Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Civic Offices, Gloucester Square, Woking, Surrey GU21 6YL

Contact: Frank Jeffrey, Head of Democratic Services, Ext 3012, Email  frank.jeffrey@woking.gov.uk 

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies for Absence

To receive any apologies for absence.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

No apologies for absence were received.

2.

Minutes

To approve the minutes of the meetings of the Committee held on 21 March and 23 May 2022 as published.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meetings of the Committee held on Monday, 21 March 2022 and 23 May 2022 be approved and signed as true and correct records.

3.

Matters Arising from the Previous Minutes pdf icon PDF 58 KB

To review any outstanding items from the previous minutes.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman introduced the report on matters raised at previous meetings of the Committee, drawing the Committee’s attention to actions undertaken subsequently.

A supplementary report on the complaints data for New Vision Homes (NVH) and Joint Waste Solutions had been published, and the remaining actions from the meeting of the Committee on 21 February 2022 would now be closed.  It was proposed that, as the responsibilities of NVH were taken in-house, the monitoring of complaints should continue be undertaken in a comparable approach.  Furthermore, it was suggested  that the Committee should at a future stage review the overall scrutiny of complaints to rationalise the reporting.

Resolved

That the report be noted.

4.

Urgent Business

To consider any business that the Chairman rules may be dealt with under Section 100B(4) of the Local Government Act 1972.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There was no urgent business to discuss.

5.

Declarations of Interest

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary and other interests from Members in respect of any item to be considered at the meeting.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

No declarations were received.

6.

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 148 KB

Reporting Person – Councillor Ayesha Azad

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman introduced the report on the updated Work Programme, drawing the Committee’s attention to the key changes since the document had last been received.

It was noted that Councillor Caulfield had circulated a scrutiny review topic selection form following the publication of the agenda.  The form proposed that the review of the Constitution should be scrutinised by the Committee and would be fully considered by the Members at the next meeting of the Committee.  The Members of the Committee were encouraged to consider potential topics for scrutiny over the coming year, exploring areas not previously covered by the Committee.

Councillor Kirby provided a brief update on the work of the Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) Housing Outputs Task Group, noting that it was intended to bring a report to the next meeting of the Task Group which would subsequently be submitted to the Committee for consideration.

Resolved

That the Work Programme be noted.

7.

Introduction to Overview and Scrutiny OSC22-028 pdf icon PDF 127 KB

Reporting Person – Frank Jeffrey, Head of Democratic Services

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman introduced a report which sought to provide an outline of the responsibilities and powers of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  The Councillor Call-In and Call for Action processes were explained in detail, and were supported by the reference documents.  It was proposed that details of the Call for Action process should be circulated to all Councillors for information.  Attention was then drawn to the Scrutiny Toolkit, which focused on the functions of the Committee.  An updated version of the Scrutiny Toolkit had been published earlier in the day.

The Officer support for the Committee was discussed and it was noted that the position of Scrutiny and Democratic Services Officer was currently being recruited.

RESOLVED

That (i)    the report be noted; and

          (ii)   the 2022/23 Scrutiny Toolkit, as published as a supplementary paper, be received.

8.

Performance and Financial Monitoring Information

To consider the current publication of the Performance & Financial Monitoring Information.

Reporting Person – Councillor Ayesha Azad

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Members of the Committee noted that the most recent edition of the Performance & Financial Monitoring Information to have been published had covered the month of January 2022.  In view of the time that had passed, it was not felt that the information should be reviewed.  It was agreed that that the latest performance and financial monitoring information would be considered at the next meeting.

The Members were advised that a report reviewing the Performance & Financial Monitoring Information would be brought to the next meeting of the Committee.  The review would take into consideration the approach of other, similar authorities when reporting on performance and financial information, and Members were invited to provide suggestions for ways in which the document could be improved. 

It was suggested that the Council should publish a schedule of the dates on which the information was expected to be published over the year, and that it should be provided in a format which allocated Members to annotate the document.  The Committee had previously suggested that the ‘metrics’ within the information should be reviewed to ensure that the most useful information was provided.

Resolved

That (i)    the Council’s Performance and Financial Monitoring Information be reviewed at the next meeting of the Committee; and

          (ii)   the intention to bring a report to the next meeting reviewing the Performance and Financial Monitoring Information be noted.

9.

Economic Development Task Group Update OSC22-030 pdf icon PDF 76 KB

To receive an update for noting from the Economic Development Task Group following its meeting on 23 March 2022.

Reporting Person – Councillor Dale Roberts (Chairman of the Task Group) / Councillor Ayesha Azad

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received a reported prepared by the Chairman of the Economic Development Task Group on the matters covered at the most recent meeting of the Task Group, held in March 2022.  The key points of the report were noted, including the Authority’s intention to appoint a Commercialisation Manager to support the Council’s estate sales activity.  The position had been advertised and it was hoped an appointment could be confirmed shortly.

The remit of the Task Group was closely aligned to that of the Finance Task Group and it was noted that the Portfolio responsibilities for both now lay with the same Portfolio Holder and Shadow Portfolio Holder.  It was emphasised that that the Members of the Committee should seek to ensure that there were no gaps or overlaps in the work undertaken, scrutinising both areas in a coordinated approach.

RESOLVED

That the report be noted.