Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

There was no public participation.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no urgent items.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 14 October 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.

To receive a presentation from Councillor Jeffrey, Community and Leisure Portfolio Holder. (30 minutes)

Councillor Jeffrey, Community and Leisure Portfolio Holder gave a presentation on his portfolio.  He gave an overview of the portfolio which comprised parks, countryside, sport and play, cemeteries, arts and culture, communities and volunteers. The presentation highlighted key achievements from the past year and set out challenges for, and focus in the coming year.

Members made a number of comments and asked questions about the Community and Leisure Portfolio. OSCOM noted the update and thanked Councillor Jeffrey for his presentation.

To receive a verbal update from Councillor Lodge, Lead Member of the Budget Panel, on the latest budget position, a view of the Fees and Charges for 2021/22 and the Budget Forecast for 2021/22. (20 minutes)

Councillor Lodge, Chairman of the Budget Panel, provided OSCOM with an overview of the Budget Panel meeting held on 19 October 2020. The Budget Panel had considered an update on the latest budget position up to 30 September 2020 as well as proposed Fees and Charges for 2021/22. The Panel also considered the latest Budget Forecast for 2021/22.

The Budget Panel endorsed the position which had been presented to them with regard to the Budget and thanked officers for their competent work in managing the budgets during difficult times.

It was noted that an additional Budget Panel meeting would be held on 11 January to consider an updated Budget position.

To consider the report on the work of the Test Valley Community Safety Group. (20 minutes)

Consideration was given to a report which provided details of the work of the Test Valley Community Safety Group over the past twelve months and the priorities for the year ahead.

The Community Safety Management Group (CSMG) enabled organisations working locally to respond to the needs of communities in a co-ordinated and organised way by sharing skills, resources and data. The group addresses community safety specific issues on a tactical and localised level. The approach allowed for responsible authorities and other local agencies and partners to work in partnership to develop and implement strategies to tackle crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour priorities locally.

The report highlighted priorities and gave examples of some of the projects and operations the CSMG had initiated and operated, its successes and challenges over the past twelve months.

Resolved:

1.  That the report be acknowledged and partnership approach be endorsed.

2.  That Officers bring a report back to OSCOM in autumn 2021 to give an annual update on the work of the Community Safety Management Group.

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

Councillor Matthews updated OSCOM on work undertaken to date on the Armed Forces Covenant Review Panel. The review was progressing well with findings on the health and wellbeing being consolidated and focus moving to education. Councillor Matthews advised that the education aspect of the review was being led by partner organisations and was taking slightly longer than originally expected. It was anticipated that the Panel would report back on its findings to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in the new year.

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

Members considered the Committee’s work programme and noted that details of the review of the three year grant funding programme would be presented at the OSCOM meeting on 9 December. Following this item, Members would consider the most appropriate way to take forward the potential review of outside bodies.

It was confirmed that the Climate Emergency Workshop would be taking place on 30 November from 5:30pm. A Climate Emergency update would be added to the OSCOM Work Programme for the meeting scheduled in March 2021.

Members held a discussion regarding the best approach to getting the most out of Portfolio Holder presentations. It was agreed that Members would be invited to attend a short session ahead of Portfolio Holder presentations to the Committee in order for them to consider what questions they wished to ask. It was agreed that this would be trialled ahead of the Economic Development Portfolio Holder presentation in December.

Resolved:

The Committee is requested to:

1.  Review the outcomes on the work programme and recommendations update.

2.  Approve the future work programme.