Agenda item

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

24.1          Attention was drawn to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme 2020/21, circulated at Pages No. 22-30, which Members were asked to consider. The Head of Corporate Services advised Members of an additional item for the November meeting of the Committee in relation to the Notice of Motion on the Local Electricity Bill that had been referred from the last Council meeting. He also drew Members attention to Page No. 27 which showed an additional item added to the March 2021 meeting in respect of the Trade Waste Service Business Case which tied into the project plan being considered by the Committee later on the Agenda.  Reference was made to the Housing Strategy which had been programmed to come to the Committee last April and the Head of Community Services gave an update on the current position. He indicated that the current Housing Strategy ran until March 2021 and, in normal circumstances, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee or a sub-group of the Committee would have been involved over the last six months in developing a new Housing Strategy for the following four years. Obviously with the current situation, it had not been possible to do that but rather than rush to put a new strategy in place purely to meet the timescale of the current strategy expiring, the Head of Community Services was proposing to refresh and extend the strategy currently in place for a period of one year. This extension, which was supported by the Lead Member, would allow for the development of some new key performance indicators, as Members were aware the current indicators were not really fit for purpose due to changes in legislation, and it would also allow time to study the Local Housing Needs Assessment which had recently been published. In summary, the extension would allow for the next 18 months to be spent developing a new fit for purpose Housing Strategy. He maintained that this was not an uncommon practice, particularly in the current circumstances, with a number of authorities choosing to extend plans and strategies for 12 months covering various areas rather than rushing to get them reviewed in order to meet forthcoming deadlines. He indicated that, provided that the Committee was happy with this approach, it would be his intention to extend the Housing Strategy on this basis. The Chair asked whether the Committee would still receive reports during the life of the extended strategy as he felt that whilst the existing key performance indicators were out of date, reporting on them was better than receiving no reports at all. The Head of Community Services assured the Committee that the key performance indicators would be reported in the performance tracker in the normal way and he maintained that not all of the performance indicators were out of date just those that related to specific pieces of legislation. On this basis the Committee was supportive of extending the current Housing Strategy for 12 months from March 2021.

24.2          A Member asked whether there would be any support for inviting the Police to come to a meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to talk about the changes to local policing. She reminded Members that they had all received a letter from the Police at the beginning of September outlining changes to the way they would be working going forward and she felt that a presentation on the proposals rather than words on a piece of paper may be helpful. The Chair reminded Members that the Police had attended a meeting of the Committee previously and he asked whether the Committee wished to add a pending item to the work programme on this basis. He indicated that obviously the Police were very busy at the moment and any future presentation to the Committee would need to fit in with their operational requirements which would be the priority. Another Member indicated that he had been working very closely with the Police in his role as a key worker and he did not feel that this was the right time for them to be pulled away from operational matters in order to address the Committee but acknowledged the benefits of a presentation in the future when resources allowed; he stressed that the Police were seriously overstretched at the moment but was happy for this to be included in the pending items for inclusion in the work programme for the future. The Chief Executive stated that he had been involved in discussions with the Police concerning the new arrangements and he would be happy to pick up the action and discuss with the new Superintendent when would be an appropriate time for her to come along to a meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee. He gave a brief overview of the changes and highlighted the fact that there were more local policing functions being dealt with from the police base at the Council Offices and he was sure that at the appropriate time this could be shared in more detail with the Committee.

24.3          Accordingly, it was

RESOLVED          1.   That the revised Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work               Programme be APPROVED subject to the Local Electricity    Bill Motion being added to the November meeting and          changes to local policing arrangements being added to the      pending items to be actioned by the Chief Executive in            terms of agreeing an appropriate date when this could be       added to the work programme dependent upon police resources; and

2.   That it be NOTED that the current Housing Strategy is to be            refreshed and extended by 12 months until March 2022 to     allow time for the development of a new strategy to include       revised key performance indicators and taking account of         recent Local Housing Needs Assessment data.