Agenda and minutes

Members of the public are welcome to attend our meetings to watch them in person at any of the venues across the County. Publicly accessible meetings held in County Hall will be webcast, which means they are available to be watched live or recorded on our website. Please see our webcasting notice here. The Committee may, in certain circumstances, resolve to hold part of the meeting in private. If this is the case, you will be required to leave the meeting.

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 Councillor Anne Cheetham replaced County Councillor Wilkins for this meeting.

1.

Apologies

Minutes:

Apologies were received from County Councillor Erica Lewis.

2.

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.

3.

Minutes of the Meeting held on 15 March 2019 pdf icon PDF 112 KB

Minutes:

Resolved: That the minutes from the meeting held on 15 March 2019 be confirmed as an accurate record and signed by the Chair.

 

4.

'Does Local Government Work for Women?' Task and Finish Group Report - Response to Recommendations pdf icon PDF 22 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed the Leader of the County Council, County Councillor Geoff Driver, and Josh Mynott, Democratic and Member Services Manager, to the table.

 

The report presented explained that in March 2019, the Internal Scrutiny Committee published a task and finish group report on 'Does Local Government Work for Women'.

 

In accordance with agreed protocols, the Leader of the County Council had been asked to provide a response to the recommendations included as part of the task and finish group's report.

 

Regarding Recommendation 11 – Legalise remote attendance at council meetings and use technology to support inclusion, this was not supported by the Leader as currently the law did not allow for remote attendance at meetings. It was pointed out that the committee structure did allow for substitutions.  There also needed to be considerable work done with Facilities Management and ICT to identify future equipment needs and associated costs, before this could be further considered. Some members felt representations should be made to Government to seek a change in the legislation.

 

In terms of Recommendation 12 – Childcare and caring costs must be covered, this recommendation was not supported by the Leader. The county council had a responsibility for safeguarding. The DBS checks were important given the county council's responsibilities around safeguarding, as well as the need to ensure that there were appropriate controls around the claiming of allowances.

 

The committee was informed that the role of councillors would be promoted widely to all communities, including via schools, in order to attract candidates from all backgrounds. A 'Be a Councillor' information event was being held on 8th July at County Hall.

 

Resolved: The Internal Scrutiny Committee receive and accept the responses to the task and finish group report from the Leader of the Council.

 

5.

Reducing Single Use Plastics in Lancashire - Response to Recommendations of the Scrutiny Task and Finish Group Report pdf icon PDF 24 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

 The Chair welcomed the Deputy Leader of the County Council, County Councillor Albert Atkinson; Rachel Tanner, Head of Procurement; Clare Joynson, Head of Facilities Management; Ginette Unsworth, Head of Communications; William Maxwell, Service Development Manager; and Nigel Craine, Head of School and Residential Care Catering, to the meeting.

 

The committee was informed that in January 2019, the Internal Scrutiny Committee published a task and finish group report on reducing single use plastics in Lancashire.

 

Cabinet Members welcomed the report from the Internal Scrutiny Committee on the important subject of reducing single use plastics (SUPs) in Lancashire. They also thanked members and officers of the Reducing SUPs in Lancashire task and finish group for the time and commitment that they had invested in the thorough research that they undertook as part of the group's work. In accordance with agreed protocols, the relevant Cabinet Members had been asked to provide a response to the task and finish group's report.

 

Currently only certain types of plastic were permitted in the county's residential recycling bins. The new system would mean pots, tubs and trays would also become part of the collections across the county and Lancashire County Council was working towards integrating pots, tubs and trays into doorstep collections later this year. Work was now underway to adapt the council's waste recovery plant at Farington so that it could accept a wider range of plastic materials. A major public information campaign was being planned to advise the public of the changes to the system. The authority would work with district councils, which collected rubbish in their own areas, to help residents understand the new system and what they could recycle. The communications team already had a good webpage set up and once the new system was introduced, social media would be used extensively to promote the messages to the public.

 

A number of initiatives had already been introduced across county council buildings.  Plastic cups had been eradicated from meeting rooms. Fruit and veg was now placed in plastic trays only if it was soft and needed protection. The catering department at the county council had replaced 15 out of the 20 single-use plastic products which it had been using.

 

Another recommendation from the single-use plastics task group which the committee accepted was the promotion of plastic reduction in schools and businesses across the county. Dialogue with schools was now under way and key messages would be shared with businesses once they had been agreed at a corporate level. 

 

In regard to banning the release of helium balloons and sky lanterns from all council owned land and leased premises this recommendation was supported by Cabinet members and consideration would be given to what was required to enforce such a ban. The committee was informed that in respect of organised events where prior permission was required from the council, it might be possible to impose conditions on the granting of permission for the event. The enforcement with respect to individuals or small groups presented obvious  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

Internal Scrutiny Committee Work Programme 2018/19 pdf icon PDF 21 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The work plan for the Internal Scrutiny Committee for the 2018/19 year was presented. The topics included were identified at the work planning workshop held on 2 July 2018.

 

There was a request for the work plan to include the topic of the late adoption of roads in Lancashire as there was a lack of clarity on this. Committee was informed that this would be included at the work planning session in July.

 

 

Resolved: The report presented be noted.

 

7.

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.

8.

Date of Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Internal Scrutiny Committee will be held on Friday 12 July 2019 at 10:00am in Cabinet Room B, County Hall, Preston.

Minutes:

The next meeting of the Internal Scrutiny Committee would take place on Friday 12 July 2019 at 10.00am in Cabinet Room B (The Diamond Jubilee Room) at the County Hall, Preston.

 

9.

Exclusion of Press and Public

The Committee is asked to consider whether, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, it considers that the public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business on the grounds that there would be a likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the appropriate paragraph of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 as indicated against the heading to the item.

 

Minutes:

Resolved:That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business on the grounds that there would be a likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the appropriate paragraph of Part I of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 as indicated against the heading to the item.

 

10.

Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act

Exempt information as defined in Paragraph 7 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972. The report contains information relating to any action taken or to be taken in connection with the prevention, investigation or prosecution of crime. It is considered that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

 

Minutes:

(Not for Publication - Exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972. It is considered that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information).

 

An annual update report was presented on the framework provided by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 and Investigatory Powers Act 2016.

 

Resolved: Members note the report and updated corporate policies as presented at Appendices 'A' – 'C'.