Agenda and minutes

The apologies of Councillor Hamilton were noted.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no urgent items.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 16 September 2020 be agreed and signed as a correct record.

There were no Call In items.

There were no urgent decisions taken since the last meeting.

Lead Members to update the Committee on the progress of their Panels (10 minutes)

Councillor Lodge reported that the Budget Panel would be meeting on Monday 19 October to consider the 2020/21 Mid-Year Financial Review and the 2021/22 Financial Forecast including proposed Fees and Charges. A further Budget Panel would be convened in early January to allow OSCOM to consider the financial forecast ahead of the Budget being considered by Council.

Councillor Matthews, Lead Officer for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Armed Forces Covenant Panel reported that the Panel had completed phase one of the review. Councillor Matthews expressed his thanks to officers for the work that had been undertaken to date. Outcomes form the Panel would be reported for a future meeting of OSCOM.

To receive a presentation from the Corporate Portfolio Holder on her portfolio (30 minutes)

Councillor Tasker, Corporate Portfolio Holder gave a presentation on her portfolio.  She gave an overview of the portfolio which comprised Legal and Democratic Services, IT and the Customer Service Unit. The presentation gave details of key areas of work undertaken during the past year and highlighted projects and focus in the coming year.

Members made a number of comments and asked question about the Portfolio. OSCOM noted the update on the Corporate Portfolio.

To consider the Annual Report on Complaints (20 minutes)

Consideration was given to a report which set out the complaints under the Council’s formal procedure in the year 2019/20. The Chief Executive and Services together dealt with 171 complaints under the procedure and the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) made preliminary enquiries about 8 complaints relating to the Council and began an investigation into 2 of these for the year ended 31 March 2020.

It was noted that there had been a decrease of 33 complaints against the number received in 2018/19 of 204, despite the increase in housing and the population on the borough.

Members asked a number of questions including clarification on the action taken and further detail in relation to the lessons learnt and changes made as a result of  complaints received by servces.

Resolved:

That the annual report be considered and endorsed.

To enable Members to keep the Committee’s future work programme under review (10 minutes)

The Chairman updates the committee on a number of matters relating to the Committee’s work programme. The Committee considered and agreed the following amendments to the Work Programme:

·  Hampshire Fire and Rescue had been contacted regarding attending the committee however had not as yet been able to confirm a date to attend.

·  The review of the Council’s key performance indicators would be included as part of a wider a round table session for Members looking at the update of the Corporate Action Plan for year three ahead of its meeting in March.

·  It was anticipated that an update on the New Neighbourhoods Review would be presented to the Committee at its meeting in February.

·  Consideration of cemeteries would be incorporated into the work of the Budget Panel at a future panel meeting.

·  The review for the selection of Chairman for OSCOM would be taken forward in the new year.

·  A scope for the review of Outside Bodies would be considered by OSCOM at a future meeting following an item on grants funding at a future OSCOM.

·  Climate Change Workshop to be held on – 25th or 30th November (TBC) at 5.30pm.

Councillor Baverstock advised that she would like to take forward a second stage of work on the Future of Health Provision. A number of Members had expressed an interest in leading on specific theme areas. The Committee welcomed a scoping document on the proposed review at its next meeting. 

Emma Horbury provided feedback on the OSCOM away day held on 5 October. Following consideration by Members on a range of potential review areas, feedback had been collated, and the following next steps were proposed:

·  Community Engagement and Communication – A Member session on the role of the Community Councillor would be held on Monday 16 November at 4pm.

·  Covid-19 Recovery - OSCOM would receive regular reports at Committee meetings beginning on 21 January 2021.

·  Disability, Equality and inclusion - OSCOM would receive an annual report with the first annual report being presented to OSCOM at its meeting in June 2021.

·  Diversity in Employment and Skills – A roundtable would be held at 4pm on Tuesday 10 November prior to the OSCOM Committee meeting.

·  Housing Provision - Scope being developed to consider a review.

·  Local Plan - Members would be invited to attend a series of seminars. The first session on the Planning White Paper was held on 5 October. The next session would take place in December.

·  Mental Health Provision – A case study seminar for Members would be held in early December.

·  Planning Enforcement - A Planning Enforcement training session would be held for Members on Tuesday 24 November at 5:30pm.