Agenda item

To agree the Panel’s report, for consideration by the Scrutiny Commission at its meeting on 11th January 2021.

The Commission will be requested to recommend the report to the Cabinet at its meeting on 11th February 2021.

A report of the Panel was submitted for agreement of the Panel, to then be  submitted to the Scrutiny Commission on 11th January 2021 (agenda item 7 filed with these minutes).

Assisting with the consideration of this item: Strategic Director, Environmental and Corporate Services, Head of Strategic Support and the Democratic Services Officer.

Members considered that paragraph 5, bullet point (i), in the Panel report required amendment.  Points raised during the discussion were as follows:

·         the removal of the words ‘general consensus’ from the first sentence of bullet point (i) was considered to reflect more appropriately the Panel’s views.

·         the importance of having four scrutiny committees and ensuring effective scrutiny.  A reduction in the number of scrutiny councillors was perceived to reduce the effectiveness of democratic processes.

·         the current scrutiny structure based on directorates was no longer in line with the strategic directorates, which had changed after the recent senior management restructure.

·         that other district councils appointed less standing scrutiny committees than Charnwood Borough Council and that savings by scrutiny work was not routinely monitored  It was noted that in some cases recommendations by scrutiny did not always result in savings but could incur additional costs.

·         recommendations made by scrutiny tended to be as a result of Scrutiny Panels and it wasn’t proposed to reduce the number of panels allowed in one council year.

·         that the Scrutiny Commission was scheduled to review the scrutiny structure at its meeting in March and whether it was appropriate for only the Scrutiny Commission to perform this review.  It was considered that there was a need for input from a wider pool of councillors but it was uncertain whether this was within the remit of the Panel to recommend.

Minor amendments were agreed by the Panel to the foreword of the Panel report and to paragraph 6 bullet point (ix).

The Chair thanked the Panel for its work in scrutinising the draft budget 2021-22 and the Lead member of Finance and Property Services for his support.

RESOLVED

1.            that paragraph 5, bullet point (i) of the Panel report be amended to include the recommendation that all councillors be provided an opportunity to participate in the Scrutiny Review scheduled by the Scrutiny Commission at its meeting in March;

2.            that the words ‘general consensus’ be removed from paragraph 5 bullet point (i) of the Panel report;

3.            that the foreword of the Panel report be amended and the word ‘5%’ be removed from the sentence ‘the Panel has noted the proposed 5% increase in council tax’;

4.            that paragraph 6 bullet point (ix)  of the Panel report be amended to replace the words ‘tier 3’ with ‘current covid restrictions’ in the sentence ‘if Charnwood continues to be in tier 3…’.

5.            that the Panel report be submitted to the Scrutiny Commission for its consideration at its meeting on 11th January 2021.

Reasons

1.         To support the majority of Panel members’ views that it was appropriate for the Panel to recommend that all councillors had an opportunity to participate in the scheduled Scrutiny review.

2,3,4. Minor amendments agreed by the Panel for accuracy.

5.            To enable the Scrutiny Commission to consider the report with a request that it be recommended to the Cabinet at its meeting on 11th February 2021.