Agenda and minutes
PDF 274 KBVenue: Meeting Room 2 - Level 3, Gun Wharf, Dock Road, Chatham, Kent ME4 4TR. View directions
Contact: Michael Turner, Democratic Services Officer
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To approve the record of the meeting held on 3 February 2015 and the Joint Meeting of Committees held on 27 May 2015. Additional documents: Minutes: The record of the meeting held on 3 February 2015 and the Joint Meeting of Committees held on 27 May 2015 were agreed and signed by the Chairman as correct. |
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Apologies for absence Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Griffiths, Maple, Murray and Etheridge. |
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Urgent matters by reason of special circumstances The Chairman will announce any late items which do not appear on the main agenda but which he/she has agreed should be considered by reason of special circumstances to be specified in the report. Minutes: There were none. |
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Declarations of interests and whipping (A) Disclosable pecuniary interests and other interests
A member need only disclose at any meeting the existence of a disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI) in a matter to be considered at that meeting if that DPI has not been entered on the disclosable pecuniary interests register maintained by the Monitoring Officer.
A member disclosing a DPI at a meeting must thereafter notify the Monitoring Officer in writing of that interest within 28 days from the date of disclosure at the meeting.
A member may not participate in a discussion of or vote on any matter in which he or she has a DPI (both those already registered and those disclosed at the meeting) and must withdraw from the room during such discussion/vote.
Members may choose to voluntarily disclose a DPI at a meeting even if it is registered on the council’s register of disclosable pecuniary interests but there is no legal requirement to do so.
Members should also ensure they disclose any other interests which may give rise to a conflict under the council’s code of conduct.
In line with the training provided to members by the Monitoring Officer members will also need to consider bias and pre-determination in certain circumstances and whether they have a conflict of interest or should otherwise leave the room for Code reasons.
(B) Whipping
The Council’s constitution also requires any Member of the Committee who is subject to a party whip (ie agreeing to vote in line with the majority view of a private party group meeting) to declare the existence of the whip. Minutes: Disclosable pecuniary interests
There were none.
Other interests
Councillor Carr disclosed a non-pecuniary interest in agenda item no. 5 (Update on Medway Norse) as a member of the Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust in relation to the award of grounds maintenance contracts to Medway Norse. With regard to the same agenda item the Assistant Director Communications, Performance and Partnerships disclosed that she was a Director of Medway Norse. .
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Update on Medway Norse This report outline’s the Company’s achievements and performance up to the fourth quarter in its second year of trading and its plans for future growth and development. Minutes: Discussion:
The Assistant Director Legal and Corporate Services introduced a report which outlined Medway Norse’s achievements and performance up to the fourth quarter in its second year of trading and its plans for future growth and development.
Regarding the grounds maintenance team, a Member referred to grass not being cut on a regular basis at some sites and queried whether there was sufficient capacity in the team. Members were advised that there had been a spurt in grass growth in recent weeks and this, together with some problems with machinery, meant the grounds maintenance team were behind with their schedules. Regarding discrepancies with grass cutting at particular sites the Managing Director replied that there were plans to annualise the hours of grounds maintenance staff which should address these issues
With regard to SEN transport a Member reported concerns from some parents that home to school journey times had increased and were unreasonable. The Managing Director replied that children were now being transported on minibuses. Whilst some journeys were longer than before no journey from home to school lasted longer than 70 minutes, in line with the service standard set by the Council.
A Member asked if there was any scope in the SEN contract to transport some elderly people experiencing problems getting to day centres. The Managing Director replied that schools were the priority but Norse would do what they could to help on non school days.
A Member referred to Berengrave nature reserve which had been waterlogged and overgrown for some time and asked for a strategy to be put in place to address these issues. An undertaking was given to provide a briefing note for Members on this.
A member asked why the amount of the surplus that the Council would receive from Medway Norse in future years was decreasing. The Assistant Director Legal and Corporate Services replied that this was in accordance with the 10 year agreement between the Council and Medway Norse which set out the level of surpluses to be returned to the Council.
In response to a question about the cost to Medway Norse of paying the living wage to its staff the Committee were advised this would cost in the region of £450-500,000 pa.
Decision:
The Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee agreed to note the report and asked for a briefing note on addressing problems at the Berengrave nature reserve. |
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Procurement Strategy This report updates members on the progress made against the Council’s Procurement Strategy 2013-2016. Additional documents: Minutes: Discussion:
A discussion took place about the efforts made by the Council to facilitate conversations between local businesses to encourage collaboration. The Assistant Director Legal and Corporate Services considered that there was probably little more the Council could do on this but his team would continue to provide information to businesses on opportunities to bid for council contracts. In response to comments from Members, the Assistant Director Legal and Corporate Services undertook to look at the occasions where collaboration had been successful and see what lessons could be learned for the future.
Members congratulated the team on saving £8.8m in the first two years of operating the new category management approach by procuring differently. More detail was requested on how these savings had been achieved and an undertaking was given to provide a briefing note.
A Member referred to the fact that the majority of the measures of success set out in the Procurement Strategy had been achieved and queried whether this meant the Council had not been sufficiently ambitious. The Assistant Director Legal and Corporate Services responded that whilst he was happy to review the targets he did consider the Strategy was ambitious in nature.
Regarding the Council’s relationship with the Business School of the University of Kent the Assistant Director commented that this was a mutually beneficial relationship.
Members discussed the target of 40% spend with local SMEs and whether this was achievable. The Assistant Director Legal and Corporate Services replied that it was a challenging target but performance had improved from 21% to 25%.
A Member asked for information about the views of local SMEs of the Council as a provider. The Committee were advised that feedback was sought from SMEs on a regular basis and details of this could be shared with the Committee.
In response to a question about whether the Council benchmarked its performance on procurement against other Councils, the Assistant Director Legal and Corporate Services replied that this was a difficult area but he would investigate the possibility of benchmarking with the CIPFA family group of similar councils.
A Member asked what the purpose of purchasing cards would be and was advised that the introduction of these was still under consideration but the aim was to significantly reduce the number of low level transactions. Decision:
The Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee agreed to
(1) note the progress made against the Procurement Strategy 2013-2016 and
(2) request briefing notes on
· the breakdown of the £8.8m achieved in procurement savings, · feedback received from SMEs about their experience in the procurement process and · the possibility of benchmarking performance on procurement with similar councils
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Topics for In-Depth Scrutiny Reviews - Priorities and Timetable This report invites the Committee to discuss and agree a timetable and process for the selection of topics for the next round of in-depth scrutiny reviews Minutes: Discussion:
The Head of Democratic Services introduced a report which invited the Committee to discuss and agree a timetable and process for the selection of topics for the next round of in-depth scrutiny reviews.
Decision:
The Business Support Overview and Scrutiny Committee:
(1) agreed that a Task Group on housing: demand, supply and affordability in Medway should be the first to commence in late August/ early September 2015 and that the membership of this Group should be five Councillors (in the ratio 3:1:1) to be drawn from this Committee and the Regeneration, Community and Culture O & S Committee.
(2) agreed the process and timetable for the selection of the next round of in-depth reviews as set out in paragraph 3.2 of the report
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This item advises Members of the current work programme and allows the Committee to adjust it in the light of latest priorities, issues and circumstances. It gives Members the opportunity to shape and direct the Committee’s activities over the year. Additional documents: Minutes: Discussion:
The Democratic Services Officer introduced a report advising the Committee of the current work programme which allowed them to adjust it in light of the latest priorities, issues and circumstances. The report gave details of the items listed on the Cabinet Forward Plan that fell within the remit of this Committee and Appendix 2 to the report set out the work programmes of the other three Overview and Scrutiny Committees.
Decision:
The Committee agreed to:
(1) note the work programme;
(2) agree the changes to the work programme as detailed in paragraphs 3.3.1 and 3.3.2 of the report and
(3) note the work programmes of all overview and scrutiny committees (set out in appendix 2 to the report).
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