Agenda and 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 at this point in the meeting any disclosable pecuniary interest or other registerable interest they might have in respect of business on the agenda, if they had not already done so in advance on the Register of Interests.

In relation to Item 6 (The Blue Badge Application Process) Cllr Rowley noted that he had assisted a resident with their application.  On the same item, Cllr Ayre noted that his partner was a blue badge holder.

Cllr Merrett noted, in relation to Item 5 (Intermediate Carbon Reduction Targets), that he was a member of a climate action group.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 25 September 2023.

Resolved:  That the minutes of the last meeting held on 25 September 2023 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, 12 October 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 three registrations to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

Flick Williams spoke on agenda Item 6 (The Blue Badge Application Process) and noted that she had participated in a positive co-production meeting with officers. However, she highlighted that one of the discussion points, regarding the language used to describe disabled people, had not been rectified in the report to the committee.  She also noted that due to an ageing population, there was likely to be an increase in the number of applications for Blue Badges.

Gwen Swinburn spoke in relation to agenda items and the remit of the committee.  She requested that all Members be given access to ‘pink papers’, suggested that ‘citizens’ could be employed to undertake elections work.  She also asked that the protocol for flag flying at the Mansion House be reviewed.

Helen Jones, Chair of York Disability Rights Forum, also spoke in relation to Item 6 on the agenda.  She made some recommendations to improve the Blue Badge application process and noted that, for renewal applications, the information is already held on the system.  It would therefore save time for both residents and CYC if this data collection exercise did not have to be repeated.  She also noted that paper copies of the application forms would be beneficial for some users.

This report sets out the projected 2023/24 financial position and the performance position for the period covering 1 April 2023 to 30 June 2023, together with an overview of any emerging issues.

The Chief Finance Officer and the Head of Business Intelligence presented the Finance and Performance Quarter 1 report to Members.  The forecast overspend of £11m was attributed to the costs associated with social care and it was noted that this was a national issue.  Positive performance indicators in sickness reduction, complaint handling and FOI (freedom of information requests) responses were highlighted as improvements.

Officers responded to a range of questions from Members which covered alternative funding sources, capacity for letting office space, vacancy management, public awareness through corporate communications, efficiency improvements, work with other councils and the use of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

It was agreed that the Chief Finance Officer would investigate if  funding had been secured against the £650k for one off items (paragraph 10, bullet point 4 of the report referred).

Resolved:  That the finance and performance information be noted.

Reason:     To ensure expenditure is kept within the approved budget.

This report sets out the approach to monitoring progress against the carbon reduction pathway within the Climate Change Strategy 2022-2032.

The Head of Carbon Reduction and the Assistant Director of Policy and Strategy presented a report which set out the council approach to monitoring progress against the carbon reduction pathway. 

Officers responded to a number of questions which covered the following: the purpose of the Climate Change Scorecard, scope 3 emissions and the requirement for suppliers to report on emissions, the constraints and timetable for this, the accuracy of reporting and the resource required to report effectively, capital costs for decarbonising CYC sites, funding bids and remaining shortfalls, CYC targets, performance indicators and scorecards.

[18:34 Cllr Rowley left the meeting.]

There followed a discussion between Members which covered the merits of setting intermediate targets that measured progress towards the reduction of GCC02 emissions (citywide emissions)  and GCC03 emissions (council emissions). This included suggestions from Members on what the targets would look like.

It was agreed that officers would work to develop intermediate targets that would form the basis of future scrutiny reports.

Resolved:           

                                                     i.        That the report be noted.

                                                    ii.        A set of intermediate targets be developed and brought back to scrutiny.

Reason:                        To ensure that progress towards net zero is scrutinised by the committee.

[7.10 – 7.15pm, the meeting was adjourned for a comfort break.]

This report describes the context and detail behind the Blue Badge Application Process at City of York Council (CYC).

The Director of Customer and Corporate Services and the Business Support Manager, presented a report on the blue badge application process.  They highlighted the two stage appeal process and confirmed that they were in the process of investigating the suggestions that had been received following recent consultation with user groups and stakeholders; there was an ambition to make some changes to the renewal process.

Officers noted that they continued to learn and improve; they responded to the public speaker and apologised for some of the language used in the report. 

Members discussed a number of points, this included improvements to the renewal process., assessor recruitment, GP evidence,

Following the discussion, the Chair confirmed that the Committee would maintain a watching brief on the item.

Resolved:

                                     i.        That the report be noted.

                                    ii.        That the item be added to work plan for future consideration.

Reason:               To understand and consider any improvements that could be made to the Blue badge application process to assist disabled and other affected residents of York.

This report provides information on the delivery of the City Council elections 2023.

The Director of Governance introduced a report on the delivery of the City Council elections 2023.  He noted that the introduction of voter ID was the first substantive change in 10-15 years, and credited the Communications team for improving resident awareness of the requirement for voter ID.

A number of questions and comments were made by Members relating to the accessibility of polling stations, the use of greeters at polling booths, student voting and the postal vote system. 

It was reported that greeters had not been employed for the election.  Members noted their experience on election day, was that staff had been outside polling stations and had advised on the voter ID requirement.  It was therefore likely that the number of voters without ID had been underreported. 

Officers reported that the system for postal voting would be more complex in future, and that there would be a requirement to provide a national insurance number to register.

[8pm Cllr Myers left the meeting.]

Resolved:            That the report be noted.

Reason:              To keep the Committee updated.

To consider the scrutiny overview work plan.

Members considered the Scrutiny Work Plan for the scrutiny committees.

Resolved:            That the Work Plan be noted.

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