance added that there is a Legal Services review going ahead too, as due to resource issues in Legal Services, external Legal Services that were procured also had added to the costs.
Point 1.11 Pensions budget, could this be afforded. The Chief Accountant confirmed that the report was written in advance of the Publica Review. Therefore once the output of the Publica Review was known, these figures would be reviewed. The report to the end of quarter two reflected the secondary (i.e. historic liability) contributions that were made in regards to the Local Pensions Government Scheme. However, the budget was set before the actual levels of secondary contributions were known. A re-evaluation would occur in January. Any outputs from the Publica Review would be built into the 2024/25 budget but the timescales were tight as the Publica Review and Budget setting would all occur at a similar time.
Point 1.14 Council Tax and Business Rates income versus arrears. The Assistant Director for Resident Services explained that a discretionary Council Tax Support Scheme ... view the full minutes text for item 8. |
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Committee Work Programme Purpose: For the Committee to formulate a work plan for the remainder of the 2023/24 municipal year.
Recommendation: That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee resolves to:
Invited: Andrew Brown, Democratic Services Business Manager
Additional documents:
Minutes: Andrew Brown the Democratic Services Business Manager introduced the Initial Committee Work Programme. The Business Manager explained the role of the Committee was to scrutinise the decisions and actions of the Executive and other issues that affect the district that Members wish to prioritise for scrutiny. The initial work programme included items that were either legacy from past scrutiny work plans, a legislative requirement such as the focus on crime and disorder, and selected Executive decisions. This Committee would meet each month the week before a meeting of the Executive. Councillor Cooper asked why the Overview and Scrutiny Committee would be looking at Executive reports and, should the Committee be focusing on policy development. The Business Manager agreed that an important function of the Committee was to contribute to early-stage policy development. The Committee was asked to consider the following recommendations:
Recommendation 1: Agree that when considering the Executive Forward Plan the Committee will agree a priority order of reports for pre-decision scrutiny at the next meeting.
Councillor Michelle Mead proposed that when considering the Executive Forward Plan the Committee will agree a priority order of reports for pre-decision scrutiny at the next meeting. This was seconded by Councillor Alex Wilson, was put to a vote and was carried.
The Committee Resolved to:
agree a priority order of reports for pre-decision scrutiny at the next meeting.
Recommendation 2: Agree to use the 10 January 2024 meeting as a “Spotlight” session to scrutinise the Draft Budget 2024/25.
The Business Manager clarified that the term “Spotlight” referred to a standalone meeting to scrutinise larger items that needed more time than a normal agenda item. Councillors discussed the recommended date of 10 January and if it would be possible to use the 6 December scheduled Overview and Scrutiny Committee date. The Chief Finance Officer explained that the full budget settlement figures would not be known by the time of the December meeting
Councillor Julian Cooper proposed to agree to use the 10 January 2024 meeting as a “Spotlight” session to scrutinise the Draft Budget 2024/25. This was seconded by Councillor Ruth Smith, was put to a vote and was carried. The Committee Resolved to: 1. Agree to use the 10 January 2024 meeting as a “Spotlight” session to scrutinise the Draft Budget 2024/25.
Recommendation 3: Agree to schedule an additional “spotlight” meeting on a date to be agreed by the Director of Governance, in consultation with the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, to scrutinise the Publica Review.
The Business Manager explained to the Committee that the Publica Review item warranted a “spotlight” meeting. There was no proposed date as yet and the recommendation was to seek delegation to agree a meeting date. The Chair stated that as the Publica Review involved other Councils too, he was concerned that this meeting needed to be set soon, so that decisions were not made by the other Councils long before the Committee had ... view the full minutes text for item 9. |
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Executive Work Programme Purpose: To give the Committee the opportunity to comment on the Executive Work Programme.
Recommendation: That the Committee considers whether any items on the Executive Work Programme should be subject to pre-decision scrutiny. Minutes: Andrew Brown, the Business Manager for Democratic Services, explained to the Committee that since the agenda had been published the Executive Work Programme had been updated. Hard copies of the updated Executive Work Programme were available on councillors’ desks at the meeting. The Business Manager suggested that this was the opportunity to view the officers’ suggested items for the agenda in December from the Executive Plan.
The Chair asked the Committee for any comments.
Councillor Ruth Smith suggested an update from Thames Water would be welcome, the Chair was able to confirm that a briefing had been organised for the 5 December, which would include an update, and to which all Councillors would be invited to. The Chair asked the Committee for suggestions and comments on the Executive Work Plan.
Councillor Natalie King suggested a CCTV update, the Business Manager confirmed that CCTV had been scheduled for the new year. Councillor King followed up with a question re the locations of the camera for Carterton. The Business Manager agreed an action to take the question to the Officer concerned and get back to the Councillor with an answer.[AB1]
Councillor Levy enquired how the Committee would deal with Executive items that were classed as exempt. The Business Manager clarified that they would be dealt with in the normal way, in closed session. Councillor Ashby asked whether the items going to the Executive in December would all come to the Committee. The Chair confirmed that not all items would come to the Committee, only a select few. The Business Manager added that this is where the TOPIC criteria can help the Committee to prioritise.
Councillor Ruth Smith asked if the Employment Policies [AB2] could come in December. The Business Manager confirmed if the reports were ready, it could be considered.
The Chair concluded the meeting and thanked the officers and members for their input.
The Meeting closed at 7.15 pm
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