To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Cllrs Max Coborn (substitute Cllr Lynn Sterry) and Cllr James Bevan.

Cllr Burford, chairman of the committee, welcomed Simon Harper and Stephen Bace from the scrutiny team at Gloucestershire County Council, who presented item 8 on the agenda.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 12 January 2012 (attached).

The minutes of the meeting held on 12 January 2012 were confirmed and signed as an accurate record.

The chairman to identify any items of urgent business.

The chairman identified no items of urgent business.

To receive any declarations of interest in any matter to be discussed at the meeting.  Members and officers are requested to identify the nature of the interest and indicate whether it is personal or prejudicial.

No declarations of interest were made.

To consider questions from members of the public in accordance with the published protocol. To submit a question contact Democratic Services on 01594 812625 or email democratic.services@fdean.gov.uk. All questions must be submitted in writing at least two working days prior to the meeting.

There were no public questions.

The committee to hold a question and answer session with the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council.

Cllr Burford invited the Leader of the Council, Cllr Molyneux, to present an update on current Cabinet issues before a question and answer session.

Cllr Molyneux began by saying that the forthcoming budget, which included car park management, was the main current topic. While he agreed that all councillors had the right to write in the local newspapers he asked them to ensure facts were correct, citing Cllr Whitburn, who he said had written that the cabinet alone had made the decision to charge for parking in certain car parks. Cllr Molyneux stated that all the cabinet had done was to endorse resolutions from the Strategic Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Full Council. There had been no alternatives put forward and no recommendations not to introduce charging. The cabinet had taken into consideration 12 of the 14 recommendations and the remaining two would happen as charging was implemented. It had been wrong to state that the cabinet had not listened.

The second issue highlighted related to a presentation given by Two Rivers Housing regarding its strategy. He hoped that the council would achieve a consensus view and a united approach after fully understanding the issues.

He invited questions.

Cllr Whitburn said that he believed the cabinet had not listened to and considered all the recommendations, giving as an example the initial period of free parking, which had been ignored.

Cllr Molyneux replied that the recommendation had been to reconsider the proposal, which the cabinet had duly done. The cabinet had not thought that there had been any good reason at this stage for Mitcheldean car park to be treated any differently from others. However the charging regime would be regularly reviewed after bedding in period and after one year the impact would be gauged and any changes made.

Cllr Winship asked for clarity on her understanding that Lydney Town Council had been approached by the council to pay for cycle racks.

Cllr Molyneux said that he was not aware of any such approach. Cllr Robinson, Deputy Leader of the Council, added that many parish councils had been offered free cycle racks by a third party. He confirmed that this council had made no such approach to Lydney Town Council.

Cllr Winship then referred to the possibility of a 'double dip' recession. She asked if the cabinet had plans for a change in direction, should the projected income from car park charging not be achieved.

Cllr Molyneux replied that the cabinet would always be flexible. The key principle for the budget had been to maintain services without imposing the burden of raising the council tax for all residents, but applying a modest charge for those actually using the car parks. He cited the Mary Portas report in stating that free car parking was not the saviour for town centres. The council could use some income to invest in the towns and implement some recommendations from the Portas report to revitalise them. He believed that when people had become used to paying  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To consider items for discussion at future meetings, including relevant issues on the Cabinet forward plan.

The committee confirmed that it would consider the following items from the cabinet forward plan at its meeting on 12 April 2012: affordable housing investment options and single status project update. It would also consider the leisure management strategy if ready.

To establish new inquiries, if required, and confirm their scoping documents.

The committee currently had scoping documents for fuel poverty, the GO project and reforming the cabinet system. The latter was being dealt with initially by the Constitution Working Group and Political Group Leader Group.

Cllr Bill Evans informed the committee of a shared services scheme initiated by the county council, which had not materialised. He believed that the only way for smaller councils to survive would be through partnerships and it was important to scrutinise the GO project of which this council was part as a critical friend. The issue was so crucial to making savings for the council, particularly in procurement. He had been informed that it might be more relevant to undertake the scrutiny later in the year when projected savings would begin to be realised. He emphasised that the council was doing well to be involved in partnerships, but he wanted the committee to set a specific date for the beginning of a scrutiny exercise.

The Head of Paid Service said that the timing of the inquiry would depend on the desired outcomes. The last partner would begin using the shared system in August and the shared service would be in place in October 2012.

Cllr Winship questioned whether an inquiry could make a difference.

Cllr Bill Evans replied that while the council should be congratulated for joining the project, there was still a role for members, but perhaps not in April.

The Head of Paid Service confirmed for Cllr Brian Edwards that the council was legally and financially committed.

Cllr Robinson agreed that to scrutinise whether the partnership was working could only be done once it was fully operational. However he believed that it could be valuable to look at where the project might go next. There were other councils interested in joining and an inquiry could investigate whether the project should grow more members or grow more services or both. It could find out how other partnerships had developed and that exercise could begin now.

The committee agreed that a scrutiny inquiry into the GO project should begin in July 2012.

Simon Harper, Scrutiny Support Team Leader, Gloucestershire County Council to present.

Cllr Burford thanked Simon Harper and Stephen Bace for their patience and emphasised the vital role that the panel would play in the county.

Simon Harper gave the following background information:

Elections for the Police and Crime Commissioner would be held on 15 November.  By that time a Police and Crime Panel would need to be established in Gloucestershire. The panel would not be a replacement for the Police Authority but it would be a powerful local authority scrutiny body with members from each of the seven councils.  It would have powers to require the Police and Crime Commissioner and the Chief Constable to attend meetings and answer questions, review the commissioner’s draft police and crime plan setting out police priorities for the area and importantly veto the commissioner’s police precept

As far as he was aware Gloucestershire was the only area in the country that had a Community Safety Scrutiny Committee that included county, district and police authority members.  This committee was set up along the lines of the Health, Community and Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  The well-established joint scrutiny arrangements between the districts and the county had placed Gloucestershire in a good position in terms of preparations for a Police and Crime Panel.  The work that members had done so far had been acknowledged by the Centre for Public Scrutiny as an example of best practice.  

At the Leadership Gloucestershire meeting held on 10 November 2011 the leaders of the seven councils agreed in principle that Gloucestershire County Council should act as the lead authority in establishing the panel and should provide the necessary officer support, the panel should be made up of a minimum of 10 non-executive councillors and two independent members and that the elected membership should be made up of a minimum of six district councillors and four county councillors.

There were a number of steps in establishing a panel and these would require close co-operation among the seven councils. These included setting the terms of reference, panel arrangements and rules of procedure, appointing independent members and organising training.  The team had already started to develop the terms of reference and associated documents.  Draft documents had been presented to the Community Safety Scrutiny Committee on 16 January.  The documents were not complete as regulations and guidance were still to be released by the Home Office. He hoped that each council would appoint members and deputies to the Police and Crime Panel at its annual meeting in May 2012.

It was worth noting that the Police and Crime Panel and the Community Safety Scrutiny Committee would be separate legal entities.  There were clearly close links between them and in the short-term they were planning to hold meetings on the same day.  He was expecting some members to be appointed to both bodies although that would of course be a decision for individual local authorities. He recognised that there is a need to keep members and senior officers from the seven councils aware of the latest  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The Cabinet Member for an Efficient Council and Planning Policy to give an oral update on the cabinet report due for consideration on 8 March 2012.

Cllr Robinson, as Cabinet Member for Finance and Planning Policy, said that the update was very much emerging thinking and invited the Group Manager for Finance and Property to present it.

The Group Manager for Finance and Property said that the key drivers for the possible shared work were savings and resilience. While changes in benefits administration would have an impact on all size of council, this council could benefit from working with another.

The change to universal credit was still due to be implemented for new claims from October 2013 and the Department for Work and Pensions latest thinking was that it might move some work away from district level. Using an outside body to work with the two interested authorities would give the council the security of pooling resource and the ability to expand. If the council lost its benefits work it could pick up other work while retaining staff.

The committee agreed to have a further oral update at its meeting on 12 April.

Cllr Martin, inquiry chairman, to give an oral update from the first meeting of the inquiry into private sector housing renewals loans and fuel poverty.

Cllr Martin, chairman of the inquiry into private sector housing renewal loans reported that the panel had met on 31 January to consider merging the inquiry with one into fuel poverty. After discussion of the major points, the panel decided to focus on renewal loans only and the fuel poverty issue would be placed back on the list of issues for the future. There would be still be aspects of the inquiry relevant to fuel poverty, but the focus would be clearly on renewal loans. At its next meeting the panel would consider the results of research undertaken with other local councils and the identified 'family councils'. The inquiry would bring its final report back to the committee on 19 July 2012.

The panel will hold a question and answer session with the Cabinet Member for the Environment on 23 April 2012.

Cllr Allaway Martin confirmed that the panel would hold a question and answer session with the Cabinet Member for the Environment on 23 April 2012.

The panel will hold a six-month review meeting for the office public opening hours inquiry on 12 March 2012.

Cllr O'Neill reported that he had now completed the notes from the panel's meeting on 12 December 2011, which had been circulated to panel members. He confirmed that the panel would hold a six-month review meeting for the office public opening hours inquiry on 12 March 2012.

The panel will consider the third quarter performance report on 6 February 2012.

Cllr Bill Evans confirmed that the panel would consider the third quarter performance report on 6 February 2012.

All at 6.00pm with a chairman’s briefing for members at 5.30pm

Thursday 12 April 2012 at the council offices, Coleford

Thursday 3 May 2012 at the council offices, Coleford

Thursday 19 July 2012 at Lydney Town Hall

Thursday 13 September 2012 at the council offices, Coleford

All at 6.00pm with a chairman’s briefing for members at 5.30pm

Thursday 12 April 2012 at the council offices, Coleford

Thursday 3 May 2012 at the council offices, Coleford

Thursday 19 July 2012 at Lydney Town Hall

Thursday 13 September 2012 at the council offices, Coleford