Agenda and minutes

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Venue: Cabinet Room 'B' - The Diamond Jubilee Room, County Hall, Preston

Contact: Samantha Parker  Email: Tel: 01772 538221  sam.parker@lancashire.gov.uk

Media

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Items
No. Item

County Councillors Alf Clempson, David Howarth, Matthew Tomlinson and Cosima Towneley replaced County Councillors Tony Jones, David Whipp, Azhar Ali and David O'Toole respectively.

1.

Apologies

Minutes:

None were received.

2.

Constitution: Membership; Chair and Deputy Chair; and Terms of Reference of the Internal Scrutiny Committee pdf icon PDF 86 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee was presented with a report setting out the constitution, membership, chair and deputy chair and terms of reference of the Internal Scrutiny Committee for the municipal year 2017/18.

 

Resolved: That;

 

  i.  The appointment of County Councillors John Shedwick and Tony Jones as Chair and Deputy Chair of the Committee for the remainder of the 2017/18 municipal year be noted.

 

  ii.  The new Membership of the Committee following the County Council's Annual Meeting on 25 May 2017 be noted; and

 

  iii.  The updated Terms of Reference of the Committee be noted.

 

 

 

 

3.

Disclosure of Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests

Members are asked to consider any Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the Agenda.

Minutes:

None were disclosed.

4.

Minutes of the Meeting held on 13 April 2017 pdf icon PDF 79 KB

Minutes:

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 13 April 2017 be confirmed and signed by the Chair.

 

6.

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 pdf icon PDF 97 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee agreed that Item 6 be brought forward on the agenda. The Chair welcomed Laura Sales, Director Legal, Democratic and Governance; and Tony Haslam, Lead Officer Trading Standards.

 

The Committee was informed that the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) provided a framework for certain public bodies, including local authorities, to use "covert surveillance" to gather information about individuals without their knowledge for the purposes of undertaking statutory functions in connection with the prevention or detection of crime. The use of RIPA by a public authority provided protection against a claim of infringement of the right to respect for a private and family life, home and correspondence.

 

It was noted that local authorities were subject to inspections every three years undertaken by the Office for Surveillance Commissioners (OSC). The most recent OSC inspection took place on 28 February 2017. The resulting report from the inspection was considered in June 2017 by Cabinet.

 

In discussing the report, it was noted that part of the inspector's recommendation was that guidance/training on the use of social networking be widened to include other services and councillors, and that in relation to the use of social networking sites and the challenges faced by investigative teams around new technologies, a briefing note would be circulated to members.

 

Resolved: That the report be noted.

 

 

5.

Local Authority Funding Update pdf icon PDF 83 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed Steve Browne, Corporate Director of Commissioning and Deputy Chief Executive; and Kate Lee, Head of Service Exchequer Services, to the meeting.

 

A presentation was provided outlining the specific funding streams and mechanisms that the County Council were subject to as part of its budget and medium term financial strategy (MTFS) and included further information on potential future funding models.

 

A range of issues were discussed by the Committee, including the importance of future funding streams and income generation, which members felt should be the subject of further investigation through a task and finish group.

 

Members noted that the County Council operated in accordance with the CIPFA guidance relating to local authority accounting, and that regular monitoring reports ("Money Matters") were considered by Cabinet. In relation to the arrangements for the allocation of the New Homes Bonus in Fylde and how Enterprise Zones feature within the Business Rate reform, a briefing note would be provided for members.

 

Resolved: That;

 

  i.  A Task Group be established to look at local authority funding, in particular increasing income streams to the council.

 

  ii.  Membership and detailed Terms of Reference for the Task Group be agreed with Group Secretaries, in consultation with the Chair.

 

 

 

7.

Work Plan 2017/18 pdf icon PDF 82 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Work Plan was presented to the Committee regarding upcoming topics and future topics not yet scheduled.

 

Resolved: That the 2017/18 work plan be approved

 

8.

Urgent Business

An item of urgent business may only be considered under this heading where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the Minutes, the Chair of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency. Wherever possible, the Chief Executive should be given advance warning of any Member's intention to raise a matter under this heading.

Minutes:

There were no items of Urgent Business

9.

Date of Next Meeting and Future Meeting Dates

The next meeting of the Internal Scrutiny Committee will be held on Friday 22 September, 10:00am in Cabinet Room B, County Hall, Preston.

 

Future meetings of the Committee for 2017/18 municipal year are as follows:

·  22 September

·  17 November

·  19 January 2018

·  16 March 2018

·  18 May 2018

 

All meetings will commence at 10am in Cabinet Room B, County Hall.

Minutes:

The next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee will take place on Friday 22 September at 10.00am in Cabinet Room B (The Diamond Jubilee Room) at the County Hall, Preston and future meeting dates noted.