Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everybody to the first meeting of the New Year, especially Councillor Alison Hansford, who also gave her thanks to the Committee for all their support and best wishes that she and  her family had received in light of recent events.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Harold Heaton and Joyce Snape.

To consider and approve the minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny meeting held on 12 December 2011 (enclosed)

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 12 December be confirmed as a correct record for signing by the Chair.

No declarations of any interest were received.

No questions were received from any member of the public.

To consider the minutes of the Executive Cabinet meeting held on 15 December 2011 (enclosed)

No issues were raised by any Member of the Committee for the Executive Cabinet meeting held on 15 December 2011.

Report of the Statutory Finance Officer (enclosed)

The Committee received the report of the Statutory Finance Officer advising Members of the current budget forecast position for 2012/13 based upon a set of core principles that had been discussed and agreed by Members at Executive Cabinet on 15 December 201.

The key principles to be adopted were similar to the last financial year in that they represented the essence of what the Council wanted to achieve, but had been adapted to reflect the current issues facing the Borough and to represent key areas for investment.

·        continuing to be a high performing Council

·        the freezing of Council Tax for 2012/13

·        continuing to provide value for money

·        developing schemes to assist NEETS in the Borough

·        developing programmes to support current health reforms

·        safeguarding frontline services

·        looking for opportunities to share services and generate additional revenue

·        preparing for the future and uncertainty over public finances

·        reducing debt and the consequent financial charges

The principles would be the subject of public consultation.

Members discussed the report in full and raised several points with the Executive Member for Resources (Councillor Kevin Joyce) in particular relating to support to the voluntary sector, core funding and debt reduction.

RESOLVED – That the information and budget principles be accepted.

To receive and consider the report of the Chief Executive (enclosed)

The Committee received a report of the Chief Executive setting out the performance against the Corporate Strategy and the key performance indicators during the second quarter of 2011/12, 1 July to 30 September 2011.

Overall performance of the key projects remained good, with the vast majority of the projects either completed, or on track. One project was rated red, progress on the refresh of the Council’s website which had been slow due to a number of reasons. Timescales had been amended to reflect this and the transactional functionality of the website was now complete. The Council had since commissioned additional design support to complete the new improved branding of the site and it was expected to go live in the forth quarter.

Performance on the key measures and performance indicators was strong, with 83% performing above target or within the 5% tolerance. Only two indicators were performing below target.

The number of health checks accessed via the One Stop Health Shop had continued to fall in the last quarter and the decision had been taken to close the Town Centre base, with alternative arrangements being made to take the health checks into communities to work with individual employers.

It was explained that many of the people that had undertaken a health check at the One Stop Health Shop had been referred to the Council’s various sports and leisure programmes and Members asked if demographic information could be provided on:

·     number of people that used the One Stop Health Shop

·     number of people participated in the various sports and leisure programmes.

Members commented that although the performance against the Corporate Strategy key measures relating to street and environmental cleanliness for litter, detritus and graffiti, were better than on target, these figures were an average across the Borough and they asked if specific targets could be reported on for Chorley Town Centre.

RESOLVED

1.    That the report be noted.

2.    That demographic information be provided for Members on:

(a)      Number of people that used the One Stop Health Shop

(b)      Number of people that participated in the various sports and leisure programmes

3.    Request to the Executive Member (Places) for specific targets to be developed for street and environmental cleanliness of litter, detritus and graffiti, in Chorley  Town Centre.

To receive and consider the report of the Chief Executive (enclosed)

The Committee received  a report of the Chief Executive providing an update on the performance of Chorley Partnership during the second quarter of 2011/12.

The report highlighted the performance of Chorley Partnership in achieving the key performance targets and the progress made in the delivery of the key projects. Performance remained excellent, with four of the five projects currently rated ‘green’.

Although crime overall had increased by 3.0% in quarter two compared to the same period last year, the year to date figure showed a reduction. Although the indicator for burglary dwelling had continued to rise during the second quarter, increased and focused targeting of identified groups of local offenders had resulted in Chorley having one of the highest detection rates in Lancashire.

The Chair, on behalf of the Committee, requested that the detection rate for Chorley continue to be reported on a quarterly basis.

Domestic violence and domestic violence detection rates had seen  significant increases due to the changes in reporting procedures. Members requested that further information be provided on the number of victims of domestic violence from ethnic minority backgrounds in these two areas.

RESOLVED

1.    That the report be noted.

2.    That crime detection rates continue to be reported.

3.    That the number of victims of domestic violence from ethnic minority backgrounds be circulated to Members of  the Committee.

To consider the Overview and Scrutiny Work Plan and the Council’s Forward Plan for the four month period 1 January to 30 April 2012 (documents enclosed).

The Committee received a copy of the Forward Plan for the period 11 January to 30 April 2012.

RESOLVED – That the Forward Plan be noted.

To consider the Overview and Scrutiny work Programme for 2011/12 (enclosed)

The Committee received a copy of the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme for 2011/12.

RESOLVED – That the Work Programme be noted.

Rented Private Property Task and Finish Group

To receive a verbal update on the inquiry from the Chair, Councillor Beverley Murray.

Rented Private Property Inspection Task Group

The Committee received a verbal update report from the Chair, Councillor Beverley Murray who informed the Committee that its first meeting would now be held on 2 February 2012.

Places were still available on the Group and Members were asked to contact Democratic Services to register their interest ahead of the first meeting.

Tourism and Promoting Chorley Task Group

Councillor Peter Wilson, Chair of the Overview of Scrutiny Task Group reported that the next meeting of the Group would be taking place on 11 January 2012.

RESOLVED – That the information from the Task Groups be noted.

To consider the exclusion of the press and public for the following items of business on the ground that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

RESOLVED – That the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the ground that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1 and 3  of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.

Report of the Chief Executive (enclosed). 

The Committee received a report of the Chief Executive updating Members on the progress made in the implementation of the strategic principles proposed by the Asset Management Scrutiny Task Group.

The Final Report of the Group had proposed 13 Strategic Principles to the Executive Cabinet for consideration. These were not recommendations on specific works but had been intended as a guide to the Councils future approach to asset management and a progress update against each of the proposals was included in the report.

Councillor Debra Platt left the meeting at 7.45pm.

Members discussed the report in detail,  particularly in relation to principle 4.9 of the report.

RESOLVED

1.    to ask the Executive Member for Resources to instruct Liberata to look at marketing the Bengal Street depot site for either sale or rental as a matter of urgency.

2.    To ask the Economic Regeneration Thematic  Group of the LSP to consider the Economic Strategy for  the Bypass corridor area of the Town Centre (Harpers Lane to Stump Lane)