Agenda and minutes

An apology of absence was received from Councillor S Cunningham.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Policy and Resources Scrutiny Panel meeting held on 19 November 2018.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Policy and Resources Scrutiny Panel held on 19 November 2018 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

There were no Chairman’s announcements.

To receive any declarations of interest from members in accordance with Standing Orders and the Council’s Code of Conduct and disclosures of advice or directions received from Group Leaders or Political Groups, in accordance with the Council’s Constitution.

There were no delcarations of interest made at this meeting.

To receive any deputations of which notice has been lodged.

There were no deputations made at this meeting.

To consider any items of business dealt with by the Executive since the last meeting of the Panel, that falls under the remit of the Policy and Resources Portfolio. This will include any decisions taken by individual members during the same time period.

The Panel considered the Executive items of business which fall under the remit of the Policy and Resources Portfolio, including Individual Executive Member decisions and Officer delegated decisions, that have taken place since the last meeting of the Panel on 19 November 2018.

The Panel considered the decisions shown at items at 7(10 to 7 (2) of the agenda.

RESOLVED that the Policy and Resources Scrutiny Panel considered the following items of Executive Business.

No comments were received.

No comments were received.

To consider a report by the Head of Leisure and Corporate Services on Vanguard Progress update, which reviews the work undertaken since the introduction of the Vanguard method systems thinking approach to improving services to the Council’s customers.

The Panel considered a report by the Head of Leisure and Corporate Services on a Vanguard Progress Update, who then took questions from members.

At the Invitation of the Chairman, Councillor T M Cartwright addressed the Panel on this item.

RESOLVED that the Panel agreed that they had no comments to make to the Executive.

To consider a report by the Director of Finance and Resources on the Finance Strategy, Capital Programme, Revenue Budget and Council Tax 2019-20.

The Panel considered a report by the Director of Finance and Resources, and received a presentation, (attached as Appendix A to these minutes), from the Head of Finance and Audit and the Finance Manager which focused on the key areas of interest from the report.

The Panel commented on the fees and charges set out in Appendix D to the Executive report. It was noted that in some instances that percentage increase did not seem to be in-line with other similar fees or charges, and that it would be useful for additional information to be provided with each set of figures as to what the actually monetary increase would be for the Council from these increased fees and charges.

RESOLVED that the Panel:-

(a)  thank the Head of Finance and Audit, and the Finance manager for their informative presentation;

(b)  support the resolutions reached by the Executive at it’s meeting on 7 January 2019.

To consider a report by the Director of Finance and Resources on the Housing Revenue Account Budget and Capital Plans 2019-20.

The Panel considered a report by the Director of Finance and Resources on the Housing Revenue Account Budget and Capital Plans 2019-20.

RESOLVED that the Panel had no proposals or comments to make to the Executive.

To consider a report by the Director of Finance and Resources on a Review of the Council’s Vision and Outline Strategy for Daedalus.

The Panel considered a report and received a presentation by the Director of Finance and Resources on a review of the Council’s vision and outline strategy for Daedalus.

The presentation (attached as Appendix B to these minutes) outlined the objectives that were originally set out in the strategy, outlined the changes that has taken place since the Vision was adopted in 2015 and the plans for the future.

At the Invitation of the Chairman, Councillor S D T Woodward, Executive Member for Policy and Resources addressed the Panel on this item.

Members congratulated everyone who has been involved with the development of Daedalus and note the continued success that Daedalus is achieving.

RESOLVED that:-

(a)  the Director of Finance and Resources be thanked for his informative presentation;

(b)  the Executive be asked to note that the panel expressed support for the vision for Daedalus and the priorities for the next 5 years, and hope that this continues to be a success in the future.

To provide an opportunity for Members to consider the scrutiny priorities for the Policy and Resources Panel.

The Director of Finance and Resources addressed the Panel on this item and directed them to item 10 of the previous minutes, which contained a list of the priorities identified by the Panel at the last meeting that they would like to be included within the Scrutiny Priorities 5 Year Plan. He asked members if they had any further suggestions for items that they would like to be included in the Scrutiny Priorities plan.

Members agreed that they had already put together a comprehensive list of items to be considered and at present no member had any further suggestions that they wanted to bring forward, but were happy to bring any suggestions to the Chairman, should they have any between now and the next scheduled meeting in June.

RESOLVED that the Chairman and the Director of Finance and Resources discuss the list of suggested priorities in order to determine the items that will come forward for the next meeting.