Resources

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1 34 RESOURCES OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE Minutes of the proceedings at a meeting of the Committee held in the Georgian Room at the Town Hall, Kendal on Thursday 12 March 2009, at 2.00 p.m. Present Councillors Vivienne Rees (Chairman) Jackie Cooper (Vice-Chairman) Roger Bingham Jane Carson Stan Collins Colin Davies Chris Hogg Ian McPherson David Vatcher Brian Wilkinson Mark Wilson Mary Wilson Co-opted Members David Peters Also in attendance at the meeting were Councillors Jonathan Brook and Ann Hall. Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Norman Bishop-Rowe, Colin Hodgson and Peter Woof and Co-opted Member John Short. Officers Brian Benson Jackie Evans Sean Helly Emma Ludlam Steve Richards Caroline Turner Chris Woods Head of Information Services (part) Head of Legal, Democratic and Member Services (part) Democratic Services Assistant Climate Change and Sustainability Officer Democratic and Member Services Manager ROS/074 MINUTES RESOLVED That the Chairman be authorised to sign, as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 8 January Chairman to sign. ROS/075 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST RESOLVED That it be noted that no declarations of interest were made.

2 35 ROS/076 DECLARATION OF PARTY WHIP RESOLVED That it be noted that there were no declarations of any party whip on any of the issues to be discussed on the Agenda. ROS/077 LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972 EXCLUDED ITEMS RESOLVED That it be noted that there were no items in Part II of the Agenda. ROS/078 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION RESOLVED That it be noted that no questions, representations, deputations or petitions had been received. ROS/079 FORWARD PLAN Consideration was given to items in the Forward Plan covering the period 1 March 2009 to 30 June 2009 which fell within the remit of this Committee. RESOLVED That the report be noted. ROS/080 OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY CO-ORDINATION BOARD Feedback was given on matters discussed at the Overview and Scrutiny Co-ordination Board meeting on 17 February Members were advised that a letter had been sent to the Chair of the Audit Committee which set out the reasons why a systematic programme of service reviews by Overview and Scrutiny was not appropriate. No reply had been received to date. RESOLVED That the feedback be noted. ROS/081 UPDATE ON CLIMATE CHANGE Members were given a presentation and an update on the progress of work on climate change within the Council between November 2008 and February Several issues had been addressed which included the following: - Environment champions had been enlisted within most departments. The purpose of these champions was to raise staff awareness and take action on environmental issues. These champions met on a monthly basis.

3 36 Cabinet had agreed the adoption of the Cumbria Climate Change Strategy on 11 March 2009 climate change was also a priority in both the Council s Corporate Plan and the Community Strategy. The Chief Executive and the Leader of the Council had signed the Nottingham Declaration in November 2008 the declaration was a voluntary pledge to address the issues of climate change and had been signed by over 300 Local Authorities. The Council s Carbon Management Plan had been drafted and was going through the approval processes. Attention was drawn to where the Council s Carbon emissions came from which included: - 4% from business travel. 29% from the Council s fleet. 67% from the Council s buildings. The Climate Change and Sustainability Officer advised that there were plans in place to further investigate the fleet and business travel emissions. The aim of the Carbon Management Programme was to reduce the carbon emissions of the Council by 25% over 4 years. This would be achieved by a mixture of measures from the following: - Organisational realignment (policy change and process review). Renewable technologies (biomass boilers, wind/solar thermal systems). Design and asset management (procurement changes and property rationalisation). Invest to save (insulation and heat recovery, lighting and controls, combined heat and power, plant and fleet replacement). Good housekeeping (metering and targeting, culture change and training, regular inspection and audit).

4 37 The Carbon Management Plan had identified over 60 proposed projects to cut carbon emissions. These included: - Fleet mileage reduction by 5%. Business mileage reduction by 5%. Lighting upgrade to South Lakeland House Car Park. Voltage optimisation in South Lakeland House. Reduction in sheltered housing energy consumption. Property rationalisation. Members were encouraged by the enlistment of the Environment Champions and felt culture change was hugely important within the organisation to achieve reductions in the Council s carbon emissions. Members also felt a Member Champion may be beneficial to raise the profile with Elected Members. With regard to looking toward the future the following tasks were likely to be implemented in 2009/10: - Implementing projects in the carbon management plan and reviewing Council policies. Develop a green transport plan. Assess the Council s progress against the action plans in the Cumbria Climate Change Strategy and develop an implementation plan. Assess risks and opportunities across the Authority from adapting to climate change and develop an adaptation Strategy and action plan. The Climate Change and Sustainability Officer advised that Member suggestions and input would be gratefully received. RESOLVED That the update be noted.

5 38 ROS/082 DRAFT MEMBER SERVICES TASK AND FINISH GROUP REPORT Consideration was given to the report from the Member Services Task and Finish Group. The aim of the review had been to ensure that all Members, both new and more experienced, were equipped with the skills to fulfill their new and changing role as community leaders. In addition to this the group aimed to review the support provided to Members from Democratic Services and Member Services Departments. This included the general facilities provided for Members to enable them to fulfill their roles. The report detailed a number of recommendations for consideration by the Committee and included issues around training, systems, staffing facilities and budget implications. The Group had highlighted the major recommendations as being: - The Yellow Pedal. Induction training. More in-house training by Officers in bite-size chunks. A centralised diary. The Democratic and Member Services Manager welcomed the review and responded to the recommendations. She stated that a number of them could be implemented with relative ease while others, such as the suggested change to staffing resources, could be examined as part of the Council s restructure. In addition, if funding was required for improvements to Members accommodation a bid for funding would need to be submitted together with a detailed justification. In response to a query from Members, the Democratic and Member Services Manager undertook to clarify if Council premises could be used to hold surgeries. Members acknowledged the work of the Member Services Department and the ongoing process of improvement. RESOLVED That the Draft Member Services Task and Finish Group Report be recommended in its entirety to Cabinet for their consideration. to refer to Cabinet.

6 39 ROS/083 DRAFT INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY (ICT) TASK AND FINISH GROUP REPORT Members were provided with the Draft ICT Task and Finish Group Report. t The aim of the Task Group was to examine the ICT facilities provided to service users within the Authority and whether it met their needs. Members felt the following was important: - Benchmarking should be undertaken to determine how effective the IT department was compared to other organisations. A detailed review of the ICT provision was required with a view to finding future opportunities for shared service provision. Performance standards should be developed, implemented and imbedded within the IT department. Agreed service standards were required to be put in place and published regarding service delivery. An analysis of problems which had been logged with the help desk was undertaken, establishing whether any common issues required further investigation. It was noted that the ICT Strategy was approved by Cabinet on 11 March The Strategy focused on the short to medium term initiatives which developed a number of building blocks to support the change agenda. It was acknowledged that several of the recommendations which have arisen from this Task Group were included within the Strategy. Members felt the Members System Support Officer who had been in post for several months had helped significantly with Member s IT issues. However, Members were concerned that in the event of the Support Officer being absent they were unsure of who to contact. The Head of Information Services advised that Member s contact the IT department directly in that instance. Members had been given instructions on how to contact the help desk. RESOLVED That the Draft Information and Communications Task and Finish Group Report be recommended in its entirety to Cabinet for their consideration. to refer to Cabinet.

7 40 ROS/084 DRAFT RURAL PROOFING TASK AND FINISH GROUP REPORT Members were provided with the Draft Rural Proofing Task and Finish Group Report. The purpose of this Task Group was to undertake a review of the Council s Rural Proofing considerations and how these might be improved to ensure rural inclusion throughout the District. Members felt this Task Group was vital due to the rural nature of the District and residents should not be made to feel isolated. Several key points were highlighted in the report which included the following:- Rurality could be defined in several different ways, but attention should be drawn to the fact that rural inclusion was the issue, and rural proofing was the process to address that. Maintaining and developing partnership working with other Local Authorities, schools and organisations. This was essential to improve engagement with the rural community. Further work should be undertaken on raising awareness about the services the Council provided which was an issue with young people living in the Districts rural areas. Members felt that a Rural Champion should be enlisted to take forward rural issues and be a source of help and information. The County Council should be informed of the work of this Task Group to gain their input. As part of the review, the Task Group spoke to Officers of the Council, young people, partner organisations and examined best practice. There was a general consensus from Member s of the Task Group that they felt visiting rural schools was a beneficial exercise to gain the young persons perspective.

8 41 Members also briefly discussed the Comprehensive Area Assessment which was due to be introduced in This would become a new performance management regime for public service providers and would assess the impact of public service delivery at a Local Authority Level. There would be overlap with rural proofing aims within the objectives of this policy. Members thanked Co-opted members Richard Watson and David Peters for their input into this Task Group Report. RESOLVED That the Draft Rural Proofing Task and Finish Group Report be recommended to Cabinet in its entirety to Cabinet for their consideration. to refer to Cabinet. ROS/085 DRAFT WHITE PAPER TASK AND FINISH GROUP REPORT The presented the Draft White Paper Task and Finish Group Report. He advised that this report was very much a draft and any input would be greatly received. The Strong and Prosperous Communities White Paper (2006) had set out a number of proposals that sought to give local people and local communities more power and influence to improve their lives. The proposals included the following: - Some devolved powers. Strengthened local leadership. An enhanced role for frontline Councillors with the aim of empowering local communities. The Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 (LGPIH Act 2007) had provided the legislative framework for a number of the proposals set out in the 2006 White Paper and confirmed the direction of travel. Members felt the Local Area Partnerships (LAPs) would help the consultation process. It was felt to important to ensure that people feel engaged with the whole process and were advised that the process was improving and evolving. RESOLVED That the Draft White Paper Task and Finish Group be recommended in its entirety to Cabinet for their consideration. to refer to Cabinet.

9 42 ROS/086 WORK PROGRAMME Consideration was given to the current status of the Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee Work Programme for 2008/09. Members were advised that the reviews of the past year were now at completion stage and letters had been sent out to various parties requesting suggested topics for potential review in the next municipal year. RESOLVED That The Work Programme be noted. ROS/087 PROGRESS REPORT Members were provided with a Progress Report on the work of the Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee. RESOLVED That the Progress Report be noted. The meeting ended at 5.00 p.m.