Agenda and draft minutes

To receive as a correct record the Minutes of the Meeting held on 29th May 2024 (previously circulated). 

The Minutes of the meeting held on 29^th May 2024 were signed by the Chair as a correct record. 

There were no items of urgent business. 

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

Councillors 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, Councillors 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, Councillors 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. 

There were no Declarations of Interest. 

Report of Chief Officer – Governance. 

Members were requested to consider the list of suggestions for the Committee’s Work Programme that had been received from members of the public and Councillors. It was reported that the Chair of the Committee and the Budget and Performance Panel Chair along with the Pre-Scrutiny Champion had met with the Council’s Executive Team to discuss the outstanding Work Programme and the suggestions that had been submitted for the forthcoming year.

Members of the Committee were reminded of the training that had been provided by the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny (CfGS), on 17th July 2024.

The Committee was also asked to note the appointment of Councillor Chris Hanna as the scrutiny representative on the Mainway Project Board.  

The Committee considered the existing Work Programme and agreed to remove Air Quality Management Areas.  It was further agreed that the following be included in the Committee’s Work Programme:-

Resolved:-

(1)           That the existing Work Programme items for the Committee be agreed, with the exception of the deletion of the item regarding Air Quality, and that the following items be added to the Work Programme for the Municipal Year. 

Report of Chief Officer – Governance. 

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Officer – Governance, on the introduction of a Pre-Decision Scrutiny Protocol.

Appended to the report were details of the Appendix to the Guidance.  This advised of the sections that the protocol may contain.  Most of the sections were already fully covered in the Council’s Constitution either in the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure rules in Part 3, Section 3 or elsewhere.  Having taken this into account and not wishing to duplicate the rules in the Constitution, the area where a protocol would seem to be useful is:

·            The way in which senior officers and Cabinet will keep scrutiny informed of the outlines of major decisions as they are developed, to allow for discussion of scrutiny’s potential involvement in policy development. This involves the building in of safeguards to mitigate risks around the sharing of sensitive information with scrutiny members.

It was suggested that, if the Committee wished to recommend the introduction of a Pre-Decision Scrutiny Protocol, Members may wish to consider:

·            What the Committee would like to do when they receive the forthcoming list of Key Decisions notice.

·            More informal meetings between the Pre-Decision Scrutiny Champion and Scrutiny Chairs and Leader/Deputy Leader/Portfolio Holders.

·            Cabinet Briefings

·            Centre for |Governance and Scrutiny (CfGS) – Case Studies

After considering the report the Committee. 

Resolved :-

(1)        That the Committee recommend the introduction of a Pre-decision Scrutiny Protocol.

(2)         The Committee request that the following be included in a Pre-decision Scrutiny Protocol: 

·       The way in which senior officers and Cabinet will keep scrutiny informed of the outlines of major decisions as they are developed, to allow for discussion of scrutiny’s potential involvement in policy development. This involves the building in of safeguards to mitigate risks around the sharing of sensitive information with Scrutiny members. 

·       That the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Vice-Chair and Pre-Scrutiny Committee Champion be invited to Cabinet briefings and be permitted to ask questions at those briefings. 

·       That a Pre-Scrutiny meeting be arranged when required by the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to consider the forthcoming list of Key Decisions. The meeting would include the Chair and Vice Chair of the Committee, Chair and Vice Chair of the Budget and Performance Panel, the Pre-Decision Scrutiny Champion and relevant officers identified by the Chief Executive. This enabled those Members to query and question officers on issues that were to be considered at the next Cabinet meeting and obtain information on background papers/list of the documents submitted to the decision taker for consideration in relation to the matter. 

·       That a meeting with the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Chair of the Budget and Performance Panel and Cabinet Members be arranged at the beginning of each municipal year to discuss forthcoming Key Decisions, projects and ways in which Scrutiny can be involved at an early stage of the decision-making process. 

·       That, with regard to the list of Key Decisions, the Committee recommends a commitment to provide an extended list  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

The List of Forthcoming Key Decisions can be viewed here

The Committee noted the latest List of Forthcoming Key Decisions.