Agenda and minutes

Venue: Civic Suite, North Warehouse, The Docks, Gloucester, GL1 2EP

Contact: Democratic and Electoral Services 

Items
No. Item

101.

Declarations of Interest

To receive from Members, declarations of the existence of any disclosable pecuniary, or non-pecuniary, interests and the nature of those interests in relation to any agenda item. Please see Agenda Notes.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

102.

Declaration of Party Whipping

To declare if any issues to be covered in the Agenda are under party whip.

 

Minutes:

There were no declarations of party whipping.

 

103.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 200 KB

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 31st January 2022.

Minutes:

103.1   Councillor Hilton referred to the narrative in the draft minutes at 98.7 and the statement that ‘Councillor Hilton referred to narrowboat events in the Docklands which previously took place on alternative years and asked whether there was a possibility that these events could take place yearly.’ He explained that at the previous meeting, he asked that given the Tall Ships Festival takes place biannually in Gloucester, whether a similar event could take place for narrowboats. It was agreed that this error would be corrected.

 

103.2   Councillor Ackroyd thanked the Chair for noticing that Bathurst Road and Gladstone Road were in Moreland rather than Podsmead and confirmed that she had made the same observation when reading the Gloucester City Monuments Review.

 

103.3   In response to a query from Councillor Durdey regarding the narrative at 99.1, the Democratic and Electoral Services Officer confirmed that the Head of Culture had provided clarification that the Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) work was undertaken internally and the Council’s paid digital media was outsourced externally following the meeting. It was agreed that the minutes would be amended to make this fact clearer.

 

RESOLVED - That the minutes of the meeting held on 31st January 2022 be corrected with the above amendments for approval at the next Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on 28th March 2022.

 

104.

Public Question Time (15 minutes)

To receive any questions from members of the public provided that a question does not relate to:

 

·       Matters which are the subject of current or pending legal proceedings or

·       Matters relating to employees or former employees of the Council or comments in respect of individual Council Officers.

 

To ask a question at this meeting, please submit it to democratic.services@gloucester.gov.uk by 12pm on Wednesday 23rd February

2022 or telephone 01452 396203 for support.

Minutes:

There were no public questions.

 

105.

Petitions and Deputations (15 minutes)

To receive any petitions and deputations provided that no such petition or deputation is in relation to:

 

·       Matters relating to individual Council Officers, or

·       Matters relating to current or pending legal proceedings

 

To present a petition or deputation at this meeting, please submit it to

democratic.services@gloucester.gov.uk by 12pm on Wednesday 23rd February 2022 or telephone 01452 396203 for support.

Minutes:

There were no petitions nor deputations.

 

106.

Action Points Arising from Previous Meetings pdf icon PDF 132 KB

To note the outcomes of action points arising from previous meetings.

Minutes:

RESOLVED – That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee NOTE the updates.

 

107.

Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme and Council Forward Plan pdf icon PDF 277 KB

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

Additional documents:

Minutes:

107.1  The Chair introduced the latest version of the Council Forward Plan and invited suggestions as to any items Members wanted to add to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme. He confirmed that the Gloucester City Plan – Main Modifications report had been added to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on 28th March 2022.

 

107.2  In response to a request from Councillor Hilton for the Committee to consider the Future of Eastgate Indoor Market, the Democratic and Electoral Services Officer confirmed that this item had been deferred on the Forward Plan. It was agreed that it would be added to the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme with a date to be confirmed.

 

107.3  Councillor Hilton requested that the Gloucester Local List report be added to the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme and it was agreed that this item would be added to the meeting on 25th April 2022. The Chair noted that it was likely that the Committee would also consider the annual report of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at the April meeting, ahead of the annual Council meeting in May 2022.

 

RESOLVED

 

1)    That the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme be amended to reflect the above and

 

2)    To NOTE the Work Programme.

 

108.

Task and Finish Group Discussion pdf icon PDF 57 KB

To approve the membership of the Task and Finish Group considering how the Council engages with young people.

Minutes:

108.1  The Chair confirmed that the purpose of the item was to approve the proposed Membership of the Task and Finish Group, established to consider how the Council engages with young people. He referred to the narrative in Agenda Item 9 recommending that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee approve that Councillor A. Chambers, Councillor Chambers-Dubus, Councillor Gravells, Councillor O’Donnell and Councillor Radley sit on the Task and Finish Group.

 

108.2  Referring to the statement in the narrative that the Task and Finish Group would meet regularly, Councillor Pullen expressed the view that the timescale for the enquiry should be a short one and suggested that 3 months would be an appropriate timescale. Councillor Organ commented that this would be a matter for the Task and Finish Group Chair to decide.

 

108.3  Councillor Pullen further noted that there were in fact 4 parts to the motion approved by full Council at the meeting on 27th January, and that the resolution to actively involve young people in the process was missing from the narrative. He expressed the view that this was a very important resolution and hoped that this would be an active element of the Task and Finish Group enquiry.

 

RESOLVED – That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee APPROVE the proposed membership of the Task and Finish Group.

 

109.

Financial Monitoring Quarter 3 Report pdf icon PDF 218 KB

To consider the report of the Cabinet Member for Performance and Resources updating Members on financial monitoring information for the third quarter of 2021/22.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

109.1  The Cabinet Member for Performance and Resources introduced the report and confirmed that the purpose was to present the current best estimate of the Council’s financial position against the agreed budgets for the 2021/22 financial year. She confirmed that the forecast year-end position was a decrease to the General Fund balance of £109k against a budgeted increase of £129k, and that the year-end forecast position had therefore switched from a net increase of £180k to the General Fund forecast at Quarter 2 to a net decrease of £109k.

 

109.2  The Cabinet Member for Performance and Resources noted that as per the narrative in section 3 of the report, there was continued uncertainty surrounding the recovery of income streams as a result of the financial implications of Covid-19 and the cyber incident which had impacted the Council since December 2021. She confirmed that the Planning and Performance and Resources portfolio areas were experiencing pressures.

 

109.3  With regards to parking income, the Cabinet Member for Performance and Resources confirmed that the year-end forecast outcome had decreased by £25k as visitors to the city over the festive period had reduced due to the Covid-19 Omicron variant.  She confirmed that the smallest percentage change could have an impact on benefit payments and Housing Subsidies, however she noted that the cost of providing such payments was out of the Council’s control and mitigated by some extent by benefit overpayments that had reduced the net service spend by £237k. The Cabinet Member for Performance and Resources further confirmed that there were pressures in the Commercial Property and Crematorium service, however with the easing of restrictions, the opportunity to hold additional wakes was offsetting some of this pressure.

 

109.4  The Chair referred to the narrative at 3.5 in the report regarding the Sales, Fees and Charges (SFC) compensation scheme and asked for clarification on the statement that the settlement of the £400k accrued for Quarter 1 was still outstanding. The Director of Policy and Resources confirmed that the Sales Fees and Charges settlement had been agreed by central Government and that he expected that the Council would receive the money by the end of the financial year.

 

109.5  In response to a request from the Chair for clarification on what was meant by the SWRDA acronym at 5.2, the Director of Policy and Resources clarified that it referred to the ‘South West Regional Development Agency.’ The Director of Policy and Resources further explained that at the end of the financial year, this money was placed into the Council’s financial reserve and reviewed at year-end to check against the net balance. The Chair asked whether additional narrative on this area could be provided in future reports and the Director of Policy and Resources confirmed that he would be happy to provide a further paragraph explaining the SWDRA position going forward.

 

109.6  Councillor Wilson referred to the narrative at 4.2 concerning the December cyber incident and commented that the incident had resulted in a swing of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 109.

110.

Performance Monitoring Quarter 3 Report pdf icon PDF 122 KB

To consider the report of the Cabinet Member for Performance and Resources outlining the Council’s performance in quarter 3 across a set of key performance indicators.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

110.1  The Cabinet Member for Performance and Resources introduced the report and confirmed that the purpose was to inform Members of the Council’s performance against key measures in Quarter 3 of 2021/22. She noted that the report set out the Council’s performance against a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) and where targets exist, they were included along with a narrative to explain the data.

 

110.2  The Cabinet Member for Performance and Resources explained that as a result of the cyber incident in December 2021, Quarter 3 data was unavailable for 11 of the 26 KPIs.

 

110.3  The Chair referred to the KPI CCM-2 concerning the number of enviro-crime FPNs issued by enforcement officers. He noted that the trend was improving but also that the number of FPNs issued had increased from Quarter 1 to Quarter 3 and asked for the Cabinet Member’s comments as to whether this was a positive trend as it might indicate increased levels of fly-tipping.

 

110.4  The Cabinet Member for Performance and Resources noted that in an ideal world, there would be no fly-tipping, however she commented that in her view it was positive to see that the FPNs were being enforced as a penalty on those people committing environmental crimes and that the figures were proportionate to the cases reported.

 

110.5  The Chair commented that the enviro-crime team were relatively new and noted that he was aware from conversations with a local PCSO that the FPNs were proving to be effective. He asked whether the Council was issuing any press releases to update residents on the good work. The Cabinet Member for Performance and Resources confirmed that the Leader of the Council discussed potential press releases with the Communications team on a frequent basis and that good news stories were shared wherever possible.

 

110.6  In response to a follow-up request for the contact details of the enviro-crime team to be shared with Members, the Cabinet Member for Performance and Resources explained that the advice from the Director of Communities was for Members to raise any issues through the ‘Here to Help’ facility, as all this way, all referrals would be triaged and referred to the most appropriate service or officer to deal with that particular query.

 

110.7  Councillor Wilson referred to the missing Quarter 3 data and asked whether it was likely that the data was permanently lost as a result of the cyber incident. The Director of Policy and Resources confirmed his understanding that the data back-ups had worked, and that the data should not be permanently lost.

 

110.8  In relation to the number of enviro-crime FPNs issued, Councillor Pullen asked whether the Committee could receive an update on where they were being issued and whether the team could provide information about any emerging patterns or trends. It was agreed that follow-up enquiries would be made with the Communities team, however the Cabinet Member for Performance and Resources noted that an annual report might be a better means of answering this query.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 110.

111.

Date of Next Meeting

Monday 28th March 2022 at 6.30pm.