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Agenda and minutes

Contact: Democratic Services Tel: 01684 272021  Email:  democraticservices@tewkesbury.gov.uk

Link: Click here to watch live broadcast

Items
No. Item

69.

Announcements

Minutes:

69.1          The Chair advised that the meeting was being held under the emergency provisions of the Coronavirus Act 2020 and, specifically, the Local Authorities and Police and Crime Panels (Coronavirus) (Flexibility of Local Authority and Police and Crime Panel Meetings) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020.  The meeting was being broadcast live via the internet, it was not being recorded by the Council but, under the usual transparency rules, it may be being recorded by others.  

70.

Apologies for Absence and Substitutions

To receive apologies for absence and advise of any substitutions. 

Minutes:

70.1          Apologies for absence were received from Councillor G J Bocking.

71.

Declarations of Interest

Pursuant to the adoption by the Council on 26 June 2012 of the Tewkesbury Borough Council Code of Conduct, effective from 1 July 2012, as set out in Minute No. CL.34, Members are invited to declare any interest they may have in the business set out on the Agenda to which the approved Code applies.

Minutes:

71.1          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.

71.2          There were no declarations of interest made on this occasion.

72.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 164 KB

To approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 9 February 2021.

Minutes:

72.1          The Minutes of the meeting held on 9 February 2021, copies of which had been circulated, were approved as a correct record.  

73.

Executive Committee Forward Plan pdf icon PDF 223 KB

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.

Minutes:

73.1          Attention was drawn to the Executive Committee Forward Plan, circulated at Pages No. 9-11. 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.

73.2          The Head of Corporate Services explained that the Complaints Policy, which had been considered by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its last meeting and recommended to the Executive Committee, would be on the Agenda for that meeting on 31 March 2021.

73.3          A Member queried what a Section 31 grant was and the Head of Finance and Asset Management confirmed that it was a government revenue grant which was made to the Council. Unlike many grants it came with no significant caveats on how it should be spent and as such was very welcome.

73.4          Accordingly, it was

                 RESOLVED           That the Executive Committee Forward Plan be NOTED

74.

Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme 2020/21 pdf icon PDF 137 KB

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

Minutes:

74.1          Attention was drawn to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme 2020/21, circulated at Pages No. 12-15, which Members were asked to consider.  

74.2          Members were advised that the work programme for 2021/22 would be considered at the next meeting and the Head of Corporate Services was trying to get as much out of the pending section and into the programme as possible prior to that. He hoped the Severn Trent presentation would come forward in June and the review of lessons learnt following the COVID-19 pandemic would be submitted to the Committee in September. At its meeting on 3 March, the Executive Committee had approved funding towards the countywide ‘We Can Move’ project and those outcomes would be monitored by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, so that would also need to be added to the work programme in due course.

74.3          In response to a query regarding the nature of the Community Services Improvement Plan, the Head of Community Services explained that some service improvements had commenced within Environmental Health and Housing two or three years ago and had been ongoing – although had been on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic – and an update report would be submitted to the Committee in due course on the outcomes of those improvements. In respect of the ‘We Can Move’ project, the Chair asked that Members be briefed on what it was, how it would work, how the funding would be administered and the links to other districts etc. prior to being asked to scrutinise the project. In response, the Community and Economic Development Manager confirmed that he intended to provide a Member seminar to engage all Members – that session would also form part of the development of the scheme – and community engagement would also be undertaken. In addition, the Chief Executive indicated that the Executive Committee report could be circulated to Overview and Scrutiny Committee Members as a starting point for information as it set out the proposals and funding arrangements. Significantly more funding was being provided by the Clinical Commissioning Group and the County Council than the £50,000 being provided by each of the District Councils over the five year period.

74.4          Accordingly, it was

                 RESOLVED           That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme                                               2020/21 be NOTED.

75.

Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel Update pdf icon PDF 126 KB

To receive an update from the Council’s representative on matters considered at the last meeting (9 February 2021).

Minutes:

75.1          The Chair reminded the Committee that they should treat the County and Police Crime Panel updates in the same way as normal scrutiny reports. This meant Members should have read them in advance and be able to ask questions that could be taken back to those groups. 

75.2          The representative on the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel presented his report, circulated with the Agenda at Pages No. 16-17 for the meeting held on 8 February 2021.   

75.3          During the discussion which ensued, a Member questioned what the ‘Bamfurlong’ site was; how the intention to ensure all Police Officers received degree level training would work; what the acronym COO stood for; why crime had increased so significantly; and what happened when farms were visited as part of rural crime week. Another Member questioned how many COVID-19 enforcements had been made in the Borough. In response, the representative explained that Bamfurlong was a site off the M5 which was the control centre for all of the Police cars in the County. It had been taken off-line for badly needed refurbishment and the cars distributed across the County. In terms of Police Officers training to degree level, he explained that Officers were available for emergencies whilst they were undertaking training but the Police and Crime Commissioner was keen for people to understand that it took three years for new Police Officers to become fully available for duty. The COO was the Chief Operating Officer and was the person that ran the Police and Crime Commissioner’s office. In terms of reporting of crime, the representative explained that two years ago a central review had been undertaken which had criticised the Gloucestershire Police force for not registering all calls as a crime and instead only registering those that had been investigated as a crime. The force now recorded all calls which had resulted in a 10% increase but that did not mean there were actually more crimes just that more were now being recorded. Gloucestershire still recorded the sixth lowest crime rate in the country but it used to be even lower. In terms of rural crime week, farms had been visited to talk about crime prevention i.e. how to ensure farm machinery and livestock were safe so that they did not become a rural crime. In terms of the number of COVID-19 related enforcements, the representative did not know the number in the Borough but he was sure it would be small as the numbers across the whole of Gloucestershire were low compared to other more urban areas.

75.4          Accordingly, it was

RESOLVED           That the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel Update be NOTED.

76.

Gloucestershire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee Update pdf icon PDF 200 KB

To receive an update from the Council’s representative on matters considered at the last meeting (2 March 2021).

Minutes:

76.1          The representative on the Gloucestershire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee presented her report, circulated separately, for the meeting held on 2 March 2021.    

76.2          A Member expressed concerns about the health visitor services in the area and queried whether the representative could find out what the policy was on this. In response she undertook to try and find out from colleagues and would respond via email copying in all Members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

76.3          Accordingly, it was

                 RESOLVED           That the Gloucestershire Health Overview and Scrutiny                                            Committee update be NOTED.

77.

Council Plan Performance Tracker and COVID-19 Recovery Tracker - Quarter 3 2020/21 pdf icon PDF 653 KB

To review and scrutinise the performance management and recovery information and, where appropriate, to require response or action from the Executive Committee.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

77.1          The report of the Head of Corporate Services, circulated at Pages No. 18-112, attached the performance management and recovery information for quarter three of 2020/2021 along with a financial update for the period. The Overview and Scrutiny Committee was asked to review and scrutinise the performance and recovery information and, where appropriate, identify any issues to refer to the Executive Committee for clarification or further action to be taken.

77.2          In presenting the report, the Head of Corporate Services indicated that there were three elements: the Council Plan tracker; the Recovery Plan tracker; and the financial information update. He advised that he would deal with the first two elements and take any questions on those, and then hand over to the Head of Finance and Asset Management to deal with the final element on the Council’s finances.

77.3          Members were advised that since the preparation of the report, the government’s ‘roadmap’ route out of lockdown had been provided and the management team was looking closely at that and how it would affect all services. The Head of Corporate Services advised that Paragraph 2.3 of the report set out a number of successful key activities undertaken since the last performance report such as the Medium Term Financial Strategy being approved; the completion of the business case for improving the trade waste service; and the commencement of the Tewkesbury Borough Plan examination in public. As ever, given the complex nature of some of the actions being delivered, and particularly in the current circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was inevitable that some may not progress as smoothly or quickly as envisaged; those actions were set out at Paragraph 2.4 of the report. Some of the Council Plan actions had been put on hold due to staff resources being deployed to the COVID-19 response and recovery and those were shown by grey shading within Appendix 1 to the report and were highlighted at Paragraph 2.5 of the report. In terms of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), those where the direction of travel was down and/or the action had some issues or delay but there was no significant slippage in the delivery; where there was a significant risk to not achieving the action; or where there had been significant slippage in the timetable or performance was below target, were set out at Paragraph 3.3 of the report. Similarly, the recovery tracker exceptions were set out at Paragraph 4.3 of the report and those were the actions that were not progressing as originally intended. The key activities of particular note from the recovery tracker were set out at Paragraph 4.2 of the report and included £170,000 of funding received to support Tewkesbury Leisure Centre; award of 39 emergency community grants; and significant funding secured for the replacement of the heating system at the Public Services Centre. Particular attention was drawn to the recovery plan action to ‘support the safe re-opening of buildings that provide a Council service’ and Members were advised that,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 77.

78.

Separate Business

The Chair will move the adoption of the following resolution:

 

That under Section 100(A)(4) Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded for the following items on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

Minutes:

78.1          The Chair proposed, and it was

                 RESOLVED           That, under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act                         1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following                            items on the grounds that they involve the likely discussion of                                 exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the                              Act. 

79.

Trade / Commercial Waste Service Business Case

(Exempt –Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 –Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information))

 

To recommend to the Executive Committee that an operational business case be developed in respect of the Council’s trade waste services.  

Minutes:

(Exempt –Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 –Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information))

79.1          The Overview and Scrutiny Committee recommended to the Executive Committee that an operational business case be developed in respect of the Council’s trade waste service.