Agenda and minutes

Minutes of the Meeting held on Wednesday, 7^th March, 2018 (previously circulated). 

The Minutes of the meeting held on 7th March 2018 were signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

To receive declarations by Members of interests in respect of items on this Agenda. 

Members are reminded that, in accordance with the Localism Act 2011, they are required to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests which have not already been declared in the Council’s Register of Interests. (It is a criminal offence not to declare a disclosable pecuniary interest either in the Register or at the meeting). 

Whilst not a legal requirement, in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 9 and in the interests of clarity and transparency, Members should declare any disclosable pecuniary interests which they have already declared in the Register, at this point in the meeting. 

In accordance with Part B Section 2 of the Code Of Conduct, Members are required to declare the existence and nature of any other interests as defined in paragraphs 8(1) or 9(2) of the Code of Conduct. 

The Chairman and Councillor David Whitaker declared non pecuniary interests in relation to Minute 56 as trustees on the Citizen’s Advice Bureau.

Councillor Charlie Edwards declared a non pecuniary interest in relation to Minute 56 as a trustee on CVS and also in Minute 57 as he worked for a digital company.

The Committee to consider. 

Note:  The Economic Development Manager has been invited to attend.

The Economic Development Manager gave the Committee an overview of the work that had been undertaken in 2012 regarding commissioning of the Voluntary and Faith Sector.  Members were reminded that the Task Group that had been established to work on this had not previously been provided with or considered the 2012 report.

It was reported that the work undertaken in 2012 saw a shift from a grants system to commissioning of services for Voluntary and Faith Sector organisations from 2013. It was expected that the process would be re-examined in 3 years time, in 2016, but this did not occur.

It was felt by the Committee that the Commissioning Framework that had been devised in 2012 was still mainly relevant to today’s community needs. Members reiterated that they did not feel it was appropriate for this piece of work to be undertaken by another organisation.

Members discussed the role of the Councillors who sat on the boards of the organisations who received funding from the City Council. It was suggested that the Councillors should receive information when they were appointed on the requirements and services expected from the City Council.

It was agreed that the organisations that receive funding from the City Council should be requested to report to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in Autumn of this year as a means of monitoring of the commissioned services provided for the district.

Members were advised that the Working Group, that had been established to examine this piece of work would meet again to review the information presented at this meeting and report back to the Committee.

Resolved :-

It was unanimously agreed :

(1)  That the City Councillors appointed to the boards receive information when they are appointed on the requirements and services expected from the Council.

(2)  That the organisations that receive funding from the City Council, be requested to report to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in Autumn of this year as means of monitoring of the commissioned services provided for the district.

(3)  That this item be added to the Committee’s Work Programme.

(4)  That the Working Group that had been established to examine this piece of work will review the information presented at this meeting and report back to the Committee.

An update will be provided at the meeting.

Members were reminded that, at the last meeting of the Committee, it had been agreed that an Informal Task Group be established to investigate a Vision for a Digital Lancaster.

It was reported that, unfortunately, few Members had come forward to take part in this piece of scrutiny work.

The Committee was provided with an update on the current situation and how the City Council was working with its partners, including Digital Lancaster, to move this forward.

It was felt that the Digital Lancaster agenda had moved on hugely since the original request had been made in Autumn of 2017.

It was agreed that a briefing note would be circulated to highlight to Members the work that had been undertaken since last year regarding Digital Lancaster.

It was further agreed that the Informal Task Group be stood down.

Resolved :

(1)  That the Lancaster Digital City Vision Informal Task Group be stood down.

(2)  That a briefing note be circulated to highlight to Members the work that had been undertaken since last year regarding Digital Lancaster.

Report of the Interim Head of Legal and Democratic Services. 

The Committee considered a report regarding the way in which the Committee’s Work Programme and agenda items were agreed.

The City Council’s Management Team had concluded that the Committee’s current Work Programme contained far too much work for the Committee to undertake and that included in the Work Programme were items that were not considered priorities for the Council. It was suggested that the Committee needed to agree an approach as to how items were allocated to the Work Programme. It was noted that the arrangements for consulting on future Work Programme items, as set out in Council’s Constitution, would continue with the Committee agreeing the Work Programme early in the new Municipal Year.

Members considered how other local authorities chose items for their Work Programmes and a number of options were set out in the report.

The Committee went on to consider standing items on the agenda and Work Programme as well as the appointments that were undertaken annually by the Committee.

Members discussed recent Council and Personnel Committee meetings but it was noted that this was not contained within the agenda or in the remit of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

It was unanimously agreed :

Resolved :-

(1)  That, with regard to the Work Programme, a meeting be arranged with the Chairman of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee, Chairman of Budget & Performance Panel, the Pre-Scrutiny Champion and members of the Council’s Senior Management Team. This meeting will allow a preliminary prioritisation of submissions to be conducted and report back to this Committee. This being

            subject to the arrangements for consulting on future Work Programme items             as set out in the Constitution continuing and the Work Programme being finally             agreed by this Committee.

(2)  That Councillor Call for Action, Petitions and Locality Working be removed as standing items on the Committee’s Work Programme.

(3)  That updates on ‘Better Care Together’ be circulated by email to the Committee in the future.

(4)  That the City Council’s Health Scrutiny Champion be invited to attend a future meeting to provide an update.

(5)  That the Committee no longer appoint Cabinet Liaison Members.

(6)  That the Committee no longer appoints to the Fairtrade Steering Group.

(7)  That the above resolutions (1), (2), (5) and (6) be referred to the City Council’s Monitoring Officer for consideration of any constitutional issues arising from this.

It was noted that there had not been any requests for items to be considered in accordance with the Councillor Call for Action process.

It was noted that there had not been any requests for items to be considered in accordance with the Petition process.

There was no update on this issue.