Agenda and minutes

To receive and note apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received and noted from Councillors Taylor and Watson, who were substituted by Councillors Moroney and Healey respectively.

At this point in the meeting, Members and co-opted members are asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary interest, or other registerable interest, they might have in respect of business on this agenda, if they have not already done so in advance on the Register of Interests. The disclosure must include the nature of the interest.

An interest must also be disclosed in the meeting when it becomes apparent to the member during the meeting.

[Please see the attached sheet for further guidance for Members.]

Members were asked to declare at this point in the meeting any disclosable pecuniary interests or other registrable interests that they might have in the business on the agenda, if they had not already done so in advance on the Register of Interests.

None were declared

To approve the minutes of the meetings held on 8 September 2025 and 1 October 2025.

Resolved: That the minutes of the meetings held on 8 September and 1 October 2025 be approved as a correct record, subject to the following amendment:

·       That ‘carp park’ on page 15 of the agenda, on the minutes of the meeting held on 1 October 2025 be changed to ‘car park’.

At this point in the meeting members of the public who have registered to speak can do so. Members of the public may speak on agenda items or on matters within the remit of the committee.

Please note that our registration deadlines are set as 2 working days before the meeting, in order to facilitate the management of public participation at our meetings. The deadline for registering at this meeting is 5:00pm on Thursday, 6 October 2025.

To register to speak please visit www.york.gov.uk/AttendCouncilMeetings to fill in an online registration form. If you have any questions about the registration form or the meeting, please contact Democratic Services. Contact details can be found at the foot of this agenda.

Webcasting of Public Meetings

Please note that, subject to available resources, this meeting will be webcast including any registered public speakers who have given their permission. The meeting can be viewed live and on demand at www.york.gov.uk/webcasts.

It was reported that there had been one registration to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

Flick Williams spoke in relation to item 7, Monitoring and Tracking of Approved Council Motions, regarding the Equality for Disabled People Motion to adopt the Social Model of Disability from 2022 and noted that the rollout of disability training was a step forwards for City of York Council (CYC) and the post of Access Officer had had a beneficial impact. However, Flick highlighted that there had been no sign of improvement as at the time of the meeting - a good step had been taken but was not the same as an inclusive design. Flick pointed out a need for a greater understanding of disabled access needs and claimed that there was too much reliance on access forum for their time and expertise. Inclusive design training could have found and resolved many issues that have arisen if used correctly.

Members will consider the Annual Complaints Report.

The Information and Governance Team Manager, and the Corporate Governance Operational Manager, presented the report and directed members to examples of compliments received about children and adult services as contained within the report.

They reported that procedures had been amended to align with the Housing Ombudsman Service’s (HOS) timescales, and noted that Councillor Pavlovic, the Executive Member for Housing, Planning and Safer Communities, was the CYC representative to the HOS.

In response to questions from members, the Information and Governance Team Manager, and the Corporate Governance Operational Manager, confirmed that:

·       Some formal complaints received should instead be put through as a missed service request, and due to some missed service requests being submitted as complaints these can often be duplicated and are not accounted for.

·       The HOS had set out criteria for service improvements and this was currently being formed.

·       Good news stories needed to be shared and CYC has internal ‘High 5’ and Staff Communications that can be used for this.

·       Comparisons were hard to undertake with other local authorities due to different processes in place.

·       RAG (Red, Amber, Green) ratings were only used for legislative procedures, a different approach was taken for corporate priorities. The Adult Social Care Procedure used the Department of Health and Social Care’s RAG rating system.

It was resolved that the Corporate Scrutiny Committee:

i.                 Noted the performance details contained in the report and as contained within Annex 1 and provided comments or feedback.

Reason: So that Members were provided with details and current performance to enable them to scrutinise complaints, comments, compliments and concerns to improve service delivery and ensure transparent, robust decision-making processes.

ii.                Noted the outcomes of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) and HOS cases and published performance data and provided comments or feedback.

Reason: So that Members were provided with the LGSCO and HOS reports and findings to enable them to scrutinise complaints, comments, compliments and concerns to improve service delivery and ensure transparent, robust decision-making processes.

Members will consider and provide feedback on the proposed response to the Climate Change Programme internal audit.

The Chief Strategy Officer, and Head of Carbon Reduction presented the report on the recent audit undertaken by Veritau, which was the second time in four years that CYC’s Climate Change Programme (CGP) had been selected for a random audit. The Head of Carbon Reduction outlined the findings of the audit as detailed within the report, and concluded that there was a sound system of governance and control, with opportunity for improvement. Feedback was requested in response to the findings.

In response to questions from members, the Chief Strategy Officer, and Head of Carbon Reduction, confirmed that:

·       Some of the findings had already been incorporated into newer ways of working but there was still more work to be done.

·       Issues relating to service areas needing to provide extra information through reporting as recommended from the audit had not yet been tested, but as reports were already being written, workloads would potentially not be affected greatly and this change in working would just need incorporating into work already being done. Discussions were ongoing with Procurement to ensure that any requests were proportional.

Resolved:

i.                 That the Corporate Scrutiny Committee considered the options presented within the report in response to the audit findings of the Climate Change Action Plan and Carbon Emissions Reporting.

ii.                That an update on the audit findings would be brought back to update the Committee in Autumn 2026.

Reason: To inform of the Council’s response to the audit findings.

[The meeting adjourned at 6:26pm and reconvened at 6:34pm]

Members will consider the current Council Motions tracker.

The Chair outlined the report, and the Committee discussed the status of the motions as seen in Annex A of the report and provided feedback.

Resolved: That members noted the contents of Annex A of the report.

Reason: To ensure that processes for monitoring and implementing approved Council motion resolutions remain sufficiently robust.

Members are invited to consider a revised process to support Full Council Motions.

The Chief Strategy Officer, and Head of City Strategy and Corporate Programmes presented the report, and it was noted that the current system was imperfect, and improvements and feedback were welcome. Officers advised that actions needed to be completed in a timely manner but that a time limit was difficult to work on and set in place. Items could be superseded by changes in policy, and/or in the political climate, and this should be acknowledged.

Members discussed paragraph 9.vi of the report, and it was reported that motions not aligned with CYC’s Council Plan 2023-2027, including in respect of the four core commitments, would not be prioritised.

Members provided feedback on revisions to the process as follows:

·       There was a need to share what actions had taken place and the progress made within the process.

·       Including the mover of the motion from when petitions were presented would be beneficial.

·       The Committee could ask Officers to attend meetings if lack of progress had been made within an agreed timeframe.

·       The escalation process could be discretionary, dependent on the nature of the individual motion.

It was resolved that the Corporate Scrutiny Committee:

i.                         Considered the proposed revision to the process.

ii.                       Considered whether a time limit should be applied to the process.

iii.                    Considered whether proposed motions could be provided with greater lead in time for assessment prior to Full Council.

iv.                    That the Chief Strategy Officer would liaise with the Chair and Vice-Chair on updating CYC’s motion process.

Reason: To inform the council’s refreshed motion process.

Members will consider the updated schedule of petitions.

The Chair outlined the report, and the Committee provided feedback to the status of petitions as seen in Annex B of the report.

Feedback was also provided in that: It would be beneficial for a column to be added indicating the ward for petition’s origin, the ‘Officer Responsible’ column responsible should be updated as many officers named had since left CYC, and that extra information could be provided to confirm the contact made by the Officer Responsible to the petition owner.

It was resolved that the Corporate Scrutiny Committee:

i.                 Noted the schedule of petitions.

ii.                Reviewed the petitions and actions planned or taken and identified any further actions they considered necessary or appropriate in line with the options available under the Council’s Petitions Scheme, as set out at paragraphs 6 and 7 above.

Reason: To ensure the Committee carries out its constitutional role in relation to petitions.

To consider the Committee’s work plan and the Scrutiny Overview work plan.

Members considered the work plan for the Committee and the overview work plan for the scrutiny committees.

Resolved:

i.                That a report on Digital Switchover would be received as a briefing in 2026.

ii.               That the Scrutiny Briefing Session on 4 December 2025 would include updates to:

·       Healthy weight;

·       Project management (Capital projects).

iii.             That the work plan be noted.

Reason: To ensure oversight of the scrutiny work plan.