Agenda and minutes

Cllr Crawshaw opened the meeting and put on record that he believed the existing arrangements for the substitution of Members at this meeting were contrary to the spirit and purpose of the legislation, specifically that which allowed the substitution of a Green Member by a Liberal Democrat one.  He confirmed that he had asked the Monitoring Officer to provide further advice on the arrangements.

At this point in the meeting, 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.

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 and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 9 January 2023.

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting of the committee held on 9 January 2023 be approved and signed as a correct record.

The Chair noted the following actions had taken place following the meeting:

·        he had written to the Chief Operating Officer regarding dedicated Scrutiny Officer support on 13 January 2023 and

·        that the Monitoring Officer had written to the Executive to outline the process whereby Petitions proceeded to the relevant Executive Member in the first instance.

It was suggested that an overview of s.106 processes be flagged for the new Committee’s Work Plan, following the election.

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 02 March 2023.

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.

During coronavirus, we made some changes to how we ran council meetings, including facilitating remote participation by public speakers. See our updates (www.york.gov.uk/COVIDDemocracy) for more information on meetings and decisions.

It was reported that there had been two registrations to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme, both in relation to agenda item 4 (City Centre Access).

Flick Williams highlighted a number of concerns regarding the actions contained within Annex A (City Centre Action Plan Update).  These included the Changing Places toilet, removable benches, and mobility aid provision.  She informed the Committee that the Reverse the Ban coalition had commissioned research into the legality of the Blue Badge ban and reported that the findings differed on the subject of proportionality as identified in Annex B (Consideration of the legal advice by the Monitoring Officer) of the report.

Diane Roworth also raised concerns regarding Annex B of the report and explained that she disagreed with the description of the ‘considerable engagement’ mentioned as this was not her experience.  She made reference to a research paper which had been produced for the Reverse the Ban coalition which considered the level of engagement, the findings of which were to be published shortly.

Members will receive a report updating the Committee on the progress of the City Centre Access action plan.

The Director of Transport, Environment and Planning provided an update on the City Centre Access Action Plan.  He noted that the rules relating to pavement cafes were to be considered at an upcoming Economy and Place Scrutiny meeting.

Officers responded to questions from Members covering the monitoring of pavement café licensing, the dates attached to the action plan, security briefings for members, mitigations for blue badge holders and their evaluation, the York Standards for the city centre, the Access Officer’s workload, the shuttle bus consultation, the ‘Take a Seat’ initiative, accessible toilets, and vehicle access to the footstreets.

During discussions, Members requested that information on security briefings were included in the Member Induction Programme.

A detailed breakdown of the costs of the STEER consultation was also requested.

Resolved:

                     i.        that the ongoing work to improve access to the city centre be noted.

                    ii.        That the change to the rules relating to the placement of pavement cafes be noted.

                  iii.        That feedback be provided to officers regarding the inclusion of security briefings for Member inductions.

                  iv.        That information be provided to the Committee regarding the cost of the STEER consultation.

Reason:     To keep the Committee updated.

Members will receive a report which will provide an update on the improving performance of the Customer Services phone centre.

The Director of Customer and Communities and the Operations Manager, Customer Contact Centre and Web Services provided an update to Members on the Customer Centre Telephone Performance.  It was reported that some of the data on calls, previously requested by the Committee, was not currently available.  Officers confirmed that recruitment to the service area had improved significantly and had led to improvements in service delivery.

Officers responded to a number of questions from Members which covered the call back service, use of robotics, plans for election day, call demand patterns, and causes of dissatisfaction.

With reference to calls for Housing and Adult Services, it was agreed that officers would circulate the call data for these to the Committee and include in future reports on call handling.

A request was made for a further update in six months’ time. 

Resolved:           

                                             i.        That the report be noted.

                                            ii.        Call data relating to Housing, Adult Social Care and direct dial calls to officers be circulated to the Committee.

                                          iii.        That a further update be brought to the Committee in six months’ time.

Reason:                   To update the Committee on the service performance of the Customer Centre Telephone Performance.

Members will receive a report which outlines the next steps in the process for the implementation of the Devolution Deal.

The Head of Corporate Strategy and City Partnerships provided Members with an update on the York and North Yorkshire Devolution.  He outlined the next stages in the process as contained within the report.

He responded to a number of questions from Members covering consent to the order, the structure and voting rights of the Joint Committee, the status of Enterprise Zones, public engagement and the readiness of the team once the Mayor is in place.

Resolved:            that the update be noted.

Reason:              to ensure the Committee had oversight of the Devolution process.

To consider the Work Plan.

Members considered the Scrutiny Work Plan for the remaining period of the current administration.

The Chair noted that there were plans for the Scrutiny function to be part of the Member training package. 

Resolved:           

                                             i.        That the Work Plan be noted.

                                            ii.        That s106 agreements be added to the future Work Plan.

Reason:                   To ensure the Committee had an overview of the work programme.

The Chair recorded his thanks to Members for their contribution to the Committee.  He also thanked Democratic Services officers and in particular the Head of Civic, Democratic and Scrutiny Services, for the support provided to Members.