Meeting documents

Place Scrutiny Committee
Monday, 1st December, 2014 6.30 pm

Chairmen's scrutiny Forum Minutes

Date:
Tuesday, 4th November, 2014
Time:
18.00
Place:
Committee Room, Civic Centre, Southend-on-Sea
 

Attendance Details

ItemDescriptionResolution
Part I
1 Appointment of Chairman
 Resolved:-

That Councillor D Garston be appointed Chairman of the Chairmen's Scrutiny Forum for the current Municipal Year.
2 Apologies and substitutions.
 An apology for absence was received from Councillor Davies.
3 Declarations of interest.
 No declarations of interest were made at the meeting.
4 Role of Forum
 The Head of Legal & Democratic Services briefly outlined the role and constitution of the Forum.
5 Minutes of the Meeting held on Monday, 20th January, 2014
  • Minutes
Resolved:-

That the Minutes of the meeting held on Monday, 20th January, 2014 be received and confirmed as a correct record.
6 Scrutiny Committees
Business for item 6
Resolved:

That report be noted.
7 Update on In depth projects 2014/15
 The Forum discussed and noted the progress on the current in depth scrutiny projects:

(a) The Council's community leadership role in promoting safer communities (Policy & Resources Scrutiny Committee);
(b) Understanding erosion taking place on the Foreshore (Place Scrutiny Committee);
(c) How the Council assists and excites individuals and community groups to achieve healthier lifestyles (People Scrutiny Committee).
8 Scrutiny Training
 The Forum discussed and noted the scrutiny training event that had taken place on 3rd July 2014 as well as the Overview & Scrutiny in Practice session held on 22nd September 2014 at Thurrock Council, which had been facilitated by Tim Young, CfPS.

The Forum suggested that scrutiny training should be offered to all Councillors, including the Executive, not just those on the scrutiny committees. Additionally, training could be offered to Members on an individual basis on specific matters, if requested. There were also opportunities to "piggy back" on to other training sessions outside of the Council.

The Scrutiny officer was requested to look at engaging Tim Young to provide some training in the near future.

The Forum also discussed how scrutiny could be made more effective, following the debate at the meeting of Council on 23rd October 2014 and, in particular, how opinions or views of individual Members of the Scrutiny Committee are recorded. The Head of Legal & Democratic Services outlined the generally accepted good practice relating to minute taking and recording meetings which had been adopted by the Council.
9 Any Items from Forum Members
 Attendance of Councillors at Meetings - The Forum discussed this issue.
10 Date of next meeting
 The Council's Scrutiny Officer would email the date of the next meeting to Members of the Forum in due course.
18.00 / 19.10

Attendance Details

Present:
Councillors M F Evans, M A Flewitt, D A Garston, S J Habermel and J W Moyies
In attendance:
J K Williams, F Abbott and T Row

Business

ItemBusiness
6Further to Minute 4 of its last meeting, the Forum discussed and noted a briefing note that had been prepared by the Council's Scrutiny Officer on the work and operation of the new Scrutiny Committees. The Forum concurred that overall the workloads of the 3 Scrutiny Committees was currently generally evenly balanced and this should be kept under review.

The Forum also discussed the principles for responding to questions at meetings of the Scrutiny Committees by Executive Councillors and officers. It was explained that Executive Councillors would normally be expected to respond to questions within their remit. Officers are however able to respond to any technical issues and support the Executive Councillor if needed to ensure the accuracy of the information provided in their response. The Chairman of the Scrutiny Committee has a role in directing the question to the appropriate person to respond.

 

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