Issue - meetings

Cllr Phil Awford, Chair of Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee, will present the report which provides a summary of recent scrutiny committee activities. Scrutiny Committee Chairs to answer questions:

Cllr Philip Awford, Corporate Overview and Scrutiny

Cllr Andrew Gravells, Health 

Cllr Stephen Hirst, Adult Social Care and Communities

Cllr Andrew Miller, Children and Families

Cllr Dom Morris, Environment

Cllr Matt Babbage, Economic Growth

Cllr Jeremy Hilton, Fire and Rescue

Cllr Steve Robinson (Vice-chair), Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel

Cllr Phil Awford, Chair of Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee, presented the report which provided a summary of recent scrutiny activities.

The report highlighted the breadth of scrutiny activity being undertaken by non-executive members. It was noted that Gloucestershire County Council had more scrutiny committees than most local authorities, however this demonstrated how engaged and enthusiastic members were about the activities of the Council and wider community issues including health.

Cllr Awford also thanked Cabinet members for attending scrutiny committee meetings and commented that strong Cabinet governance was only as good as the scrutiny process that runs alongside it. 

Members were reminded of and encouraged to attend the Budget Scrutiny session taking place on 6 January 2022.

One member commented on his disappointment at the negative approach to the recent call-in process and expressed the view that scrutiny was valuable and should be embraced more than it was.

Cllr Phil Awford, Chair of Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee, will present the report which provides a summary of recent scrutiny committee activities. Scrutiny Committee Chairs to answer questions:

Cllr Philip Awford, Corporate Overview and Scrutiny

Cllr Andrew Gravells, Health  

Cllr Stephen Hirst, Adult Social Care and Communities

Cllr Andrew Miller, Children and Families

Cllr Dom Morris, Environment

Cllr Matt Babbage, Economic Growth

Cllr Jeremy Hilton, Fire and Rescue

Cllr Phil Awford, Chair of Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee, presented the report which provided a summary of recent scrutiny activities.

It was understood that work plans were being developed by each scrutiny committee to address issues of relevance to residents of Gloucestershire; the new Fire and Rescue Scrutiny Committee had made a strong start looking at the challenges facing Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service; Cllr Andrew Gravells was welcomed back as Chair of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee which was looking at a range of issues including temporary service changes; and the Restoring our Rivers Task Group had been established.

One member expressed the view that the scrutiny report should be more comprehensive rather than listing the items on scrutiny committee agendas alongside links to the agenda papers.

Cllr Hilton, as Chair of the Fire and Rescue Service Committee, informed members of the success of the Committee’s first meeting, and Cllr Gravells, as Chair of HOSC, reminded members that those sat on scrutiny committees could feed back to other members in their political group.

Members were reminded of the upcoming Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service Members Awareness Session taking place at Gloucester South Fire Station and SkillZone on 19 November 2021.

The June 2021 cycle of Scrutiny Committees were induction sessions where officers presented information relevant to each committee’s remit.  Scrutiny Committee Chairs to answer questions:

Cllr Philip Awford, Corporate Overview and Scrutiny

Cllr Andrew Gravells, Health Scrutiny

Cllr Stephen Hirst, Adult Social Care and Communities

Cllr Andrew Miller, Children and Families

Cllr Dom Morris, Environment

Cllr Matt Babbage, Economic Growth

Cllr Jeremy Hilton, Fire and Rescue

Council noted the report.

Cllr Shaun Parsons, Chair of the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee, to present a summary report from the March 2021 cycle of scrutiny committees.  Attached to the report is a summary of the comments made by members, co-opted members, partner organisations and senior officers relating to the current scrutiny arrangements.

Cllr Shaun Parsons, Chair of the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee, introduced the report which detailed scrutiny activity throughout March 2021.

Cllr Parsons took the opportunity to thank all non-executive members who had participated in scrutiny over the last four years, and highlighted that the Council was deservedly one of the most effective scrutiny authorities in the Country.

Nevertheless, Cllr Parsons recognised that improvements could still be made, and he acknowledged the concerns raised by members particularly regarding the split of health and adult social care scrutiny. He thanked members for contributing to the scrutiny review, which would be taken forward into the new Council for consideration.

Several members thanked Cllr Parsons for his enthusiasm and commitment to scrutiny, as well as for the opportunity to contribute to the review of scrutiny.

In response to a question, Cllr Parsons stated that he supported and felt that there was a continued role for the joint working of scrutiny committees, as well as partnership working amongst organisations in the County.

Cllr Shaun Parsons, Chair of the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee, to present the scrutiny reports from recent committee meetings.

Cllr Shaun Parsons, Chair of the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee, provided an update on scrutiny activities.

It was noted that members of the scrutiny committees continued to be active looking at a wide range of issues including the Director of Public Health Annual Report, the response to Covid-19, the NHS Integrated Care Strategy, the Gloucestershire Youth Offending Service, the River Severn Partnership, electric vehicle infrastructure and governance of the GFirst Local Enterprise Partnership.

A successful budget scrutiny day was held on 7 January 2021 with involvement of members from different scrutiny committees, Cabinet members and Directors. The task group relating to public participation had reported to Cabinet, and attention was drawn to a comprehensive report on flooding which would be presented at Environment Scrutiny Committee soon.

Members were encouraged to provide their views on the scrutiny structure by responding to the email that had been circulated by Democratic Services.

There was a request for a summary report on member feedback to the scrutiny structure review at the next Council.

A member commented that the task group relating to taxi licensing had also completed its work.

Cllr Shaun Parsons, Chair of the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee, to present a summary report from the September and October 2020 cycle of scrutiny committees.

Cllr Shaun Parsons, Chair of the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee, introduced the report which detailed scrutiny activity throughout September and October 2020. 

It was understood that the report on rainbow crossings had now been sent to the Leader of the Council for his consideration. It was also noted that two scrutiny task group reports for single-use plastics and public participation, were due to be presented to the Cabinet on 16 December, and the report on taxi licensing would go to Cabinet in January.

Additionally, the scrutiny annual report would be presented to Corporate Scrutiny on Friday 27 November.  This report provided a summary of activities since the scrutiny review in 2018 and would give members an opportunity to express their views on the shape of scrutiny moving forward.

Cllr Shaun Parsons, Chair of the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee, to present a summary report from the July 2020 cycle of scrutiny committees.

Cllr Shaun Parsons, Chair of the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee, introduced the report which detailed scrutiny activity over the previous months noting the recent virtual meetings that had been held.

One member requested that a report on the Rainbow Crossing members go to the Corporate Scrutiny meeting at the end of the month.

Cllr Shaun Parsons, Chair of the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee, to note that formal scrutiny committee meetings will resume next month (July 2020).  Through May and June 2020 a series of question and answer briefing sessions have been held for each scrutiny committee to ensure that members remain updated on Council activities.

Cllr Shaun Parsons, Chair of the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee, provided an update on scrutiny. He advised that virtual scrutiny question and answer sessions for each scrutiny committee had taken place throughout June and that formal scrutiny committee meetings would recommence virtually in July, highlighting the hard work of Democratic Services and ICT in setting up and testing the technology to enable members to participate in these meetings remotely.

In response to a question from a member as to why the formal scrutiny function of the Council had been paused for so long, Cllr Parsons explained that the response to the coronavirus crisis by officers had to be prioritised, pragmatically the systems to enable scrutiny to take place remotely had to be set up, and that the Council would be one of the first larger local authorities to reconvene full scrutiny sessions.

Cllr Shaun Parsons, Chair of the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee, to present the scrutiny reports from the January cycle of meetings.

Cllr Shaun Parsons, Chair of the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee, presented the report.  He said that the budget scrutiny session held by the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee had been attended by Cabinet Members and Directors who had presented details of their spending plans.  The Health Scrutiny Committee had been looking at the Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group’s ‘Fit for the Future’ consultation.  The Environment Scrutiny Committee had considered issues around the roll-out of an electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the county.  Members of the Children and Families Scrutiny Committee had received a presentation on the draft Transitions Strategy.  Three scrutiny task groups were continuing their work on single-use plastics, taxi licensing and public participation.  Non-executive members were also involved in other activities including a Cabinet advisory panel on the Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service. 

Cllr Colin Hay, Chair of the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel, advised that the Police and Crime Commissioner’s budget and precept had been supported unanimously by the panel.  He noted that the increase in the funding available to the Police relied on a substantial rise in council tax.  He acknowledged that the Government was fully funding the costs of extra 20,000 police officers with the Gloucestershire allocation expected to be 152.  The Commissioner had highlighted the extra pressure on the police as a result of cuts to public services elsewhere, notably mental health and universal youth services. 

RESOLVED to note the report.

Cllr Patrick Molyneux, Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, to present the scrutiny reports from the November and January cycle of meetings.

Cllr Patrick Molyneux, Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee, presented the scrutiny report.  He noted that the scrutiny review was continuing and he reminded members about the workshop being held on 25 February 2019.

A member believed that it would be useful to circulate a scrutiny position statement showing progress so far with the review ahead of the workshop.  He highlighted a specific issue relating to Anti-Social Behaviour Injunctions and ensuring that relevant staff at the District Councils and in the County Council’s Youth Team were kept informed.  Cllr Brian Robinson, Chair of the Children and Families Scrutiny Committee, undertook to highlight this with senior officers.

RESOLVED to note the report.

Cllr Patrick Molyneux, Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, to present the scrutiny report.

In presenting the report, Cllr Patrick Molyneux, Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee, advised that the one day budget scrutiny session had worked well.  He noted that some of the issues raised had influenced the budget recommendation put forward by the Cabinet.  He said that an all member briefing would be arranged on the Business Rates Retention Pilot and the allocation of funding. 

Referring to changes being made to the Road Safety Team, a member asked what the position was relating to the Drive for Life Programme and support for road safety liaison groups across the county. 

RESOLVED to note the report.

Cllr Patrick Molyneux, Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, to present the scrutiny report.

In presenting the report, Cllr Patrick Molyneux, Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee, advised that the committee had considered care workers and the national living wage following the motion passed at the last full Council meeting.  He said that a Budget Scrutiny day would be held on 10 January 2018 and all members were welcome to attend.  He confirmed that it would be held in public and Cabinet Members would be in attendance for the scrutiny of their service areas. 

A member noted that a children’s centre in his division had been rated by Ofsted as outstanding and he said that he was confused why there continued to be references to children’s centres not reaching vulnerable groups.  Cllr Mark Hawthorne, the Leader of the Council, recognised that many children’s centres were delivering good services to those families who were using them.  However, he said that there remained questions as to whether they were reaching the most vulnerable families. 

Cllr Brian Robinson, the Chairman of the Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Committee, advised that the committee had received a number of reports on the Children’s Services Improvement Plan.  He said that progress was being made, albeit it was not as fast as Ofsted would like.

Cllr Carole Allaway-Martin, the Chair of the Health and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee, stated that the committee would be receiving a progress report on the NHS Winter Plan as its meeting in January 2018.  She undertook to consider whether the committee should scrutinise the Health and Wellbeing Board’s activities. 

Cllr Rob Bird, the Chairman of the Environment and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee, explained that the Minerals Local Plan was worded in such a way that it addressed the main issues for Gloucestershire, namely sand and gravel extraction.  There was no detailed assessment criteria for applications for mineral and gas extraction and this would need to be addressed should the need arise in future.

A member noted that the Police and Crime Commissioner was in discussion with HM Courts and Tribunal Services about the possibility of providing a new facility at Waterwells.  Another member hoped that there would be an opportunity to scrutinise any decisions on the location of a new court facility.  He believed that it would be best located in Gloucester City centre as it would be more accessible to local residents.  Cllr Will Windsor Clive, the Chairman of the Police and Crime Panel, advised that this was not the business of the panel and members should make their views known to officers and partners involved in estate management.

RESOLVED to note the report.

Cllr Patrick Molyneux, Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, to present the scrutiny report.

Cllr Patrick Molyneux, Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee, presented the report.

Cllr Molyneux stated that the Council had an excellent reputation for scrutiny and, following discussion at the last meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee, there was no appetite for a peer review of scrutiny at the present time.  He agreed, however, to keep the matter under review. 

Cllr Dave Norman, Chairman of the Economic Growth Overview and Scrutiny Committee, said that the committee had not had any detailed discussions around Brexit but it would be picked up when particular issues were discussed.  He stated that the committee would be holding meetings in the districts to allow local members to raise issues relating to economic development.

A member requested that consideration also be given to holding meetings of the Economic Growth Joint Committee in the districts.

Another member noted the importance of promoting Gloucestershire and he referred to how the recent Tour of Britain cycle race had showcased the county with people from across the World watching the television coverage.  He said that it was not just about tourism but about attracting young people to live and work in the county.

RESOLVED to note the report.