ORGANISATION SCRUTINY
COMMITTEE
RECORD OF MEETING
HELD ON 17TH SEPTEMBER 2007
Present:
Councillor A C Johnson; Chair Councillors W T
Beard, D H D Charlesworth, H W Curran, B Evans, K Healey, A C
Johnson, Z S Krizanac and A Moran
In Attendance: (for whole or part of
the meeting)
Apology: Councillor
J A Beech
No other Member made any declaration
of interest in any item of business on the agenda.
19 WHIPPING
DECLARATIONS
In accordance with Paragraph 18 of the
Performance and Overview Procedure Rules, Members were invited to
declare in respect of items where the whip had been applied.
No such declarations were made.
20 RECORD OF
MEETINGS
AGREED: That the Record of the
Meeting held on 23rd July 2007 be approved as
correct.
21 BOARD
BUSINESS
21.1 Meeting
20th September 2007
The Committee was invited to submit comments
to the Board on the following reports which fell within its
remit.
Ø
Risk Management
Members discussed this report from the
perspective of Member involvement. It was acknowledged that
whilst it was a core element of the Member Development Programme,
it was difficult to attract Members to training on this
topic.
A Member asked about the possibility of a
“core group” of Members undergoing training and then disseminating
the information to their political group colleagues. In
response, the Committee was informed that risk management was a
personal responsibility for each elected Member who should try to
gain an understanding of risk and how it was managed.
Ø
Polling District Review
A Member commented that consideration should
be given to introducing additional mobile polling stations.
Ø
2008/2009 Budget Preparation Timetable
Ø
Concessionary Travel
Ø
Comprehensive Equality and Diversity Policy
Ø
Early Termination Policy
Ø
Maintenance of Closed Churchyard
The report sought a supplementary capital
budget of £60,000 to carry out essential repairs to the Bunbury
Churchyard wall, which, subsequent to its closure, had become the
responsibility of the Council.
In response to a Member’s question, the
Committee was informed that there was no definitive list of
infra-structure assets; work had been started in the previous
year to compile a full list of such assets to enable a condition
survey to be undertaken. Budgetary provision would be made
for this item in the draft 2008/2009 budget.
Ø
Comments to the Board
The Committee declined to submit formal
comments on the above reports, but agreed to submit a comment on
the following report -
Ø Local
Government Review
Members expressed concern that the
recommendation in the report was an attempt to restrict the
impartiality of Officers, who were duty-bound to work for the
Council as a whole.
AGREED: That the Board
be recommended to amend its proposed decision as follows –
Proposed amendment –
Recommendation 1: “That Board endorses the approach to
collaborative working with all partner authorities in Cheshire as a
basis for improved two-tier working, with details being submitted
to Full Council.”
It was also AGREED that the
Board be recommended to remove Recommendation 2 which read
“That Board advise that neither Officers nor Members engage in
activities or attend meetings which have as their purpose the
implementation of unitary local government in Cheshire.”
(Note: In accordance with Procedure
Rule No. 18(2) Councillor H W Curran requested that his vote be
recorded to show that he had voted against the Board’s
recommendation.)
21.2 Exclusion
of Press and Public
RESOLVED: That
the press and public be excluded from the meeting during
consideration of the following items pursuant to Section 100(A)(4)
of the Local Government Act 1972 on the grounds that they involved
the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in
Paragraphs 2 and 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A (as amended) of the
Act.
21.3 Exempt
Items
Ø Rate
Relief Appeal
Ø Application
for Voluntary Redundancy
Ø Staffing
Structure
Although no formal comments were to be
submitted to the Board in respect of these reports, a Member
expressed the wish that, in establishing the proposed Member Panel
(Staffing Structure) in accordance with the rules of
proportionality, Full Council would include a Member from the
Independent Group.
21.4 Re-admittance
of Press and Public
RESOLVED: That the
press and public be re-admitted to the meeting.
21.5 Provisional
Items (Board’s Forward Plan)
The Committee noted the provisional list of
items for November 2007 and January 2008.
AGREED: That the draft Timetable
of Public Meetings – 2008/2009, be submitted to the November
meeting to enable the Committee to review the experience of the
current year, with a view to increasing the number of meetings, if
considered necessary.
21.6 Responses/Referrals
from the Board or Council
There were no responses or referrals from the
Board or Council on this occasion.
21.7 Referral
from Portfolio Holder for Finance
It was reported that Councillor Hatfield,
Portfolio Holder for Finance, had asked the Committee to consider
the inclusion of “Procurement” in its work programme.
The Executive Director (Treasury and Corporate
Support) indicated that her division would be unable to support any
review at the present time and the Committee was advised to defer
this until January/February 2008. In the meantime, it
was AGREED that in the absence of Terms of
Reference, Councillor Hatfield be asked to provide further
information for consideration by the Committee.
22 CAPITAL
PROJECTS MONITORING – 2007/2008
The report of Paul Goodwin, Assistant Director
(Accountancy and Audit) was submitted. The report provided Members
with an opportunity to review progress on the delivery of the
Capital Programme, particularly “landmark” projects and other
schemes with significant budgets. A summary of progress on
the following schemes was provided –
· Queen’s Park
Restoration
· Crewe Town
Squares
· Nantwich Pool
Enhancements
· New Leisure
Complex/Crewe Pool Refurbishment
· New Cemetery
Land/Infra-structure
Members discussed the report and suggested
that at its next review, additional details on each scheme be
provided.
It was noted that, overall, reasonable
progress was being made on delivery of the programme and it was
AGREED that the report be received and noted.
23 POLLING
DISTRICT REVIEW
This item had been considered as part of the
Board reports at Record No. 21 above.
24 WORK
PROGRAMME
24.1 ICT Service Provision for
Members
At the previous meeting a number of issues
had been raised in respect of the Committee’s review of ICT
services for Members. A copy of the proposed Terms of
Reference had been issued under separate cover to all Members of
the Committee.
AGREED: That the Terms of Reference
for the review of ICT Service Provision for Members, be
approved.
24.2
Communications
Jo Vause, Communications Manager, was in
attendance for discussion, and outlined her role and that of the
Communications Team, as follows -
The team comprised a Manager, Communications
Officer, Web Manager and Access Shop Manager.
The Team operated within the framework of a
5-year Communications Strategy which had been approved by the
Board.
Current Projects
Website
The new version of the website had now been
completed, and the next stage was to change the look of the front
page to enable improved access for visitors.
A copy of the proposed front page was tabled
for Members.
Following completion of the website, steps
would be taken to improve and up-date the Intranet site.
Branding
The Graphics team was currently examining ways
of re-branding the Council, The changes were minor, but included
changing to “Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council” as opposed to the
“Borough of Crewe and Nantwich”. There would also be a change
of font style and the colour brown, which featured as one of the
main corporate colours, would be changed to one with a more modern
image.
In the immediate future, printed material
would be changed to ensure a similar appearance across the
authority. All publications would be provided with a back
page giving contact details and the Council’s accessibility
statement.
During discussion, Members asked about the
individual pages for Members on the website. It was confirmed
that this was still available to all Members.
Reference was made to the provision of sound
on TCT for Members. The Committee was informed that this was
currently being trialled with some Members.
Press Releases
The Press Release Protocol had been approved
at Council on 8th August 2007 and this provided clarity
about the types of press releases issued by the Team.
The press cuttings service was shortly to be
replaced with an evaluation of coverage in the local press.
The Team was also responsible for events such
as Local Democracy Week, Twinning, Junior Mayor and the Borough
Debate (traditionally held in Local Democracy Week).
Arrangements were being made for the Borough
Debate to be held on 17th October on the topic of
transport.
News and Views was issued three times a year
and the internal magazine “CanCan” was issued four times a
year.
C & N ACCESS
Arrangements were in hand for the re-branding
of the ACCESS Shop as part of the refurbishment due to be
undertaken in the next few weeks. The shop would include additional
Councillor information.
Jo Vause was thanked for her presentation and
withdrew from the meeting.
24.3 Member Support
and Development
At its previous meeting, the Committee had
highlighted a number of issues in respect of member training.
These were responded to by Diane Moulson, Member Development
Officer, who was in attendance for discussion of the item.
Ø
Abortive Costs
Response
Problems experienced had centred on the
provision of Information Technology training. Sessions were
booked in advance and were then subject to a cancellation
charge. If the Member cancelled his/her place at any time in
the 10 days preceding the event, a fee of either 50% or 100% was
charged to the Council. Attempts were made to fill any vacant
places but there had been occasions where Members had not attended
on the day. In these circumstances, a fee of £116 was charged
(100%).
It was rare for sessions to be cancelled as a
result of lack of interest but there had been occasions when only a
small number of Members had been in attendance. The cost of
training each Member could become disproportionate when costs were
charged per course, rather than per
individual.
Ø
Other Matters
Question 1
Did the Member Development Programme meet
Members’ needs, taking into account personal development and
training considered to be mandatory?
Response
Each programme used the personal development
plan (PDP) analysis as a basis for the subjects provided and aimed
to support Members in their Council role by means of induction,
committee-based training and sessions which reflected the Community
Leadership Programme and the Authority’s corporate
objectives.
Question 2
Were the topic areas appropriate?
Did they engage members?
Response
The topics were appropriate for the majority
of Members in accordance with the PDP analysis and engaged all
those who had expressed an interest in the
topics.
Question 3
Did the method of delivery engage members?
Response
The steer on the method of delivery of
sessions was taken from the PDP analysis and was, therefore, in
accordance with Members’ requests. Efforts had been made to
change facilitators and use different techniques with varying
levels of success.
The method of delivery, judging from
“feedback” was that it was satisfactory.
Question 4
What was the nature of difficulties
experienced in attracting Members to specific training
sessions?
Response
Selecting a time which was suitable for all
Members, taking into account the prohibitive cost of running the
same session more than once in the same day
· Lack of
‘repeat’ sessions for essential topics
· Perception
of some Members that they no longer required training owing to
their length of service
· Competing
demands on Members’ time
· Lack of
importance given to attending sessions; some Members who had
given a commitment to attend training sessions would occasionally
give priority to subsequent, more “social” appointments
Question 5
Timing of sessions: Most training sessions
were held during the day and often inconvenient for those
Councillors in employment. Should they be re-scheduled to the
evening in an effort to attract greater attendance?
Response
Members had been asked to indicate as part of
the last round of PDPs their preferred timings for sessions and had
nominated the afternoon as the preferred slot. Where cost
would allow, consideration was given to running more than one
session in a day but the availability of the facilitator inhibited
this and often prevented evening sessions being scheduled.
During the previous year, a number of
“twilight sessions” had been arranged but attendance had not been
significantly different from those held in the afternoon.
Question 6
What was the value of Member training?
Should it continue or be abandoned?
Response
Member Development ensured that elected
Members were able to understand their role and make informed and
rational decisions for the benefit of the authority and the borough
as a whole. Attaining Charter was a significant achievement for the
authority. As all authorities in the North-West were
committed to Charter, its loss would potentially be detrimental to
the authority’s standing.
To abandon Member training could place elected
Members at a disadvantage.
Question 7
Were training sessions promoted adequately and
in a timely manner?
Response
A draft outline of each year’s programme was
sent to all Members at the earliest opportunity each Municipal Year
to allow dates to be entered into diaries, with a full colour
reference copy issued at a later date. When dates had been
fixed, three reminders were sent to Members for each session – one
month before, two weeks before and one week before. Flyers
were placed on the Member Development Notice Board situated in the
Members’ Room, and where Members had expressed a particular wish to
attend a session as identified via their PDP interview, a copy of
the relevant flyer was sent to that Member.
Question 8
The nature of difficulties experienced in
attracting Members to specific topic areas.
Response
Experience had shown that Members took
exception to what appeared to be an instruction by Officers, and
for this reason, Members were encouraged by Officers to
attend, but there was no requirement for any Member to attend any
training session.
Conclusion
It was AGREED
(a) That political groups, through Committee
Chairs and Group Leaders, encourage their own Members to continue
to support Member Development;
(b) That the Committee’s review of Member
Development be regarded as completed;
(c) That the Committee support the commitment
to Charter status.
24 Date of Next
Meeting
12th November 2007
………………………………………………Chair