Agenda and minutes

When the continuous alarm sounds you must evacuate the building by the nearest available fire exit. Members and visitors should proceed to the visitors’ car park at the front of the building and await further instructions (during office hours staff should proceed to their usual assembly point; outside of office hours proceed to the visitors’ car park). Please do not re-enter the building unless instructed to do so.

In the event of a fire any person with a disability should be assisted in leaving the building.   

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

54.2          The Chair welcomed the representatives from Gloucestershire Constabulary and Active Gloucestershire to the meeting.

54.3          In accordance with Procedure Rule 1.2 of the Council’s Constitution, the Chair indicated that he had exercised his discretion to vary the order of business so that Agenda Item 7 - Aston Project Presentation and Agenda Item 8 – Active Gloucestershire ‘We Can Move’ Project Progress Report would be taken after Agenda Item 4 – Minutes.

55.1          Apologies for absence were received from Councillors C E Mills and M J Williams.  There were no substitutes for the meeting.

56.1          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.

56.2          There were no declarations made on this occasion.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting held on 5 December 2023.

57.1          The Minutes of the meeting held on 5 December 2023, copies of which had been circulated, were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair. 

To receive a presentation giving an overview of the Aston Project including the background, how it engages with the community, achievements and current activity. 

58.1          The Chair invited the representative from Gloucestershire Constabulary to address the Committee. 

58.2          The representative from Gloucestershire Constabulary gave the presentation, circulated separately, which explained more about the Aston Project which was based on prevention and early intervention; who ran it; the type of activities the young people who were involved with the project engaged in; and how success was measured.  Members were also shown a short video about the project.

58.3          A Member queried whether behavioural issues among young people was linked to poverty and if these problems were increasing due to the cost of living crisis.  The representative from Gloucestershire Constabulary advised that a background check was undertaken when a young person was referred to them – it was rare that someone was referred without already having received some sort of support or having had experience of things such as domestic abuse or parental drug and alcohol abuse.  Whilst it was not necessarily increasing, it was common to find that the young people on the project did not have the right kit for the activities they were undertaking e.g. wellington boots or waterproof shoes and it was also evident there were problems in terms of them accessing healthy food.  A Member sought clarification of the referral process and was advised that it was voluntary so the young person had to want to engage and do the activities and they required parental consent to participate.

58.4          A Member sought an explanation of ‘time banking’ and was advised that the young people carried out tasks, for instance, litter picking or handing out water at a half marathon, which they received credits for to use towards activities such as going to the cinema.  A Member asked if there was any data available on the progress of young people in the project and was advised that, although data was kept, it was a long term project and there were inevitably ups and downs so consideration was being given as to how that could be turned into realistic figures going forward.  The Member noted that the presentation had referenced an ‘outcome star’ system which measured young people’s perceptions on a radar scale and she felt that would be a nice graphical representation to evidence progress.  The representative from Gloucestershire Constabulary agreed with this point but explained that the outcome stars were not converted into usable data and that was something they had been looking at recently.  It was noted that if the behaviour of any young person on the programme escalated, they would be referred on for more intensive support.

58.5          A Member asked whether the Aston Project was available across Gloucestershire or just within Tewkesbury Borough and was informed the project was countywide; however, its operation and success was linked with the ability to recruit PCSOs and it was not easy work.  For instance, a PCSO had left their role in Cirencester and it had not been possible to recruit back to that area.  Tewkesbury Borough was very fortunate to have  ...  view the full minutes text for item 58.

To receive a presentation setting out progress of the project which the Council agreed to fund for five years (2021/22-2025/26) to gain assurance around value for money and successful outcomes. 

59.1          The Director: Communities advised that a Community Support seminar was in the process of being arranged for all Members and Active Gloucestershire was one of the partners which would be presenting at that session along with the Citizens’ Advice Bureau and Gloucestershire Rural Community Council (GRCC).  The Chair reminded Members that the Committee’s job was to report back to the Executive Committee as to whether the £10,000 which Tewkesbury Borough Council contributed to the ‘We Can Move’ project was money well spent so he encouraged them to save any Ward specific queries for the Community Support seminar.

59.2          The representative from Active Gloucestershire gave the presentation, circulated separately, which outlined the ambitions of the ‘We Can Move’ project, highlights from across the county in 2023 and what that meant for Tewkesbury Borough along with plans for 2024. 

59.3          A Member felt the aspiration to halve inactivity rates in Gloucestershire by 2023 was commendable but he questioned how that would be achieved and measured.  In response, the representative from Active Gloucestershire advised that the ‘We Can Move’ project was a county approach and this was a county ambition in which Active Gloucestershire played a role but there were many external factors.  The goal had been set pre-pandemic and before the cost of living crisis so, whilst the intention remained, it would not be easy to achieve.  The most effective method for measuring success was a longitudinal survey called the Active Life Survey carried out by 300 people in each district on an annual basis to provide a baseline of their physical activity and how it increased or decreased.  Another Member asked how the achievements of the various partners were measured and was advised that a project management approach was taken with a ‘We Can Move’ evaluation for each project and every period.  The University of Bristol was undertaking a two year evaluation, the results of which would be in the public domain. It was intended to carry out another project level evaluation later in the year, subject to affordability.  The Member asked whether the onus was on each partner to report their successes and the representative from Active Gloucestershire confirmed that was the case, for example, a yoga programme evaluation looked at the number of people taking part, their ages, the number of unintended consequences etc. and, as a rule of thumb, 5-10% of each programme went to evaluation. 

59.4          A Member raised concern that although there was an awful lot of information within the presentation, there was very little data for the Committee to assess whether value for money was being achieved.  In response, the representative from Active Gloucestershire advised that he had given a brief overview rather than evidence to take forward and, as set out in the presentation, impact reports had been produced with two currently in the public domain.  All activity was reported to Tewkesbury Borough Council and Sports England with an annual report delivered to the Health and Wellbeing Board.  He indicated that he would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 59.

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.

60.1          Attention was drawn to the Executive Committee Forward Plan, circulated at Pages No. 31-40.  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. 

60.2          The Director: Corporate Services noted there were still several items in the ‘pending’ section of the report and he indicated that he would establish when they were likely to come forward and report back to a future meeting.  The Chair acknowledged that he had an outstanding action from the last meeting to speak to the Executive Committee regarding the Equalities and Diversity Policy which had been in the pending items section for over a year.

60.3          A Member drew attention to Page No. 32 of the report and noted that the Council Tax, Business Rates and Housing Benefits Overpayments Debt Recovery Policy had been moved from the meeting on 29 November 2023 for ‘further Member engagement’ and she asked what that entailed.  In response, the Director: Corporate Resources advised that the Head of Service: Revenues and Benefits had attended the informal Executive/COG meeting to outline the background to the policy which would now be taken to the Executive Committee meeting on 7 February 2024.  Another Member noted that ICT Strategy was dependent on the appointment of a new ICT Manager and asked if any progress had been made in relation to that.  The Director: Corporate Resources explained that it was intended to bring together the Business Transformation and IT teams and create a new post to oversee the two; this had not been advertised yet so it was unlikely that the ICT Strategy would come to the March meeting as whoever was appointed to that role would want to scour the IT environment and form an opinion before setting a strategy for the direction of travel.  A Member indicated that they had been told last month that the Economic Development and Tourism Strategy would be coming forward before the end of the financial year and she asked what date it would be taken to Executive Committee.  The Director: Corporate Services undertook to find out and advise Members following the meeting.

60.4          It was

RESOLVED           That the Executive Committee Forward Plan be NOTED.

To consider the forthcoming work of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the actions arising from previous meetings.

61.1          Attention was drawn to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme, circulated at Pages No. 41-46, and the action list setting out the outstanding actions arising from meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee between 17 January 2023 and 24 October 2023, circulated at Pages No. 47-53.  Members were asked to consider the Work Programme and action list.  

61.2          The Director: Corporate Services advised that, whilst the Council Plan Performance Tracker Quarter Three 2023/24 was the only substantial item on the Agenda for the next meeting, he believed this would be adequate given the amount of questions and discussion points which it tended to raise.  With regard to the pending items, as referenced under the Aston Project Presentation on today’s Agenda, there seemed to be some questions about the role and purpose of the Community Safety Partnership and how it fitted with the Aston Project etc.  As such, he undertook to discuss this with the Director: Communities following the meeting to establish what work might be needed to address this.  It was noted that a future Agenda item would be in relation to lessons learnt from the recent flood event; this would be brought to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for endorsement once it had been considered by the Flood Risk Management Group and added to pending items until an appropriate date had been established.

61.3          In terms of the action list, a Member drew attention to Page No. 51 of the report and the action in relation to more detail on planning complaints being included in the next annual report and raised concern that this had been marked as complete but that could not be confirmed until the next annual report was produced.  The Director: Corporate Services advised that it was expected to be included in the next annual report but he was happy for this to be marked as incomplete until that could be evidenced.

61.4          It was

RESOLVED           That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme 2023/24 and Action List be NOTED.

To receive an update from the Council’s representative on matters considered at the last meeting (11 January 2024). 

62.1          It was noted that the Council’s representative had been unable to attend the last meeting of the Gloucestershire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 11 January 2024 so no update was available.