Members will be asked to make any declarations of interest in respect of items on this agenda.

The following declarations of interest were made by Members in accordance with the Code of Conduct –

The Management Board will be asked to agree the minutes of the meeting held on 5 August 2009.

The minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board meeting held on 5 August 2009 were submitted for approval.

Members identified amendments to minutes 5b ‘To monitor actions from Call-ins’ and 6b ‘To consider and approve work programmes for the Management Board and each of the Panels’.

Discussion took place regarding minute 8a ‘To receive updates from each Panel on ongoing / completed work with the related LSP Theme Groups’ and members requested that the issue of partners’ understanding of scrutiny and its political context was addressed through an informal meeting.

Resolved that –

         (1)      the O & S Management Board minutes of the meeting held on 5 August 2009 be approved subject to the following amendments –

·        minute 5b ‘To monitor actions from Call-ins’, last bullet point page 2 and second bullet point page 3:  references to ‘Devon Leisure Trust’ be amended to ‘Devonport Leisure Trust’;

·        minute 6b ‘’To consider and approve work programmes for the Management Board and the five O & S Panels’, last bullet point page 3 be replaced with ‘concern was expressed about the length of time that people had to wait for adaptations’;

           (2)    it be agreed that the Chair, Councillor Fox and Councillor Wildy arrange to meet with the Director for Public Health before the next Management Board meeting on 7 October 2009.

To receive reports on business which, in the opinion of the Chair, should be brought forward for urgent consideration.

There were no items of Chair’s Urgent Business.

The Chair advised that no executive decisions had been called-in.

There were no actions from Call-ins to monitor on this occasion.

The Management Board will monitor progress on previous resolutions, including relevant resolutions of the LSP executive.

Members considered a schedule of tracking resolutions from the O & S Management Board and resolutions brought forward from Overview & Scrutiny Commission and the Resources & Performance Overview & Scrutiny Panel, and commented as follows –

• with regard to Commission minute 138(2) (08/09), as stated on the schedule, ‘Not in education, training or employment’ (NEETs) was now an item on the Children & Young People OSP’s work programme and it was recognised that there would be overlap with the Growth & Prosperity OSP;

·        with regard to Resources & Performance OSP minute 9 (09/10), ‘joint finance & performance report’, a response had been provided to this meeting (see minute 18b below) and this resolution was now completed.

·        with regard to Management Board minute no. 7a ‘bi-monthly Finance & Performance Report’, finance training for Management Board Members should be brought forward and provided as soon as possible;

·        with regard to Management Board minute no. 9a, ‘to agree the appointment of a co-optee to the Management Board’, it was understood that Douglas Fletcher, Chair of the Chamber of Commerce, had agreed in principle to being co-opted onto the Management Board and it was hoped he would be in attendance at the next meeting.

Resolved that the written response in respect of a question raised by Resources & Performance Overview & Scrutiny Panel (Minute no. 9 09/10: a schedule or sources from where the agreed transfers of £8.6m had come from) be noted.

• Overview and Scrutiny Management Board
• Support Services Overview and Scrutiny Panel

The work programmes of the Overview & Scrutiny Management Board and the Support Services Overview & Scrutiny Panel were submitted and considered.

Members commented that –

• budget scrutiny in February 2010 had been scheduled for half term week, which was not ideal – it was hoped that this could be avoided in future years;

·        regarding Support Services OSP’s scrutiny of CIP 13 (staff performance), this was dependent on consideration of the People Strategy;

·        community engagement (CIP 2, ‘involving residents’) was a weakness for the Council and should be considered by the Customers & Communities OSP with support from the Support Services OSP.

No additions to work programmes were identified on this occasion.

New items from the Forward Plan 1 September to 31 December 2009 were submitted for Members’ consideration with a view to identifying items for scrutiny.  Members commented that –

• Forward Plan item 28 (09/10) ‘Devonport Regeneration Community Partnership Succession Plan’ - it was not understood why this was considered to be a key decision;  the Chair of Management Board advised that he would speak with the Cabinet Members for Planning, Strategic Housing & Economic Development and Safer & Stronger Communities about this;

·        Forward Plan item 26 (09/10) ‘PCC’s Aquatics Strategy’ - the title of this was not meaningful and it was not clear why this had not been subject to scrutiny;  the Chair of Children and Young People’s OSP advised that she would speak with the Cabinet Member for Leisure, Culture and Sport about this.

Resolved that the Customers & Communities OSP include an item regarding the Devonport Regeneration Community Partnership Succession Plan on their next business meeting agenda.

(Councillor Coker declared a personal interest in the above item.)

• Children and Young People’s OSP – ‘Improving young people’s sexual health and wellbeing, Plymouth’s joint commissioning strategy 2009-12 and accompanying implementation plan’ (to follow);

·        Joint Growth & Prosperity OSP and Support Services OSP – monitoring of Plymouth Citybus Limited Shareholding project.

Project Initiation Documents (PIDs) were submitted, as follows –

• ‘Improving young people’s sexual health and wellbeing, Plymouth’s joint commissioning strategy 2009-12 and accompanying implementation plan’ (Children & Young People’s OSP);

·        ‘monitoring of Plymouth CityBus Limited Shareholding project’ (Joint Growth & Prosperity OSP and Support Services OSP).

Resolved that –

           (1)    the PID regarding ‘improving young people’s sexual health and wellbeing, Plymouth’s joint commissioning strategy 2009-12 and accompanying implementation plan’ be approved subject to changing the title of this scrutiny topic to ‘a focus on reducing teenage conception rates in the city’;

           (2)    the PID regarding ‘monitoring of Plymouth CityBus Limited Shareholding project’ –

(a)    be approved;

(b)    the following members be appointed to the joint task and finish group and contacted (to meet on 1 October for Phase 1 and 2 November for Phase 2) –

·        Councillor Coker (Vice-Chair of Growth & Prosperity OSP, in the Chair for the task and finish group);

·        Councillor James (Chair of Support Services OSP, Vice-Chair of the task and finish group);

·        Councillor Lowry;

·        Councillor Mrs Nelder or Councillor Wheeler;

·        Councillor Reynolds;

·        Councillor Roberts.

(Councillors Stark and Viney declared personal interests in the above item.)

Members provided updates on task and finish groups as follows –

• the Vice-Chair of Growth & Prosperity OSP reported that the first meeting had just taken place with regard to ‘Skateboarding byelaws’ and a report would be provided to the Management Board in due course;

·        the Chair of Growth & Prosperity OSP reported that the Hoe Foreshore had been visited by the task and finish group recently;  a lot of work was needed, the group would return for another visit in October, the group’s remit did not include West Hoe or diving boards.

To receive updates from each Panel on ongoing / completed work with the related LSP Theme Groups.

The Chair reported that he understood that discussions were to take place soon between the Chair of Customers & Communities OSP and the Acting Chief Supt., Devon & Cornwall Constabulary to establish protocols.

No further updates were provided.

The Chair reported that legal advice was awaited regarding the principle of including Theme Group Chairs on the membership of Overview & Scrutiny Panels.

There were no recommendations from Panels to consider on this occasion.

Responses from Cabinet (Cabinet minute nos. 45 and 48) to Overview and Scrutiny Commission minute nos. 7 (2) ‘Forward Plan’ and 10 (1) ‘Scrutiny Support’ were submitted.

Members registered their extreme disappointment with regard to Cabinet minute no. 48 in respect of Scrutiny Support.  They observed that –

• they needed to know what the Council spent on support for scrutiny and how it compared with the ‘family’ group;

·        they were still awaiting a response to the Resources and Performance OSP minute 112 (3) (08/09) which had requested a breakdown of a structure of resources for scrutiny;

·        they had not yet heard about progress in respect of Commission’s request that contributions to the scrutiny support function to be sought from statutory Local Strategic Partnership partners;  the Chair agreed to enquire further about this.

Members also expressed the need to have a breakdown of spend by Panels of the scrutiny budget.

Resolved that –

           (1)    Cabinet minute no. 48 with regard to ‘scrutiny support’ be noted with regret, particularly in view of the forthcoming programme of CAA inspections where scrutiny would be closely examined;

           (2)    a breakdown of scrutiny budget spend by Panels be provided to the Management Board;

           (3)    the Support Services OSP be requested to review the Council’s provision of scrutiny resources.

As reported in minute no. 18a above, Douglas Fletcher, Chair of the Chamber of Commerce, had agreed in principle to be co-opted to the Management Board.

There was nothing further to report at this stage.

The Chair reported that there was no progress to report at this stage.

Members highlighted that –

• there was a need for a process to be developed in respect of ‘Councillor call for action’;

·        community engagement with the Council via the ‘fix my street’ web site might be a topic for scrutiny by the Customers & Communities OSP;

·        the publication ‘Plymouth People’ would benefit from an improved format.

There was nothing to report at this stage.