Agenda item

Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme and Council Forward Plan

To receive the latest version of the Committee’s work programme and the Council’s Forward Plan.

Minutes:

7.1      The Head of Communities explained that the Annual Report on the Grant Funding provided to the Voluntary Sector which was on the Committee ‘s agenda for its next meeting on the 3rd of March 2020 had been pushed back on the Cabinet ‘s forward plan. In response, Committee Members agreed to replace the report with the Climate Change Manifesto report. The Annual Report on the Grant Funding provided to the Voluntary Sector would be made a floating item on the work programme until it was ready to be considered at a Committee meeting.

 

7.2       Councillor Hilton requested that an interim report on Marketing Gloucester Limited (MGL) is brought before the Committee. He stated that this would focus on the report from the organisation which investigated the claims which were made in a whistleblowing case against the company in 2014, as well as the letter from the former employee who had raised the alarm. Councillor Hilton expressed his concern that the Council had so far not been able to locate the whistleblowing report.

 

7.3      Councillor Lewis suggested that the Committee should seek legal advice before holding the meeting to avoid potentially impinging on the ongoing police investigation into MGL. Councillor Hilton stated that the purpose of the meeting would be to look at the Council ‘s role in the whistleblowing investigations, if any.  In particular, this would mean looking at the correspondence between MGL and Council Officers, and documents from any meetings between MGL and Council, if any. Councillor Wilson stated that he agreed with this. Councillor Stephens echoed the point made earlier about the need to be careful about not prejudicing an ongoing police investigation. Yet, he also believed that there was a sense of urgency with this.

 

7.4      Councillor Ryall stated that she agreed with these observations and the importance of the issue at hand. However, she also stressed the importance of not dealing with the issue on politically partisan lines. She added that any investigations should be impartial.

 

 7.5   Councillor Coole summarised that they would be seeking legal advice before a decision is made on whether to hold the MGL meeting. Following this, he would then set up a meeting with the other group leaders discussing the potential Special Meeting.

 

 7.6      Councillor Haigh asked whether there any progress had been made on extending the local delivery of grass cutting Trial to Matson, pursuant to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee ‘s recommendation at its meeting on the 25th of November 2019. Furthermore, she asked whether any other wards had expressed an interest in the scheme. Councillor Watkins, Cabinet Member for Communities and Neighbourhoods outlined that whilst there were no further updates, the plan was to consult with the community in Matson, and then proceed from there. Furthermore, she added that there had been expressions of interest into the scheme from community partnership organisations in the Barton and Tredworth wards.

 

7.7      RESOLVED that: - subject to the above, that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee NOTE the Work Programme and Forward Plan.

 

Supporting documents: