Agenda and minutes

Overview and Scrutiny Management Board - Wednesday 13 June 2012 4.00 pm

Venue: Council House (next to the Civic Centre)

Contact: Helen Wright, Democratic Support Officer  Email: helen.wright@plymouth.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

WELCOME

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed new and old Members to the first meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board.

2.

CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR

To note the appointment made at the Annual General Meeting on 18 May 2012 of Councillor Mrs Aspinall as Chair and to appoint a Vice Chair.

Minutes:

Members noted the appointment of Councillor Mrs Aspinall as Chair for the municipal year 2012/13.

 

The Management Board agreed to appoint Councillor Tuffin as Vice Chair for the municipal year 2012/13.

3.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

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

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest made by Councillors in accordance with the code of conduct.

4.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 88 KB

The Management Board will be asked to agree the minutes of the meeting held on 28 March 2012.

Minutes:

Agreed that the minutes of the meeting held on 28 March 2012 are confirmed as a correct record.

5.

CHAIR'S URGENT BUSINESS

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

Minutes:

There were  no items of Chair’s urgent business.

6.

LEADER AND INTERIM CHIEF EXECUTIVE

To hear from the Councillor Evans, Leader and Bob Coomber, Interim Chief Executive on council and city issues.

 

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed the Leader and the Interim Chief Executive, who were in attendance to report on Council and City issues. The report highlighted the Council’s new objectives, which included the following –

 

(a)

a commitment to become a co-operative council which would put people in control of their own communities and services; staff would also have a stronger stake in how services were improved;

 

(b)

the co-operative approach would be applied across council services which would look at what amenities and local services could be best run by local people and how they might do this;  a community economic development trust for the north of the city would be set up together with a co-operative energy supply company or mutual; 

 

(c)

 

there were a number of themed commitments (the top five promises were) -

 

 

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a new plan for jobs, to get young people back to work;

 

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keep the roads and pavements clean and in good repair;

 

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encourage more homes to be available to rent or buy;

 

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a new deal for older people’s care;

 

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campaigning to bring down crime and keep Plymouth safe;

 

(d)

 

a commitment to open government and greater public involvement which was fundamental to the co-operative council approach; progress in delivering the programme would be communicated to the media, customers and staff;

 

(e)

a continued commitment to the vision for Plymouth to be ‘one of Europe’s finest, most vibrant waterfront cities where an outstanding quality of life can be enjoyed by everyone’;

 

(f)

the adoption of a cooperative council approach would result in openness, working together and putting the trust in the people that the council served.

 

The following responses were provided to questions raised by Board Members –

 

(g)

the airport was closed in December 2011 because it was financially unviable for Sutton Harbour Holdings to continue to operate it; the council was not in a position to be able to subsidise the airport nor was it in a position to operate an airport;

 

following the decision of Sutton Harbour Holdings to auction items of equipment and assets from the airport, the council had requested that the auction cease and a meeting would be arranged to discuss the way forward; the council firmly believed that all key airport assets should be retained by Sutton Harbour Holdings to avoid jeopardising any potential for re-opening the facility;

 

a copy of the business plan outlining the proposals to reopen the airport and provide scheduled air services had been provided by the action group ‘Viable Plymouth Ltd’;

 

(h)

work was being undertaken to obtain the contractual detail of the agreement that had been signed for the incinerator; this was an extremely complex legal agreement and a clear understanding was required in order to ascertain what the Council had been committed to;

 

(i)

although the Police and Crime Panel composition had yet to be agreed by all of the local authorities involved, it was proposed that Plymouth had two seats (the Panel membership would be made up of 20 members  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

TERMS OF REFERENCE pdf icon PDF 40 KB

To note the terms of reference for the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board. (Please can Members bring amendments to the meeting for consideration).

Minutes:

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

 

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membership of the Management Board;

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role of the Management Board; 

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meetings of the Management Board.

 

Agreed that the Management Board’s revised terms of reference are submitted to the next appropriate City Council meeting.

8.

APPOINTMENT OF CO-OPTED REPRESENTATIVES

The Overview and Scrutiny Management Board will consider the appointment of co-opted representatives.

Minutes:

The Management Board considered the appointment of co-opted representatives for the forthcoming municipal year.

 

Agreed to review the co-opted representatives nominations received from the panels, prior to considering nominations for the Management Board.

9.

URGENT KEY DECISION pdf icon PDF 46 KB

To receive an urgent key.

Minutes:

The Board noted the key urgent decision regarding the capital investment delivery for University Technical College.

10.

FORWARD PLAN pdf icon PDF 85 KB

To receive new items from the Forward Plan with a view to identifying items for scrutiny.

Minutes:

The Board noted the new additions to the Forward Plan, as follows –

 

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capital investment delivery for university technical college;

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Plymouth plan;

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Devon framework for bathroom adaptations;

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health, social care, wellbeing and financial inclusion advice and information service – contract award;

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older persons charter;

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public health transition arrangements;

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new cooperative model for energy solutions;

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community infrastructure levy revised draft charging schedule;

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new models for green space management;

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support for families;

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local development framework adoption of shopping centres supplementary planning document;

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local development framework adoption of planning obligations and affordable housing supplementary planning document – second review;

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community covenant;

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Police and crime panel.

 

11.

RECOMMENDATIONS

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

Minutes:

There were no recommendations from panels, Cabinet or Council to consider.

12.

DRAFT WORK PROGRAMME pdf icon PDF 47 KB

To consider its draft work programme for the municipal year 2012-13.

Minutes:

The Management Board considered its draft work programme for 2012/13.

 

Agreed that the following items would be included on the work programme for the forthcoming year –

 

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charter for older people;

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corporate plan 2012-2015;

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Police and Crime Panel;

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welfare reform;

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library modernisation review;

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youth unemployment (young people with special educational needs and disabilities) task and finish group;

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finance and performance reporting task and finish group.

 

13.

TASK AND FINISH UPDATE/REPORTS pdf icon PDF 112 KB

To receive for consideration any Task and Finish Group reports or updates currently in progress –

 

—          Youth Unemployment

Minutes:

The Management Board considered the task and finish group report on youth unemployment and agreed the report.

 

The Board agreed to undertake a task and finish group to explore how successful young people with special educational needs and disabilities are in gaining employment.

14.

EXEMPT BUSINESS

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.

Minutes:

There were no items of exempt business.