Agenda and minutes

Councillor L Smetham –Cabinet Support Member

Andrew Leadbetter   Legal Services Manager

Alex Thompson         Finance lead – Strategy and Funding

Gareth Pawlet            Head of Technical Strategy and Planning

Mark Nedderman      Senior Scrutiny Officer

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 15 June be approved as a correct record.

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any personal and/or prejudicial interests and for members to declare the existence of a party whip in relation to any item on the agenda.

There were no declarations of Interest

A total period of 15 minutes is allocated for members of the public to make a statement(s) on any matter that falls within the remit of the Committee.

Individual members of the public may speak for up to 5 minutes, but the Chairman will decide how the period of time allocated for public speaking will be apportioned, where there are a number of speakers.

Note: In order for officers to undertake any background research, it would be helpful if members of the public contacted the Scrutiny officer listed at the foot of the agenda, at least one working day before the meeting to provide brief details of the matter to be covered. 

There were no statements from members of the public.

To consider a report of the Borough Solicitor.

The Committee considered a report of the Borough Solicitor setting out the draft 2010/2011 work programme. The work programme was due to be shared with Cabinet colleagues at an informal briefing meeting to be held on 19 July 2010.

The report informed the committee that the Budget Consultation group had held its first meeting on 18 July 2010 and had agreed 4 key milestones in the budget consultation process which were:-

• Stage1 – Backward look at  the 2010/2011 process

• Stage 2- July/August priorities to be developed based upon the Corporate Plan and Sustainable Communities Strategy

• Stage 3 – October – Forming of the draft budget

• Stage 4 – January 2011, stakeholder events with Scrutiny involvement, followed by detailed look at the budget proposals by the group.

The group had also acknowledged that there would be a number of intermediate meetings as required and that each Overview and Scrutiny Committee would be consulted at each key stage.

The Committee noted that the presentation expected at today’s meeting on the asset register would now take place on 7 September 2010.

The Committee also noted that the new Highways contract which was being overseen by a Cabinet sub- committee was currently in the work programme of the Environment and Prosperity committee. Members questioned whether this committee should be involved in the scrutinisation of the procurement of this contract.

RESOLVED –

(a)               That the work programme be noted

(b)               That the date for the presentation on Assets be changed to 7 September 2010.

To consider a report of the Borough Solicitor.

Andrew Leadbetter Legal Services Manager, attended the meeting and gave a presentation on the work of Legal services.

Cheshire East’s Legal Services dealt with the full range of local authority legal work and was split into 3 teams:

Corporate

People

Places, regulatory and Compliance

Andrew gave an illustration of the level of work undertaken by the section in relation to section 106 agreements and in relation to Childcare. In addition, the Committee was supplied with comparative benchmarking statistics obtained from authorities with similar populations to Cheshire East. Members were also supplied with details of the current establishment and grading structure within Legal Services.

RESOLVED – That the presentation be received.

To receive a presentation from the ICT Manager to provide background information in respect of the work programme item.

Gareth Pawlett attended the meeting and gave a brief presentation on the progress made in connection with the harmonisation of ICT services. The Committee had previously received a presentation in December 2009.

The ICT team had identified 10 harmonisation targets as follows:

• Delivery of the Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) system
• Development of the Planning and Building Control Management system
• Full rationalisation of the email system by summer 2010
• Financial systems
• Health and Social care
• Human Resources
• Libraries Administration
• Revenues and benefits
• School Admissions
• Website

Over the next 12 months it was intended to:

• Introduce a new desktop strategy
• Develop green ICT to support the carbon management programme
• Develop the intranet site
• New telephony rollout
• Complete the Macclesfield data Centre for ICT/CCTV
• Strategic Wide Area Network review
• Corporate Enterprise Content management.

RESOLVED – That the  presentation be received.

To receive a presentation from the Head of Wellbeing to provide background information in respect of the work programme item.

Guy Kilminster Head of Health and Wellbeing Services attended the meeting and gave a presentation on Council proposals to investigate the possibility of outsourcing discretionary leisure and cultural services.

The presentation was a prelude to a much more detailed presentation expected to be given at the September meeting.

The current proposals were set against the backdrop of a budget reduction of £420 000 in the current financial year.

In particular, the Council would be reviewing management arrangements of the Council’s two municipal golf courses at Malkins Bank Sandbach and Queen’s Park Crewe. Likewise, the Council would also be reviewing management arrangements for the Lyceum Theatre Crewe, the Knutsford Cinema and a number of civic halls around the Borough.

The Cabinet had set up a devolution working group which was looking at the possibility of civic/community halls being offered to Town and Parish Councils to manage.

The group was seeking advice form a number of departments within the Council, including assets and human resources, because of the potential impact on staff currently employed by the Council to manage these facilities.

Queens Park Golf Course was currently managed by a third party and the Council had already undertaken some market testing in connection with  Malkins Bank golf course. A report was due to be considered by Cabinet in August 2010.

Cabinet  was also expected to consider a report in October in connection with the Lyceum Theatre Crewe and Knutsford cinema, following stakeholder consultation.

RESOLVED – That the Head of Wellbeing be requested to submit a full report to the next meeting on devolution proposals in respect of civic amenities.

To receive a presentation from the Head of Policy and Performance to provide background information in respect of the work programme item.

Sandra Smith Compliance Unit Manager Audit attended the meeting and gave a presentation on risk management in Cheshire East.

The aim of risk management was to maximise opportunities and encourage innovation by identifying and managing risks through:

• Risk reduction
• Insurance
• Tolerating them through risk appetite and self insurance
• Avoiding – by discontinuing the activity.

At the strategic level, the Council had set up a Corporate Risk management group whose role was to produce the Corporate Risk register, to undertake ongoing reviews and to monitor and report on these risks.

Each directorate management team was responsible in turn for producing, reviewing and monitoring Directorate Risk registers to ensure that responsibilities within the Corporate Risk Register were managed successfully.

In addition, Lead officers in the Partnerships team identified any risks for the Council and ensured that they were managed appropriately.

Likewise, Project Boards and Project managers ensured that risk profiles were developed and maintained and managed.

The Councils Audit and Governance Committee played a leading role in assessing the effectiveness of the Council’s risk management arrangements, the control of environment and associated anti-fraud and anti-corruption arrangements.

This Committee’s role was to challenge the effectiveness of the framework.

• The top risks affecting public sector were:

• Recession/economic down turn
• Partnerships
• Lack of Financial resources
• Major Incidents/disasters
• Business Continuity

Cabinet had also sought assurances about how the Council managed its reputation.

RESOLVED – That the presentation be received.

To consider a report of the Head of Human Resources considered by Cabinet on 14 June 2010, which set in motion the formal process to consult Overview and Scrutiny Committees in accordance with the Budget and Policy Framework procedure rules. The Committee is asked to consider making observations on the Corporate Plan which will be considered by Cabinet on 19 July 2010.

The Committee considered a report of the Head of Human Resources enclosing for comment, the draft Corporate Plan which was due to be considered by Cabinet on 19 July prior to making a recommendation to Council regarding its formal adoption on 22 July 2010.

RESOLVED – That the report be received and Members be invited to submit any comments on the Plan to the Senior Scrutiny Officer by email before the Cabinet meeting on 19 July 2010.

To note the current forward plan, identify any new items, and to determine whether any further examination of new issues is appropriate.

The Committee considered items currently listed in the forward plan.

RESOLVED – That the Forward plan be noted.

To note any consultations referred to the Committee from Cabinet and to determine whether any further action is appropriate.

There were no consultations from Cabinet.

The Chairman to update Members on the staffing of the Scrutiny Team.

Mark Nedderman Senior Scrutiny Officer informed the Committee that interviews were due to be held over the 28/29 July for the post of Scrutiny officer.

RESOLVED – That the report be received.