Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Clarke, Hackwell, Johnson, Opara and Stamp. 

(During this period, the Conservative and Labour and Co-operative political groups had informally agreed, due the Coronavirus pandemic, to run meetings with reduced number of participants. This was to reduce risk, comply with Government guidance and enable more efficient meetings. Therefore the apologies given reflected that informal agreement of reduced participants.)

To approve the record of the meeting held on 2 July 2020.

The record of the meeting of the Committee held on 2 July 2020 was agreed and signed by the Chairman as correct. 

There were none. 

Members are invited to disclose any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests or Other Significant Interests in accordance with the Member Code of Conduct.  Guidance on this is set out in agenda item 4.

Disclosable pecuniary interests

There were none.

Other significant interests (OSIs)

There were none.

Other interests

There were none.

Whipping

Confirmation was provided that there was none.

This report provides Business Support Overview & Scrutiny Members with the opportunity to scrutinise the latest steps taken by the Council to assist Medway to begin recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Discussion:

Members considered a report which provided the Committee with the opportunity to scrutinise the latest steps taken by the Council to assist Medway to begin recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The following issues were discussed:

·       Re-opening of High Streets and markets – the question of what the Council could do to enforce social distancing at boot fairs and protect sellers from thefts was raised. The Chief Finance Officer responded that this was more a matter for the police, but that he would refer this matter to Recovery Work Stream 1 to look at what could be done.

·       Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPS) – reference was made to errors at the start of the pandemic where EHCPs had been posted to wrong addresses. The Chief Finance Officer advised that he could not comment on the detail of this issue. Backlogs had inevitably developed in several services and officers were doing their best to try and catch up.

·       Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) – it was clarified that it was no longer possible to book a slot at the Pepperhill HWRC via the Council’s website as Kent County Council had taken on responsibility for bookings at their sites.

Test and trace – noting the powers being given to local councils, the capacity to provide a test and trace service was queried. Members were advised that the Council had been given £1.5m to mitigate against and manage local outbreaks of Covid-19. In response to whether this funding was sufficient, the Chief Finance Officer commented that it was probably sufficient provided there was not a significant outbreak in Medway.

Whether the IT systems used by the Council could be used to securely transfer data to the Test and Trace team was queried. The Chief Finance Officer undertook to investigate this.

In response to queries about test and trace data collection in libraries, the Chief Finance Officer undertook to look into why a library card could not be used to provide the necessary personal details and also why residents could not use their own laptops in libraries.

·       Re-opening of leisure centres – whether the free-swimming scheme had been put on hold was queried, which the Chief Finance Officer agreed to clarify and report back. In terms of when the Strand Leisure Centre would re-open, Members were advised that a lack of certainty and the lead time required for emptying, cleaning and refilling, had led to Gold Command making the decision not to re-open it this summer.

·       Purchase of residents parking permits – the Chief Finance Officer agreed to establish when libraries and community hubs would re-commence issuing residents’ parking permits.

·       Government Covid funding – Members asked for more detail on lost income and government funding received for Covid, including what elements were ring fenced, the timescales for spending grants, expenditure to date and the remaining balance. The Chief Finance Officer stated further details would be provided in the Quarter 1 revenue monitoring report and gave an assurance that additional funding received had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 205.

This report sets out activities and progress on work areas within the Portfolio of the Leader of the Council, which all fall within the remit of this Committee. This information is provided in relation to the Leader of the Council being held to account. The report also includes an overview of the Council’s role in responding to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Discussion:

Members considered a report which set out activities and progress on work areas within the Portfolio of the Leader of the Council, which all fell within the remit of this Committee (i.e. strategic leadership of the Council, communications and marketing, and finance. The report also included an overview of the Council’s role in responding to the Covid19 pandemic.

The Leader responded to Members’ questions and comments as follows:

·       The Council’s response to the pandemic – in terms of how the Council had responded overall to the pandemic and what in hindsight he felt could have been done differently, the Leader replied that he did not feel he that would have done much more differently although it was inevitable that the Council had not been successful in everything it had tried to do. The Council had responded well in an often rapidly changing situation and had supported vulnerable individuals with food parcels etc as well as channelling £70m of grants to businesses and individuals. From the outset, his position had been to aim to maintain services as near to normal as possible for as long as possible. Medway was in the lower quartile of similar councils in terms of the number of infections and he  assured Members that measures had been put in place to prevent a further significant outbreak. He had some concerns about whether the police were doing enough to enforce the Covid regulations, which he would be raising with them.

In terms of  how the Council’s response compared to similar sized councils, the Leader considered that it compared very well.

The cross-party approach in responding to the pandemic was welcomed by Members.

The Leader was asked how he planned to recognise the achievements of staff over the last few months through the performance appraisal system. The Leader commented that it would be very difficult to determine who deserved to be rewarded without rewarding everyone, which would not be possible financially.

·       City of Culture Bid – the Leader confirmed that this bid was still proceeding and agreed with a comment about the importance of how to use outdoor spaces flexibly to deliver cultural events.

·       Climate change emergency – in response to a question about what the Council could do to ensure new homes were as “green” as possible, the Leader commented that addressing climate change remained a priority and wanted to see homes as “green” as possible. However, the Government’s proposals to change the planning system would lead to a state of flux.

·       Remote meetings – the possibility of the Council asking local MPs to lobby the Government to allow remote meetings to continue when the enabling legislation expired was raised. The Leader undertook to discuss this with Medway’s MPs. His preference was to have face to face meetings when this was possible again but accepted there was a place for virtual meetings as well.

·       Festivals – the Leader agreed with a suggestion that pre-purchased cards be made available.

·       Medway Commercial Group (MCG) – in response to a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 206.

This report details the Quarter 4 2019/20 performance against the measures used to monitor progress against the Council’s priorities.

Discussion:

Members considered a report which detailed the Quarter 4 2019/20 performance against the measures used to monitor progress against the Council’s priorities.

The extent to which any more savings could be achieved through the procurement process was queried. The Chief Finance Officer replied that the category management approach was not just about buying goods more cheaply but also looking at how services could be delivered differently to generate efficiencies. The latter approach was being used when considering how best to recover from the pandemic.

Reference was made to measures significantly below target and the fact these tended to affect vulnerable people and how these would be improved was queried. The Chief Finance Officer explained that the Corporate Management Team had undertaken 4 “deep dives” into measures below target and improvements had resulted in 3 of these areas. Some issues took inherently longer to fix than others. There had been no “deep dives” during the Covid period, but these would now resume.

Decision:

The Committee agreed to:

a)         note the Q4 2019/20 performance against the measures used to monitor progress against the Council’s priorities.

b)         to note that during Q4 19/20 risks have been managed through the Council’s Emergency Planning process, and

c)          note that the Strategic Risk Management Group resumed monitoring strategic risks during quarter 1 20/21.

(In accordance with Council Rule 12.6, Councillors Khan, Maple and Murray asked that their votes in favour be recorded.)

This report provides the Committee with an update on how formal meetings have been held during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In particular, it sets out the lessons learned from the introduction of the legislation and technology to allow the Council to hold remote meetings, including possible further Member development needs and the extent to which the Council might wish to use this technology post recovery to facilitate the democratic process.

Discussion:

Members considered a report which provided an update on how formal meetings had been held during the Covid-19 pandemic. In particular, it set out the lessons learned from the introduction of the legislation and technology to allow the Council to hold remote meetings, including possible further Member development needs and the extent to which the Council might wish to use this technology post recovery to facilitate the democratic process.

The Chief Finance Officer commented that a cross directorate officer group had been set up at the start of the pandemic to implement remote meetings and that this had been a great success, although there was still scope for improvement. In excess of 30 IT champions across the Council had volunteered to provide additional support to officers and Members.

Members agreed the introduction of remote meetings from a standing start had been very successful and welcomed the training and support which had been provided.

Going forward the following suggestions and comments were made:

• How to make Microsoft Teams and Modern Gov (the Council’s agenda management system) more integrated.
• How to resolve conflicts when an individual used Teams for two or more different organisations.
• The introduction of online voting in meetings.
• How to include more councillors in remote meetings so that Committees no longer operated on a reduced membership basis, including looking at the start time of meetings.
• That the Council should continue webcasting Member meetings open to the public.
• The importance of training for Members.
• Whether the Council could engage with providers to ensure that the broadband infrastructure in Medway could cope with the increasing needs of the digital age.
• That all councillors should only use a secure Medway email address.
• The need for the microphone system in Gun Wharf to be updated to improve sound quality.

In response, officers agreed to investigate the points about integration between Teams and Modern Gov and electronic voting. Members were advised that a return to meetings operating with a full complement of Members would need to be carefully managed. The importance of training was acknowledged, and the new IT champions would help with this. It was likely that in future there would be a hybrid approach to meetings with some face to face, some completely remote and others by a combination. There was a need for good Wi-Fi coverage across Medway and the Smart Cities programme presented an opportunity for the Council to work with its partners to achieve this.

Decision:

The Committee agreed to note the report.

(In accordance with Council Rule 12.6, Councillors Khan, Maple and Murray asked that their votes in favour be recorded.)

Discussion:

Members considered a report regarding the Committee’s current work programme.

Reference was made to the cross-party discussions which had led to proposals to change how the O&S arrangements operated and whether these proposals could be implemented in the next cycle of meetings.

The possibility of the recommendations from the new cross-party group on monuments and place names coming to Overview and Scrutiny for pre-decision scrutiny was raised.

Noting the possibility of the Council relocating from Gun Wharf, it was suggested that a cross party group may be needed to oversee this depending  on what decision Cabinet took on the matter.

Members noted that this would be the last meeting of the Committee clerked by Michael Turner, Democratic Services Officer as he was taking on new responsibilities and thanked him for his support and guidance to the Committee over the last few years.

Decision:

The Committee agreed to note the Committee’s work programme and the work programmes of the other Overview and Scrutiny Committees.

(In accordance with Council Rule 12.6, Councillors Khan, Maple and Murray asked that their votes in favour be recorded.)