Agenda and minutes

To record apologies for absence and the attendance of substitute members. 

None.

To receive any declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests in respect of items on the agenda for this meeting.  

None.

To receive notification of any matters which the chair determines should be considered as urgent business and the special circumstances which have made the matters urgent, and to receive any announcements from the chair. 

There was no urgent business. Chair ran through housekeeping for the meeting.

To formally adopt and sign as a correct record the Scrutiny Committee minutes of the meeting held on 26 July 2021.

Informal notes from the 27 May are attached – for members to note.

Previous minutes and informal notes can be found here, for your information:

  https://democratic.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CId=103&Year=0

The Scrutiny Committee minutes of the meeting held on 26 July 2021 were agreed as a correct record, and the chair will sign them as such.

To receive any questions or statements from members of the public that have registered to speak. 

None.

To review the attached scrutiny work schedule. Please note, although the dates are confirmed, the items under consideration are subject to being withdrawn, added to or rearranged without further notice.

The A34 item has been moved to the meeting on 25 November, to ensure that relevant officers from Oxfordshire County Council and Highways England can be present for the discussion.

Chair explained that the Q1 performance report related to the period ending 30 June, but this was the first opportunity after the summer democratic holiday to be able to consider this report.

To consider a report of the Head of policy and programmes

Chair explained that the Q1 performance report related to the period ending 30 June, but this was the first Scrutiny meeting in the cycle to be able to consider this report.

Cabinet member, Councillor Debby Hallett introduced the item. The strategic performance report measured the council’s performance and progress against the corporate plan aims. This will be considered for approval at Cabinet on 1 October 2021.

The 60-page report covered the period of quarter 1 (1 April – 30 June 2021) and showed the hard work officers had put in. Meetings of Scrutiny and Cabinet in May requested that the report would be an accurate reflection of progress made, so ‘no progress’ was stated where applicable.

Councillor Hallett did explain that as this was the first report, any changes would be considered and implemented to improve it for the next quarter, starting 1 July 2021.

Comments were welcomed, and Harry Barrington-Mountford, Head of Policy and Programmes, was present to answer any technical questions.

In response to a query raised, Councillor Hallett confirmed that the timing of reports would be raised with the senior management team to ensure scrutiny had enough time to review them. She asked the committee to focus on the progress for this quarter, not just report presentation improvements.

Comments and questions were raised and were noted by the Head of Policy and Programmes.

Resolved:

For committee to email Chair and Councillor Hallett regarding how scrutiny wish to review these reports in future, as per the discussion had today, and to identify what scrutiny committee want to add to the process.

To consider whether to exclude members of the press and public from the meeting for the following item of business under Part 1 of Schedule 12A Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 and as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006 on the grounds that:

(i)        it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1-7 Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, and

(ii)       the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. 

Committee voted in favour of excluding the public, in order to review a confidential item on Inter Authority Agreement.

To consider a report from the Head of finance – paper to follow.

The committee considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive – Transformation and Operations on inter authority agreement. The committee provided their comments.