Agenda and minutes

18.1           The evacuation procedure, as noted on the Agenda, was advised to those present.

18.2           The Chair welcomed Councillor R E Garnham, the Council’s representative on the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel, to the meeting and indicated that he would be providing an update on the last meeting of the Panel at Agenda Item 7.  He also welcomed Councillor D M M Davies, Lead Member for Built Environment, who was present for Agenda Item 9 – Planning Systems Thinking Review Presentation.  Councillors R E Allen and Mrs E J MacTiernan were also present as observers.

19.1           Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Mrs J E Day and P D Surman.  There were no substitutions for the meeting. 

20.1           The Committee’s attention was drawn to the Tewkesbury Borough Council Code of Conduct which was adopted by the Council on 26 June 2012 and took effect from 1 July 2012.

20.2           There were no declarations made on this occasion.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 14 June 2016.

21.1           The Minutes of the meeting held on 14 June 2016, copies of which had been circulated, were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair. 

To determine whether there are any questions for the relevant Lead Members and what support the Overview and Scrutiny Committee can give to work contained within the Plan.

22.1           Attention was drawn to the Executive Committee Forward Plan, circulated at Pages No. 17-20.  Members were asked to determine whether there were any questions for the relevant Lead Members and what support the Overview and Scrutiny Committee could give to the work contained within the Plan.

22.2           A Member indicated that ‘Recruitment of Environmental Warden’ was still included on the Forward Plan for the meeting on 23 November 2016, however, the report in respect of Agenda Item 10 of the present meeting, Enviro-Crimes Update, referred to this item being taken to the Executive Committee on 12 October 2016.  The Deputy Chief Executive advised that, at the last meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, it had been suggested that this item be brought forward from 23 November as Parish Councils were likely to have set their precepts by that time.  She confirmed that it was intended to take the report to the meeting on 12 October 2016 on the basis of that suggestion and she undertook to ensure that the Forward Plan was updated accordingly.

22.3           A Member drew attention to the Mobile Homes and Caravan Site Licensing Policy, included on the Executive Committee Forward Plan for the meeting on 12 October 2016, and questioned whether this item should be considered by the Licensing Committee in advance of that.  The Environmental Health Manager agreed with this suggestion and indicated that the next Licensing Committee meeting was due to be held on 13 October 2016 so the Policy would then need to be taken to the Executive Committee meeting on 23 November 2016.

22.4           It was

RESOLVED          1. That the Executive Committee Forward Plan be NOTED.

2. That the following amendments be made:

- Recruitment of Environmental Warden – to be moved from 23 November 2016 to 12 October 2016; and

- Mobile Homes and Caravan Site Licensing Policy – to be moved from 12 October 2016 to 23 November 2016 in order for the Policy to be considered by the Licensing Committee at its meeting on 13 October 2016.

To consider the forthcoming work of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

23.1           Attention was drawn to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme 2016-17, circulated at Pages No. 21-27, which Members were asked to consider.

23.2           A Member noted that the Agenda for the meeting on 18 October 2016 was quite heavy and, given that the main focus of that meeting would be the Joint Waste Team and Grounds Maintenance Updates, he suggested that the Gloucestershire Families First Update be moved to the meeting on 29 November 2016.  The Deputy Chief Executive agreed that this would be appropriate and undertook to update the Work Programme accordingly.  The Chair stressed that the presentation from Healthwatch Gloucestershire, due to be considered at the next meeting of the Committee, should last for no longer than 10 minutes in order to allow adequate time for Members to ask questions and Officers undertook to ensure that the presenter was fully briefed in that regard.

23.3           It was

RESOLVED          1. That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme 2016/17 be NOTED.

2. That the Gloucestershire Families First Update be moved from the meeting on 18 October 2016 to 29 November 2016.

To receive an update from the Council’s representative on matters considered at the last meeting. 

24.1           Members received an update from Councillor R E Garnham, the Council’s representative on the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel, on matters discussed at the last meeting of the Panel held on 18 July 2016.

24.2           Councillor Garnham advised that, as it was the first meeting since the Police and Crime Commissioner’s re-election, the Agenda had been fairly light.  The meeting had begun with the election of a Chair and Vice-Chair and the status quo remained with County Councillor Roger Wilson appointed as Chair and County Councillor Barry Kirby appointed as Vice-Chair. 

24.3           It was noted that, at eight pages long, the Chief Executive’s report was a considerable improvement on the information that had been provided a year ago.  As well as covering local Gloucestershire matters, such as Police estates, complaints and Freedom of Information requests, the report had touched upon the Policing and Crime Bill which aimed to “finish the job of police reform” and “enable fire and police services to work more closely together and develop the role of our elected and accountable Police and Crime Commissioners”. The Commissioner had stated previously that he had no wish to take over the running of the Fire Service but it was pointed out that Brandon Lewis MP had now been appointed as the new Government Police and Fire Minister; the post was previously just annotated Police Minister.  Developing the role of the Commissioner could include taking responsibility for Criminal Justice, including Youth Justice, and the Crown Prosecution Service in Gloucestershire, all of which, as the Commissioner had pointed out, could double the workload.  The Commissioner’s Office had also established a Commissioner’s Forum with representatives from, amongst others, the media, business, further education and the voluntary sector, to act as critical friends.  The panel was 25 strong and there had been a discussion over the role of the Forum and that of the Police and Crime Panel with assurance being provided that the two bodies were different.

24.4           Members were reminded that it was a statutory duty of the Police and Crime Panel to receive the Commissioner’s Police and Crime Plan and make comment or recommendation.  An early draft of the 2017-21 Plan had been presented and the Commissioner had explained that his priorities remained the same as his first term of office: access and accountability; older but not overlooked; young people becoming adults; safer days and nights; safe and social driving; and safe cyber.  In addition, the Commissioner gave his commitment to developing Neighbourhood Policing, protecting rural policing, spending £1M per year on the Commissioner’s Fund and improving data sharing between public bodies.  The need to carry out “a review of the Constabulary’s crime reduction function” had also been highlighted.  The draft report had led to a further discussion that, without knowing expected outcomes and having some statistics, the Panel could not know if the Commissioner was adhering to his Plan and therefore were impeded in their responsibility to hold him to account.  It was agreed that a workforce planning  ...  view the full minutes text for item 24.

To receive an update from the Council’s representative on matters considered at the last meeting. 

 25.1          In the absence of Councillor Mrs J E Day, the Council’s representative on the Gloucestershire Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee, the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, who also sat on the Gloucestershire Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee as part of his role as a County Councillor, gave an update on matters discussed at the last meeting held on 12 July 2016.

25.2           Members were advised that the Committee had welcomed three representatives from Arriva Transport Solutions Limited and the Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (GCCG) Commissioning Implementation Manager to assist with a review of performance in respect of the contract for the Non-Emergency Patient Transport Service.  The Committee had been disappointed to note that, despite assurances given last year that there was a robust action plan in place to address concerns, Arriva Transport Solutions Limited was still struggling to meet some Key Performance Indicators.  Given Members’ concerns, it was agreed to receive an update in six months’ time.

25.3           The Committee had also received a presentation on the proposals relating to the opening hours of Minor Illness and Injury Units (MIIUs) in Gloucestershire; the main impact of the proposals would be in Stroud and Cirencester.  The MIIUs were currently open 24/7 and none of the proposals included options for overnight opening at any Units across the County.  The Committee expected to receive the outcome of the engagement exercise at its meeting in September.  The Committee had also welcomed the annual Gloucestershire Safeguarding Adults Board Report and the meeting had been attended by the Independent Chair and the Head of Adult Safeguarding.  It had been good to see the proactive work being undertaken and the joint work in place with partners to address safeguarding concerns, especially in terms of protection and prevention.  Guidance had been developed in relation to hoarding, which had been a particular concern, and this would sit within the Self-Neglect Policy.

25.4           In terms of adult social care and public health, there continued to be good performance against employment and settled accommodation targets but challenges remained in relation to direct payments and reassessment of service users’ needs.  Following a successful recruitment exercise in the Learning Disability Operations Team, it was anticipated that performance against reviews would improve.  The GCCG performance report demonstrated that it was performing well against the majority of targets, although there were still challenges in respect of accident and emergency, diagnostic tests and 62 day cancer targets.  It was noted that social prescribing was working well and was available to all GPs.  The Committee had not discussed ambulance service targets at the meeting as it was scheduled to meet with the Chief Executive of the South Western Ambulance Service at its meeting on 13 September 2016.

25.5           The Chair indicated that the update would be circulated to Members via email following the meeting and it was

RESOLVED          That the feedback from the last meeting of the Gloucestershire Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee be NOTED.

To receive a presentation on the review of Planning. 

 26.1          The Chair welcomed the Development Manager, Paul Skelton, to the meeting and indicated that he would be giving a presentation on the Planning Systems Thinking Review which had been requested by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at a previous meeting.

26.2           The Development Manager advised that the second phase of the review of the Development Management team was now underway.  Phase 1 had focused on the end-to-end times for planning applications from the point of receipt to the time when a decision was made.  A number of administrative processes had been streamlined as a result of the review which had helped to eliminate waste and reduce the number of transactions between administration staff and Planning Officers.  In respect of householder applications, which constituted the bulk of work for the Development Management team in terms of numbers, Officers had also become more proactive at the validation stage; rather than writing to the applicant or agent to advise that something was missing from the application, Officers tried to telephone instead which often meant that the missing documentation could be sent over by email on the same day.  Householder applications no longer had a hard copy file as Case Officers now used iPads on site visits; this enabled them to view plans and take photographs on the same device.  It had been intended to extend this approach to other types of application; however, Members were advised that the action plan for Phase 2 of the review had been pared back due to resource issues and to enable Officers to focus on what was really important.

26.3           Members were informed that the Phase 2 Action Plan included a workstream on Customer Service improvements and the ICT Team had helped with customer contact data capture.  Officer has also logged every telephone call, email and letter received within the department over a certain period and this would be compared with a similar data capture exercise completed last year.  It was intended to arrange visits to other local authorities to investigate how they dealt with customer service in terms of contacting officers and to organise customer forums for agents and Parish and Town Councils.  Alternative options for dealing with phone calls and responses would also be explored and an action plan would be pulled together to enable the changes to be put into practice.  A review of the records management processes was planned during Phase 2 and had been identified as a high priority by the Corporate Leadership Team following a complaint which had highlighted some shortfalls in the way information was currently held and what should be available within the public domain.  The Borough Solicitor was leading that particular workstream which was already well underway and had an agreed action plan in place.

26.4           The Development Manager advised that it had become clear that there were a number of roles within the team, particularly at senior level, that were not working as effectively as they might.  For example, the Team Leaders for the North and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.

To consider the latest position in respect of enviro-crimes. 

27.1           Attention was drawn to the report of the Interim Environmental and Housing Services Group Manager, circulated at Pages No. 28-53, which provided Members with the latest information on the extent of enviro-crime within the Borough and how the Council was tackling it, with particular focus on fly-tipping.  Members were asked to consider the information provided.

27.2           The Environmental Health Manager explained that, at its meeting in April, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had received an annual report on Ubico and Members had requested additional information in relation to enviro-crimes.  Page No. 30, Paragraph 2.1 of the report, summarised the enviro-crimes reported to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in the past two financial years.  A review of the way in which the Council investigated enviro-crimes had previously been undertaken by an Overview and Scrutiny Committee Working Group and the report, attached at Appendix 1, had subsequently been adopted by the Executive Committee on 16 July 2014.  Closure of the monitoring of the review recommendations had been approved by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in January 2016.  Since that time, the transfer of waste services to Ubico in April 2015 had resulted in enforcement activities around enviro-crimes being taken on by the Council’s Environmental Health department.  The report before Members focused on the three main enviro-crimes: dog fouling, abandoned vehicles and fly-tipping.

27.3           Members were advised that dog fouling was a perennial issue for all local authorities and Officers were working hard to raise its profile.  The Executive Committee was due to consider a report regarding the recruitment of an Environmental Warden at its meeting on 12 October 2016 and dog fouling was likely to feature highly in the proposed work plan for that role as it had been especially requested by the Parish and Town Councils.  The report would include details of how the position(s) would be resourced, as well as reporting and accountability issues.  Parish and Town Councils were aware of the proposal and consultation had commenced on whether they would like to partner in the arrangement.  Depending upon the response, this role could be in place by April 2017.  Abandoned vehicles were an increasing problem within Tewkesbury Borough and a growing issue nationally.  A County group, which included representatives from the local authorities, Parish Councils and Gloucestershire Fire Service, had been investigating how to bring resources together to ensure that there was an efficient process in place for dealing with this problem.  Gloucestershire County Council was the local waste disposal authority which was responsible for the cost of disposing of vehicles; an agreement within the County meant that Tewkesbury Borough Council managed the process locally and was recompensed by the County Council for the cost of disposal.  Fly-tipping was another problem area, particularly in certain parts of the Borough which were ‘hotspots’ for that specific enviro-crime.  Officers within the Environmental Health section were currently working on a project that aimed to achieve a significant reduction of fly-tipping incidents and subsequent clean-up costs.  The project was at quite an  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

To establish an Overview and Scrutiny Working Group, comprising six Members plus the Lead Member for Built Environment, to develop a new Housing Strategy and to approve the proposed Terms of Reference for the Working Group as set out at Appendix 1.

28.1           Attention was drawn to the report of the Housing Services Manager, circulated at Pages No. 54-59, which asked Members to establish an Overview and Scrutiny Committee Working Group, comprising six Members plus the Lead Member for Built Environment, to develop a new Housing Strategy and to approve the proposed Terms of Reference for the Working Group as set out at Appendix 1 to the report.

28.2           The Housing Services Manager explained that the Council’s current Housing Strategy was due to end in 2016 and a new document needed to be developed to pull together the strategic priorities around housing, including homelessness and tenancy management, for the period 2017-21.  Given the importance of this work in delivering the Council Plan, at its last meeting the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had agreed to support the development of this work.  It had originally been intended to hold a workshop in respect of the Gold Standard for Housing and the Homelessness elements of the strategy but Officers were confident that this could be combined into one overarching Housing Strategy document within the necessary timescales.  As such, it was now proposed that an Overview and Scrutiny Committee Working Group be established to assist with the preparation of the new strategy which would be presented to Council in January 2017.  The proposed Terms of Reference for the Working Group were attached at Appendix 1 to the report and attention was drawn to the timetable which proposed five meetings of the Working Group.

28.3           It was subsequently

RESOLVED          1. That an Overview and Scrutiny Committee Working Group be established to develop a new Housing Strategy comprising the following Members:

Councillors Mrs G F Blackwell, Mrs R M Hatton,                             Mrs H C McLain, T A Spencer, Mrs P E Stokes and                               H A E Turbyfield plus the Lead Member for Built Environment.

2. That the Terms of Reference for the Working Group be APPROVED as set out at Appendix 1 to the report.

To consider the progress made in delivering the recommendations within the Peer Challenge Action Plan. 

29.1           The report of the Corporate Services Group Manager, circulated at Pages No. 60-91, outlined the progress made in delivering the recommendations within the Peer Challenge Action Plan.  Members were asked to consider the report.

29.2           Members were advised that the Council’s peer challenge had taken place during November 2014 and the process had been an excellent learning opportunity for the Council, providing an external health check of the Council’s position and how it was set up to meet its future challenges.  Following the Peer Challenge, a formal report had been received, attached at Appendix 1 to the report, which summarised the findings of the team.  The report included a number of recommendations for further improvement and the Council had approved an action plan to progress these recommendations on 19 February 2015.  The action plan and a summary of progress in delivering the recommendations was set out at Appendix 2 to the report.  This confirmed that all of the actions were being progressed or had been implemented. The outstanding recommendations related to website development; Member development programme; review of the Council’s Constitution; and workforce development.  It was anticipated that all recommendations would be implemented, and that the action plan could be signed-off, when the Committee received the next update in six months’ time.  

29.3           It was

RESOLVED          That the progress made in delivering the recommendations within the Peer Challenge Action Plan be NOTED.