The Chair welcomed new and old Members to the first meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board and offered a vote of thanks to all those who had been involved previously for the achievements made during 2010/11.

To note the appointments made at the Annual Meeting on 20 May 2011 of Councillor James as Chair and Councillor Patrick Nicholson as Vice-Chair.

Members noted the appointment of Councillor James as Chair and Councillor Nicholson as Vice-Chair for the Municipal Year 2011/12.

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

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

The Board will consider the appointment of co-opted representatives.

The Chair reported that this would be the last meeting attended by Jake Paget who would be leaving Plymouth in September to attend University in London.  The Board thanked Jake for his contribution to scrutiny and wished him all the very best for the future.

Doug Fletcher advised the Board that although he wished to continue his role as a co-opted representative, due to other pressures on his time, he would be unable to attend all of the meetings programmed for the year and, in particular, he would not be available for the budget scrutiny meetings in January 2012.

Agreed that –

The Management Board will be asked to agree the minutes of the meetings held on 23 March and 6 April 2011.

Agreed the minutes of the meetings held on 23 March and 6 April 2011.

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

Proposed Changes to Scrutiny

Further to minute 128, the Chair informed the Board that, as a result of the consultation process, the proposals for changes to scrutiny had been withdrawn.

To note the terms of reference for the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board.

Discussion took place on the Board’s terms of reference with the following issues being highlighted as either being incorrect or no longer of relevance –

• Membership proportionality
• Reference to Local Area Agreements

Agreed that the Board’s terms of reference, particularly its aims and objectives, would be revisited as part of the Constitutional review that was currently under way.

To hear from the Leader and Chief Executive on council and city issues.

The Chair welcomed the Leader and, in the absence of the Chief Executive, the Director of Services for Children and Young People, who were in attendance to report on Council and City issues.  Success highlights of the report included that –

• Plymouth was bidding for Enterprise Zone status with potential sites having been identified at Langage Energy Park, South Yard Devonport, Plymouth International and Medical Technology Park, Tamar Science Park and Millbay
• the America’s Cup was coming to Plymouth in September 2011 putting the City on the global map and bringing a boost to the City’s economy
• Plymouth Arts’ Show would be underway at the end of September 2011 operating over five different sites in the City
• Plymouth had just been identified as the host City for National Armed Forces Day on 30 June 2012
• the Olympic Torch would be arriving in Plymouth on 20 May 2012 as part of its journey to London
• the City was supporting the University’s £4m bid to set up a new University Technical College to train teenagers to become builders, technicians and engineers.  The College would provide places for 450 students from Plymouth and its travel to work area.  Lord Baker would be visiting Plymouth on 27 July to look at the four sites which had been identified as possible suitable locations
• a ‘topping out’ ceremony had recently taken place at the Life Centre and the project was still on budget and on time

In terms of challenges faced by the authority, the Board was informed that –

• Cabinet Members and CMT were continuing to rigorously monitor performance to ensure high quality services were being delivered to local people within budget efficiencies
• child poverty remained a priority focus of the City and the Council continued to work closely with partners to deliver the shared agenda through a package of job creation, reducing inequalities and raising attainment
• officers were closely monitoring the masses of Government policy changes (local and national), consultations etc. to ensure the City was on top of the changes and to assess their impact on the City. In order to ensure a more efficient use of the Council’s resources in this regard, a reorganisation was currently under way to co-locate staff into one Policy Team
• a number of teaching staff would be taking industrial action on 30 June resulting in the closure or partial closure of some of the City’s schools
• with regard to the health agenda, the City was working closely with the Chief Executive of the new cluster comprising NHS Devon, NHS Plymouth and Torbay Care Trust.  It was envisaged that a number of challenges and opportunities would arise through –
  • the transfer of responsibility for public health back into local authority control
  • establishment of a relationship with the GP consortia

In response to questions raised, Members were advised that –

To receive the Joint Finance and Performance Report as submitted to Cabinet on 7 June 2011.

The Cabinet Member for Transformation, Performance and Governance, Corporate Finance and Accountancy Manager, and Policy Officer, were in attendance to respond to questions on the Joint Finance and Performance report as submitted to Cabinet on 7 June 2011.

Areas of focus in the discussion included –

• lack of clarity on the latest revenue position
• concerns over the increase in incidents of staff sickness
• that, throughout the report, there was a lack of information on how performance was monitored or evaluated
• lack of information on how the schools’ budget was allocated
• how the City compared to others in terms of its Council Tax collection

Agreed that –

To consider the Medium Term Financial Strategy 2011-2015 as presented to Cabinet on 7 June 2011.

The Head of Finance was in attendance to respond to questions on the Medium Term Financial Strategy 2011-2015 submitted to Cabinet on 7 June 2011.

In response to questions raised, Members were advised that –

Agreed that areas of risk identified in the Risk Register and related to the Medium Term Financial Strategy are appended to future reports.

To consider the Annual Scrutiny Report for the year 2010/2011.

The Lead Officer tabled for comment the first draft of the Annual Scrutiny Report.  Members were advised that the main focus of the report had been to demonstrate how the work of scrutiny supported the City’s four priorities.  Discussion took place on other potential issues for inclusion within the report and whether the timing of its presentation to Board should be revised to the second quarter.

Agreed that the draft report is circulated to all of the scrutiny panels for comment with a view to submission to City Council in September.

The Overview and Scrutiny Management Board will monitor progress on previous decisions.

The Board noted the schedule of previous decisions made.

Members will receive executive decisions that have been deemed urgent with the agreement of the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board.

The Board noted that two urgent decisions had been taken in consultation with the Chair since the last meeting, namely –

With regard to (a), concern was raised over a discrepancy between what was stated within the financial implications section of the urgent decision and what was stated within the Joint Finance and Performance Report.  One estimated that costs would be met from within existing budgets and private sector contributions, the other was recommending an additional budget allocation of £100,000.

Agreed that clarification would be sought on the costs to the Council in staging the America’s Cup World Series event and the response circulated to Board Members via e-mail.

To receive and consider recommendations from panels, Cabinet or Council.

The Board considered recommendations received from the Growth and Prosperity and Children and Young People’s Overview and Scrutiny Panels.  As these recommendations related to the Panels’ work programmes, details of the discussion were recorded under minute 15b.

The Board noted that there had been 12 new additions to the Forward Plan since its last meeting.  With regard to Plymouth’s Local Carbon Framework, it was suggested that pre-decision scrutiny of the matter may be appropriate.  Councillor James, in his capacity as Chair of the Support Services Overview and Scrutiny Panel, offered to raise it at the Panel’s next agenda setting meeting.

The work programmes of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board and Panels were submitted for consideration and approval.

With regard to Growth and Prosperity –

• the Lead Officer reported that he had prepared a briefing on the Localism Bill which he would be happy to circulate to Board Members
• the Panel would be hosting a session with Plymouth Community Homes at 4.30 pm on 11 July 2011

With regard to Customers and Communities –

• a query was raised as to why the Panel was receiving an update on Revenues and Benefits when the matter was being looked at by Support Services
• a suggestion was made that the panel may want to look at the impact of late return fees following the abolition of stamping library books with a return by date
• it was noted that dates for consideration of items still had to be identified

With regard to Health and Adult Social Care a query was raised about the use of Ritalin in the City, one of the highest in the Country.  The Lead Officer advised that he believed this had been raised previously in the guise of a Member’s Question.

With regard to the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board, it was noted that there was duplication with Support Services on Procure to Pay.

With regard to Support Services, it was noted that dates for consideration of items still had to be identified.

With regard to Children and Young People, the Panel Chair raised concern over the lack of action taken in respect of one of the recommendations arising from the Young Carers Task and Finish Group, namely the showing of a DVD to all Members prior to a meeting of City Council.

Agreed the work programmes as submitted, subject to –

With regard to the concern raised by the Chair of the Children and Young People’s Overview and Scrutiny Panel, it was also agreed that –

There were no Project Initiation Documents to consider on this occasion.

There were no Task and Finish Group Updates or Reports to consider on this occasion.

To consider passing a resolution under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the press and public from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that it (they) involve(s) the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph(s) … of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended by the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

There were no items of exempt business.