Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Macdonald and Leech.

There was no Public Participation.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no urgent items.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 17 July 2024.

Councillor Daas proposed and Councillor Budzynski seconded that the minutes of the meeting held on 17 July 2024 were a correct record.  Upon being put to the vote the motion was carried.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 17 July 2024 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

There were no call in items.

There were no urgent decisions.

To enable Members to keep the Committee’s future work programme under review (60 minutes)

Consideration was given to a report of the Chairman which enabled members of the committee to review the outcomes of the away day and to discuss and agree the items and topics that will form the Overview and Scrutiny work programme for 2024/25.  The report also enabled members of the committee to consider the current work programme alongside an update on current activity of the committee. The committee also considered a number of recommendations relating to the development of the new work programme and the ongoing co-ordination of current business for the committee.

The Committee held its Annual Away Day on Monday 29 July 2024. As part of this, the committee reviewed its working practices and undertook an extensive exercise to identify key topics and issues that members would like to dedicate overview and scrutiny time to during this municipal year. The outcomes of the session were attached as Annex 6 to the report and provided a summary of the discussions and an indicative view of the level of support on which issues were most important based on the prioritisation exercise held at the session.

The Chairman emphasised the important role the committee can play in supporting policy development through task and finish panels and set out some key criteria that would help support the committee in its discussions when reviewing the topics:

-  Panels should focus on issues where there is an opportunity to influence policy development

-  Panels must have an agreed scope that is approved by committee

-  Panels should be time bound with a clear plan for how they will undertake their work

-  Panels should have a lead member and consist of a minimum of four to five councillors

Following discussion the work programme will be updated and presented to the committee at its next meeting for agreement.  Anyone not present at the Away Day are invited to put forward any topics before the next meeting.

The Committee were in agreement to include the following on the work programme;

·  Regeneration Panel Report - October

·  Updated Climate Emergency Action Plan (Pre-decision scrutiny at Overview and Scrutiny Committee ahead of Cabinet) – October

·  Peer Review (Roundtable to inform the development of the Council’s Position Statement)

The Committee did not feel that they wished to include the Urban Meadows (Policy development to inform the Council’s future approach) to the work programme at this time.

Councillor Cattell proposed and Councillor Hasselman seconded the motion.  Upon being put to the vote the motion was carried.

Resolved:

1.  That the Committee reviews the outcomes of the Away Day and agrees 

  that the items listed in Annex 6 be added to the Work Programme for

  2024/25.

2.  That the current Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme (updated for

  August 2024), as shown in Annex 1 to the report, be approved.

3.  That the Committee notes the progress updates of the Panels in Annex 2

  and that Councillor Budzynski be appointed to the Budget panel.

4.  That the Committee endorses the proposal to bring  ...  view the full minutes text for item 170.