Agenda item

Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme 2022/23 and Action List

Meeting of Overview and Scrutiny, Tuesday, 17 January 2023 4:30 pm (Item 71.)

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

Minutes:

71.1 Attention was drawn to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme, circulated at Pages No. 25-30, and the action list setting out the actions arising from meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee between October 2019 and October 2022, circulated at Pages No. 31-52. Members were asked to consider the Work Programme and the action list.

71.2 The Head of Corporate Services advised that the Work Programme covered the next three meetings which would take Members to the end of the current municipal year. He confirmed that the Review of the Economic Development and Tourism Strategy would be coming to the next meeting on 7 February having been deferred from today’s meeting. There were a number of pending items and work was being done at an Officer level to bring those forward into the Work Programme. With regard to the pending items, a Member asked if a date had been agreed with the Police and Crime Commissioner to present to the Committee and the Head of Community Services advised he would take this up with the Commissioner who he was due to meet the following day. Another Member asked what the current situation was in relation to the Parking Strategy and the Head of Corporate Services advised that the Head of Finance and Asset Management had emailed Members of the Working Group to establish whether there was any appetite to reconsider car parking charges - that had appeared not to be the case so he hoped this would come forward sooner rather than later. He undertook to speak to the Head of Finance and Asset Management following the meeting and update Members accordingly.

71.3 In terms of the action list, the Corporate Services Manager advised that 13 of the 54 actions remained outstanding with 11 of those relating to meetings which had taken place in July 2022 or earlier. Members had previously asked for an audit trail of when outstanding actions would come back to Committee and there was now a requirement for Officers to include a target date. The following issues were raised during the discussion:

Meeting Date: 22 October 2019
P31 – Agenda Item – Warm and Well Scheme Update.	A Member noted it was proposed that an item on the Warm and Well Scheme was due to be included on the Agenda for a Town and Parish Council seminar by April 2023 and asked if Parish Councils could be made aware of the grants available to open up as warm spaces. The Community and Economic Development Manager clarified that the Warm and Well Scheme was different to the Warm Space Scheme; in terms of the latter, there were two grants available – one which could be used towards the cost of opening up community venues as warm spaces and another which could be used to put on activities and provide food. Funding had been capped at £500 as it had initially been unclear how many venues would come forward but there were funds available so this was being reviewed. There were currently 28 warm spaces across the borough so the scheme was being well-used.
Meeting Date: 12 July 2022
P42 – Confidential Item – Trade Waste Project Update.	A Member noted that the project plan was to be circulated by email by January 2023 and she asked if this was on schedule and whether the plan would be brought back to the February Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting in order for Members to discuss it. In response, the Head of Community Services confirmed that the plan was ready to be emailed to Members. It had been discussed in a number of other places, such as the Depot Services Working Group, and the Trade Waste Project was an item on the Agenda for today’s meeting but he could see no reason why the project plan could not be brought to the next Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

71.4 Accordingly, it was

RESOLVED That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme 2022/23 and the action list be NOTED.

Supporting documents: