Agenda and minutes

No declarations of interest were received.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Borrell, Derbyshire, Dyke, Falconer, Flood and P Innes.

5:00pm to 5:05pm

The Minutes of the Overview and Performance Scrutiny Forum (OPSF) held on 13 March, 2018 were presented.

RESOLVED –

That the Minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

5:05pm to 5:20pm

The Deputy Leader and Assistant Director – Policy and

Communications attended to provide a progress report on the Council Plan for Year 3, 2017/18.

The Assistant Director advised that of the 41 key activities for 2017/18 80% had been completed. This was an improvement on the half year position where 74% of key activities were still on target. Challenge from the Overview and Performance Scrutiny Forum and the Finance and Performance Board helped to keep activities on track and improve performance.

The following key achievements had been made during 2017/18:

·        Work with partners at Sheffield City Region and D2N2 to negotiate and deliver skills training packages worth £744k which had benefitted 91 businesses and over 1300 learners.

·        Secured 100% local labour clauses on eligible planning applications. Once secured officers work with developers to support and advise them on clause implementation.

·        A range of events and activities aimed to increase the footfall in the town centre, these included: the medieval market, market festival, record fairs, young people’s market, festive fayre and the observation wheel.

·        Improved homelessness service in preparation for the implementation of the Homelessness Reduction Act. Improvements included the establishment of a North Derbyshire Homelessness Forum, introduction of new technology and enhanced training for staff.

·        Retained budgetary discipline and income maximisation strategy through challenging budget holders, vacancy control, maximising core income streams, careful investment, exploration of external grant funding and a focus on operational efficiency savings.

·        New commercial activity during 2017/18 included the market hall café and environmental services which had generated approximately £149k in income.

The revised Council Plan for 2018/19 sets out the key commitments until the end of the Council Plan. There had been 42 key activities identified for delivery during 2018/19 (this includes priorities being rolled over from 2017/18). Progress towards these commitments would be monitored and challenged on a quarterly basis via the performance management framework.

Members asked whether the uncertainty regarding voluntary sector funding had impacted on the wellbeing program. The Assistant Director confirmed that there had been some aims which were not deliverable due to changes at Derbyshire County Council and the Clinical Commissioning Groups.

Members thanked the Deputy Leader and the Assistant Director for presenting their progress report and for answering their questions.

RESOLVED –

That the progress report be noted.

5:20pm to 6:05pm

The Leader and Assistant Director – Policy and Communications attended to inform members on the Gender Pay Gap report for 2017.

The Assistant Director advised that new legislation had been introduced which required employers with 250 or more employees to publish statutory measures every year showing how large the gender pay gap was. Organisations have 12 months from the snapshot date (31^st March from public sector) to publish their data on the government’s gender pay gap portal and the organisations website.

Gender pay gap reporting can be extremely complicated and could cause confusion so it was extremely important to get the communications right on this issue. The Assistant Director had consulted with Trade Union representatives and service managers to find answers to enable them to ask questions and prepare for the data release.  

It was noted that in the lowest paid quartile there were 229 members of staff who were paid the real living wage. If the Council had not taken the decision to implement the real living wage then the gender pay gap would have been significantly higher.

The Leader observed that the gender pay gap was different to equal pay, which was in place at CBC, and that issues demonstrated in the report needed to be addressed but solutions would not be quick or easy.

It was noted that CBC had taken the decision to retain a lot of services in house which would lead to a disadvantage in gender pay gap reporting compared to other authorities.

Members asked whether comparisons had been carried out between other public sector organisations such as the Chesterfield Royal Hospital. They were advised that comparisons with the hospital had not yet been carried out. The only comparisons which had been carried out so far were with the neighbouring local authorities. However this is an area which would be considered once a larger data set was available as well as trend information.

RESOLVED –

That the report be noted.

6:05pm to 6:20pm

The Senior Democratic and Scrutiny Officer attended to advise members on the outcomes of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee (CLGC) report on the Effectiveness of Local Authority Overview Scrutiny Committees and the government’s response to the findings from the review.

The CLGC resumed their inquiry into the effectiveness of local authority overview and scrutiny in September 2017. In December 2017 the Select Committee published a report of their findings, as summarised in paragraph 3.3 of the officer’s report.

The government produced a full response published in March 2018 to the recommendations in the CLGC report. In their response the government accepted some recommendations but said others depended upon the different situations in each authority. The government also agreed that the guidance regarding the process of scrutiny reporting to full Council should be updated. 

The Select Committee inquiry had provided an opportunity to relook at how effective overview and scrutiny at CBC had been and to identify where improvements could be made.

Members were asked to give their initial thoughts which included:

·        An investigation into public participation;

·        Clarification why the OSC Vice Chairs were elected but not the Chairs;

·        Scrutiny should report directly to full Council;

·        Increased education for Councillors about the commitment of scrutiny because of the low councillor attendance numbers;

·        That the Standards and Audit Committee carried out a similar role but there had been no overlapping or links between the Committees;

·        Importance of refresher training to ensure Councillors are confident and knowledgeable about the role of scrutiny;

·        Utilising opportunities to scrutinise outside bodies.

RESOLVED –

1.   That the report be noted.

2.   That the Senior Democratic and Scrutiny Officer carry out investigations into the areas suggested by Members and that a further report be brought to the OPSF in September, 2018.

6:20pm to 6:30pm

The Senior Democratic and Scrutiny Officer submitted a report which included the details of the proposed Overview and Scrutiny Committees’ Work Programme for 2017/18.

Members were asked to state their interest in leading one of the two Scrutiny Project Groups.

In addition, the Scrutiny Member nominations for the Council Working Groups were discussed.

RESOLVED –

1.   That the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme 2018/19 be approved and recommended to the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committees (OSCs).

2.   That the appointment of scrutiny project group lead members and memberships be considered by the relevant OSC

3.   That the following appointments to Council Working Groups be approved:

·        Member Development – Councillor Peter Innes

·        Constitution – Councillor Kate Sarvent

·        HRA Business Plan – Councillor Suzie Perkins

6:30pm to 6:35pm

The Forward Plan was considered.

RESOLVED –

That the Forward Plan be noted.

6:35pm to 6:40pm

The Scrutiny Monitoring Schedule was considered.

RESOVLED –

That the Scrutiny Monitoring Schedule be approved.

-      HS2 Scrutiny Project Group

-      Town Centre Scrutiny Project Group

6:40pm to 6:50pm

Town Centre Scrutiny Project Group

The Senior Democratic and Scrutiny Officer provided an update on the progress of the scrutiny project group report which had been considered by Cabinet on 24 April, 2018. The scrutiny project group awaited a response from Cabinet to the recommendations of the scrutiny project group report.

HS2 Scrutiny Project Group

The Democratic and Scrutiny Officer provided an update on the progress of the scrutiny project group. The group were in the last stages of information gathering and would next be reviewing and evaluating the information to be included in the scrutiny project group report.

RESOLVED –

That the updates be noted.

6:50pm to 6:55pm

The Joint Chairs had attended a meeting of the Sheffield City Region Scrutiny Board and reported that discussions had taken place around the skills agenda and broadband. The new work programme was being worked on and it was hoped that the Homelessness Reduction Act would be included.

RESOLVED –

That the updates be noted.

6:55pm to 7:00pm

There were no updates.