Present at the meeting
- Councillor J Moodie (Chairman)
- Councillor N R Whittingham (Vice Chairman)
- Councillor N A Bradbury
- Councillor Ms P L Holland
- Councillor J D O’Brien
- Councillor Mrs J Prescott
- Councillor C Rigby
- Councillor P A Tushingham
- Councillor Mrs M J Whiteside
- Councillor R Winkworth
- Councillor G Wilkes
Officers in attendance
- Peter Hassett – Principal Solicitor
- Gary Finch – Principal Officer – Scrutiny
- Nick Lamper – Democratic Services Manager
- Michael Williamson – Committee Services Officer
Officers presenting reports
- Jonathan Cliff – Corporate Procurement Manager
- Simon Dale – Policy and Planning Manager
- Rachel Robinson – Business Partner
52 Apologies for absence: Councillors N D Ash, B J Fagan and P Thompson and Mr D Barber, Rev R Buckley, Rev Deacon R Moore, Mrs K A Stokes and Mr G R Wolstenholme (Co-opted Members).
53 Minutes: The minutes of the meeting of this Committee held on 14 September 2009 were approved as a correct record.
54 Whipping declarations: The Principal Solicitor, Peter Hassett reminded the Committee that government guidance expected Members of Overview and Scrutiny Co-ordinating Committee not to act in accordance with party whipping and that, if they did, they were to declare it.
There were no declarations made.
55 Questions (if any) on the business of the Cabinet: There were none.
56 Questions (if any) on the business of the forward plan – monthly update (September 2009): The Committee enquired as to when Members would be afforded the opportunity to ask questions of the Executive Director – Children and Young People’s Services on the progress of Building Schools for the Future. Members had been assured that this would happen but to date no action had been taken. The Committee suggested that a Members’ Seminar should be arranged for this specific purpose.
Resolved: The Committee:-
- welcomes the report.
- requests that a Members’ Seminar be arranged to enable the Executive Director – Children and Young People’s Services to update all Members on the progress of Building Schools for the Future.
57 Six month update of recommendations from the Overview and Scrutiny Tendering Select Committee: The Corporate Procurement Manager, Jonathan Cliff, presented a report, which informed Members of the progress that had been made with regard to the implementation of the Overview and Scrutiny Tendering Select Committee recommendations.
The Committee welcomed the progress that had been made and suggested that a further update be submitted in six months time which would advise Members of the progress of the recommendations which were still ongoing.
Resolved: The Committee:-
- notes the progress on the recommendations as detailed in the report.
- requests that a further update on the recommendations be submitted in six months time.
- requests that specific timescales for delivery of the recommendations be included in future progress reports.
- thanks the Corporate Procurement Manager for the report.
58 Peer review of the Local Strategic Partnership: The Policy and Planning Manager, Simon Dale, presented a report, which informed Members of proposals and preparation work for a peer review of the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) in November 2009.
The peer review process would consider a range of issues including:-
- how involvement of partners from all sectors could be developed to maximise the LSP capacity to deliver improved outcomes.
- how the Council could raise the profile of the LSP in order to improve its reach and impact.
- how the Council could support increased partnership focus at a locality level - e.g. shared action plans, capacity building, strategic and service commissioning.
In addition, the review would help validate progress and drive further improvements in order to help ensure that the LSP could be one of the main drivers for the delivery of improved outcomes for local people.
The Policy and Planning Manager also indicated that work was underway to develop reporting mechanisms between the LSP and Scrutiny, and the review would help inform this process.
Members asked a number of questions, which included the following salient points:-
- would the review look at how the Townships were run?
- would the outcome of the peer review be reported back to Members?
- would the review address issues that Members had raised around the Partnership and Communities Together (PACT) process?
- would Members be directly involved with the review?
- would the proposed work programme be circulated to all Members of the Council?
The Policy and Planning Manager advised the Committee that the peer review would examine how Townships currently operated and address the issues that Members had raised around the PACT process. The Committee was also informed that the outcome of the peer review would be reported back to Members accordingly.
The Policy and Planning Manager went on to advise the Committee that there would be opportunities throughout the review for Members to be directly involved and discuss issues. He also agreed to circulate the proposed work plan to Members before the review commenced.
Resolved: The Committee
- notes the arrangements being made for the peer review.
- requests that the outcome of the peer review be reported to members as appropriate.
- thanks the Policy and Planning Officer for the report.
59 Corporate Performance 2009/12 – Quarter 1: The Business Partner, Rachel Robinson, presented a report, that provided Members with an overview of the Council’s performance at quarter 1, against the key performance indicators which the Council and its partners were accountable for, specifically through the National Indicator Set, Local Area Agreement (LAA) and the Council’s Corporate Strategy.
Resolved: The Committee
- notes the current position and the actions planned to address performance in respect of indicators where it is below target, displaying declining performance or significantly below benchmark averages.
- thanks the Business Partner for the report.
