Agenda and draft minutes

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 any disclosable pecuniary interest, or other registerable interest, they might have in respect of business on the agenda, if they have not already done so in advance on the Register of Interests.

During discussion of Item 4, the Corporate Improvement Plan, Cllr Coles noted her role as Deputy Mayor for Policing, Fire and Crime in the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority (YNYCA).

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 10 June 2024.

Resolved:  That the minutes of the last meeting held on 10 June 2024 were approved as a correct record.

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 4 July 2024.

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 one registration to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

Ms Swinburn, spoke on Item 4, the Corporate Improvement Action Plan, and matters concerning the remit of the Committee.  She outlined her concerns with the action plan suggesting that it should be brought to the Audit and Governance Committee.  Some items for the work plan were also put forward.

This report invites Members to consider the draft corporate improvement action plan.

The Assistant Director for Policy and Strategy, presented her report and outlined the key components of the action plan.  She was joined by the Chief Officer, HR and Support Services, to respond to any HR/Workforce questions.

In response to comments from the public participant, it was reported that the action plan was a list of actions and did not include the detail, the Audit and Governance committee would receive a code of governance update in September this would include the new boards, the membership of the corporate improvement board would be reconsidered and the budget setting strategy would be reported to Executive in September.

Members asked a range a questions on each of the four plan objectives, covering the clarity of deadlines, the process of workforce shadowing,  the consultation of the Managing Customer Relations Policy and it’s timescales, the wording of the trauma-informed detail, resident engagement in relation to the mid-term financial strategy, the financial literacy courses, the internal governance arrangements, the number of new boards, co-design partnerships plan, transformation of council services, change management, resident communications, communicating with non-digital staff, scrutiny of city partnerships, the scrutiny function, corporate working and change management.

[18:45, Cllr Rowley left the meeting.]

The following was agreed for inclusion in the Corporate Improvement Action Plan:

·       Ensure that actions encouraged cross-council working

·       Provide regular progress updates to Executive

·       Show how officers will build relationships with communities

·       Show how becoming a trauma-informed council was a continuous journey

·       Develop the managing customer relations policy with resident engagement

·       How senior managers would be supported to learn more about financial management systems

·       Refresh the council’s communications channels

·       Provide opportunity for scrutiny oversight of city developments

·       Clarify that member induction was ongoing and informed by member feedback

·       Clarify the ask of Scrutiny Chairs when reviewing scrutiny practices

·       The Corporate Improvement Framework and the LGA Peer Challenge recommendations should be included as an annex to the action plan.

Resolved:

                                              i.          That the action plan be noted.

                                             ii.          That the actions outlined in the above bullet points be included in the Corporate Improvement Action Plan.

Reason:                To ensure a robust and effective action plan.

[7.01 to 7.10 pm, the meeting adjourned for a comfort break.  Cllr Orrell left the meeting at the adjournment.]

This is an information report which provides an overview of how HR policy is agreed.

The Chief Officer, HR and Support Services, presented the information report on HR Policy Agreement Processes.

There were no questions from Members and it was therefore,

Resolved:             That the report be noted.

Reason:                To keep the committee apprised of HR processes.

This report provides an update on the York pipeline of projects for the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority following scrutiny review bythe scrutiny committees. [Report to follow]

The Assistant Director, Policy and Strategy, and the Strategic Manager, Corporate Policy and Strategy provided an update on the York Pipeline of Proposals for the Combined Authority.  This had been based on the feedback received from the other scrutiny committees.

Members made a number of suggestions concerning the presentation and clarity of the wording of projects.

In response to questions relating to funding, officers reported that Pipeline of Proposals provided officers with a list of projects that had been devised to achieve member ambitions.  Funding details would follow, for those projects that were in line with the mayoral priorities.

Resolved:            

                                    i.          That the Pipeline of Proposals be noted.

                                   ii.          That the proposals be reviewed in 12 months, or earlier if required.

Reason:           To ensure that there was a strong list of proposals through which to engage future funding opportunities that emerged from the YNYCA.

To consider the scrutiny overview work plan.

Members considered the Scrutiny work plan for the four scrutiny committees.  During the discussion, the Invest to Save fund was highlighted as a possible future topic for scrutiny; it was agreed to request further information from officers.

Resolved:             That the work plan be noted.

Reason:                To ensure an overview of the scrutiny work programme.