Agenda and minutes

At this point in the meeting, Members are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may have in the business on the agenda.

Councillor Barnes declared a personal interest as a Trustee of York Museums Trust in relation to agenda item 5.

Councillor King declared a personal interest as a member of an Access Group in relation to agenda item 4.

Councillor Potter declared a personal interest as she is employed in the voluntary sector, in relation to agenda item 5.

To approve and sign the Minutes of the last meeting of the Scrutiny Management Committee held on 28 November 2011.

RESOLVED:                That the minutes of the SMC meeting held on 28 November 2011 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

At this point in the meeting members of the public who have registered their wish to speak regarding an item on the agenda or an issue within the Committee’s remit can do so. The deadline for registering is 5:00 pm on Friday 24 February 2012.

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

This report updates the Committee on progress made to date with the City Centre Ad Hoc Scrutiny Review. Councillor Gillies, the Chair of the Committee will be in attendance at the meeting to answer any questions that may arise.

Members received a report that informed them of the progress made to date with the City Centre Access Ad Hoc Scrutiny Review.

Councillor Gillies and the Assistant Director for Strategic Planning and Transport, who were in attendance as the Chair of the Committee and lead officer, advised that due to the potential for a cross over of work with the Footstreets Review and Reinvigorate York, it was important to ensure the outcome of the review is correct. As a result it was taking longer than anticipated to complete the work.

RESOLVED: (i)            That Members noted the report and the progress made on the City Centre Ad Hoc Scrutiny Review.

(ii)            That Members noted that the Review is likely to continue into the next municipal year.

REASON:                     To keep Scrutiny Management Committee aware of the progress made on this Ad-Hoc Scrutiny Review.

This report identifies arrangements for delivering corporate scrutiny work planning, so that Scrutiny Committees can begin their overview and scrutiny work at the start of the new Municipal Year.

Members considered a report which identified arrangements for delivering corporate scrutiny work planning so that Scrutiny Committees can begin their overview and scrutiny work at the start of the new Municipal Year.

Officers outlined the report and advised that the Scrutiny Committees had already begun to identify areas of work to take forward into 2012/13. In addition, Members were asked to consider a collective scrutiny work planning event which would be open to all Members, including Cabinet Members.

It was agreed that it was important to stage a work planning event and to make it clear to all Members what the event is for. Members commented that it has been difficult in previous years for Scrutiny Committees to establish and progress areas of work and recognised the importance of holding such an event.

In relation to developmental initiatives in scrutiny, some Members suggested the use of outside advisers on scrutiny committees. Officers pointed out that this could be costly and not something that had been considered.

Officers advised that they would look into a potential date to hold the work planning event and email all Members with the details.

RESOLVED: (i)            That the Head of Civic & Democratic Services will put in place arrangements for a collective scrutiny work planning event in April 2012 on the basis set out in paragraph 14 of the report.

(ii)            That Members commented as above on developmental initiatives in scrutiny.

REASON:                     To ensure proper and effective scrutiny work planning is in place for 2012/13.

This report updates Members of the Committee on proposals to merge Effective Organisation and Scrutiny Management Committees into one new scrutiny committee, responsible for corporate scrutiny management and overview.

[See also Part A Minutes]

Members considered a report which updated them on the proposals to merge Effective Organisation and Scrutiny Management Committee into one new scrutiny committee, responsible for corporate scrutiny management and overview.

Members agreed that the merging of the two committees was a sensible approach in order to form a higher level corporate scrutiny committee. Members made the following comments and suggestions on the proposed terms of reference attached at Annex A:

·        The usefulness of Performance Indicator reports being brought to the new Committee as they are often outdated and the content rarely changes.

·        Some Members queried whether performance reports should go to any of the Scrutiny Committees and asked for further consideration of the suggestion at a future meeting.

·        The name of the merged Committee and who would decide it.

Members were invited by the Chair to email to him any further comments and observations they wished him to bring to the attention of Council.

RECOMMEND: (i)       That Council approves the proposed merger of Scrutiny Management Committee and Effective Organisation Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

(ii)        That Council approves the terms of reference as revised by any applicable comments received by the Chair and other Members of this Committee and taking into account the comments detailed above.

REASON:                     To ensure that scrutiny function remains robust and fit for purpose.