Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Ms L R Duffy, Mrs E A Eyre and Mr C B Taylor.

None.

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Head of Legal and Democratic Services in writing or by e-mail indicating the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case 22 March 2017).  Enquiries can be made through the telephone number/e-mail address below.

None.

(previously circulated)

The Minutes of the Meetings held on 18 and 26 January 2017 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Chairman of the Council, Councillor A P Miller, attended for this item.  He had been invited to the meeting to update the OSPB on the work of the cross-party Council Working Group (CWG) and its emerging findings.

By way of introduction, he reminded Members that all information considered by the CWG was available for all Councillors to view as the CWG had worked in an open and transparent way.  The aim of the CWG was to see whether the way Council currently operated could be improved.

Members were given an opportunity to discuss the CWG's emerging findings and, in the course of the discussion, the following main points were made:

·         The Chairman of the Board asked about the potential recommendation that Cabinet Member reports should first be considered by OSPB and only passed to Council if Board Members had concerns.  The Chairman of the Council reminded Members that the CWG was not able to make any decisions but would make recommendations that would need to be agreed by full Council.  The suggestions made in the agenda report were from the whole working group.

·         The Chairman of OSPB went on to request further clarification on how OSPB Members would channel their concerns about CMR reports and whether this would be through Cabinet or Council.  The Head of Legal and Democratic Services informed the Board that there had been a fair degree of consensus in the Working Group that consideration of Cabinet Member reports was better placed with Scrutiny rather than full Council, with Scrutiny having the power to refer to Council by exception.  The Chairman of the Board told Members that he felt that Scrutiny should have the power to refer any concerns direct to Council.

·         A Member of the Board thanked the Chairman for his work on the CWG.  He went on to suggest that the consideration of CMR reports at Council was sterile and did not allow Members to get to the issues that mattered most.  He felt that Scrutiny had an important role to play and wholeheartedly supported the proposal that Cabinet Member reports should be considered by Scrutiny.  As to whether this should be done by OSPB or the Overview and Scrutiny Panels, the jury was out.  Personally, he felt that it may be most effective for the reports to be considered by OSPB with relevant Panel Members invited to attend.

·         The Member said he was often embarrassed by full Council meetings and the performance of Members and their treatment of officers.  In particular, he referred to the treatment of the Chief Executive at the last meeting.  It should be for Councillors to regulate Council meetings, not officers.  There would be an opportunity as part of the induction process following the May elections to start again and remind Members that they were ultimately responsible for their own conduct.  He questioned what was achieved at full Council meetings and suggested that there should be more meetings spread throughout the year.  Personally, he was not comfortable with time  ...  view the full minutes text for item 975.

The Overview and Scrutiny Performance Board was asked to:

·         Note progress to date on the 2016/17 Scrutiny work programme; and

·         Consider the issues not completed from the 2016/17 work programme, including those recommended by the 2017/18 Budget Scrutiny Task Group and those suggested at previous meetings of OSPB, and agree which issues it would wish to recommend should be carried forward to the 2017/18 work programme following the County Council elections in May.

The Chairman introduced the agenda item by suggesting that the report (including Appendix 1) be forwarded to the first meeting of the new OSPB following the May elections.  He felt there should be a strong recommendation that the new OSPB should take up the initiatives highlighted by the Budget Scrutiny Task Group and other issues which had not been completed in 2016/17.

(At this point, the Chairman thanked Councillor Wells for chairing the Scrutiny workshop in February when he had been unable to attend.)

Members were given the opportunity to comment and the following main points were made:

·         It was disappointing that there were still outstanding issues from the current year, given that it was always clear when work would need to be completed.  It would be good to empower Panels to establish their own task and finish groups but the resources available within each Panel – in terms of experience and knowledge - needed to be considered.  Task and finish groups had to have the buy-in of the executive side, both political and from senior officers, as there were also resource issues there.

·         The Chairman agreed that Scrutiny could be frustrated by the Executive as had been the case in his first 2½ years as Chairman.  He felt that the last couple of years had been easier and Scrutiny was now pushing at a more open door.  Whoever took on the role of Chairman of OSPB would have to have a good working relationship with the Leader of the Council.  As Chairman he felt he could do anything except things that the majority group did not want him to do.

·         Concern was expressed that Scrutiny meetings often resulted in too many recommendations for the Cabinet Member which became lost in the minutes.  It was suggested that three key recommendations should be distilled from the discussion.

·         Concern was expressed about the level of resources allocated to Scrutiny and reference was made to a previous experience of a task group not being able to start for several months due to a lack of staff resources.  The Council needed to back Scrutiny with sufficient staff resources and time.

It was agreed that the work programme update on issues still to be completed should be passed to the new OSPB for consideration with a recommendation that more task and finish groups should be established.

Members were reminded that OSPB controlled how many task and finish groups were set up.  The Chairman informed Members that he would like OSPB to continue to manage the process.  Panels would be able to make  ...  view the full minutes text for item 976.

Adult Care and Well-Being O&S Panel

The Chairman of the Panel reported on a recent Panel meeting and reminded the Board that issues relating to adult care had risen to the top of the national political agenda, making it clear that the situation in Worcestershire was no different to the rest of the UK.  Following the elections, Scrutiny may wish to take an early opportunity to stand back and look at what was really happening.  He suggested that sometimes the rhetoric obscured what was being said.  It would be important to find a way of removing the veneer.  For example, 'empowering people' may be a euphemism for stopping a service user from going into residential accommodation and making them care for themselves for longer.

Economy and Environment O&S Panel

The Chairman of the Panel reported that further discussions on Abbey Bridge, Evesham had been delayed due to legal reasons.  The Panel had held a useful meeting on LTP4 and was due to hold an informal meeting next week on broadband and its cost effectiveness.

Cabinet Forward Plan

The Head of Legal and Democratic Services confirmed that the 6 April Cabinet meeting would go ahead as planned to consider an update on the Children's Social Care Service Improvement Plan and a resources/finance report.

Member Induction and Training

It was agreed that Member training following the elections should include a general session for all Members to gain an awareness of Scrutiny and a second session focussing on chairing skills for Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen.

The Chairman closed the meeting and reminded Members that this concluded the work of the OSPB for the four years of this Council.  He thanked the Scrutiny Officers for their support throughout this time.