Agenda and minutes

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Contact: Louise Connelly  01344 354047

Items
Note No. Item

None

44.

Minutes and Matters Arising pdf icon PDF 157 KB

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Commission held on 24 January 2019.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed Timothy Wheadon, Chief Executive and Kevin Gibbs, Executive Director: Delivery and the Statutory Scrutiny Officer; to the meeting.

 

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Commission held on 24 January 2019 be approved as a correct record, and signed by the Chairman.

 

There were no comments on the Actions Arising from the Minutes of previous Overview and Scrutiny Commission meetings.

 

Apologies were noted from Councillor McCracken, Executive Member for Culture, Resources and Public Protection and Councillor Heydon, Executive Member for Transformation and Finance.

None

45.

Declarations of Interest and Party Whip

Members are asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary or affected interests and the nature of that interest, including the existence and nature of the party whip, in respect of any matter to be considered at this meeting.

 

Any Member with a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in a matter should withdraw from the meeting when the matter is under consideration and should notify the Democratic Services Officer in attendance that they are withdrawing as they have such an interest. If the Disclosable Pecuniary Interest is not entered on the register of Members interests the Monitoring Officer must be notified of the interest within 28 days.

 

Any Member with an Affected Interest in a matter must disclose the interest to the meeting.  There is no requirement to withdraw from the meeting when the interest is only an affected interest, but the Monitoring Officer should be notified of the interest, if not previously notified of it, within 28 days of the meeting.

Minutes:

There were no indications that members would be participating while under the party whip.

None

46.

Urgent Items of Business

Any other items which, pursuant to Section 100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972, the Chairman decides are urgent.

Minutes:

There were no items of urgent business.

47.

Public Participation

To receive submissions from members of the public which have been submitted in advance in accordance with the Council’s Public Participation Scheme for Overview and Scrutiny.

Minutes:

No submissions had been made by members of the public under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme for Overview and Scrutiny.

 

48.

Transformation Programme Update pdf icon PDF 418 KB

Lisa Jewell, Deputy Transformation Programme Manager, to inform the Commission of the progress of each review within the Transformation Programme.

Minutes:

Lisa Jewell, Interim Deputy Transformation Programme Manager, attended the meeting and informed the Commission of the progress of each review within the Transformation Programme.

 

The Chairman welcomed Lisa Jewell, Interim Deputy Transformation Programme Manager to the meeting.

 

The Chairman suggested and it was agreed that questions would be raised at the end of the presentation unless there were matters that needed clarification as the presentation progressed.

 

Lisa Jewell, Interim Deputy Transformation Programme Manager introduced herself to the Commission and advised that the presentation was an update on the Transformation Programme since September 2018 and alerted Members that the order of her presentation had changed slightly to the slides that had been included with the agenda pack in that the position of slides 4 and 6 had been swapped.

 

In addition to the presentation, Lisa Jewell, Interim Deputy Transformation Programme Manager advised the Commission that:

  • The Transformation Programme to date had been largely successful.
  • The £12m savings target had been delivered.
  • Virtually all activities had been changed in line with new Council’s narrative.
  • There was good progress being made in effecting the cultural change necessary to help customers to help themselves.
  • The Transformation Team’s skills had been updated in line with change management. 
  • A core team of project managers who also had change management experience and training had been created.
  • During December 2018 the Transformation Team and the Corporate Management team (CMT) had carried out a prioritisation exercise and had reviewed around 80 projects which had been measured against value and impact, resources required and the general level of health and confidence around the projects.  This had informed what could be achieved and when. 
  • The recommendations from the prioritisation exercise had gone to CMT in Jan 2019.
  • The 2019/20 prioritised projects had been identified and all projects were being approached using the same 4 phases of the commissioning approach methodology.
  • Most of the projects were in the ‘analyse’ phase.
  • The Adult’s Transformation project had been the focus.
  • Some new projects had been brought into the programme this year and the focus was on the property joint venture, commissioning review and quality assurance and governance.

The highlights from the key programmes were:

  • Within the Core transformation Programme there were 5 projects. 
  • The Library Review and Parks and Countryside Review were now closed as transformation projects and had moved over to business as usual.
  • The development of the new Country Park was a stand-alone transformation project. There was oversight and coordination of the park’s delivery. Members would be kept up to date though Overview and Scrutiny via transformation.
  • The Library Review had established self-service kiosks in all 9 library branches including the Harmans Water Library which was due to open on 8 April 2019.
  • Open + technology installation was nearing completion in Sandhurst and Binfield and positive reviews and interest had been received.
  • The Depot project was being re-scoped.  Kevin Gibbs, Executive Director: Delivery was the project sponsor.
  • The Property Joint Venture was underway.
  • The Adults Programme was now formally part of Transformation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.

None

49.

Council Plan Overview Report Q3 October to December 2018 pdf icon PDF 420 KB

To consider the Chief Executive’s Council Plan Overview Report covering the third quarter from October to December 2018 of the 2018/19 financial year.

Minutes:

The Commission considered the Chief Executive’s Council Plan Overview Report covering the third quarter from October to December 2018 of the 2018/19 financial year.

 

The Chairman outlined that the Council Plan Overview Report (CPOR) was historic in nature and that Timothy Wheadon’s commentary covered the key issues in the report.

 

Timothy Wheadon, Chief Executive advised the Commission that there had been no detailed questions or comments about the report submitted in advance to him for a response.

 

In response to questions from Members, Timothy Wheadon, Chief Executive advised that:

  • The primary purpose of the quarterly summary reports was to hold officers to account by the Executive and the reports were only produced 4 times a year for that purpose.
  • In order for the reports to be ‘current’ for the Overview and Scrutiny Panel meetings, the dates of the Panels would need to be moved to align with the production of the reports however, Members can always access the performance data through Citrix and Paris 2 weeks after each month end.
  • There were two elements associated with producing a ‘dashboard’ for Members to view ‘live’ data.
  1. New software was required to manipulate the data and that was about 3 or 4 months away from being available.
  2. In phase software was required to sit above the data to enhance the reporting offer.  This was currently being piloted and would be ready to release to Members after the elections to see what worked and tie it down for October to align with Council plan 2019 to 2023.

50.

Centre for Public Scrutiny Healthcheck Report

To update to the Commission on the Centre for Public Scrutiny (CfPS) Healthcheck Report requested in December 2018.

Minutes:

The Chairman updated the Commission on the Centre for Public Scrutiny (CfPS) Healthcheck Report requested in December 2018.

The Chairman advised Members that:

  • The format of the Overview and Scrutiny function within Bracknell Forest Borough Council had been the same since 2003 and that he had felt it appropriate to have an external overview and report produced which looked at how the function was working, how it could be improved and changed. 
  • In December 2018 he had commissioned a report from the Centre for Public Scrutiny (CfPS) which was the leading organisation in this area.
  • The CfPS had submitted a draft report which the Chairman was looking at with the Chief Executive, Kevin Gibbs, Executive Director: Delivery and the scrutiny team to establish what the next O&S Commission will do about it.
  • A report will be sent to the next O&S Commission that sits after the May 2019 elections so that new Commission can take the report forwards as they think fit.
  • It was important that no-one’s hands were tied at this point.
  • Final comments on the report had not yet been made.
  • As soon as the report and the discussions had been finalised the Chairman would ask the Chief Executive to forward the report to the new Members of the Commission.
  • It was hoped that the report would act as a springboard to take O&S forward in the new term.

None

51.

Executive Forward Plan pdf icon PDF 53 KB

To consider scheduled Executive Key and Non-Key Decisions of a corporate nature.

Minutes:

Members received and noted the scheduled Key and Non-Key Executive Decisions of a corporate nature.

There were no comments or questions raised.

None

52.

Work Programme and Panel Activity Update pdf icon PDF 53 KB

To note the progress against the Overview and Scrutiny work programme, and the reports from Overview and Scrutiny Panel Chairmen on each Panel’s progress against the work programme.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Commission noted the progress against the Overview and Scrutiny work programme, and the reports from Overview and Scrutiny Panel Chairmen on each Panel’s progress against the work programme.

 

Councillor Mrs Birch hoped that Members had had a chance to see the Pupil Premium Working Group report as it was an excellent and worthwhile piece of work.  Councillor Mrs Birch directed Members to the report and asked Members to take the time to read it to understand what was working and how things were moving forwards.

 

The Chairman gave his thanks to all Members of the Commission, all the Panel Chairmen and Vice Chairmen, all the Members of the Panels and stated how highly appreciated their work was by the Executive. 

He extended his thanks to the scrutiny team and the new team members who had settled in to their roles well and supported the work of the Commission by providing the administration and clerking support.

The Chairman also gave his thanks to the Chief Executive and all other officers for their support during the last Municipal Year and looked forward to seeing everyone again after the 2 May 2019.

 

Contact Information

Democratic services

Email: committee@bracknell-forest.gov.uk