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

There were no declarations of interest by Members in accordance with the Code of Conduct.

The Management Board will be asked to agree the minutes/report of the meetings held on -

The minutes of the meeting held on 3 February and the budget scrutiny meetings held on 15 and 17 February were submitted for approval.

Members commented that they had still not received the list of grants not taken up that had been requested at the budget scrutiny meeting.  They were concerned that this lack of information would affect the ability to set the budget appropriately and that information provided to different sectors in the city was not up to date.

Resolved that –

(1)               the minutes of the meeting held on 3 February 2010 be confirmed as a correct record;

(2)               the minutes of the meeting held on 15, continued on 17 February 2010 be confirmed as a correct record and the budget scrutiny report attached to the minutes and submitted to City Council on 1 March 2010 be noted;

(3)               the O & S Management Board’s disappointment that the list of grants not applied for (requested at the budget scrutiny meeting) had not yet been provided be noted;

(4)               the Director for Corporate Support’s response in respect of the list of grants not applied for be requested for the next meeting, to include information regarding the on-going process for the monitoring of grant take up.

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 to monitor from call-ins on this occasion.

The Chair advised that no urgent executive decisions had been taken between 25 January 2010 and 19 February 2010.

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

Members considered a schedule of tracking resolutions and the following was highlighted –

• regarding O & S Commission minute 37(5) which refers to  presentations on Care Quality Commission for all Members and LSP theme groups, officers advised that the scrutiny and LSP theme group inter-working protocol was the vehicle for addressing this issue and the Supporting Members Group was currently addressing matters relating to training and briefings for Members;

·        regarding minute 31(2), ‘…the Head of Policy, Performance & Partnerships be requested to discuss the proposed restructure of policy and performance personnel within the Services for Children and Young People’s department with the Chair of the Children & Young People’s OSP’, discussions had now taken place and the minute could be considered closed;

·        regarding minute 43(c), new items from the Forward Plan, ‘the Chair of Growth & Prosperity OSP discuss with the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Planning Strategic Housing & Economic Development the reason why the G & P OSP had not been included in the list of persons to be consulted with in respect of LDF: Annual Review of Planning Obligations and Affordable Housing Supplementary Planning Document’, discussions had now taken place and the Cabinet Members had apologised for scrutiny not being included on the Forward Plan items; the minute could be considered closed;

·        regarding 46(a)(2), ‘…update on tackling anti-social behaviour strategy including the Councillor Call for Action, the Assistant Director for Safer Communities, who was also the lead officer for the Panel, be requested to liaise with the Acting Chief Supt. Devon & Cornwall Constabulary, with a view to achieving the resources needed for (a) research on national indicators 17 and 21 and (b) mapping of intergenerational work within the city and further resources to enhance its delivery’, there was confusion between the issue of the Councillor Call for Action Toolkit currently under development and Councillor Ball’s particular issue regarding anti-social behaviour;

·        regarding minute 46a(4), ‘…the Head of Performance, Policy & Partnerships be requested to meet with the Panel Chairs and Lead Officers to identify (i) specific CIPs relevant to individual Panels and (ii) which cross-cutting CIPs were relevant to Panel(s), in time to meet deadlines for the November City Council agenda dispatch’, terms of reference issues would be considered at City Council in the new municipal year;

·        regarding 76(1), tracking resolutions, ‘… driving speeds at the Hoe – this issue to wait until the Councillor Call for Action toolkit had been agreed’, the Councillor Call for Action toolkit was to be considered at the next meeting and how to take this particular issue forward would be addressed then.

Resolved that –

(1)               with regard to O & S Commission minute no. 37(5), officers be requested to set up a presentation to be held on the day of the next City Council meeting, i.e. 26 April 2010, on Care Quality Commission for all Members with an invitation extended to Theme Group members, and to consult with the Supporting Members Group and group whips on the timing of the presentation;

(2)               with regard  ...  view the full minutes text for item 91.

Panel Chairs from Customers & Communities, Growth & Prosperity and Health & Adult Social Care OSPs advised that there had been some contact with their related theme groups, as follows –

• the Chair of Growth & Prosperity OSP had been updated on the Wealthy Theme Group and would update his Panel;

·        the Customers & Communities OSP was due to receive an update at the next Panel meeting;

·        the Chair of Health & Adult Social Care OSP met regularly with the Chief Executive of NHS Plymouth.

Members were informed that 31 March 2010 was the suggested date for the next ‘breakfast’ meeting of O & S Management Board members and Theme Group Chairs.

There were no updates on this occasion.

The Assistant Chief Executive submitted a report outlining relationships and interfaces between the Plymouth City Council Scrutiny function and the Plymouth Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) theme groups.

The Assistant Chief Executive’s representative advised that –

• the consultation exercise had been completed and the LSP Executive group had formally endorsed the paper;

·        the LSP Executive group and theme group co-ordinators were keen to meet with Panel chairs and panel lead officers and the arrangements proposed in the protocols met ‘breakfast meeting’ objectives, i.e. –

Ø      scrutiny chairs and theme group chairs set up quarterly one to one working sessions to align agendas going forward and discuss experience from the last quarter’s work;

Ø      scrutiny lead officers and theme group co-ordinators set up monthly one to one working sessions to maintain forward plan alignment.

Resolved that the protocols be endorsed, with recommendation 4 being amended to read –

‘scrutiny chairs and vice-chairs and theme group chairs and vice chairs set up quarterly one to one working sessions to align agendas going forward and discuss experience from the last quarter’s work’.

Resolved that –

(1)     with regard to Health and Adult Social Care OSP draft minute no. 56 – Joint Strategic Needs Assessment, it is noted that, prior to any confirmation of the recommendation, the Chair of Health & Adult Social Care will report back to the Board on the meeting she will have with Chief Executive of NHS Plymouth and the Director for Community Services to discuss the best way forward with this issue;

(2)     with regard to Growth & Prosperity OSP draft minute no. 51 – Plymouth City Council Housing Services –

(a)     in line with the scrutiny terms of reference, it be confirmed that the Growth & Prosperity OSP is the main panel for considering strategic housing issues;

(b)     officers be requested to liaise with the Monitoring Officer to establish what was formally agreed when the housing stock was transferred to Plymouth Community Homes regarding scrutiny of the service;

(c)     the Support Services OSP join with the Growth & Prosperity OSP to help with scrutiny of homelessness and housing needs issues;

(d)     the Growth & Prosperity OSP invite the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Support Services OSP to meet with the Cabinet Member for Planning, Strategic Housing and Economic Development to discuss how best to take scrutiny of housing issues forward;

(3)     in view of the lack of clarity regarding Member interface with children locality teams and the implementation of locality working, the Head of Performance, Policy & Partnerships be requested to speak with the Assistant Director for Safer Communities and seek a locality working project plan for Members.

There were no actions against recommendations made to Cabinet or Council on this occasion.

The work programmes of the Overview & Scrutiny Management Board and the Overview & Scrutiny Panels were submitted and considered.  

Resolved that a ‘breakfast’ meeting with Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) theme group chairs be held on 31 March 2010 at 8.30am, venue to be identified, to discuss the way forward now that the scrutiny and LSP inter-working protocols had been agreed.

No additions to work programmes were identified on this occasion.

New items from the Forward Plan were submitted for Members’ consideration with a view to identifying items for scrutiny. 

Members commented that, with regard to Place Management Strategy (FP 53 09/10), once again there was no mention of Ward Members or scrutiny in the list of ‘persons to be consulted with’ and the time between publication of this Forward Plan (15 February 2010) and the date by which representations had to be returned, i.e. 1 March 2010, was insufficient.

Resolved that the O & S Management Board’s concerns regarding the lack of openness and transparency in respect of the Place Management Strategy Forward Plan item, as demonstrated by the short deadline for returning written representations to the Assistant Director for Economic Development or the Cabinet Member for Planning, Strategic Housing and Economic Development, as well as the lack of consultation with scrutiny or ward Members, be expressed by the Chair to Cabinet.

There were no PIDs or task and finish groups to agree on this occasion.

The Chair of the Growth & Prosperity OSP’s Task and Finish Group that had considered the Skateboarding Bye-law presented the scrutiny report for approval. 

The Chair of the Task and Finish Group advised that there had been press interest expressed in this topic, although unfortunately the press had attended on the wrong day, and he had received positive feedback to the scrutiny from the Youth Parliament.

Resolved that –

(1)               the Skateboarding Bye-law scrutiny report be approved and forwarded to Cabinet;

(2)               congratulations and thanks be extended to all who had contributed to this excellent piece of scrutiny;

(3)               consideration be given to enabling a photo-opportunity involving the Task and Finish Group members, police and skateboarders when the skateboarding signs were changed.

Those present commented that press coverage for ‘skateboarding’ had already been discussed (see minute 95 (3) above) and expressed their disappointment that there had been little of press coverage of the recent budget scrutiny that had taken place.

It was suggested that Panels should consider inviting the Head of Communications to their meetings to discuss the issue of press coverage of scrutiny issues.

Resolved that the Leader be invited to the next meeting to present the Cabinet response to budget scrutiny recommendations.

There were no communication plans to consider on this occasion.