SCRUTINY CHAIRS’ LIAISON GROUP

MINUTES

28th January, 2011

PRESENT: Councillors Bailey, Bonner, Burnett, Elliott and Shaw.

Officers in Attendance:

Tony Hunter / Chief Executive
Liz Jones / Deputy Chief Executive
Rob Walsh / Executive Director of Business Services
Anne Campbell / Performance and Scrutiny Officer – Policy, Performance and Development
Rob Woollatt / Head of Corporate Finance – Business Services
Paul Windley / Senior Democratic Services Officer – Business Services

Also in attendance:

Councillors Brookes, Colquhoun, Cracknell, De Freitas, Dickerson, Howarth, Lindley and Swinburn.

1. / APOLOGIES
No apologies for absence had been received.
2. / DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
There were no declarations of interest in any items on the agenda for this meeting.
3. / MINUTES
The minutes of the meeting of the Scrutiny Chairs’ Liaison Group held on 9th December, 2010 were agreed as a correct record.
4. / DRAFT COUNCIL PRIORITIES, BUDGET 2011/12 AND MEDIUM TERM FINANCIAL PLAN FOR THE PERIOD 2011-2015.
The Group considered a joint report from the Chief Finance Officer and the Deputy Chief Executive setting out the draft Council Plan priorities, budget for 2011/12 and Medium Term Financial Plan for 2011-15 for consultation prior to the submission to full Council in February 2011.
The Chair noted the draft Council Plan priorities and felt that, under ‘Increase jobs and strengthen the local economy’, reference to ‘Greater Grimsby’ should be replaced by ‘North East Lincolnshire’.
At paragraph 1.68 of the report, the Group raised concerns over the proposed changes to terms and conditions for employees, particularly in relation to the removal of sick pay for the first three days of absence in any one year and the removal of premium payments. A paper on the Conditions of Service proposal had been circulated with the agenda for this meeting. The Group raised an additional concern with regard to the impact on the budget should agreement not be reached on this proposal.
At paragraph 1.81 of the report, clarification was sought on progress with recovery of the Icelandic Banks investments.
It was agreed that the Council’s Section 151 Officer would be requested to provide an updated breakdown of amounts recovered to date from the Icelandic Banks and also to provide advice on balancing the budget in relation to the Conditions of Service proposal.
The Group gave detailed consideration to the Outline Business Cases for the cross-cutting savings proposals contained within Appendix 5 of the report.
At BS18 (Review usage of Cleethorpes Town Hall), the Chair invited Councillor Brookes to address the Group on an alternative proposal. Councillor Brookes put forward his suggestion around relocating Registration and Celebratory Services to Cleethorpes Town Hall and moving Members’ Group Rooms to the current Register Office, thus freeing up space in Grimsby Town Hall for meeting use. He felt that the current proposal should fall under ‘Workforce Management’ rather than ‘Asset Management’ as it mainly referred to the role of caretaking staff. The Group agreed that it be recommended that the proposal be amended to include this alternative proposal.
At BS10 (Increase summons cost), Councillor Howarth was invited to comment and he raised his concern at the impact this proposal would have on the most vulnerable people in this Borough. Mr. Walsh acknowledged the concerns but noted that the Council had a duty to collect monies owed. He stressed that assistance would be offered for genuine cases of hardship and the courts should only be used as a last resort.
At BS16 (Paperless Democratic meetings), the Chair suggested that this proposal should go beyond ‘Democratic’ meetings and added that there was a wider issue over investment for the required hardware. The Group suggested that the title of this proposal be amended to read ‘Review of IT Support to Members’.
At DCE05 (Reduce use of Consultants) Councillor Swinburn was invited to comment and enquired why the use of consultants across the organization was not being looked at. Mr. Walsh noted that the Demand Management proposal would have an impact on the use of consultants across the organization. The Chair added that this could also be addressed via the Future Shape Programme and suggested that this be raised at the Future Shape Advisory Group.
At BS17 (Reduction of support to mayoral function), Councillor Swinburn was invited to comment and, having previously served as a Mayor of North East Lincolnshire Council, he was totally against any reduction. Mr. Walsh commented that this was not about diminishing the Civic role but was part of a balanced and proportionate approach to the need for budget reductions. The Chair requested that alternative proposals be investigated.
At BS21 (Move to all-out elections every four years), the Chair sought clarification of when this would commence. Mr. Walsh confirmed that savings would commence in 2013/14 but the proposal would be subject to a separate decision by full Council.
At CEx03 (Local Ward Scheme Budget Reduction), the Chair noted that as a result of informal consultation, a further option had been put forward resulting in additional savings of £75,000. He enquired what had happened to this saving and suggested that, if it had not been reallocated, then it could be used to fund the mayoral function reduction (BS17). Mr. Woollatt agreed to seek clarification on this point. The Group discussed the impact of the reduction and agreed to the proposal subject to a future review of the scheme.
At CS12 (Fleet Rationalisation), the Chair noted that this was the subject of an ongoing corporate review which was due to report next year. The Group raised concern at how the savings figures had been arrived at and it was agreed that an update on the review work be submitted to this Group in July 2011.
At DCE10 (Reduce Scrutiny Support), the Group raised concerns at the reduced capacity to carry out Select Committees and other scrutiny work. Ms. Jones noted that there were two elements to the proposal, the first around scrutiny no longer having to deal with petitions, the second around greater use of policy officers to bring differing expertise and knowledge to the role. The Group suggested that the proposal be re-titled to read ‘Better joined up working to support Scrutiny and Policy’.
The Group then considered the response of individual Scrutiny Panels to the savings proposals within their remit. The Group made the following additional comments:
·  Regen1 – The Group raised concerns that the OBC did not appear to correspond with the multiple items on the summary list of proposals. The Group further suggested that the proposed merger of the Dial a Ride and Phone a Ride contracts could be incorporated within the corporate fleet rationalisation proposal (CS12).
·  CS03 (Resource Centres) – The Group felt that there needed to be close dialog with Balfour Beatty Workplace on the future use of Business Centres and requested a progress report be submitted to this Group in July 2011.
·  CS04 (Customer Services) – The Group felt that it should be clarified that there was no expectation of any removal of customer services from Cleethorpes.
·  CS.07 (Street Cleaning) – The Group felt that the wording of the proposal was misleading and suggested scaling down to ‘an appropriate level’ rather than to ‘EPA minimum standards’. Further clarification of the proposal was sought around the levels of cleaning within areas.
·  CS.11 (Parks and Ground Maintenance) – The Group requested further detail on the proposed phasing of the works.
Action –
(1) That the following comments be referred to Cabinet as part of the consultation on the draft Council Plan priorities, budget for 2011/12 and Medium Term Financial Plan for 2011-15:
·  That, under ‘Increase jobs and strengthen the local economy’ draft Council Plan priority, reference to ‘Greater Grimsby’ be replaced by ‘North East Lincolnshire’.
·  That BS18 (Review usage of Cleethorpes Town Hall) be amended to incorporate Councillor Brookes’ proposal to relocate Registration and Celebratory Services to Cleethorpes Town Hall and the Members’ Group Rooms to the current Register Office, thus freeing up space in Grimsby Town Hall for meeting use.
·  That BS16 (Paperless Democratic meetings) be re-titled ‘Review of IT Support to Members’
·  That an alternative proposal to BS17 (Reduction of support to mayoral function) be investigated.
·  That CEx03 (Local Ward Scheme Budget Reduction) be agreed subject to a future review of the scheme and that clarification be sought on the allocation of the additional savings of £75,000, previously put forward during the informal consultation process, with a view to utilising this funding, if available, to remove the proposed mayoral function reduction (BS17).
·  That DCE10 (Reduce Scrutiny Support) be re-titled to read ‘Better joined up working to support Scrutiny and Policy’.
·  That the proposed merger of the Dial a Ride and Phone a Ride contracts (Regen1) be incorporated within the corporate fleet rationalisation proposal (CS12).
·  That CS04 (Customer Services) be amended to clarify that there would not be any removal of customer services from Cleethorpes.
·  That CS.07 (Street Cleaning) be re-titled to read scaling down to ‘an appropriate level’ rather than to ‘EPA minimum standards’ and that the levels of cleaning within areas be clarified within the OBC.
·  That further detail on the proposed phasing of the works under CS.11 (Parks and Ground Maintenance) be provided.
(2) That the Council’s Section 151 Officer provide an updated breakdown of amounts recovered to date from the Icelandic Banks and advice on balancing the budget in relation to the Conditions of Service proposal.
(3) That the wider use of consultants across the organization be referred to the Future Shape Advisory Group.
(4) That an update on the ongoing corporate review of Fleet Rationalisation (CS12 refers), be submitted to this Group in July 2011.
(5)  That a progress report on the Resource Centres savings proposal and links with the future use of Business Centres be submitted to this Group in July 2011.
5. / FUTURE SHAPE PROGRAMME
The Group considered a report from the Deputy Chief Executive presenting the first quarterly report following the launch of the Future Shape Programme in September 2010. This report was referred to the Scrutiny Chairs for consideration by Cabinet at its meeting on 17th January, 2011
It was noted that the decision to refer this matter to this Group was currently the subject of a call-in by two Members of this Council.
The Deputy Chief Executive commented that the issues within the report had been the subject of debate at the recent Elected Member Seminar on the Future Shape Programme.